@@fosfeen I thought they were rather good. I like the less-frequented aspects of WW2, like what people actually ate or how the rationing system worked.
The 2008 movie Valkyrie is surprisingly decently accurate with regards to the events with Operation Valkyrie. Sometimes I wonder what the alternative history may have been had the second block of explosives been set up properly and accordingly Hitler may not have survived the explosion. One set of actions could sometimes be decisive in changing the fate of history. Great episode with Astrid as always.
I think if the assassination attempt had been successful, Valkyrie would still have failed and Himmler would have ended up as the new Fuhrer. I think the Nazis would still have lost the war.
If Hitler has been killed, then nothing would change. The members of the coup wanted to make peace with the Allies and continue the atrocities and the war in the east, but the Allies would not accept that according to Casablanca. Only an unconditional surrender would stop the war in Europe.
I think best case scenario at this point should it have succeeded and Germany surrendered immediately is a return to the 1938 borders with the same occupation as in 1945. Poland and Russia would inevitably seek retribution for the Shoah, but the German military could at least have some more credibility in feigning some ignorance of what was going on. Worst case for the German officers the ending is the same anyway, but the bloody march to Berlin is at least avoided and thousands of lives of civilians and troops are saved.
@@PLTConductorComposer there'd be no return to status quo mate. Casablanca already laid out the need for the Reich's unconditional surrender before any peace can be met. And the Soviets and the Western Allies would still be out for blood since evidence of concentration camps and the atrocities and the Wehrmacht's hand in them cannot be so easily erased. The only caveat is more civilians and more Allied soldiers would be alive, which is always a good thing.
"To save Germany was not granted to them; only to die for it; luck was not with them, it was with Hitler. But they did not die in vain. Just as we need air if we are to breathe, and light if we are to see, so we need noble people if we are to live." Ricarda Huch, 1946.
Something worth noting. Unsolved Mysteries did an episode looking at the July 20 plot. They noted that the plan would've worked had either the second bomb been prepared and used, the briefcase not been moved, or if the meeting was in the concrete bunker instead of the conference hut. EDIT: One interesting fact. Stauffenberg's wife lived until early April 2006. She and her husband's youngest child was born when his wife was at a concentration camp.
I hope Spartacus or Indy does a special episode on the Volksgerichtshof ("People's Court"), where sadly many of the conspirators who survived immediate execution would suffer public humiliation before their execution. Their families were also treated as criminals and often sent to concentration camps as well under the "sippenhaft" law. The fate of Erich Hoepner and his family are a stereotypical outcome of those that had to face the VGH.
I am sure Sparty will serve us an excellent details which are IMO more gorgeous than a pile of andouilette sausages. (Apologies to the French here but I overlooked that ingredient when ordering Pizza 🍕 yesterday herecin France. 🇫🇷 On the plus side their cachout candy 🍬 is 👌 ;)
The flimsy construction of the building has been given as one reason for the limited effect of the bomb. The briefing was held in a wooden hut which allowed much of the explosive force to escape. The briefings were normally held in an underground concrete bunker and an explosion there would have been more lethal. The Nazis experimented with murdering the mentally ill by placing them in similar underground bunkers and then setting off an explosion. Even then they found that patients were sometimes not killed outright and had to be finished off with pistol shots.
So much is known these days about the July 20th Plot that this episode helps to clarify some of the fine details. Well done. I didn't know that the second block of explosives was kept by Hoeften. The movie only shows him throwing the pliers into the woods as they escaped. Also, one key detail not mentioned here was that the July heat caused the move of the briefing to a conference hut away from the main bunker. Had the briefing been held in the concrete bunker as originally planned, the overpressure of the blast would've killed everyone there, no question. But hot weather saved Hitler, almostcas if the Devil himself was looking out for him.
The movie is a good watch! However for the sake of entertainment it doesn't go over all the details, thankfully you can turn here for that. Thanks for sharing the detail about the hot weather, strange how a day simply being hotter than usual affected the plans isn't it?
@@astriddeinhard433 You are so good at what You do as well and professional. Usually on a team podcast I have my favorites over one or the other but all You guys are just so awesome You are all my favs! Thanks again and much love for the team :)!
It's really amazing how easily things could've turned out differently. If the briefcase hadn't been moved behind the table leg, if they had armed the second bomb, or simply put it next to it.
Or if they used a suicide bomber and a simple switch. Get close enough when there is open space and boom. Don't even need a brief case. A bomb vest is enough. The problem is everybody wanted to live.
@@ocudagledam Had that exploded, there would have been no chance of survival. If the explosion did not kill Hitler the plane crash would have. Whereas here, Hitler might have survived even if both blocks of explosive had been used.
