Hard on the heels of a plot to kill Adolph Hitler by blowing his airplane out of the sky with explosives contained in a bottle of alcohol, Generalmajor Rudolf Christoph Freiherr von Gersdorff attempted to kill him by detonating a time fused bomb on his person while escorting Hitler through an exhibition of Soviet war materials as the Zeughaus in Berlin. A detailed coup d'état was to follow the assassination.
It was expected that the tour would take thirty minutes, and Gersdorff set the fuse ten minutes prior to Hitler's arrival. Hitler rushed through the exhibit in two minutes, and Gersdorff defused the bomb in a restroom.
Gersdorff was, amazingly, never mentioned by the July 20 conspirators, even though he had participated in the plot. He therefore survived the war. His role becoming known post-war, he was denied admission to the Bundesherr and therefore devoted the remainder of his life to charitable causes, dying in 1980 at age 74. He was a paraplegic the last twelve years of his life due to a riding accident.
Sarah Sundin reports, in her blog:
Today in World War II History—March 21, 1943: Cornelia Fort becomes first WAFS member (precursor of the WASPs) to be killed, in a midair collision while ferrying a BT-13 in Texas.
She also notes that on this day the Rangers took Gafsa and New Zealanders bypassed the bypass the Mareth Line
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