All language subtitles for H-B.06of13.Kill.Hitler.Before.War.Starts.x264.AC3.MVGroup.org_track6_[eng]

Powell: Adolf Hitler caused
the deaths of 50 million people.

An entire nation
followed him to ruin.

He was hated by
those he persecuted

and even by some of
his own commanders,

yet, in 25 years,
no one managed to kill him.

Winston Churchill had
very few bodyguards,

whilst Hitler had thousands.

He needed them.

During his travels
across Europe,

there were over 40
attempts on his life.

Now, with access to captured
original SS records,

the producers of
"Churchill's Bodyguard"

can reveal for the first time,
in this new series,

how fate and a small number
of hand-picked bodyguards

helped this evil genius
to cheat death

on so many occasions.

Why did no one manage
to kill Adolf Hitler?

Enough people wanted to,
but as this series shows,

it was not as simple
as it sounds,

even when the number

of people out to get him
was increasing rapidly.

By 1938, Hitler was
on the road to war.

His march across Europe
would multiply his enemies

and put him
in the sights

of foreign powers.

[Crowd cheering ]

It was the greatest challenge
for his bodyguards,

and they stocked up on weapons.

As they escorted Hitler's car
through foreign crowds,

the Begleitkommando --

Hitler's SS close escort --

carried two pistols each,

had quick access
to a dozen submachine guns,

plus 2,500 rounds
of ammunition.

[Crowd cheering ]

They were taking no chances.

Their Fuhrer was becoming
the most wanted man in Europe.

Hitler's grab for land began
in February 1938.

Austria was his homeland,
the country he was born in.

And he was keen to absorb it
into the Third Reich.

His Nazi party was active there

and cajoled sections
of the population

into demonstrating
for Anschluss,

union with Germany.

Taking advantage of this,

Hitler summoned
the Austrian Chancellor,

Kurt von Schuschnigg,

to his private residence
at Obersalzberg.

This stood just over the border
from Austria.

In choosing it,
Hitler indicated

the low esteem in which he held
the foreign chancellor.

This was to be
no official visit,

but a session of bullying.

For two hours, Hitler brow-beat
the Austrian chancellor.

He insisted he sign
a treaty of union with Germany.

He then told Schuschnigg
to wait outside his study

under the glare of his
black-uniformed SS bodyguards.

General Wilhelm Keitel marched
past the Austrian chancellor

to discuss the affair
with Hitler.

The threat was clear --

you sign,
or your country will be invaded.

Schuschnigg signed,

but then called for a referendum
in which the Austrian people

could decide on union or not.

Fearful that they would
reject it, Hitler was furious.

He massed his troops
on the border.

On the 11th of March,

Schuschnigg was forced
to back down

and resigned.

Artur Seyss-Inquart,
head of the Austrian Nazi party,

became the new
Chancellor of Austria.

The next day, German troops
invaded the country.

It was a carefully choreographed
operation

and demonstrated the balance of
power Hitler wished to maintain

within his own forces.

[Crowd cheering ]

The SS-Leibstandarte was
Hitler's regiment of bodyguards.

Each of them was
over six feet tall

and chosen for his Aryan looks.

The Leibstandarte
looked like soldiers

and were armed like soldiers,

but they were not
part of the army.

They belonged to the SS --

the ruthless
party security machine

run by Heinrich Himmler.

Almost four years earlier,

during the Night
of the Long Knives,

Hitler had used
the Leibstandarte

to slaughter the leaders
of his brown-shirted SA

to reassure the German army that
he put country before party.

But now he wanted
to demonstrate

that party and country
marched side by side.

Hitler instructed Sepp Dietrich,
head of the Leibstandarte,

that his SS bodyguards
would take part

in the invasion of Austria.

They were to be placed

under the command of army
General Heinz Guderian.

Dietrich had no problem
with this

and formed a strong friendship

with Guderian --
a pioneer of tank warfare.

Dietrich had served
in a tank unit in 1918.

