Operation Foxley

[Sprafa]

Adolf Hitler was the centre of the Nazi system. Around him revolved a loose confederation of fiefdoms, whose leaders engaged in a ceaseless struggle to protect and enhance their power. If Operation Foxley, the plan devised by the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) to assassinate Hitler, had succeeded, this system would have been thrown into chaos.

Count von Stauffenberg and various fellow conspirators, whose courage was equalled only by their ineptitude, were plotting a similar operation from the German side. There was, however, not the slightest possibility that they could have taken advantage of the chaos.

Rather more likely was the emergence of a coalition of the major fiefdoms, with Hermann Goering as Reichsverweser (literally state caretaker), co-existing uneasily with Heinrich Himmler, Albert Speer, Karl Doenitz and a clutch of popular generals such as Erich von Manstein and Erwin Rommel.

The most plausible date for SOE's assassination of Hitler would have been around 13-14 July 1944. By this time the Russians had reached the old Polish-Soviet frontier. From what is now known about the frame of mind of many prominent generals in Germany around this time, we can guess that the new administration would have sent peace feelers to the western allies, who would have reiterated their demand for unconditional surrender.

For Himmler and the SS even a negotiated peace would have posed serious problems. He would have been worried about how he was going to explain the 'final solution' (the extermination of all Jewish people, and other 'untermenschen', in Nazi-held territories) to the outside world, and might well have decided to close down the gas chambers, and tried to pass the death factories off as labour camps.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/war/wwtwo/killing_hitler_01.shtml

 

[el Chi]

It obviously would have thrown Germany into utter disarray, but I don't know whether that would have actually finished the war any quicker.
It might even have made things far worse for both sides.

 

[Sprafa]

It obviously would have thrown Germany into utter disarray, but I don't know whether that would have actually finished the war any quicker.
It might even have made things far worse for both sides.

That's why they didn't do it, they were in doubt if it would really help the war effort.

However, yesterday I watched a debate with some Historians and they agreed that at least 2 things would happen :

1 - The war would have ended earlier, after about 5 to 6 months.

2 - The concentration camps would have been closed, as Himmler did when he had the chance later in the war.

3 - The massive bombardments in some German cities would have not been necessary, saving millions of German lives.

They estimated that overall 10 million lives could have been spared.

 

[chibizerov4]

maybe! lol i dont know

 

[Tr0n]

So many possibilities that could have happen it's really unknown if it would have helped or not.

 

[ship]

Actually, there was an unseccussful attempt at assasinating Hitler in 1944 that very few know about.

The July 20 Plot was a failed coup d'état which involved an attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler. It was initiated on July 20, 1944, by officers of the Wehrmacht. The leader of the plot was Oberst Claus von Stauffenberg. Others who participated in the plot include General Ludwig Beck, Carl Goerdeler, Alfred Delp and scores of others including Field Marshals Erwin von Witzleben and G nther von Kluge. Field Marshal Erwin Rommel may have been involved in the plot and in any event was forced to commit suicide because of it.

The plan required Stauffenberg to place a time bomb near the seat of Hitler at the Wolfsschanze (Wolf's Lair) headquarters in Rastenburg, East Prussia, and then immediately travel to Berlin to command the troops of the uprising. A new government had already been formed, with Beck as Head of State (although most of the plotters hoped for a restoration of the Hohenzollerns at some point in the future), and Goerdeler as Chancellor. The military plans for the coup were known as Operation Valkyrie which was ostensibly a plan for allowing the military recovery of Berlin assuming a takeover by slave laborers. This cover allowed coup plotters to plan troop deployments before the actual coup.

However, due to unexpected circumstances, Hitler survived the bombing: because the day was unusually hot, the meeting at which Hitler was to have been killed took place above ground rather than in a bunker. Moreover, Stauffenberg could arm only one of the two bombs and didn't place the unarmed one in the briefcase. Furthermore, Stauffenberg could not place the briefcase with the bomb next to Hitler and Hitler was shielded from the blast by the conference table. Although four people were killed and almost all present were injured, Hitler was injured only lightly. Stauffenberg only learned of the failure later in Berlin.

Assuming Hitler was dead, Stauffenberg and Haeften flew to Berlin to meet up with their fellow conspirators in the Bendler-Block. Due to a misunderstanding, General Friedrich Olbricht did not launch Operation Valkyrie directly after the attempted assassination. Thus, the coup could only be set in motion four hours later, when Stauffenberg arrived.

In the course of the uprising, conspirators failed to win control over radio stations, therefore the news that Hitler had survived could not be suppressed. Reserve army troops in Berlin, which had carried out Stauffenberg's orders at the beginning, would soon refuse to continue doing so, causing the coup to collapse.

The plot ringleaders, Oberst Claus von Stauffenberg, General Friedrich Olbricht, Oberst Albrecht Mertz von Quirnheim and Leutnant Werner von Haeften were caught in the late evening and shot by firing squad in the courtyard of the Bendler-Block (War Ministry) the same night. Hitler went on to purge and execute more than 4,000 known opponents of his regime, some of whom were slowly strangled with piano wire.

http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/July-20-plot

EDITED for better source.

Also, an interesting article.

 

[Sprafa]

I know about Operation Valkyrie. It was actually more like a coup attempt. Rommel was killed in connection to it, which made it quite famous.