'The July bomb plot'

By July 1944 a group of German army officers had decided that the war could not be won. These men knew that Hitler would have to be assassinated since he would never negotiate peace with the Allies. The plot was led by a 37-year-old aristocratic officer, Count Stauffenberg. He smuggled a bomb in a briefcase into a meeting of army leaders with Hitler. He placed the bomb next to Hitler under the large table around which the men stood and then left the meeting.

Unfortunately for the plotters (and the world), the briefcase was moved away from Hitler. It did explode and killed four officers but not Hitler. Stauffenberg was certain he was dead and put the conspiracy into operation. The plotters, having revealed themselves, were quickly arrested. Stauffenberg was executed by firing squad. Others were less lucky - they suffered an agonising death by hanging from meat hooks. Their deaths were filmed for Hitler to gloat over later.

Neil Demarco: The era of the Second World War; Oxford University Press, 1993/2000, page 67