There we were in 2008...teenagers who just finished watching Valkyrie starring Tom Cruise at our local theatre. Me and boys went to Best Buy to pick up our copies of Call of Duty: World at War. We stayed up all night beating the co-op campaign. Will never forget storming Seelow Heights and the Reichstag in memory of Stauffenberg and the 20 July Plot. Good times.
I actually watched Valkyrie last night before watching this. The movie is actually pretty accurate, but the work of Astrid, Indy and Sparty will always come out on top. The plotters motives may not have been wholly moralistic, but it was the last chance there was for Germany to come out of this war with some semblance of honor. Had the plot succeeded, I think in the end they may have had to deal with a possible SS takeover, which ironically is the cover they used to justify initiating Operation Valkyrie.
5:15 literally did not do enough to make sure they would 100% not be able to leave the building after the bombs go off. How do you literally half ass something that big?
i love how olbricht was arrested anyway, eventhough he wanted to pull out well past the last second serves him right. i could only imagine what couldve been possible with one person less to worry about and instead him helping out with command and control of the coup and germany, who knows, maybe more telephone lines wouldve been cut and the important politicians detained with no communication?
As an Experienced Army Officer Stauffenberg's Attention must have been seriously spooked to not Automatically put the second slab of Plastic Explosive in the Briefcase Knowing that the Blast of the first block would instantly cause a chain reaction in the confines of an Briefcase..No wonder He was unsure !
Hi Astrid Great narration. Operation valkyrie should have succeded but missed. What would been alternate history had hitler died? Difficult to judge. Thanks astrid for this series.
Only one person was killed outright by the bomb - Heinrich Berger, a stenographer. Three senior officers - Günther Korten, Heinz Brandt and Rudolf Schmundt died later. Adolf Heusinger, a lieutenant-general, was standing right next to Hitler and was slightly wounded. According to German Wikipedia, he knew in general terms about the plot but did not know that a bomb would be used there and then. He was arrested a few days later but released - nothing could be proved against him. He managed a postwar career in the Bundeswehr.
Theres a real authority that comes with delivering ww2 content with an authentic German speaker. It wouldn't sound the same being delivered by Darryl from bendigo
Also, don’t forget that due to the summer heat and to the poor ventilation in that provisional conference room, a few or maybe all the windows had been opened, making the blast wave from the bomb far less destructive than it would have been had the windows been closed.
The Wolf's Lair still exists, or at least what remains of it. The forest has overgrown most of the site and shelling by the Soviets destroyed much of the bunker system. Kind of surprised that the Polish government hasn't attempted a partial restoration of the place as a historical attraction to bring in some tourist dollars.
@@GrinderCB Different situation though. Nobody thought Normandy was actually part of Germany even when there were lots of German soldiers there for a few years. Rastenburg/Ketrzyn is another matter.
@@tomskonieczka2385 Not suggesting rides and balloons and stuff. But there are lots of historical sites that run much like museums to present the significance of such a site. As I mentioned in another post, there are French people who live next to bunkers and artillery emplacements in Normandy who gladly share what they went through and their joy at seeing the Germans driven out.
Lt. Haeften's final act of loyalty to Stauffenberg and last act of defiance to the Nazis by standing in front of the firing squad is truly commendable. It may have only bought his friend a few extra seconds of life, but you can be damn sure everyone who was there would never forget it.
With all the talk about Europe and spying related to the Normandy landings accompanying Operation Fortitude, I was wondering if you planned to cover Operation Wedlock and similar efforts in the Pacific Theater. I've found some details out there about the deception portion of Wedlock and its timing to coincide with Operation Forager but not much about how effective it was or what agents might have been involved. Will there be any info on this area coming to the channel?
I wonder how many people would have been alive 6 months later if the bomb had worked? I also wonder why one person did not make the sacrifice and make sure the bomb would be successful? Tens of thousands, even millions of people gave their lives for their countries cause. Yet not one would die to save their country outright.
There was at least one attempt to suicide bomb Hitler, but he left too early, so the assassin almost blew himself up for nothing and had to very hurriedly disarm the time fuse. Hitler must have really had the devil protecting him considering how close many of those assassination attempts were.
It is hard to know what would have happened. Some of the conspirators hoped that with Hitler dead, they could make a deal with the Western Allies and perhaps continue war with the USSR. Whether this would have worked is debatable. The Western Allies were not particularly welcoming to the attempt, tending to view it as the equivalent of rats leaving a sinking ship. It was not really until the 1960s that a more sympathetic view of people like Stauffenberg developed. There was a "Stauffenbergstrasse" in the town where I studied German in 1983-4, but apparently it had been named that recently.
