Claus von Stauffenberg, a Wehrmacht Colonel stationed in Tunisia during World War II, grows more pessimistic about Hitler's plans for Nazi Germany while there. The P-40 fighter-bombers launch an attack on his battalion. After suffering serious injuries, Stauffenberg is airlifted back to Germany, where he loses two fingers from his left hand, his right hand, and his left eye. In the meantime, Major General Henning Von Tresckow tries to sneak a bomb into the Führer's private aircraft in an attempt to kill Adolf Hitler. But the bomb is a dud; it doesn't go off, and Tresckow has to fly to Berlin to get it back safely. He instructs General Olbricht to locate a substitute after finding out that Major General Hans Oster has been detained by the Gestapo. Olbricht brings Stauffenberg to a meeting of the secret committee that oversaw Hitler's assassination attempts after enlisting him in the German Resistance. Erwin Von Witzleben, Dr. Carl Goerdeler, and General Ludwig Beck are among the members. When Stauffenberg finds out there are no arrangements regarding what will happen when Hitler is killed, he is shocked.
He gets the notion to use Operation Valkyrie, which entails deploying the Reserve Army to uphold order in the case of a national emergency, during a bombing strike on Berlin. After killing Hitler, the plotters meticulously rewrite the plan's directives to topple the Nazi government. They offer him a position as chief of the Wehrmacht in post-Nazi Germany and ask for his cooperation, realizing that only General Friedrich Fromm, the leader of the Reserve Army, can start Valkyrie. However, Fromm refuses to be personally involved. Hitler received Stauffenberg at his Berghof residence in Bavaria, where the Führer must sign the revised Operation Valkyrie orders. Hitler signs the orders without carefully reviewing the revisions because he thinks Stauffenberg's alterations "are for the best" and hails Stauffenberg's valor in North Africa in front of his inner circle, which includes Dr. Joseph Goebbels, Wilhelm Keitel, Heinrich Himmler, Hermann Göring, and Albert Speer.
Stauffenberg is given the order to kill both Hitler and SS chief Himmler at the Führer's command bunker, the Wolf's Lair, at Goerdeler's demand. Colonel Mertz Von Quirnheim trains the committee members on how to utilize pencil detonators during a final briefing. Additionally, Stauffenberg convinces Wolf's Lair's chief communications officer, General Fellgiebel, to halt communication following the bombing.
If the assassination fails, Stauffenberg and his wife know what will happen to his family. Their plans are: Hilter has planned a briefing for the troops. When everybody is in attendance, Stauffenberg will begin. Stauffenberg will request permission to proceed before arming the bombs. The inside man will cut off all communication after the flash. In the unlikely event that Fromm declines to accompany them, Olbricht would assume command of the Reserve Army and launch Valkyrie. After that, he would inform all district commanders of the SS's attempt to take over. They will arrest all SS, Gestapo, and Nazi officials using the reserve army. By then, Stauffenberg should have rejoined Berlin and assumed leadership of the Army Reserve. The positions of head of state and commander of the armed forces will be filled by Witzleben and Ludwig Beck. Now that Berlin has been established, Dr. Goerdeler will speak to the people as their new chancellor.
Then, to prevent the complete annihilation of Europe, they will negotiate a ceasefire with the Allies. To identify each member of the operation, they also present their IDs. General Olbricht issued an order to the Reserve Army requesting some form of Standby action in all military regions, including Berlin before Stauffenberg could take action. The sergeant then gathers the army. Stauffenberg relocates his family from Berlin far afield. Additionally, the trooper and sergeant are waiting for orders.
When Stauffenberg brings the bomb to a strategy meeting at Wolf's Lair on July 15, 1944, the committee leaders do not give Stauffenberg the go-ahead because Himmler is not there. By the time one of them (Colonel Albercht Ritter Mertz) stands up to the others and orders him to proceed, but the meeting has already ended.
Stauffenberg securely removes the explosives and himself from the bunker without assistance, and the Reserve Army is told to disband because they mistook the mobilization for training. Back in Berlin, Fromm threatens to have Olbricht and Stauffenberg jailed if they attempt to command the reserve army once more. Stauffenberg addresses the committee in an attempt to disapprove of their lack of decisiveness and denounces Goerdeler, the coup's chosen chancellor. Beck tells Goerdeler that the SS is looking for him and begs Goerdeler to leave the nation right away when he insists that Stauffenberg be relieved.
