Hitler Survived an Assassination Attempt by Just 20 Minutes
On July 20, 1944, Claus von Stauffenberg placed a bomb under Hitler's conference table, but Hitler left the meeting 20 minutes early, saving his life.
About this fact
The July 20, 1944 plot was the closest anyone came to assassinating Hitler during WWII. Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, a German officer who had become disillusioned with Nazi regime, placed a briefcase containing a bomb under the conference table at Hitler's Wolf's Lair headquarters. The bomb was set to explode during a military briefing. However, another officer accidentally moved the briefcase to the other side of a heavy table leg, which shielded Hitler from the blast. More crucially, Hitler left the meeting 20 minutes earlier than planned to greet Mussolini. When the bomb exploded, it killed 4 people and wounded many others, but Hitler survived with only minor injuries. Stauffenberg and 200 other conspirators were executed.