or Rastenburg Assassination Plot
Abortive attempt on July 20, 1944, by German military leaders to assassinate Adolf Hitler , seize control of the government, and seek more favourable peace terms from the Allies.
According to plan, Col. Claus von Stauffenberg (1907–44) left a bomb in a briefcase in a conference room at the field headquarters at Rastenburg, East Prussia, where Hitler was meeting with top military aides. But the briefcase was pushed behind a table support, and Hitler survived the blast with minor injuries. Meanwhile, the other conspirators in Berlin failed to act. The chief conspirators, including Stauffenberg, Gen. Ludwig Beck , Gen. Erwin Rommel , and other top officers, were promptly shot or forced to commit suicide. In subsequent days, Hitler's police rounded up about 200 conspirators, who were shot, hanged, or viciously strangled.