This Date in History: July 20

 

Ludwig Beck, Army Colonel General, born June 29, 1880 in Biebrich, winner Iron Cross 1st Class in World War I, head of the Truppenamt, chief of staff of the armed forces until 1938, member of the resistance movement, along with Carl Goerdeler, against Hitler, committed suicide by gunshot on July 20, 1944 at the headquarters of the Reserve Army (Ersatzheer) on the Bendlerstraße in Berlin as a result of the failure of the plot to assassinate Hitler earlier that day at Rastenburg in East Prussia by Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg , uttered the following last words, while trying to shoot himself a second time, after his first shot grazed his head: “If it doesn’t work this time, then please help me.”  The second shot also failed to kill him and a sergeant administered a coup de grâce shot to the back of Beck’s neck.  (2,000 Quotes From Hitler’s 1,000-Year Reich)  Beck’s first statement had been: “I am thinking of earlier times.”

Ludwig Beck’s body was initially buried in Alter Sankt Matheaus Friedhof in Berlin, but before the end of the war, the Gestapo removed and cremated his remains, and scattered the ashes in secret, which they also did to Claus von Stauffenberg’s

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Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, Army Colonel, born November 15, 1907 in Jettingen/Bavaria, General Staff officer, seriously wounded in North Africa resulting in the loss of his right hand (amputated above the wrist), left eye and the third and fourth fingers on his left hand – in addition to injuries to his left ear and knee, key figure in the 20 July 1944 attempt to assassinate Hitler, executed by a firing squad at Army headquarters in Berlin on July 20/21, 1944, on an assassination plot:

“Since the generals have so far done nothing, the colonels must now go into action.” (Spring 1943)  (2,000 Quotes From Hitler’s 1,000-Year Reich)

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In 1991, Heinz-Georg Lemm, a German army colonel in WWII and later a lieutenant general in the modern Bundeswehr, told the author that he had been at Hitler’s headquarters at Rastenburg on July 20, 1944 to receive the award of the Oak Leaves to the Knights Cross, which then Major Lemm already had.  Sitting at a table under the trees about noon, a colonel walked up and asked if a seat was available, which there was.  Lemm, who did not know the colonel, noticed that the officer was missing one hand, and had only three fingers on the hand he had remaining.  After a short time, the colonel said he had to leave to go brief the Führer.  A few minutes later, Colonel von Stauffenberg’s bomb exploded.  Heinz-Georg said he was subsequently interrogated all night, but the next day he finally was awarded the decoration by Hitler.