Guderian had no illusions that,
although he was in command

of the Leibstandarte
for this mission,

it was Dietrich

who had
the ear of the Führer.

To reassure the Austrian
population that they came

in peace, Guderian suggested

heading the troop columns
with bands.

[Brass band playing]

[Crowd cheering ]

He put this idea to Dietrich,
who had it accepted by Hitler.

It was a lesson quickly learned
by German generals

that the best way to get
to Hitler

was through his trusted
chief of bodyguards,

Sepp Dietrich.

As the Leibstandarte

rode across the Austrian border
with the regular German army,

it was Hans Rattenhuber --
commander of the RSD,

the Reich Security Service --

who was in charge of
Hitler's personal security.

Over 30 SS-Begleitkommando
and RSD agents were selected

for the task
of protecting Hitler

as he returned in triumph
to his homeland.

They rode in a convoy
of a dozen Mercedes-Benz cars.

Hitler chose to ride
in a massive six-wheeled

rough-terrain Mercedes G-4

painted in field gray
to underline

his closeness to the army.

The crowds might be cheering

the Fuhrer's entry
into their country,

but among them could be
angry Communists,

Jews, or anyone who felt
threatened by the Nazis,

now they were in charge.

Hitler’s first stop was Braunau,
the little Austrian town

close to the border
where he had been born

in this house
49 years earlier.

Being an Austrian
had always made him

feel an outsider
in German politics,

but now he had made Austria
part of the Third Reich.

It was a significant moment,
and he felt totally at ease

among the welcoming crowds,
allowing them

to get close to his car,
photograph him,

and hand him
flowers and gifts.

But it was a nightmare
for his bodyguards.

Hitler's number-one
SS bodyguard, Bruno Gesche,

was in charge of
the Begleitkommando contingent

in and around his car.

He kept a sharp eye out
for any threats,

but even he was borne along
by a wave of exuberance

and relaxed his guard.

Heinrich Hoffmann,
Hitler's close friend

and personal photographer,
traveled with them,

taking snaps of the celebrations
along the way.

The Nazi convoy drove on
to Lambach, Wels, and Linz.

They spent the night at Linz
and then traveled onto Vienna.

As they got closer
to the Austrian capital,

the crowds got thicker,
and the convoy slowed

to just 10 miles an hour.

At one point, along the road
from Linz to Vienna,

a Briton stopped his car
to watch the parade go past.

The Briton was
Colonel Noel Mason-MacFarlane,

the British military attaché
to Berlin.

Many years later, he revealed
how impressed he was

by the genuinely enthusiastic
welcome for Hitler...

but he also noted the cars

filled with bodyguards
brandishing weapons.

The scene set his mind racing.

This Fuhrer of Germany
and now Austria

was going to be a threat
to his own country.

Maybe it would be a good idea
to get rid of him,

sooner, rather than later.

Mason-MacFarlane began to think
of assassination,

but where to do it?

He had to get round Hitler's
impressive ring of bodyguards.

He would also have to okay it

with his superiors
back in London.

The idea stuck
with the British attaché

as he returned to Berlin.

Hitler concluded his tour
of Austria

with a grand parade in Vienna

of German and Austrian troops --

including his SS-Leibstandarte.

The Austrian troops
took the oath of allegiance

to their new Führer.

It was a glorious reward
for his daring.

He had blustered and bullied
his way into the country.

Now he considered
doing the same thing

in neighboring Czechoslovakia.

But would the welcome
be so friendly?

It was an act
verging on foreign conquest,

and even his proud generals
might draw the line at that.

Hitler celebrated his easy
annexation of Austria

with a trip to Italy.

He wanted to thank
the Italian Fascist leader,

Benito Mussolini,
for staying out of the action.

Il Duce might have turned
awkward --

the Third Reich now shared
a border with Italy.

Knowing that Hitler's
theft of Austria

had set alarm bells ringing
all over Europe,

his bodyguard needed to take
special care

over the arrangements
for the journey.

On their side of the border,
it all ran smoothly.

