Operation Valkyrie

-->During the Second World War, before Hitler’s Germany bowed down to the allied forces, a group of military officers and politicians sought to end the war by assassinating Hitler and placing all Nazis under their control. Operation Valkyrie is the code name of the operation that will mobilize the reserve forces of the Wermacht or the German army in case of dissolution of peace and order inside Germany and all the occupied nations. This is just a front for a deeper plan concocted by the top coup plotters.

The plan to assassinate Hitler was lead by Claus von Stauffenberg. Stauffenberg is the one who formulated the operation, which was unwittingly approved by Hitler. The coup plotters created the plan to show the whole world that not all people in Germany are Nazis, and thus save Germany from being punished due to the crime perpetrated by the SS and the Nazis. Phase one of plan is the assassination of Hitler. This was done by bombing the meeting attended by Hitler. The second phase is the mobilization of the reserve forces and by deceiving the army into a belief that it was the SS who assassinated Hitler and sought to take over the government. The third phase is the arrest of all SS commanders and soldiers and all the top members of the Nazi party. This will ensure that the new government will not fall to the hands of the SS or the Nazis. All this operation hinges on one element --- the death of Herr Fuehrer.

The death of Adolf Hitler is necessary in this plan since he is the big boss of both Nazi and SS. Another thing is that he is the chief mastermind of all the crimes perpetrated by all his underlings. Hitler would rather die than accept the fact that Germany will be defeated in the war and negotiate with the Allies (he did kill himself when the truth of his defeat dawned on him). Hitler’s death should be done to remove this hardheaded leader and create a leadership gap. Another thing is that Hitler is the revered leader of Germany, and his death will flare the anger of the people against their killers.

Operation Valkyrie failed. History confirmed it. Hitler escaped the bombing with no major injury. In the end, the reserve forces realized that they had been tricked and stopped the operation and released all those people that they arrested. In the aftermath of Operation Valkyrie, 5,000 people were arrested, including the families of coup plotters and many of those arrested have no connection whatsoever to the plot. 200 of those were executed. Stauffenberg and other top plotters were luckily killed through musketry. Others died by hanging because Hitler wants them to suffer a painful and slow death. Those who were not executed were imprisoned or sent to concentration camps.

Operation Valkyrie is a good movie to watch. Even though the fact that many people knew that Hitler escaped the assassination, this did not dampen the atmosphere of excitement. This is a movie that captured those hard times experienced by the plotters. Tom Cruise, Kenneth Branagh, Bill Knighty, and others did well on portraying their characters.

So, if you are on those who are interested in the Second World War or just want to see a cloak-and-dagger type of story, then Operation Valkyrie is recommended for you.