@@theholyinquisition389 I don't know if you are referring to the same incident, but a lieutenant volunteered to blow himself and Hitler up while modelling a new uniform - Hitler was supposed to inspect the new uniforms. But the inspection was called off after a British air raid set fire to the warehouse where the new uniforms were stored.
@@theholyinquisition389 I wonder why they even bothered with that when they could, y'know, shoot him. If they were willing to die, just pulling out a gun and shooting him in the head sounds a lot more practical and leaves him a lot less of a chance of survival, at least the way I see it.
Great video covering a brave attempt to end Hitler's reign of terror. Always surprises me that he didn't put the second explosive into the briefcase, as you say the detonation of the first would have detonated the second.
That bomb has to be one of history's greatest nails. Had it not been in the wrong place. Had it been fully armed. What way might have the dominos fallen? Impossible to know but what happened so fascinating and terrible.
I actually watched Valkyrie again the other day and in the first movie made on the subject a friend of mine played Stauffenberg in the first film produced by a German production - they are both very good....have a look :)
Maybe Astrid can do a special on the efforts of the Allies to embarrass their enemies while causing very little physical damage. I know theirs been a number of this operations in WWII.
Pretty crazy incident Another important variable was the weather that day at the meeting area........ The meeting was supposed to take place in the bunker but it was a hot day so it was changed to the building outside since it had lot of windows Myth busters went over this incident and I believe they concluded if the meeting was in the bunker or the pair of explosive was used it would have had the desired effect....... I wonder how it would have alerted history
Within a day or two. They were monitoring German radio. Allied radio speculated on who was involved. Allied reactions were not particularly sympathetic to the plotters - it was seen as evidence Nazi Germany was falling apart.
@@finchborat There was a tendency among the Western Allies in WW2 to see "German militarism" as the enemy, and that category could embrace the plotters as well as Hitler. As for the Soviets, the fascists included the Nazi Party but also the Junkers, Krupp, etc. and even the people plotting to kill Hitler. Hoepner, one of the leading plotters, had led a significant part of the armoured attack on Moscow and was fired and even dismissed from the army for ordering a retreat that Hitler did not authorise.
His name was on a list as the prospective new chief of OKW and there were quite a few resistance contacts among his subordinates. Add to that the fact that Rommel had fallen out of favor with Hitler due to their disagreements about the situation in France and the overall state of the war.
@@WorldWarTwo Bill Shirer had a tremendous advantage when he wrote this book. He had access to the archives which no one had looked at. He Also talked to many of the German generals and French officials who were still alive at the time and used their recollections and the documents that they had to help write the book
So often is history decided by just very small details and coincidences. Like somebody looking inside the room at wrong moment instead of just walking by…
if all of this happened and was succesful in summer 43 the situation might of been different, but by this point in the war even if all went as planed for them it was way to late
SPOILER Some of the leading Nazis executed as a result of the Nuremberg trials in 1946 will express similar sentiments as their last words. Wilhelm Frick said "long live eternal Germany." Ernst Kaltenbrunner said "Germany, good luck."
@@stevekaczynski3793 So what? Those two men were a--holes and it's lucky thing Germany didn't turn out the way they hoped it would. And that painting of Hitler with the X crossed over his face, the introduction to this video, made the front cover of TIME magazine in early May 1945 after Hitler committed suicide.
The mechanics of it are more difficult than you’d think. It’s more frequent that attempted suicide by headshot fails than one might assume. Under the stress of the moment it’s easy to not hold the gun at 90° - even if you do, a slight tremble is enough to shift the gun. And then a skull is a dome, so it will change the trajectory of the bullet if not hit straight on. For the second attempt one would assume that he was in a pretty sad state…
@@spartacus-olsson I read somewhere that one in ten attempted suicides by gunshot fail, although statistically a firearm is one of the methods most likely to succeed. SPOILER Tojo will attempt suicide with a pistol but shoots himself in the chest, as he wants his face to remain recognisable and headshots can damage or distort facial features. He survives the gunshot...
Hey I doubt you’ll see this but can you make a video on the plans that existed for if operation Valkyrie succeeded? What kind of government would form, would it be as extreme, what were their plans for the war etc? I think these things are quite unknown to people so if you can educate us that would be very appreciated.
@@okram2k “a bit” Yes I know but I am more so hoping for a video that perhaps could go more in depth on that subject and for out all the information about that which there is. I know that probably won’t happen but one can always hope.
@@astriddeinhard433 You did a bit but if you’ll see my comment that I just wrote you’ll see at least what I am hoping we might get one day. : ) Also thanks for reading the comment I really appreciate all you in the teams effort to this series and the dedication you put in.