To wrong-foot any assassins,

three official Condor airliners
flew to Rome.

Hitler preferred to fly when
traveling long distances,

but the Condors were empty of
the Fuhrer and his entourage.

They traveled instead
by train --

the Fuhrersonderzug

or Fuhrer Special --
a luxury express

designed with armored
carriages

for his staff and bodyguards.

The train crossed the Italian
border at the Brenner Pass

and arrived early evening
in Rome.

As soon as Hitler stepped off
the train,

his security services
ceased to have

tight control
over his protection.

Mussolini and his Black Shirts
greeted Hitler

with a hearty Fascist salute --

their raised fists
clenching drawn daggers.

It was a nervous moment
for Bruno Gesche

and the SS-Begleitkommando.

But from then on,
matters only got worse.

Hitler rode through Rome

in an open-topped horse-drawn
carriage,

exposed completely
to the foreign crowd

and accompanied only by

King Victor Emmanuel
and his coachmen.

The Fuhrer was also not happy
about the way

his friend Mussolini
had to play second fiddle

to the King of Italy.

He considered the Fascist leader

the true head of state
of his country,

not the diminutive king.

When they traveled on to Naples
to review the Italian Navy,

there were no significant
security measures in sight.

Hitler's bodyguards were livid.

Mussolini's Fascists reassured
the Germans

that they had arrested
10,000 Jews

and other suspects
before the visit.

But this sounded
like mere bombast.

Rattenhuber and his RSD agents

were not impressed,
but they had little choice

but to accept
the foreign arrangements.

The trip continued with a visit

to Civitavecchia air base,
north of Rome, to inspect

Mussolini's air force.

And then on to Florence,
where the two dictators enjoyed

a brief cultural interlude.

After four days, the Fuhrer got
safely back to Berlin.

Never again did he go abroad --
except to countries

he was in the process
of subjugating.

Hitler may have survived
the Italian state visit,

but now he was hungry
for more foreign policy success.

Nestled beneath southern Germany
and Austria,

some three million
German-speaking people

lived in the northwestern half
of Czechoslovakia.

The region was called
the Sudetenland.

Inside its borders,

the Nazi party agitated for it
to become part of Germany.

Hitler had a secret meeting

with the leader
of the Sudeten Germans,

Konrad Henlein.

They discussed ways

of provoking a crisis
with Czechoslovakia.

One of these ideas was to have
a German minister assassinated

in Prague --
and blame the Czechs.

It was an astonishingly
criminal idea,

but Hitler had also
considered this

before his annexation
of Austria.

For Hitler, political
assassination

was an acceptable weapon
in Nazi foreign policy.

As a result, he knew that he too
was vulnerable --

and his bodyguards were put
on special alert

during this critical period.

In April 1938, Hitler discussed
the military dimension

to a Sudetenland takeover
with General Wilhelm Keitel,

his newly appointed

senior commander
of the Wehrmacht.

They called it Operation Green.

Not all German generals
were happy with Hitler's

aggressive plans
for Czechoslovakia.

Unlike Austria,
this would not be a popular move

and would be opposed

by the Czech President,
Edvard Benes.

The Czechs had signed alliances
with France

and the Soviet Union,
and could expect

some international help.

They had a well-trained
and equipped army

and had also spent much effort
building border fortifications,

designed by the French

and based on their formidable
Maginot Line.

The Czechs were likely
to resist,

and war might easily break out
in the center of Europe.

Many German generals
felt they weren't ready

for a major conflict --
they were still

rebuilding their strength
from the small force permitted

by the Versailles Treaty.

The army chief of staff,
58-year-old General Ludwig Beck,

was the most senior commander
to oppose Hitler's plans.

He was concerned not only by
the unreadiness of his forces,

but by political developments.

Two senior generals
had been forced out

in a purge of the army
at the beginning of 1938.

General Werner von Blomberg,

commander in chief
of all armed forces,

had recently remarried.

Gestapo files revealed his new
wife had been a prostitute

and posed
for pornographic pictures.

