MovieChat Forums > Valkyrie (2008) Discussion > Had Coup Succeeded...

Had Coup Succeeded...

posted 14 years ago by rsr26
179 replies | jump to latest

I think the attempt to kill Hitler was "too little, too late" to make much of a difference for Germany. The attempt was made in July of 1944, after D-Day and after Russia started closing in on Germany. Total surrender by Germany was not until April 1945, but the Allies were well on their way when Operation Valkyrie was executed.

I think had the plot worked, the best that Germany could have hoped for was an immediate unconditional surrender to the West while trying to keep the Soviets out of their country. Germany knew that the Soviets were going to want revenge after the horror they had inflicted in the early days of the war and, maybe, a surrender in July of 1944 could have stopped communist takeover of East Germany. I doubt it though- Stalin wanted blood and knew he would soon get it.

At best, many lives would have been spared but Germany would still have been taken over by the Allies.

An attempt in early 1943, however, might have made a real difference. If Germany agreed to withdraw all of its forces out of occupied Europe then I think they might have been able to avoid being conquered.

[–] ecvz 9 years ago

The plotters you see in the movie had been trying to kill Hitler since late 1941. There were 5 or 6 failed bombing attempts before this. Their final attempt just happened to be in 1944, post-normandy-ladings. They didn't "decide" to do something "late". This just happened to be the time it came closest to working.

[–] simonchinnock 8 years ago

There had actually been credible plots to assassinate Hitler from the mid-1930s onwards which either failed due to their detection by Gestapo/police or conspirators losing their nerve. Many of these originated from the Wehrmarcht OKW with the most intense periods of dissent being 1937-1939 and early 1943 onwards. Military coup was the only real credible option available against Hitler, naturally requiring buy-in at some of the highest levels. You cant plot to kill a major leader without a loose plan and the people in place to engineer a coup afterwards.
It just happened to be that a combination of desperation and opportunity, given Hitler's tight wartime security, made it 1944.

Hell even Goering let slip the start date of Barbarossa to British intelligence in a misguided attempt to avert war

Would a successful assassination in July '44, or earlier in 1943, made a difference? It is impossible to say with credible arguments on both sides. On the one hand the SS was simply too powerful politically, as evidenced by the widespread purges after the plot, but it may well have gained traction in forcing change you cant tell.

Had it worked, the war would have likely ended in unconditional surrender with demand for extreme reparations from the USSR but Germany would have remained whole under an agreed post-war neutrality (as was actually tabled unsuccessfully in 1946/1947)

[–] ragusa11 8 years ago

Interesting 'What if'.

I could see the alliance between the Western Allies and the Soviets collapsing. The Western Allies probably would have negotiated a harsh Armistice. The Soviets would have never stopped.