Coups are difficult to pull off. A wise man once said: If you come at the king, you best not miss. Who else has had to learn this painful lesson?
I tried this in the office once.
Rip Michael Kenneth Williams
Ha! quoting Omar.
The Pompeiians by not killing Caesar’s highest generals like Anthony and Lepidus.
The CIA?
Everything this channel puts out is pure gold! Thank you all for your dedication in presenting this to the world!
After World War II In Colour (2008)
I was like, all of the best documentaries of World War Two™️ have already been made.
Boy, was I WRONG!
@@alitlweird I couldn't agree more!
Yes, except for those view Homefront videos. Glad they discontinued those!
@@fosfeen I thought they were rather good. I like the less-frequented aspects of WW2, like what people actually ate or how the rationing system worked.
@@alitlweirdThat one is absolutely amazing as well.
The 2008 movie Valkyrie is surprisingly decently accurate with regards to the events with Operation Valkyrie. Sometimes I wonder what the alternative history may have been had the second block of explosives been set up properly and accordingly Hitler may not have survived the explosion. One set of actions could sometimes be decisive in changing the fate of history. Great episode with Astrid as always.
I think if the assassination attempt had been successful, Valkyrie would still have failed and Himmler would have ended up as the new Fuhrer. I think the Nazis would still have lost the war.
If Hitler has been killed, then nothing would change. The members of the coup wanted to make peace with the Allies and continue the atrocities and the war in the east, but the Allies would not accept that according to Casablanca. Only an unconditional surrender would stop the war in Europe.
I think best case scenario at this point should it have succeeded and Germany surrendered immediately is a return to the 1938 borders with the same occupation as in 1945. Poland and Russia would inevitably seek retribution for the Shoah, but the German military could at least have some more credibility in feigning some ignorance of what was going on. Worst case for the German officers the ending is the same anyway, but the bloody march to Berlin is at least avoided and thousands of lives of civilians and troops are saved.
@@PLTConductorComposer there'd be no return to status quo mate. Casablanca already laid out the need for the Reich's unconditional surrender before any peace can be met. And the Soviets and the Western Allies would still be out for blood since evidence of concentration camps and the atrocities and the Wehrmacht's hand in them cannot be so easily erased.
The only caveat is more civilians and more Allied soldiers would be alive, which is always a good thing.
@@Healermain15 The atrocities is a big issue for the Allies, with Nuremberg and the denazification policies, etc.
"To save Germany was not granted to them; only to die for it; luck was not with them, it was with Hitler. But they did not die in vain. Just as we need air if we are to breathe, and light if we are to see, so we need noble people if we are to live." Ricarda Huch, 1946.
Something worth noting. Unsolved Mysteries did an episode looking at the July 20 plot. They noted that the plan would've worked had either the second bomb been prepared and used, the briefcase not been moved, or if the meeting was in the concrete bunker instead of the conference hut.
EDIT: One interesting fact. Stauffenberg's wife lived until early April 2006. She and her husband's youngest child was born when his wife was at a concentration camp.
I hope Spartacus or Indy does a special episode on the Volksgerichtshof ("People's Court"), where sadly many of the conspirators who survived immediate execution would suffer public humiliation before their execution. Their families were also treated as criminals and often sent to concentration camps as well under the "sippenhaft" law. The fate of Erich Hoepner and his family are a stereotypical outcome of those that had to face the VGH.
I am sure Sparty will serve us an excellent details which are IMO more gorgeous than a pile of andouilette sausages. (Apologies to the French here but I overlooked that ingredient when ordering Pizza 🍕 yesterday herecin France. 🇫🇷 On the plus side their cachout candy 🍬 is 👌 ;)
What a heart rendering episode. I salute those men for what they tried to do.
Thanks for watching!
It’s heart rending….not rendering.
@@mikewinston8709 👽
It’s not surprising to say that we were all looking forward to this episode.
Certainly was one we were looking forward to making!
The flimsy construction of the building has been given as one reason for the limited effect of the bomb. The briefing was held in a wooden hut which allowed much of the explosive force to escape. The briefings were normally held in an underground concrete bunker and an explosion there would have been more lethal. The Nazis experimented with murdering the mentally ill by placing them in similar underground bunkers and then setting off an explosion. Even then they found that patients were sometimes not killed outright and had to be finished off with pistol shots.
This episode is fantastic, I wonder if there will be a similar coverage of the Kyūjō incident
*Mission failed, we'll get 'em next time*
So whats new?
We'll send a very special operative to kill Hitler! Bombs don't seem to work, so we'll arm him with some cyanide capsules and a pistol.
We're already at Operation Valkyrie? I thought we were still a long ways away! Really goes to show how quicky the war is ending
The end is creeping up rather quickly isn't it?
