Anti-Nazi Ritterkreuzträger

The anti-Nazi conspiracy within the Wehrmacht encompassed a loose but determined network of German military officers and officials who sought to overthrow or assassinate Adolf Hitler and dismantle the Nazi regime from inside the armed forces during the Second World War, driven by a mix of strategic opposition to Hitler's reckless expansionism, moral revulsion at the regime's escalating war crimes and genocide, and a desire to negotiate an honorable peace before total defeat. Roots of the resistance traced back to the late 1930s, when conservative officers such as Generaloberst Ludwig Beck, who resigned as Chief of the General Staff in August 1938 over the planned invasion of Czechoslovakia, collaborated with Abwehr chief Admiral Wilhelm Canaris and his deputy Oberst Hans Oster in plots to arrest Hitler during the Sudeten crisis and install a military government, efforts that formed part of the informal Schwarze Kapelle circle and involved figures like Generalmajor Henning von Tresckow. These early schemes faltered due to the rapid success of Hitler's foreign policy gambles and the regime's tightening grip, but resistance persisted into the war years through scattered assassination attempts, including Tresckow's and Fabian von Schlabrendorff's March 1943 plot to bomb Hitler's plane en route from Smolensk, which failed when the explosive device did not detonate. The conspiracy reached its climax in 1944 under the leadership of Oberst Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, a decorated but critically wounded staff officer who had joined the inner circle after service on the Eastern Front and who coordinated with General der Infanterie Friedrich Olbricht and others to adapt the existing Operation Walküre contingency plan for deploying the Ersatzheer to seize key Berlin installations and arrest Nazi leaders once Hitler was eliminated. On 20 July 1944, Stauffenberg planted a briefcase bomb at the Wolfsschanze headquarters during a military conference, killing several officers but only lightly wounding Hitler; the subsequent failure to fully activate Walküre in Berlin, compounded by communication breakdowns and hesitation among some participants, allowed loyalist forces under Generaloberst Friedrich Fromm to suppress the coup within hours. Prominent Wehrmacht conspirators included Generalfeldmarschall Erwin von Witzleben, Generaloberst Erich Hoepner, and others from aristocratic and professional military backgrounds who had grown alienated by Nazi interference in command structures and the conduct of the war, though the plot's scope remained limited and did not extend to widespread enlisted support or coordination with foreign Allies. The plot's collapse triggered ferocious reprisals ordered by Hitler, with the Volksgerichtshof under Roland Freisler conducting show trials that led to the execution of dozens of officers by hanging or firing squad, while hundreds more faced arrest, dismissal, or suicide, including the forced death of Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel due to his tangential associations; this purge effectively crushed organized military opposition for the remainder of the war, underscoring both the courage of a principled minority within the Wehrmacht officer corps and the formidable totalitarian controls that ultimately prevailed until Germany's unconditional surrender in 1945.

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HEER


General der Artillerie Fritz Lindemann, born on 11 April 1894 in Berlin-Charlottenburg and who died on 22 September 1944 in Berlin from gunshot wounds sustained while resisting arrest, was a General der Artillerie in the Wehrmacht whose senior positions and extensive travels enabled him to play an active role in the military resistance against Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime. After distinguished frontline service including command of the 132. Infanterie-Division on the Eastern Front, Lindemann was appointed Chief of Staff of the Artillery in the Oberkommando des Heeres in October 1943, a post that required frequent journeys between Berlin, the Führer Headquarters, army group commands and deputy general commands at home; he deliberately used these opportunities to establish and coordinate contacts with fellow conspirators, functioning as an important liaison and coordinator within the inner circle of the anti-Nazi military opposition. He developed particularly close ties with General Hellmuth Stieff, a longtime friend and fellow plotter, and also maintained links to civilian resisters such as Hjalmar Schacht, who later described him as one of the most capable and active men in the officers’ resistance circle. As part of the preparations for Operation Valkyrie, Lindemann was specifically tasked with reading the conspirators’ proclamation to the German people over the radio immediately after the successful assassination of Hitler on 20 July 1944; however, he did not appear at the Bendlerblock military headquarters in Berlin that day. Following the failure of the plot he went into hiding, initially with relatives in Dresden before moving to Berlin, but was located by the Gestapo on 3 September 1944; during the arrest he attempted to escape by jumping from a third-floor window and was shot in the leg and stomach, after which he was taken to the Berlin police hospital, operated upon in preparation for interrogation and torture, and died nine days later from his injuries without ever standing trial.

Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_resistance_to_Nazism