history
by Reg Reynolds son Governor of Gibraltar Ma Minister MacFarlane with Prime raltar Winston Churchill in Gib
Gibraltar Governor wanted a shot at Hitler Valkyrie the new movie starring Tom Cruise is the true story of Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg’s failed attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler. It wouldn’t have been necessary if Sir Noel MasonMacfarlane had had his way. Mason-Macfarlane, Governor of Gibraltar from May 1942 to February 1944, was the British Military Attache in Berlin in April 1938, when he seriously contemplated shooting Hitler. A Lieutenant-General at the time, Mason-Mac had observed the annexation of Czechoslovakia and the Nazi’s massive military build-up. The idea of ridding the world of Adolf Hitler and thereby, perhaps of saving Europe and the world from war was never far from his mind. In his book The Life of Sir General Noel MasonMacfarlane Ewan Butler wrote: “The windows of Mason-Mac’s drawing-room overlooked the Charlottenburger Chausse, which ran from the Siegassaule, the gilded column which commemorated the war of 1870-1, eastward to the Brandenburg Gate. As we looked at the workmen who were busily hanging swastika banners on the shoddy
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plywood columns which now flanked this triumphal avenue, in anticipation of Hitler’s Birthday Parade [April 20th], Mason-Mac pointed towards the saluting-base from which the Fuhrer was graciously to accept the homage of his Armed Forces. ‘Easy rifle-shot,’ he said laconically. ‘I could pick the bastard off from here as easy as winking, and what’s more I’m thinking of doing it’.” A winner of three Military Crosses in World
War I Mason-Macfarlane was an excellent shot and in all probability would have been able to carry the assassination off. One can only imagine what the repercussions would have been and how the fate of the world would have been altered. Mason-Mac openly discussed the assassination attempt with Butler, who at the time was the Berlin correspondent for the Times. While agreeing that killing Hitler would be a blessing to mankind Butler dissuaded him from taking action. “Think of the backlash when they discovered that he’s been potted by a British Officer!” exclaimed Butler. “Oh, I know. There’d be hell to pay, of course, and I’d be finished in every sense of the word,” replied Mason-Mac. “Still, I doubt if they’d declare war, and with that lunatic out of the way we might be able to get some sense into things!” “It’s certainly an idea,” responded Butler. “Yes, bloody awful one of course, but I would be prepared to do it if worst came to the worst.” Unfortunately worst did come to worst and Hitler survived numerous attempts to kill him, many, like Mason-Mac, he wasn’t even aware of. Stauffenberg came the closest to success. Initially the respected war hero who was the only conspirator with ready access to the upper echelon of the Nazis hoped to kill Hitler, Goering and Himmler. But when he was unable to meet the three together at the same time he devised the plan to blow up Hitler in the summer of 1944 during a military strategy session in the Wolf’s Lair. Stuaffenberg planted a bomb in a briefcase and put it under a conference table near Hitler. He was driving out of the compound when the explosion happened and he was convinced no one in the room could have survived. What he didn’t know was that after he had excused himself from the room another officer had moved the briefcase. Although four people were killed and almost all the survivors were injured, Hitler himself was shielded from the blast by a heavy, solid-oak leg of the conference table and was only slightly wounded. Stauffenberg and a co-conspirator named Haeften drove to the nearby airfield and flew to Berlin. On arrival in the capitol, still believing that Hitler was dead, Stauffenberg mobilized his friends to initiate the second phase: the military coup against the Nazi leaders. But when Goebbels announced on radio that Hitler had survived and after Hitler himself spoke on state radio, the conspirators realised the coup had failed. They were tracked to their Bendlerstrasse offices and overpowered after a brief shoot-out, during which Stauffenberg was wounded in
“There’d be hell to pay, of course, and I’d be finished in every sense of the word. Still, I doubt if they’d declare war, and with that lunatic out of the way we might be able to get some sense into things!” GIBRALTAR MAGAZINE • MARCH 2009
21/2/09 15:16:00