Stauffenberg returned to Wolf's Lair on July 20, 1944, accompanied by his adjutant, Lieutenant Haeften. They make some excuses to take time changing uniforms; they also get the pencil detonators ready to explode in minutes. To his dismay, Stauffenberg finds out after the timer goes off that the conference is taking place in an open-window summer barrack, whereas the conspirators had planned to explode the bomb inside the bunker's walls for maximum destruction. Stauffenberg positions the suitcase with the explosives near Hitler during the meeting, while his adjutant waits in the car. After that, Stauffenberg heads back to the automobile from the barracks. Hitler is mostly spared the blast, though, as one of the meeting's officers moves the explosives behind a table leg. Stauffenberg leaves Wolf's Lair without recollecting his uniform cap and stuff after concluding that Hitler has been killed as the bomb detonates. Fellgiebel calls Mertz about the incident before cutting off communications, but he is unable to make it clear whether the Führer is dead or not.
While Stauffenberg returns to Berlin by plane, Olbricht holds off on calling up the Reserve Army until he is positive that Hitler has passed away. Mertz issues the standby orders to stand despite forging Olbricht's signature behind his back. At the same time, Stauffenberg calls Olbricht, telling him that no proof of Hitler's death has been received. Stauffenberg guarantees that they carried out the explosion and that they are still dedicated to it. Hitler, whether he was alive or not Now, according to Stauffenberg, their lives are in jeopardy. Thus, he instructs them to call Valkyrie in Fromm's name and requests that Fromm be given the option to either join them or be placed under arrest.
General Olbricht, the Reserve Army commander, relays the news on behalf of General Fromm: "Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler, is dead." Since certain extreme SS members are trying to take over the government, Valkyrie will now be launched. General Fromm confirms with Field Marshal Keitel that the assassination was, in fact, "another failed attempt, and the Fuhrer was never in danger" after learning of the initialization orders for Standby. Kietel also inquires about Stauffenberg, who, following the assassination, fled the Wolf's Lair without gathering his weapons. After hanging off the phone, Olbricht and Stauffenberg detain the general because he declines to join the conspirators. When word spreads around Berlin that Hitler survived the explosion, Stauffenberg brushes it off as SS propaganda.
As Operation Valkyrie gets underway, Stauffenberg and the other conspirators order the arrest of SS officers and leaders of the Nazi party, persuading subordinate officers that the Party and the SS are pulling off a coup. Mid-level officers carrying out the instructions start to question which side they should be fighting for as Stauffenberg starts seizing control of Berlin's government ministries.
Two arrest orders are received by communication Sergeants in the meantime from both sides. One was sent from Wolf's Lair to arrest Colonel Stauffenberg, and the other was sent from Colonel Stauffenberg in the War Ministry to arrest Reich Minister Goebbels. Refusing to say which, they carry out both commands. After receiving both instructions, Reserve Army Major Otto Ernst Remer is about to arrest Goebbels, but Minister Goebbels stops him when he calls Hitler. Remer recognizes the voice of Hitler on the other end. Fuhrer then orders Remer to arrest the traitors alive. Major Remer concludes that the Reserve Army has been tricked and has unintentionally assisted in a coup rather than prevented it. Sergeants in the communication section also decide to obstruct any communications coming from Stauffenberg and relay all communications coming from Wolf's Lair.
SS officers are released, and the plotters are then besieged inside the Bendlerblock. The broadcast declares in the hours that follow that Fuhrer is alive and has returned to work right away. Listening, General Olbricht walks away from the headquarters after losing hope. The staff at the head office also did so, and the rebel leaders were taken into custody. Hitler orders the conspirators to be kept alive, but General Fromm calls an emergency court martial and condemns them to death in an ultimately futile attempt to rescue himself. After Fromm gives Beck a pistol, Beck kills himself. The ringleaders are subsequently put to death one by one by firing squad that evening. Colonel Stauffenberg's final act is to exclaim, "Long live sacred Germany!" when it is his turn.
A succinct epilogue reveals that the plot of July 20, 1944, was the final in a string of fifteen documented German assassination attempts on Hitler. It also notes that Countess Nina Von Stauffenberg and her children survived the war and that Hitler committed suicide nine months later. The dedication at the Memorial to the German Resistance is then superimposed: You did not bear the shame. You resisted. Sacrificing your life for freedom, justice, and honor.