Plot Twist: Stauffenberg is allowed to go into exile in Belarus as long as he promises not to do it again.
At this point in the war exile in Belarus is synonymous with execution for the German side.
@@diegotrejos5780and it seems the same is true today….
"Long live sacred Germany!"
Claus von Stauffenberg
Another excellent episode to finish out Valkyrie
Thank you for watching, we appreciate the kind words!
So much is known these days about the July 20th Plot that this episode helps to clarify some of the fine details. Well done. I didn't know that the second block of explosives was kept by Hoeften. The movie only shows him throwing the pliers into the woods as they escaped. Also, one key detail not mentioned here was that the July heat caused the move of the briefing to a conference hut away from the main bunker. Had the briefing been held in the concrete bunker as originally planned, the overpressure of the blast would've killed everyone there, no question. But hot weather saved Hitler, almostcas if the Devil himself was looking out for him.
Exactly, always wondered the story with the 2nd bomb, haeften discarded parts of it on their way to the airfield.
The movie is a good watch! However for the sake of entertainment it doesn't go over all the details, thankfully you can turn here for that. Thanks for sharing the detail about the hot weather, strange how a day simply being hotter than usual affected the plans isn't it?
Love this channel and love all the people who present it this way to us! Thanks and bravo!
Thank you so much - we are a great team :)
@@astriddeinhard433 You are so good at what You do as well and professional. Usually on a team podcast I have my favorites over one or the other but all You guys are just so awesome You are all my favs! Thanks again and much love for the team :)!
What a shame they failed, as always a brilliant narration of the events
Thanks for watching.
Outstanding Astrid, your best work yet. Didn't know about the second bomb.
thank you so much darling :)
It's really amazing how easily things could've turned out differently. If the briefcase hadn't been moved behind the table leg, if they had armed the second bomb, or simply put it next to it.
Or if they used a suicide bomber and a simple switch. Get close enough when there is open space and boom.
Don't even need a brief case. A bomb vest is enough.
The problem is everybody wanted to live.
If the timed bomb that was on that plane didn't freeze and thus fail to detonate, months ago...
@@ocudagledam Had that exploded, there would have been no chance of survival. If the explosion did not kill Hitler the plane crash would have. Whereas here, Hitler might have survived even if both blocks of explosive had been used.
There we were in 2008...teenagers who just finished watching Valkyrie starring Tom Cruise at our local theatre. Me and boys went to Best Buy to pick up our copies of Call of Duty: World at War. We stayed up all night beating the co-op campaign. Will never forget storming Seelow Heights and the Reichstag in memory of Stauffenberg and the 20 July Plot. Good times.
I was in the same age range. I was 16 at the time. At that time, I was still playing Medal of Honor.
Astrid..you rock... once again you and your team did a stellar job. Keep it up.
Thank you so much Darling!
Thanks!
Thank you for the superchat!
Great stuff! I normally don't catch these live to be able to thank you guys!
you are very welcome :)
I actually watched Valkyrie last night before watching this. The movie is actually pretty accurate, but the work of Astrid, Indy and Sparty will always come out on top. The plotters motives may not have been wholly moralistic, but it was the last chance there was for Germany to come out of this war with some semblance of honor. Had the plot succeeded, I think in the end they may have had to deal with a possible SS takeover, which ironically is the cover they used to justify initiating Operation Valkyrie.
Thank you for your support! We do our best
I am still shocked that Tom Cruise DID looked like him..
Quite an uncanny resemblance isn't it? A well produced film that's worth a watch for sure!
Wish you were my history teacher! You're such a great speaker, heck all of you are.
thank you for saying that darling - don't know if I would be allowed to say darling, if I was your history teacher :)))
5:15 literally did not do enough to make sure they would 100% not be able to leave the building after the bombs go off.
How do you literally half ass something that big?
Love it. Thank you for doing this.
thank you for being so nice :))
i love how olbricht was arrested anyway, eventhough he wanted to pull out well past the last second
serves him right. i could only imagine what couldve been possible with one person less to worry about and instead him helping out with command and control of the coup and germany, who knows, maybe more telephone lines wouldve been cut and the important politicians detained with no communication?
As an Experienced Army Officer Stauffenberg's Attention must have been seriously spooked to not Automatically put the second slab of Plastic Explosive in the Briefcase Knowing that the Blast of the first block would instantly cause a chain reaction in the confines of an Briefcase..No wonder He was unsure !
Excellent, as always, Astrid.
Lovely comment! Thank you very much.
Hi Astrid
Great narration.
Operation valkyrie should have succeded but missed.
What would been alternate history had hitler died?
Difficult to judge.
Thanks astrid for this series.
