Editing 20 July plot (section)

=== Operation Valkyrie ===
[[File:20 July plot Wolfsschanze conference.svg|Approximate positions of the attendees at the meeting in relation to the briefcase bomb when it exploded: 
{{image key
|list type=ordered
|thumb size=wide
|{{legend|white|[[Adolf Hitler]]}}
|{{legend|#81b4ff|[[Adolf Heusinger]]}}
|{{legend|#ff8181|[[Günther Korten]]}}
|{{legend|#ff8181|[[Heinz Brandt]]}}
|{{legend|#81b4ff|[[Karl Bodenschatz]]}}
|{{legend|#81b4ff|Heinz Waizenegger}}
|{{legend|#ff8181|[[Rudolf Schmundt]]}}
|{{legend|#81b4ff|[[Heinrich Borgmann]]}}
|{{legend|#81b4ff|[[Walther Buhle]]}}
|{{legend|#81b4ff|[[Karl-Jesko von Puttkamer]]}}
|{{legend|#ff8181|Heinrich Berger}}
|{{legend|#81b4ff|[[Heinz Assmann]]}}
|{{legend|white|[[Ernst John von Freyend]]}}
|{{legend|#81b4ff|[[Walter Scherff]]}}
|{{legend|white|[[Hans-Erich Voss]]}}
|{{legend|white|[[Otto Günsche]]}}
|{{legend|white|[[Nicolaus von Below]]}}
|{{legend|white|[[Hermann Fegelein]]}}
|{{legend|white|Heinz Buchholz}}
|{{legend|white|[[Herbert Büchs]]}}
|{{legend|white|[[Franz von Sonnleithner]]}}
|{{legend|white|[[Walter Warlimont]]}}
|{{legend|#81b4ff|[[Alfred Jodl]]}}
|{{legend|white|[[Wilhelm Keitel]]}}}}|thumb|upright=2]]
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1972-025-12, Zerstörte Lagerbaracke nach dem 20. Juli 1944.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Bomb damage to the conference room]]
On 18 July rumours reached Stauffenberg that the Gestapo had knowledge of the conspiracy and that he might be arrested at any time—this was apparently not true, but there was a sense that the net was closing in and that the next opportunity to kill Hitler must be taken because there might not be another. On the morning of Thursday, 20 July Stauffenberg flew back to the ''Wolfsschanze'' for another Hitler military conference, once again with a bomb in his briefcase.<ref name="Valkyrie" />

At around 12:30&nbsp;pm as the conference began, Stauffenberg asked to use a washroom in [[Wilhelm Keitel]]'s office, saying that he had to change his shirt, which indeed was soaked through with sweat, it being a very hot day. There, assisted by von Haeften, he used pliers to crush the end of a [[pencil detonator]] inserted into a {{convert|1|kg|lb}} block of [[plastic explosive]] wrapped in brown paper, that was prepared by [[Wessel von Freytag-Loringhoven]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.geopolintelligence.com/6-assassination-attempts-on-hitler/|title=6 assassination attempts on Hitler|date=28 August 2015|publisher=Geopol Intelligence|access-date=23 June 2018|archive-date=13 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161113093634/http://www.geopolintelligence.com/6-assassination-attempts-on-hitler/|url-status=live}}</ref> The pencil detonator consisted of a thin copper tube containing [[Copper(II) chloride|cupric chloride]] that would take about ten minutes to silently eat through wire holding back the [[firing pin]] from the [[percussion cap]]. It was slow going due to war wounds that had cost Stauffenberg an eye, his right hand, and two fingers on his left hand. Interrupted by a guard knocking on the door advising him that the meeting was about to begin, he was not able to prime the second bomb, which he gave to his [[aide-de-camp]], [[Werner von Haeften]].<ref name="Valkyrie" />

Stauffenberg placed the single primed bomb inside his briefcase and, with the unwitting assistance of Major [[Ernst John von Freyend]], entered the conference room containing Hitler and 20 officers, positioning the briefcase under the table near Hitler.<ref name=GermanResistance>{{Cite book|year=1996|first=Peter|last=Hoffman |isbn=0773515313|title=The History of the German Resistance, 1933–1945|publisher=McGill-Queen's Press}}</ref>{{page needed|date=July 2020}}<ref name=GermanOpposition>{{Cite book |year=1997|author=Thomsett, Michael C. |isbn=0786403721|title=The German Opposition to Hitler: The Resistance, the Underground, and Assassination Plots, 1938–1945 |publisher=McFarland}}</ref>{{page needed|date=July 2020}} After a few minutes, Stauffenberg received a planned telephone call and left the room. It is presumed that Colonel [[Heinz Brandt]], who was standing next to Hitler, used his foot to move the briefcase aside by pushing it behind the leg of the conference table,<ref name=spiegel12h/><!--"Heinz Brandt schiebt sie wohl mit dem Fuß noch ein Stück zur Seite - hinter die massive Stütze des schweren Lagetisches" "Heinz Brandt presumably pushed it a bit aside with his foot - behind the massive leg of the heavy conference table"--> thus unintentionally deflecting the blast from Hitler but causing the loss of one of his legs and his own demise when the bomb detonated.<ref name="Valkyrie" />

At 12:42<ref name=spiegel12h>{{Cite news|url=https://www.spiegel.de/panorama/20-juli-1944-12-uhr-der-anschlag-a-309271.html|title=20. Juli 1944, 12 Uhr: Der Anschlag|newspaper=Der Spiegel|date=20 July 2004|via=Spiegel Online|access-date=17 November 2019|archive-date=16 June 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120616141722/http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/0,1518,309271,00.html|url-status=live}}</ref> the bomb detonated, demolishing the conference room and killing a stenographer instantly. More than 20 people in the room were injured with three officers later dying. Hitler survived, as did everyone else who was shielded from the blast by the conference table leg. His trousers were singed and tattered (see photograph below) and he suffered from a perforated eardrum (as did most of the other 24 people in the room),<ref name=spiegel12h/><!--"Fast allen 24 Anwesenden, auch Hitler, zerfetzt es die Trommelfelle. .. Seine schwarze Hose und die lange weiße Unterhose hängen in Fetzen herab" - "Nearly all of the 24 persons present, including Hitler, suffered from perforated eardrums. ... His black trousers and the long white underpants are hanging down in shreds!--> as well as from conjunctivitis in his right eye. Hitler's personal physician, [[Theodor Morell]], administered [[penicillin]] which had been taken from captured Allied soldiers for treatment; Morell had previously observed the death of [[Reinhard Heydrich]] from [[sepsis]] in an assassination 2 years earlier.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Johnson |first=Steven <!--|authorlink=Steven Johnson (author)--> |title=Extra Life |publisher=[[Riverhead Books]] |year=2021 |isbn=978-0-525-53885-1 |edition=1st |pages=166–167 |language=en}}</ref>