As this diary-entry suggests, the fear of Bolshevism was by now among the most central cohesive elements sustaining support for the German war effort and militating against any collapse of morale at home. Even so, as the news of defeats, destruction, and desertion of allies mounted without relief, and as losses of property and possessions, homes and loved ones piled misery on misery, the first signs of disintegration were visible. The German greeting, ‘Heil Hitler’, was increasingly replaced by ‘Good morning’, ‘Good day’, or, in south Germany, ‘Grüß Gott’. The evacuation of the Aachen area — the old seat of Charlemagne’s empire, where the Allies had broken through — in early September was accompanied by ‘a more or less panic-type of flight by the German civilian population’, according to a report to Himmler.93 Wehrmacht reports from the western front spoke later in the month of mounting lack of discipline and indications of disintegration among the troops, with increasing numbers of desertions, reflected in a sharp rise in draconian punishment meted out by military courts.94
Some of the deserters in the west made their way to Cologne. This great city on the Rhine had by now been largely bombed into dereliction — though, amazingly, its magnificent Gothic cathedral was still standing — with much of its population evacuated. Amid the rubble and the ruins, in the cellars of burnt-out buildings, forms of opposition to the Nazi regime approaching partisan activity emerged. Here, heterogeneous groups of deserted soldiers, foreign workers — now forming around 20 per cent of the Reich’s work-force and presenting the Nazi authorities with increasing worries about insurrection — members of dissident bands of disaffected youth (known picturesquely as ‘Edelweiß Pirates’), and the Communist underground organization (infiltrated and smashed many times but always managing to replenish itself) blended together in the autumn of 1944 into short-lived but, for the regime, troublesome resistance. The Gestapo recorded some two dozen small resistance groups of up to twenty individuals, and one large body of around 120 persons. They stole food, broke into Wehrmacht camps and depots to get weapons, and organized minor forms of sabotage. It came on occasion to shoot-outs with camp guards and police. Their actions were politically directed: they killed, among others, several Gestapo men, including the head of the Cologne Gestapo, an SA man, and a Nazi Party functionary. In all, twenty-nine killings were attributed to them by the Gestapo. Attacks on the Hitler Youth and other Nazi formations by the ‘Edelweiß Pirates’ were commonplace. With the explosives they acquired, their intention was to blow up the Gestapo headquarters and the city’s law-courts, and to shoot a leading attorney and several members of the Party organization.95 Possibly, had the Allied advance in the west not slowed, the quasi-partisan activity in Cologne might have spread to other cities in the Rhine and Ruhr region. The problems of combating it would then have magnified. As it was, the Gestapo, aided by Wehrmacht units, was able to strike back with devastating effect in the autumn. The resistance groups did not give up without a fight. One group waged an armed battle for twelve hours before the ruined cellar which served as its ‘fortress’ was blown up. Another group defended itself with hand grenades and a machine-gun, finally breaking through a police cordon and escaping.96 By the time the Gestapo were finished, however, some 200 members of the resistance groups had been arrested, the groups themselves totally destroyed, their leaders executed, and many other members imprisoned.97
Had the Stauffenberg bomb-plot succeeded, it is possible that the types of grass-roots political activism experienced in Cologne could have swelled into a revolutionary ferment from a base in western Germany. But many — and quite conflicting — scenarios could be imagined had Hitler been assassinated on 20 July. The actual outcome was that resistance from below — from Communists, Socialists, youth-rebels, foreign workers, deserted soldiers and others — was, whatever the continued courage of those involved, robbed of any prospect of success. The regime had been challenged internally. But the blow to its heart had not proved lethal. It now reacted with all the ferocity at its disposal. At least for the time being, it was able to regroup and reconsolidate, delaying the end for several more months, prolonging the agony of millions caught up in the intensifying maelstrom of death and destruction. Hitler and the Nazi leadership had survived. But there was no way leading from the self-destructive path on which they were embarked.
