THE MAN WHO TRIED TO KILL HITLER

• VALKYRIE-the tale of a fearless band of German officers who tried to blow up Adolf Hitler-is set to be a Hollywood blockbuster.

• Its star Tom Cruise, who plays conspiracy hero Claus von Stauffenberg, is being tipped for an Oscar. And the movie-out here on January 23-has reignited interest in one of history's most daring plots.
• VON Stauffenberg and his co-conspirators failed-and paid for their courage with their lives. But Hitler DIDN'T get them all . . . One of them, unknown to the Fuhrer, miraculously SURVIVED.
• NOW Philipp von Boeselager, a lieutenant who supplied the famous Valkyrie bomb and hid his secret for years afterwards, has told his remarkable story for the first time in a new book.
• HE reveals how he took part in FOUR dramatic plots to kill Hitler. How the SLAUGHTER of five GYPSIES set him on his deadly mission. And how he SAVED his own life by snatching evidence from a pal's BLOODIED BODY as Nazis closed in . . .

IN the smoky darkness of a Nazi cinema, a young German officer looked nervously around as he clutched the briefcase he hoped would change the course of history.

Inside it were enough high explosives to blast Adolf Hitler to pieces . . . and end the Second World War.

For bombmaker Philipp von Boeselager, a 25-year-old field lieutenant, it would be his FOURTH and LAST highly dangerous attempt to kill the 20th Century's most evil dictator . . .

From within the VERY HEART of the Nazi war machine.

The briefcase Philipp nervously slipped to a fellow conspirator at that rendezvous would be placed only FEET from Hitler by Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg at a military meeting in the Fuhrer's Wolf's Lair HQ in 1944.

And with luck it would take out many of the German leader's henchmen too.

Philipp-who kept his involvement in the plot secret for years after the war because of fear of reprisals-revealed: "It was not a question of an isolated assassination, but rather of beginning a complete overthrow of the regime."

His burning determination to wipe out the man he had once admired had been sparked by sickening war crimes he witnessed on the Russian front.

Now, as Philipp watched his contact leave with the bomb he had built, he prayed this last attempt to kill the Fuhrer would work. Operation Valkyrie was ready to begin. . . .

On July 20, 1944, Hitler called a meeting of his generals at the Wolf's Lair in the German state of East Prussia. As they gathered around the conference table, Col von Stauffenberg-a senior leader in the plot-went into the toilet with Philipp's briefcase bomb. Following the young lieutenant's instructions, he crushed the end of a timed detonator into the explosive and closed the case just as a guard banged on the door barking that Hitler was waiting for him.

Explode

Entering the room, Stauffenberg, 36, scanned the faces of the 20 officers flanking the Fuhrer. It was 12.30pm. The bomb would explode in ten minutes.Placing his briefcase under the wooden table he sat for a few minutes before making another excuse to leave the room.

Afterwards survivors would say how he seemed agitated and was sweating. Moments later the bomb shook the building. The conference room was obliterated. Four officers were killed. But Hitler incredibly survived with only minor injuries. His clothes were shredded and his trousers blown off.

He was saved only because one of his colonels moved the briefcase to the opposite side of a heavy table leg seconds before it went off.

Hearing the explosion and seeing the damage, Stauffenberg assumed he'd been successful. In less than half an hour, he was heading for Berlin, believing the final stages of Operation Valkyrie-in which conspirators in key positions of power would take control-were already in motion.

Yet the coup was foiled as Hitler contacted his henchmen and the Gestapo were ordered to round up suspected key conspirators. Stauffenberg himself was betrayed by a fellow conspirator, caught and later shot.

Philipp von Boeselager's plot to kill Hitler was over. A mission that had begun with an attempt to SHOOT his leader.

PLOT ONE: By 1943 Philipp and his brother Georg were part of a gang of conspirators involving about 30 top officers who planned to kill the dictator as he visited the Russian front.

They were to strike as he attended an officers mess banquet. Philipp said: "We knew Hitler always wore a thin bullet-proof vest and his cap was lined with metal. So it would be necessary to shoot him in the face."

As Hitler sat down to eat, it was agreed Georg-a deputy commander -would stand and count, 'one, two'. Then nine conspirators, including Philipp, would all open fire. "It was as simple as that. Everyone knew exactly his position and role," he said.

The conspirators had back-up plans in case Hitler cancelled the lunch at the last minute. If he headed out to the troops, a cavalry squadron was to intercept him in the forest, hold a hasty military tribunal and have himshot by firing squad.

But the assassination was shelved when, a day before the visit, it emerged Hitler's deputy, SS chief Heinrich Himmler, would not be with him.

Philipp said: "To kill Hitler without seizing Himmler was to risk starting a civil war. So the operation was cancelled." He said the following day at the banquet was unbearable. "We were mentally following the scenario we had planned, said Philipp.

Despicable

"Hunched over his plate, his elbows on the table, raising his head only to swallow a mouthful of wine, Hitler was a despicable sight."

PLOT TWO: Soon the conspirators hatched another plan-and they were so desperate they didn't care if Himmler was there or not. Explosives expert Philipp planted a bomb in a case of French cognac that was loaded on to Hitler's personal plane. The bomb was timed to go off while Hitler was in the air. But it failed because the detonator FROZE.

PLOT THREE: A week later came the third attempt in Berlin. Hitler was due at a 'Heroes Day' rally. This time officer Rudolph Gersdorff prepared to sacrifice himself as a SUICIDE BOMBER, detonating a device on his belt as the Fuhrer passed by.

However, at the moment Gersdorff was ready to activate the bomb, Hitler made a detour.

After the famous bomb of PLOT FOUR failed, Philipp realised the Gestapo would be closing in. But his hatred of the regime was still burning as strongly as it had the day he discovered the 'special treatment' the SS had meted out to five captured gypsies.

Philipp revealed: "An officer told me, 'We shot them! All the Jews and gypsies we pick up are shot! Our mission is to liquidate them!' This incident changed my view of the war. I was disgusted and afraid."

Blood

After the Wolf's Lair bomb exploded, Phillip was heading to Berlin with a fellow conspirator, Capt Hidding, ready to play his part in the coup. He got news of its failure from other unsuspecting troops as his colleague, carrying documents detailing the takeover, was killed by a mine.

"I got to his body first," said Philipp. "And knelt over him pretending to pray as other soldiers began to gather round. I slipped my hand into his map bag, which was sticky with blood and hastily pulled the documents out before the others noticed."

His quick thinking saved him. Because of their exemplary service record, he and Georg were never suspected. Nearly 200 co-conspirators were tortured and executed-some were hanged with piano wire and their deaths filmed for Hitler to watch.

Philipp's heroics only became public knowledge years after the war. He was awarded the French Legion d'Honneur.

He died aged 90 last year before his book was published, modest to the end about his unsung part in Valkyrie-and still wondering how history might have been changed if that briefcase was a foot closer to Hitler.

Copyright Philipp Freiherr von Boeselager (c) Editions Perrin, Paris

Extracted from Valkyrie: The Plot to Kill Hitler by Philipp von Boeselager with Florence and Jerome Fehrenbach. Translated by Steven Rendall. Published by Weidenfeld and Nicolson and priced £9.99.

To order your copy for £9.49 please visit www.notwbookshop.co.uk