Thank you for watching, happy to hear you enjoyed!
Nice job, Time Ghost! Thanks, Astrid!
you are very welcome :)
I’ve learned a lot. Thank you all!
Delightful to hear you learnt more, and thanks for watching!
Brava, from your darling, Astrid. Wonderful job weaving us through this day!
it was a pleasure roymartin500 :)
Astrid is a fantastic presenter, she perfectly pronounces all the names too
thank you darling, that makes me very happy :)
Was this the first time in the channel's history that the date the war in Europe ends was mentioned? 🤔
It is nice to see you. Thank you for the video.
Thank you for the sweet comment.
Thank you for watching and commenting! Nice to see you too 🙂
Thank you Astrid, this was very lovely.
Only one person was killed outright by the bomb - Heinrich Berger, a stenographer. Three senior officers - Günther Korten, Heinz Brandt and Rudolf Schmundt died later.
Adolf Heusinger, a lieutenant-general, was standing right next to Hitler and was slightly wounded. According to German Wikipedia, he knew in general terms about the plot but did not know that a bomb would be used there and then. He was arrested a few days later but released - nothing could be proved against him. He managed a postwar career in the Bundeswehr.
Thank you for sharing this historical information, quite a curious tale. Thanks for watching and commenting!
Very thorough analysis. Thanks
Thanks, the team works very hard to ensure we get all the details we can. Appreciate the comment!
Brillant Work, Astrid, as always.
thank you darling
Just goes to show: stick to the plan.
Like diving: plan the dive, and dive the plan.
Truly an impossible mission
Theres a real authority that comes with delivering ww2 content with an authentic German speaker. It wouldn't sound the same being delivered by Darryl from bendigo
I started listening to this video exactly at 12:42 pm today, July 20th. Amazing coincidence. Thanks for sharing.
Sometimes the stars align perfectly! Thanks for watching.
Astrid: "Bummer."
😂😂😂
Also, don’t forget that due to the summer heat and to the poor ventilation in that provisional conference room, a few or maybe all the windows had been opened, making the blast wave from the bomb far less destructive than it would have been had the windows been closed.
There is no one other than Astrid who could have told this story better! 😍 Never forget! 😔
Thanks for watching, Never Forget!
Rest in Peace, Col. Stauffenberg and other heroes.
Never Forget!
@TheY2Adam He is not a hero but a fascist and an anti-Semit who supported Hitler's seizure of power in the first place.
Truly appreciated, your factual recount.
Thank you! We do our best!
Great Video as always ❤
Thanks for pleasant comment 😀
The Wolf's Lair still exists, or at least what remains of it. The forest has overgrown most of the site and shelling by the Soviets destroyed much of the bunker system. Kind of surprised that the Polish government hasn't attempted a partial restoration of the place as a historical attraction to bring in some tourist dollars.
Why remind people that place was German once? Although it is a somewhat neglected part of Poland...
@@stevekaczynski3793 Tell that to all the French people who live near old German bunkers and pillboxes in Normandy. Tourism brings in cash.
@@GrinderCB Different situation though. Nobody thought Normandy was actually part of Germany even when there were lots of German soldiers there for a few years. Rastenburg/Ketrzyn is another matter.
@@tomskonieczka2385 Not suggesting rides and balloons and stuff. But there are lots of historical sites that run much like museums to present the significance of such a site. As I mentioned in another post, there are French people who live next to bunkers and artillery emplacements in Normandy who gladly share what they went through and their joy at seeing the Germans driven out.
Excellent episode.
Thanks for the kind comment. Happy to hear you enjoyed it!
another great gem of a video👍👍
Thank you Darling! You’re a gem! 💎
Lt. Haeften's final act of loyalty to Stauffenberg and last act of defiance to the Nazis by standing in front of the firing squad is truly commendable. It may have only bought his friend a few extra seconds of life, but you can be damn sure everyone who was there would never forget it.
well done... I am impressed
Glad you enjoyed this episode, thank you very much and thanks for watching!
3:27 that’s what happens when you panic, you lose focus and that’s why Hitler didn’t die.
Good episode 👍
Good comment 👍 Thanks for watching!
Another intriguing episode (showing the devil is always in the detail). Once again, thank you Astrid.
Certainly is an interesting piece of history, thanks for the comment!
Dying in 1945 is just beyond tragic, so close to the end of hostilities...
Also, Stauffenberg's wife was pregnant with his youngest child at the time of the plot.
The majority of people who died in WW2 died in the last year of the war.
Thank you.
Thanks darling!
