On July 20, 1944, Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, an aristocratic colonel in the Nazi army, took the fate of the German people into his own hands. Increasingly disillusioned with Adolf Hitler, Stauffenberg and numerous other co-conspirators within the German military, including Friedrich Olbricht and Henning von Tresckow, plotted to assassinate the dictator and seize the reins of power.

Shortly after noon on a hot summer day, Stauffenberg smuggled an explosives-filled briefcase into a meeting at Hitler's "Wolf's Lair" hideaway (in what is today Poland), where the dictator was seated around a large wooden table with 22 other Nazi officials.

Stauffenberg placed the briefcase under the table, made an excuse to leave, and watched the explosion from afar as he raced towards his getaway car. Confident he had completed his mission and an impending coup would soon place him and like-minded co-conspirators in power, Stauffenberg made haste to return to Berlin. Miraculously, Hitler survived the blast that killed four others, and the opposition's poor planning, lack of support and hesitation at crucial moments played into the Führer's hands. Hitler has sustained minor burns and concussion but, according to the news agency, managed to keep his appointment with Italian leader Benito Mussolini. And the deputy head of the press, Helmut Suendermann, stated: "The German people must consider the failure of the attempt on Hitler's life as a sign that Hitler will complete his tasks under the protection of a divine power By midnight -- just twelve hours later -- Hitler had regained the upper hand and squashed the rebellion. Stauffenberg and three others were executed by firing squad in Berlin. In the coming weeks, an additional 140 people implicated in the plot were killed and more than 5,000 conspirators and political opponents were rounded-up.

Unsolved History other parts of this documentary movie can be found here

Killing Hitler 1 of 5

Killing Hitler 3 of 5

Killing Hitler 4 of 5

Killing Hitler 5 of 5

Visiting todays ruins of Wolfslair and

computer reconstruction