He was forced to resign.

Just a couple of months
after this,

General Werner von Fritsch,

commander in chief
of the German army,

was put on trial
for his part

in a homosexual
blackmail scandal.

The charges were dropped,

but the damage had been done,
and he was dismissed.

Beck could see what was
happening around him.

Hitler was clearing out any of
the old-style Prussian generals

who might oppose
his march towards war.

With Hitler loyalists like
Keitel rising to senior command,

the German armed forces
were becoming

a branch of the Nazi party.

The removal of the independent-
minded von Fritsch

was a blow for those
who opposed Hitler.

It forced Beck to take command

of the ring of generals
and key civilian figures

who were becoming unhappy
with the Nazi drive to war.

As early as February 1938,
General Erwin von Witzleben,

commander of the Berlin
military district,

had a secret meeting with

Fritz-Dietlof
von der Schulenburg,

deputy head
of the Berlin police.

They knew that the greatest
obstacle to dealing with Hitler

was his Praetorian guard --
the SS-Leibstandarte --

based in Berlin.

This regiment
of bodyguards could

stamp on any move
against the Führer.

Von Witzleben was asked whether
the army possessed

the muscle and the will
to intervene

against the Leibstandarte.

He spoke to the commander

of the regiment
stationed near Berlin,

who agreed to bring out
his regular troops

to fight the SS bodyguards.

The absence of the Leibstandarte
from Berlin

during the Austrian Anschluss
in March

encouraged these plotters
to think the unthinkable.

Field Marshal
Walther von Brauchitsch

was chosen by Hitler to succeed
Fritsch as head of the army.

In May 1938, Beck sent him
two memos

stressing that the German army
was unprepared

for a war over Czechoslovakia,
which might well also involve

fighting France and Britain.

Brauchitsch showed them
to Hitler,

who rejected both out of hand.

It was too late.

On that same day,
Hitler told his High Command

that his proposed invasion
of Czechoslovakia

would take place
in September 1938.

He wanted his generals to stop
dragging their feet

and get on with
planning victory.

Beck tried openly
to rally support

within the German army for
his reasons not to go to war,

but neither Brauchitsch
nor Hitler would be swayed.

In August, Beck resigned.

It was a significant moment.

From this point on, Beck
would have to work in secret

with those who opposed Hitler.

And among these would be
his successor

as army chief of staff,
General Franz Halder.

[Crowd cheering ]

Their views hardened.

If Hitler would not listen

to their reasoned arguments,

then he would
have to be removed.

And if he resisted,

then he would have to be killed.

While General Beck
was organizing

opposition against Hitler
within the German army,

General Hans Oster was
fomenting dissent

within the Abwehr --

the military intelligence
service.

The 50-year-old Oster
was deputy controller.

He managed a formidable group
of agents gathering information

on all foreign enemies
of the Third Reich.

The Abwehr should have been one
of Hitler's main agencies

for defending his regime.

But Oster and his like-minded
colleagues

believed their country was more
important than the Nazi party

and did not like the journey
their Fuhrer was taking them on.

There were also leading
German civilians

who opposed
Hitler's march to war.

Dr. Hjalmar Schacht, the former
President of the Reichsbank,

was Hitler's first
Minister of Economics.

He was the man who kept
the money flowing

for Nazi rearmament,

but even he had expressed
his doubts about Hitler

to General Beck.

[Speaking German]

Schacht resigned
in November 1937

and went back
to the Reichsbank.

He was soon drawn into a plot
to overthrow Hitler,

being planned by Oster

and Dr. Hans Gisevius,
a senior civil servant

in the Ministry
of the Interior.

On September 4, 1938,

the various plots began
to come together

as Gisevius and Schacht met

the new army chief of staff,
General Halder,

to sound out whether the army
would support a coup.

He agreed that it would,
but only when Hitler

had given the order for
an invasion of Czechoslovakia.

