Background
Friedrich Olbricht was born in Leisnig on 4 October 1888.
Friedrich Olbricht was born in Leisnig on 4 October 1888.
A professional soldier who served in World War I as a Tegimental Adjutant and General Staff officer, Olbricht was transferred after 1926 to the Foreign Armies Branch of the Reichswehr Ministry. After the Nazis came to power he was appointed Chief of Staff of the Dresdner Division and then in 1935 of the Fourth Army Corps in Dresden. From November 1938 to March 1940 he was Commander of the Twenty-fourth Infantry Division and then promoted to head of the General Wehrmacht Office in the OKW.
From 1940 to 1943 Olbricht was Chief of Staff and head of the Supply Section in General Fromm's Reserve Army, exercising direct authority over all troops stationed in the Reich for garrison or replacement purposes. After February 1943 Colonel General Olbricht became involved in building up a military organization in Berlin, Cologne, Munich and Vienna, which could take control after the planned assassination of Hitler. Following the failure of the attempt to blow' up Hitler's personal aircraft and the arrest of a number of conspirators, Olbricht, together with Claus von Stauffenberg, began planning Operation ‘Valkyrie', which involved a move on Berlin by troops mobilized by the Resistance. On 15 July 1944 Olbricht issued orders for ‘Valkyrie', but von Stauffenberg's attempt on Hitler's life was postponed at the last moment and the operation had to be explained away to General Fromm as a ‘surprise exercise'.
On 20 July 1944, when von Stauffenberg's bomb exploded at Hitler's headquarters in Rastenburg, Olbricht was at the War Office in Berlin in charge of organizing the coup, but delayed for three crucial hours until von Stauffenberg arrived in the capital. By the time the ‘Valkyrie' signal was given and Fromm arrested, it was already known that Hitler had survived the attempt on his life. The conspirators were increasingly confused in their actions and precious time was wasted, enabling the Nazis to restore control of the situation. Fromm was released by loyal officers and promptly had Olbricht, along with von Stauffenberg, arrested and shot by a firing squad on the same day (20 July 1944) in the yard of the War Ministry building on the Bendlerstrasse in Berlin.