# Hitler's Brushes With Death **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 9, 2004, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitlers-brushes-with-death/228349 "2004-02-09T23:45:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2004, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitlers-brushes-with-death/228349/1 "2004-02-09T23:45:17Z")
I was just reading [this article](http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=573&ncid=573&e=1&u=/nm/20040209/od_nm/people_hitler_plotter_dc) about one of the participants in the July 20, 1944 plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler. That got me to thinking that Hitler was one heck of a slippery bastard. Working backward, I can name at least half a dozen times when he could have been killed or seriously injured: [ul] [li]The July 20 bomb plot.[/li] [li]Earlier that summer, in what would prove to be his last visit to France, Hitler was in a meeting in a bunker when a V1 failed on launch. It nosed over and exploded directly atop the bunker, but failed to cave it in.[/li] [li]I believe there was an earlier attempt to assassinate Hitler in Smolensk in 1943, planned by many of the same people who pulled off the July 20 attempt.[/li] [li]The “[short speech](http://www.fuzzybunnymilitia.org/~hatridge/bulletin/Spring03/elser.php)” bombing in Munich in 1939.[/li] [li]The shootout during the Beer Hall Putsch in which the guy standing next to Hitler was mortally wounded.[/li] [li]And of course, he was gassed and took a shell splinter during the First World War.[/ul][/li] The problem is I don’t really have a definitive biography of Hitler lying around, so I’m uncertain whether some of the above events were genuinely dangerous or if some are B.S. And I suspect I’ve missed more examples. If anyone can help me out with this, I’d really appreciate it. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2004, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitlers-brushes-with-death/228349/2 "2004-02-09T23:55:20Z")
Not to deny Hitler’s toughness, but it’s nothing compared to Rasputin’s final night. Cyanide More cyanide Shot Stabbed Shot again Tied up and thrown in an icy river, still breathing ---
**Author:** ![Capt\_B.Phart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc29f/32.png) [@Capt\_B.Phart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt_B.Phart)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2004, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitlers-brushes-with-death/228349/3 "2004-02-10T01:29:08Z")
So, Hitler Vs Rasputin, who wins? ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2004, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitlers-brushes-with-death/228349/4 "2004-02-10T01:37:25Z")
All of the incidents you mention I’ve read of several times, with the exception of the Smolensk event in 1943. I’m not researching anything right now, but I seem to recall an attempt, prior to the 1944 conference room bomb, to put a bomb on Hitler’s airplane. I’ll see if I can’t find something on that. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2004, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitlers-brushes-with-death/228349/5 "2004-02-10T01:43:30Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Not to deny Hitler’s toughness, but it’s nothing compared to Rasputin’s final night. > > Cyanide > More cyanide > Shot > Stabbed > Shot again > Tied up and thrown in an icy river, still breathing I thought this was a myth? ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2004, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitlers-brushes-with-death/228349/6 "2004-02-10T02:29:41Z")
It looks like we were both headed in the right direction, **Ringo**. [According to this site](http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/imt/tgmwc/tgmwc-12/tgmwc-12-114-06.shtml): > [@](#): > > Q. Do you wish to state anything further? > > A. You had asked me about the first step in this direction after General Beck had given up all hope of being able to win over other generals to a putsch. It was said at that time: “Now there is nothing left for us but to free Germany, Europe, and the world, through a bomb attack.” Immediately after this decision, preparations were started. Oster spoke to Lahousen and Lahousen furnished the bombs from his arsenal. The bombs were taken to the headquarters of Kluge at Smolensk, and with every possible means we tried to bring about the attempt on Hitler’s life. This was unsuccessful only because at the time when Hitler visited the front, the bomb which had been put in his airplane did not explode. This was in the spring of 1943. ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2004, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitlers-brushes-with-death/228349/7 "2004-02-10T02:30:52Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > I thought this was a myth? I smell a Mythbusters episode! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2004, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitlers-brushes-with-death/228349/8 "2004-02-10T02:55:15Z")