Halder left
the detailed planning

to Gisevius, who now agreed
with General von Witzleben,

the commander
of the Berlin military district,

to reactivate the plan to use
the army to defeat the SS,

which he had discussed in March
with Berlin police chief,

Fritz-Dietlof
von der Schulenburg.

The army's 1st Light Division
under General Erich Hoeppner

was designated to take on
the SS-Leibstandarte

and the plan was now refined
to include a hit squad

of young army and Abwehr
officers,

led by
Major Friedrich Wilhelm Heinz,

which would storm
the new Reichschancellery

and arrest Hitler.

[Speaking German]

In a plot within the plot,
Oster and Heinz agreed

that none of the senior
conspirators would be told

that during the assault,

the Fuhrer
would actually be shot.

This would avoid any need
for a public trial

in which Hitler might display
his talent

for persuasive speech-making.

On September 9th,
von Brauchitsch

and General Franz Halder,
the new army chief of staff,

had a meeting with Hitler
to discuss Operation Green.

The two generals voiced
yet again the army's resistance

to any invasion of
Czechoslovakia,

and Hitler flew
into a rage.

He told them to be bold
and carry on with his plans.

As the clock in Berlin ticked
towards Hitler's annihilation,

the determination
of the German plotters

depended on just one
major outside factor --

the belief that Britain
would join with France

to declare war on Germany.

This threat had to be
real and strong...

and it looked
as though it would be,

as France mobilized its reserves

and President Edouard Daladier

contacted the British
Prime Minister,

Neville Chamberlain.

The French leader proposed

a united and determined stand

against Hitler's aggressive
foreign policy.

Once a public declaration
had been made --

and defied by Hitler --

the German plotters would be
free to go into action.

The German army and
the conspirators would be seen

to be acting not only
in the peaceful interests

of Germany,
but also for the rest of Europe.

It seemed so simple.

But one obstacle
stood in their way...

the English premier,
Neville Chamberlain.

His political naivety
and misjudgment

would jeopardize the one

great opportunity Europe had

to get rid of Hitler before
the start of World War II.

[Crowd cheering ]

As September 1938 began,

Adolf Hitler was just days away
from ordering

a German invasion
of Czechoslovakia.

Neither he nor his security
apparatus were aware

that this would be the signal

for a serious coup against him.

All that General Ludwig Beck
and his group

of dissident officers
and key civilian figures needed

was for Britain and France
to stand firm

against Hitler's aggressive
foreign policy.

But as Frank Roberts,
a senior British diplomat,

later described, there was
a fundamental difference

between the two groups.

Man:
From then on, of course,

Beck and that group
of the generals --

but they didn't
represent all of the generals,

by any manner of means --
kept in touch with us

by underground means.

They used to come through me,

and it was a sort
of a thing of,

"if only you and the French
will stand up to Hitler,

then we'll do something
about him,"

and we rather saying,
"Well, hadn't you better start

doing something about him, and
then perhaps we can help you."

Powell: Also, firmness in London
was in short supply.

There was a distinct
lack of interest

among ministers
in the British government

to bring a quick end
to Hitler's regime.

This had already

been indicated by a minor
incident earlier that summer.

Colonel Noel Mason-MacFarlane,

the British military attache
in Berlin who witnessed

Hitler's triumphant entry
into Austria in March,

had followed up his idea
of getting rid

of the man he saw
as a dangerous warmonger.

Mason-MacFarlane lived
at the western end

of the east-west axis
of Berlin --

the main parade route.

His house
at No. 1 Sophienstrasse

had a good view of the reviewing
stand in the Berlinerstrasse

frequently used by Hitler.

This extraordinary luck

gave Mason-MacFarlane an idea,
which he discussed

with Times correspondent
Ewan Butler --

Man: "All that was necessary
was a good shot

"and a high-velocity rifle with
telescopic sight and silencer.

"It could have been fired though
my bathroom window

"from a spot on the landing
some 30 feet back

from the window."

Powell:
As a diplomat,

Mason-MacFarlane's house
was within

the security zone
put around Hitler

by his SS bodyguards,

and the noise of marching men
and cheering

would have disguised any noise
from his rifle.