With all the talk about Europe and spying related to the Normandy landings accompanying Operation Fortitude, I was wondering if you planned to cover Operation Wedlock and similar efforts in the Pacific Theater. I've found some details out there about the deception portion of Wedlock and its timing to coincide with Operation Forager but not much about how effective it was or what agents might have been involved. Will there be any info on this area coming to the channel?
I wonder how many people would have been alive 6 months later if the bomb had worked? I also wonder why one person did not make the sacrifice and make sure the bomb would be successful? Tens of thousands, even millions of people gave their lives for their countries cause. Yet not one would die to save their country outright.
Yes, if he had been prepared to die with the bomb, Hitler would have been blown to kingdom come.
There was at least one attempt to suicide bomb Hitler, but he left too early, so the assassin almost blew himself up for nothing and had to very hurriedly disarm the time fuse. Hitler must have really had the devil protecting him considering how close many of those assassination attempts were.
It is hard to know what would have happened. Some of the conspirators hoped that with Hitler dead, they could make a deal with the Western Allies and perhaps continue war with the USSR. Whether this would have worked is debatable. The Western Allies were not particularly welcoming to the attempt, tending to view it as the equivalent of rats leaving a sinking ship. It was not really until the 1960s that a more sympathetic view of people like Stauffenberg developed. There was a "Stauffenbergstrasse" in the town where I studied German in 1983-4, but apparently it had been named that recently.
@@theholyinquisition389 I don't know if you are referring to the same incident, but a lieutenant volunteered to blow himself and Hitler up while modelling a new uniform - Hitler was supposed to inspect the new uniforms. But the inspection was called off after a British air raid set fire to the warehouse where the new uniforms were stored.
@@theholyinquisition389 I wonder why they even bothered with that when they could, y'know, shoot him. If they were willing to die, just pulling out a gun and shooting him in the head sounds a lot more practical and leaves him a lot less of a chance of survival, at least the way I see it.
Thanks l enjoyed this so well done!!👍🇺🇲
Thank you for watching!
Great video covering a brave attempt to end Hitler's reign of terror. Always surprises me that he didn't put the second explosive into the briefcase, as you say the detonation of the first would have detonated the second.
I guess they were kind of nervous :)))
can't wait for the next Spy's and Ties !!!! love all of Astrid's videos !!!! .................... darlings !
As Astrid would say, Thank you darling! We appreciate the kind words very much, thanks for watching this episode.
That bomb has to be one of history's greatest nails. Had it not been in the wrong place. Had it been fully armed. What way might have the dominos fallen? Impossible to know but what happened so fascinating and terrible.
I thought the movie Valkyrie was a cheap move by Hollywood to sell a WW2 story. If it's as deep and detailed as this video, I may watch it
It's above average for a WW2-themed film.
I actually watched Valkyrie again the other day and in the first movie made on the subject a friend of mine played Stauffenberg in the first film produced by a German production - they are both very good....have a look :)
If only that table leg wasn't in the way....
Or if the briefcase wasn't moved.
@@finchborat So close to succeeding...
Well that was a missed opportunity
Hello Astrid! 🙂❤
hello chrisnesbitt :)
Maybe Astrid can do a special on the efforts of the Allies to embarrass their enemies while causing very little physical damage. I know theirs been a number of this operations in WWII.
i will check it out with the team :)
@@astriddeinhard433---I suspect you'll find some good ones out their. Good luck.
@@astriddeinhard433---Also thanks for responding.
If only this operation succeeded
Pretty crazy incident
Another important variable was the weather that day at the meeting area........ The meeting was supposed to take place in the bunker but it was a hot day so it was changed to the building outside since it had lot of windows
Myth busters went over this incident and I believe they concluded if the meeting was in the bunker or the pair of explosive was used it would have had the desired effect.......
I wonder how it would have alerted history
Astrid please wear those earrings again. The ever so slight noise they made while dangling had me in a trance 😴
ok I will :)
When did the Allies learn about this incident? What was their reaction, if any?
Within a day or two. They were monitoring German radio. Allied radio speculated on who was involved. Allied reactions were not particularly sympathetic to the plotters - it was seen as evidence Nazi Germany was falling apart.
They viewed it as a sign Hitler's inner circle was crumbling, even though Stauffenberg wasn't in the inner circle.
@@finchborat There was a tendency among the Western Allies in WW2 to see "German militarism" as the enemy, and that category could embrace the plotters as well as Hitler. As for the Soviets, the fascists included the Nazi Party but also the Junkers, Krupp, etc. and even the people plotting to kill Hitler. Hoepner, one of the leading plotters, had led a significant part of the armoured attack on Moscow and was fired and even dismissed from the army for ordering a retreat that Hitler did not authorise.
and she stays.......so much spying in the future ........it kind of never stops ......:)
If they had armed the second brick there is no way they would have survived
I really hope you can do something on “the white mouse “ Nancy wake. Her story is incredible.
noted :)
She like the crazy auntie we all wanted. Luv her so much. She's a little legend! 💛
There is one name that is conspicuously missing from this conclusion. How did Erwin Rommel get ratted out?