…And [this guy claims](http://www.joric.com/Conspiracy/Center.htm) that there were _seventeen_ attempts on Hitler’s life between 1938 and 1945. Some are pretty weak, but others sound like pretty close calls if they’re true. Here’s a few ones which are new to me: July 20, 1940. Plans to shoot Hitler while reviewing the victory parade in Paris fall through. March 13, 1943. There were actually three plans to knock off Hitler that day in Smolensk, two by ambush and one by the aforementioned plane bomb. March 20, 1943. A suicide bomber arms two ten-minute bombs while acting as Hitler’s tour guide of captured Soviet arms at the Berlin Armory. Hitler left before they could detonate. December 16, 1943. Another suicide bombing attempt fails when the uniforms the bomber was supposed to model for Hitler are destroyed in a British bombing raid. March 11, 1944. A pistol-weilding conspirator is barred from Hitler’s conference room thanks to a directive from Hitler that no underlings are allowed to attend the meeting. July 11, 1944. von Stauffenberg’s first bomb attempt, cancelled because Himmler and Goering will not be present at the upcoming meeting. July 15, 1944. von Stauffenberg again readies his bomb, and is again waved off. He decides to go ahead. Yet again, Hitler cuts the meeting short before the bomb can be set. [http://www.joric.com/Conspiracy/Calendar.htm](http://www.joric.com/Conspiracy/Calendar.htm) Interesting, no? The author of that website also has a research paper available for download. ---
**Author:** ![robo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a8b319/32.png) [@robo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robo99)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2004, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitlers-brushes-with-death/228349/9 "2004-02-10T03:16:47Z")
Hmm… If Hitler had been killed, say as early as 1940 would Germany have sought peace? ---
**Author:** ![detop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@detop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/detop)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2004, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitlers-brushes-with-death/228349/10 "2004-02-10T04:21:29Z")
> [@Sofa King](#): > > …And [url=http://www.joric.com/Conspiracy/Center.htm]March 13, 1943. There were actually three plans to knock off Hitler that day in Smolensk, two by ambush and one by the aforementioned plane bomb. IIRC, the plane bomb plot failed because they decided to use British “pencil” detonators and they use only one instead of the three (since they were not the world’s most reliable detonators) that a British agent would have used. ---
**Author:** ![Valgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2004, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitlers-brushes-with-death/228349/11 "2004-02-10T05:42:03Z")
> [@Capt B. Phart](#): > > So, Hitler Vs Rasputin, who wins? Throw 'em both into the water, last one you see pounding on the underside of the ice wins. ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2004, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitlers-brushes-with-death/228349/12 "2004-02-10T06:19:54Z")
> [@](#): > > The bombs were taken to the headquarters of Kluge at Smolensk, and with every possible means we tried to bring about the attempt on Hitler’s life. This was unsuccessful only because at the time when Hitler visited the front, the bomb which had been put in his airplane did not explode. This was in the spring of 1943. Yes, according to “Bodyguard of Lies”, the acid that was supposed to eat through the wire and release the firing pin froze when the pilot climbed above a storm. The bombs had been made from captured British plastique to throw off the scent, and had been put in the boxes of an odd wine that came usually in rectangular cardboard boxes. They were 'last minute gifts", and were put in with the luggage, IIRC. [quote] March 11, 1944. A pistol-weilding conspirator is barred from Hitler’s conference room thanks to a directive from Hitler that no underlings are allowed to attend the meeting. [quote] This sounds like one related in “BOL”, which says that a junior officer volunteered for the suicide mission of shooting Hitler with a pistol in a crowded meeting. Being junior, he was placed toward the back, and worse, next to an SS officer. Rather than get off a crummy shot with the SS guy fighting him, and make Hitler even more careful, he just didn’t pull his gun at all. Seeing as how Beck almost was convinced to conceed the entire western front to make sure that the Russians didn’t occupy Germany, I think killing Hitler would have made quite a difference.