He was quite prepared
to pull the trigger himself.

Ewan Butler himself
had been unimpressed

by Hitler's personal security
and got within

just 20 feet of the Fuhrer

outside the Anhalter station
in Berlin.

Man: "In my case, the Gestapo
security arrangements

"had collapsed.

"I was not searched,
although I had

"no right to be where I was

"and might have had several
Mills bombs in my pocket.

"In that case, I could have
disposed not only of the Fuhrer

"but of most of his accomplices.

"I told Mason-Mac about this,

"and he reproached me bitterly
for having missed

such an excellent opportunity."

Powell: Mason-MacFarlane
reported his golden opportunity

to his masters in London,
but was told not to proceed.

It would be unsportsmanlike
to assassinate the dictator.

Mason-MacFarlane
does not say exactly when

he put his idea to London,
but he was

in the reviewing stand among
the other

military attachés for Hitler's
four-hour 50th Birthday Review

on April 20, 1939.

One wonders whether he was
reflecting on the loss

of an excellent opportunity to
rid the world of a major threat.

A lack of appetite
for violent action

was characterized above all
by the 69-year-old

British Prime Minister
Neville Chamberlain.

Like many of his generation,
Chamberlain was appalled

by the way in which an entire
generation of Europe's young men

had been sacrificed
in the trenches of World War I.

Man: "When I think
of the 7 million young men

"who were cut off
in their prime,

"the 13 million maimed
and mutilated,

"in war there are no winners,

but all are losers."

Powell:
He was determined

to avoid a war in Europe
at any cost --

even if it meant giving Hitler
exactly what he wanted.

In stark contrast

was British MP
Winston Churchill.

He voiced great concern

over Hitler's hunger
for foreign expansion

and could see that it was better
to stop him earlier

rather than later.

But, at the time,
Churchill was out of favor,

and his warnings were ignored
by the Prime Minister.

Chamberlain had
a highly elevated view

of his talents as a diplomat
and believed

that his personal intervention
could avoid war.

It has been suggested

that news of the planned coup
against Hitler

was picked up
by British intelligence agents

in Berlin.

It is more than likely that it
was deliberately leaked to them

by Hans Oster's department
in the Abwehr.

This news was then passed on
to Chamberlain.

But rather than giving strength
to the plotters

by threatening war

against Hitler if he
invaded Czechoslovakia,

Chamberlain did
the exact opposite.

He flew out to Munich
to talk peace --

face to face with Hitler.

It was an extraordinary thing
to do.

He had never flown before.

It has also been suggested
that he chose to fly

because he wanted to get
to Hitler quickly,

before the army plotters did.

They met on September 15th

at Hitler's private residence
at the Berghof.

As they talked,
it has also been suggested

that Chamberlain might even
have covertly warned Hitler

of a plot against him
so as to give himself

a diplomatic bargaining chip.

If that is true, it is
a shocking indictment

of the lengths to which
Chamberlain would go

to project himself
as a peace-winning politician.

Chamberlain's negotiations
with Hitler

completely threw
the Berlin plotters.

This was unexpected

and deflated their preparations
for a coup.

The Czechs were also appalled.

Decisions were being made

about the future
of their country

without their involvement.

Their leaders asked whether
France would still stand by them

if Germany invaded.

The answer was no --

Czechoslovakia would be
on its own.

Chamberlain flew for a second
meeting with Hitler

at Bad Godesberg,
near Bonn, on September 22nd.

But now Hitler
pushed his luck too far --

he rejected a compromise
proposed by Chamberlain

in which a plebiscite would be
held in the Sudetenland,

allowing the German-speakers

to vote for union
with Nazi Germany.

Hitler said
he would send his troops

into the whole of Czechoslovakia
by the end of the month,

unless the Sudetenland
was handed over to him.

To underscore this threat,
as with the Anschluss,

Hitler had already dispatched

his bodyguard regiment,
the SS-Leibstandarte,

to the border area
to undertake combat training.