His name was on a list as the prospective new chief of OKW and there were quite a few resistance contacts among his subordinates. Add to that the fact that Rommel had fallen out of favor with Hitler due to their disagreements about the situation in France and the overall state of the war.
Not yet in our timeline - that story is a bit too big to spoil 😉
Does this mean the war will be over by Christmas?
Maybe Christmas….. of 45’
probably :)
The best account of this event I have ever read was by William Shirer in the book The rise and the fall of the third reich
A good read, thanks for sharing!
@@WorldWarTwo Bill Shirer had a tremendous advantage when he wrote this book. He had access to the archives which no one had looked at. He Also talked to many of the German generals and French officials who were still alive at the time and used their recollections and the documents that they had to help write the book
So often is history decided by just very small details and coincidences. Like somebody looking inside the room at wrong moment instead of just walking by…
Well you know what they say "The Devil is in the details". Thanks for watching!
Stauffenberg is like the 1944 Prigozhin
Nope.
lets see how this ends in 2023 ....today I heard a story it was all a big theatre.....with bigger plans to come......who knows?
The second b in bomb is silent.
if all of this happened and was succesful in summer 43 the situation might of been different, but by this point in the war even if all went as planed for them it was way to late
A diary? If I'm executed for treason it won't be due to having a diary of all my activities.
Hans Frank kept 43 volumes of diaries as ruler of the General Government. They provided a good deal of help to the prosecution at Nuremberg.
🎵Valkyrie! Valker-eye!🎵
15:06-15:11 he said: "Long Live Holy Germany."
SPOILER
Some of the leading Nazis executed as a result of the Nuremberg trials in 1946 will express similar sentiments as their last words. Wilhelm Frick said "long live eternal Germany." Ernst Kaltenbrunner said "Germany, good luck."
@@stevekaczynski3793 So what? Those two men were a--holes and it's lucky thing Germany didn't turn out the way they hoped it would. And that painting of Hitler with the X crossed over his face, the introduction to this video, made the front cover of TIME magazine in early May 1945 after Hitler committed suicide.
Sounds like it was a communications problem
cut the lines when you do something like that, right :)
How would this have changed the war if the mission was successful?
The last episode points out what the power structures would have been..
good movie !
Heart rending... but well done.
Thanks for the kind words.
If he had of just placed the second block in the breifcase instead of leaving it out the plot would have worked . Stupid mistake 😡 .
Orbest claus stauffrrenberh:im about to end this man whole career.
How do you manage to fail to shoot yourself in tne head - TWICE?
i have not tried it, but surely it cannot be that difficult?
The mechanics of it are more difficult than you’d think. It’s more frequent that attempted suicide by headshot fails than one might assume. Under the stress of the moment it’s easy to not hold the gun at 90° - even if you do, a slight tremble is enough to shift the gun. And then a skull is a dome, so it will change the trajectory of the bullet if not hit straight on. For the second attempt one would assume that he was in a pretty sad state…
@@spartacus-olsson I read somewhere that one in ten attempted suicides by gunshot fail, although statistically a firearm is one of the methods most likely to succeed.
SPOILER
Tojo will attempt suicide with a pistol but shoots himself in the chest, as he wants his face to remain recognisable and headshots can damage or distort facial features. He survives the gunshot...
@@stevekaczynski3793 that’s about right - one in ten is still a lot though, if you consider that the target is the brain and it’s point blank range.
You rock darling !
Isn’t Astrid the best!?
NICELY DONE ON THIS EXCELLENT SERIES , BUT CAN YOUS DO ONE ON Mr HESS AND LET US KNOW WHY HE WAS TREATED THAT WAY .😮😊
ok
Hey I doubt you’ll see this but can you make a video on the plans that existed for if operation Valkyrie succeeded? What kind of government would form, would it be as extreme, what were their plans for the war etc?
I think these things are quite unknown to people so if you can educate us that would be very appreciated.
that last episode of spies and ties actually went into that a bit
I think I did in a way but Ill check again :)
@@okram2k “a bit”
Yes I know but I am more so hoping for a video that perhaps could go more in depth on that subject and for out all the information about that which there is. I know that probably won’t happen but one can always hope.
@@astriddeinhard433 You did a bit but if you’ll see my comment that I just wrote you’ll see at least what I am hoping we might get one day. : )
Also thanks for reading the comment I really appreciate all you in the teams effort to this series and the dedication you put in.