Operation Valkyrie was a German World War II emergency plan to take control of German cities and arrest the Nazi leadership if Hitler died. German Army officers modified the plan to use after assassinating Hitler in order to free German soldiers from their oath to him. The plan was to trick reserve soldiers into believing the SS had staged a coup and assassinated Hitler, motivating them to remove the Nazi government from power. Key elements required Hitler's death and the cooperation of Reserve Army commander General Fromm. The plan was ultimately attempted by Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg on July 20, 1944 after his failed assassination of Hitler.

1. Operation Valkyrie
Social Studies Workshop
Teacher: Mauricio Torres

2. What was Operation Valkyrie?
• It was a German World War II emergency continuity of government
operations plan issued to the Territorial Reserve Army of Germany to
execute and implement in case of a general breakdown in civil order of the
nation.
• Or so did Hitler believed it to be…

3. Why did they create it?
• German Army (Heer) officers General
Friedrich Olbricht, Major General
Henning von Tresckow, and Colonel
Claus von Stauffenberg modified the plan
with the intention of using it to take control
of German cities, disarm the SS, and arrest
the Nazi leadership once Hitler was dead.
• There was a catch to it:
• Hitler's death (as opposed to his arrest)
was required to free German soldiers
from their oath of loyalty to him.
Tresckow

4. How did it work?
• In essence, the plan was to trick the Reserve
Army into the seizure and removal of the
civilian government of wartime Germany under
the false pretense that the SS had attempted a
coup d'État that included the assassination of
Adolf Hitler.
• The key requirement was that the rank-and-file
soldiers and junior officers who were supposed
to execute this plan would be motivated to do
so based upon their false belief that it was the
Nazi civilian leadership who had behaved with
disloyalty and treason against the state, and
were therefore required to be removed.

5. Key Elements
• Apart from Hitler, only General
Friedrich Fromm, commander of
the Reserve Army, could put
Operation Valkyrie into effect.
Therefore, Fromm had to either
be won over to the conspiracy, or
in some way neutralized for the
plan to succeed.
Fromm

6. Stauffenberg´s Role
• The key role was played by Colonel Claus
Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg in actual
implementation after his assassination attempt
on Hitler on July 20, 1944.
• Stauffenberg also further improved the
Valkyrie plan and made changes to address
changing situations. Stauffenberg's position as
Chief of Staff of Reserve Army gave him
access to Hitler for reports and at the same
time required his presence at headquarters for
implementation of Valkyrie.
Stauffenberg