Stauffenberg now decided that he alone would carry out the plans by his own hand because on June 6^th 1944, Germany lost whatever diplomatic leverage it had as the Allies invaded in Normandy.  Within two weeks of the invasion, Allied forces in both theaters of combat had paralyzed German troop movements.  “Hitler, more than ever convinced of the incompetence of his generals, promised new forces.”[24]  Where these supposed forces looked good on paper in reality they were an outright fiction.  Consequently, help for the beleaguered troops at the front never arrived.  And while Stauffenberg and the conspirators waited for the opportunity to strike, the noose slowly began to tighten around Germany’s neck.

In order to start the bomb ticking, so to speak, Stauffenberg would have to grasp a pair of pliers with the three good fingers of his left hand to break an acid capsule which ate the timed fuse down to the point of discharge.  He would keep the bomb concealed in his briefcase because the chances of it getting searched were minimal.  By now, Stauffenberg had become Fromm’s chief-of-staff and therefore had almost daily access to Hitler.  His first attempt was on July 11^th when he was summoned to Hitler’s mountain retreat in Bavaria named Berchtesgaden. 

Stauffenberg had initially hoped to get Hitler, Heinrich Himmler, and Hermann Goering in one fell swoop.  Goering was the head of the Luftwaffe (German Air Force) and architect of the Final Solution.  Himmler was head of the Schutzstaffel more commonly known as the SS and was charged with carrying out Goering’s plan.  Over time, Stauffenberg dismissed Goering as a target because it was felt that he would not have much influence over a coup attempt.  Himmler, on the other hand who was the master of a state within a state with his SS minions, could pose a severe problem in a post coup reality.  With combat beginning to inch ever closer to Germany’s borders Stauffenberg decided, at the very least to make a go of killing Hitler whether or not Himmler was there hoping that once the head was dead then perhaps the arms would die with it.  He tried again on July 15^th but again to no avail.  As other conspirators began to doubt that the coup would be successful as well as timely due to the Allied advance, Stauffenberg remarked to them, “But even worse than failure…is to yield to shame and coercion without a struggle."[25]  On July 20^th, he would finally get his chance.

Leaving Berlin on the morning of July 20^th with his aide Werner von Haeften and General Helmut Steiff who were both involved in the conspiracy, they arrived in Rastenburg, East Prussia, which was home to Hitler’s Eastern Front Headquarters code named Wolfschanze, before noon for the Fuhrer’s midday conference.  Stauffenberg ensconced himself in an office where he was able to break the acid capsule and start the fuse.  He then proceeded to the conference room and tried to get a good spot to place the bomb.  Because he was a junior officer, he would not be able to place himself directly beside Hitler so instead chose one end of the table and placed the bomb on the inside of the table support.  Then, feigning some important task, Stauffenberg left the conference room and proceeded to join his aide who had their staff car ready to go.  It was just after 12:40 PM.  “Suddenly, as witnesses later recounted, a deafening crack shattered the midday quiet and a bluish yellow flame rocketed skyward."[26] Believing that Hitler could not have survived the explosion Stauffenberg and Haeften were able to bluff their way out of Wolfschanze and board a plane for the return trip to Berlin.  Hopefully, Operation Valkyrie would already be in motion by the time they returned.

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