Its absence from Berlin
encouraged the plotters

but they were still confused

by the mixed messages coming
from Chamberlain's behavior.

I hope that this journey...

At Bad Godesberg,
the British Prime Minister

was shocked
by Hitler's aggression

and could find no room
for compromise.

Even his own government refused
any more concessions,

and at the last moment, Britain
finally mobilized its forces

in preparation for war.

France also called up
her troops.

The Berlin coup was back on.

Even Army Commander in Chief
von Brauchitsch,

hitherto enthusiastic
about Operation Green,

was nervous when he heard
of Britain's mobilization.

He told Halder that he now
supported the removal of Hitler.

Halder replied that
as soon as he gave the order,

the coup would swing
into action.

Sympathetic officers
inside the Reich Chancellery

were ready to leave doors
unlocked so that the plotters

could immediately
arrest the Führer.

But just when all was ready,

the Italian Fascist leader
Benito Mussolini

announced on September 28th
that he was intervening

to arrange a conference
in response

to a phone call from Chamberlain
asking for help

in brokering a peace.

From this point,
the coup collapsed completely.

Brauchitsch backed away as
Hitler won a stunning

diplomatic victory in Munich

under the eyes of his good
friend, Mussolini.

It was a tragedy.

The thoroughness
of the planning

and the depth of the support
for the coup

by senior civilian
and military figures

made it the most dangerous
threat to Hitler

and his regime
before World War II.

On September 30th,
the Munich Agreement was signed.

Hitler promised that once he had
received the Sudetenland,

he would make no more
territorial demands in Europe.

But to get this,
Britain and France had given in

to Hitler
on virtually all counts.

Germany was allowed to take over
the entire Sudetenland --

11,000 square miles
and over 3 million people --

just so long as she did not
proceed any further

into the rest of Czechoslovakia.

Hitler had annexed
yet another chunk of Europe

without a shot being fired.

This bloodless victory

pulled the rug out
from under the generals' plot.

Their fears were shown
to be groundless

and Hitler's boldness
vindicated.

He was the supreme
foreign policy poker player.

He had won his prize and saved
his own life, too.

The plot was finished.

Chamberlain returned to Britain
waving his piece of paper --

a hollow promise of peace.

Whatever the truth
of the allegations

that he had revealed
the generals' plot to Hitler,

he had undoubtedly saved
the German dictator

from almost certain arrest
and assassination.

Chamberlain had proved to be
Hitler's best bodyguard of all.

[Cheers and applause ]

On October 3, 1938,

a triumphant Hitler

entered his new acquisition
in Czechoslovakia.

He had taken the Fuhrer Special
train from Berlin to Hof

the previous day.

His SS-Begleitkommando
bodyguards traveled with him

under the watchful gaze of
Bruno Gesche, their commander.

But the mood of Hitler and his
close comrades was celebratory.

He had won a tremendous
bloodless victory

at the Munich conference,
and their guard was down.

Besides, they had the army
to protect them.

The French-designed
concrete gun emplacements,

built at great expense on
the Czech border with Germany,

were simply bypassed.

The well-equipped Czech army
could have made its stand here

with the British and French
threatening Germany's

other flank.

Such resistance

would have encouraged
the coup against Hitler.

But any thought of that
was long gone.

Pro-Hitler euphoria spread

through the army
at the ease of its occupation.

Halder, Beck, Oster,

and the other rebel generals
kept their heads down.

But this did not mean their
resistance to Hitler was over.

But it now took

a very secret path that would
only be resurrected

when Hitler faced other
military crises --

and that would not be
for some time.

Hitler's party crossed
the border

at Wildenau near Asch

in a six-wheel cross-country
Mercedes.

He was driven onto Eger,

Wildstein,

Schonbach,
then back to Hof.

Driving around
in the open-topped Mercedes

appalled the Fuhrer's bodyguard.

He was mobbed
by enthusiastic crowds,

and this proved
a constant danger.

Often his Begleitkommando escort

had to get out of their cars
and, three on each side,

walk or run alongside
the Fuhrer's

to keep some distance
between the conquering hero

and his new subjects.

The formidable Czech
border defenses,

which had been betrayed without
a shot being fired,

were gloated over.

The following March,
Hitler broke

his supposed deal
with Chamberlain.

The German army invaded
the rest of Czechoslovakia --

and there was little
the international community

could do.

Even then,
faced by more hostile crowds,

Hitler still visited
his conquests,

traveling in his armored
open-topped Mercedes.

The countdown to war in Europe
had started.

It would be
only six months away.

Britain and France
hastily re-armed,

but they had already blown
their best opportunities

to rid themselves of Hitler.

Not only had they had failed to
support a serious German plot,

but they had ignored the urging
of their own willing agents,

such as the British attaché
Mason-MacFarlane.

If no organized plot could kill
Hitler before the war,

there was still the danger
of a lone assassin.

This was what
he always feared most --

and what almost succeeded

where the military plotters
had failed.

In the autumn of 1938,

Maurice Bavaud, a 22-year-old
Swiss theology student,

pretended to be a great admirer
of Hitler.

He tried to get to meet him
at Berlin

and then at the Berghof,

Hitler's retreat
at Berchtesgaden

in the Bavarian Alps.

But the Fuhrer's itinerary

was always too busy
for Bavaud to make contact.

But the anniversary of
the Beer Hall Putsch in Munich

was a date he knew Hitler
would keep.

On November 9, 1938,
Bavaud bought a ticket

for one of the viewing stands
on the route

that Hitler and his Nazi
veterans would march along

as part of the anniversary
celebrations.

As Hitler, surrounded
by SS and RSD bodyguards,

approached the stand,
Bavaud fingered

the pistol he had bought
in Basel.

He was very close
to the procession,

but there were just
too many bodies

around Hitler
for Bavaud to get a good shot.

On this occasion, Hitler's tight
security had worked,

and his bodyguards shielded him
from assassination.

Bavaud was not easily put off.

He traveled to the Berghof
again, but Hitler was away.

Eventually, Bavaud was arrested
while traveling on a train

without a valid ticket.

His gun was found,

and Gestapo interrogation
revealed

the whole complicated itinerary
of his attempts to kill Hitler.

For Bavaud's plot to have been
discovered by luck

rather than meticulous security
by the RSD or SS

was an embarrassment
for both organizations.

An inquiry later criticized
in particular

the sale of grandstand tickets
in Munich to a foreigner.

The RSD was responsible
for checking out

special locations
attended regularly by Hitler,

and they should
have spotted this.

Such lapses in basic elements
of security

would reoccur
with alarming regularity.

The whole affair reinforced
the wisdom

of Hitler's chaotic approach
to his own safety.

Man: "The confessions
of the Swiss man interested me.

"They confirmed my conviction
that no one can avoid

"an assassin who is determined

"to risk his own life
in the execution of his mission.

"The only preventive measure
one can take

"is to live life
unpredictably --

"to walk, to drive,
and to travel

at irregular times
and unexpectedly."

Bavaud was put on trial
on December 18, 1938.

The Swiss government tried
to intervene but failed.

He was beheaded at
Berlin-Plötzensee prison.

Bavaud said his reason
for killing Hitler

was that he posed a danger
to his own country,

to the Catholic faith
in Germany,

and to humanity in general.

He was not wrong.

Hitler posed a deadly threat
to humanity.

And in September of 1939,
that danger was realized.

Hitler's generals forgot their
opposition to his warmongering

and led their troops
into Poland.

In response, Britain and France
declared war on Germany,

and World War II began.

Within a few months,
Neville Chamberlain --

the failed appeaser --
had been replaced

as premier by the more
pugnacious Winston Churchill.

With open conflict in Europe,
the stakes could not

have been higher, and Hitler
soon faced

more attempts on his life --

one getting to within just
minutes of blowing him apart.

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