DiD Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg Review II (After April 7, 1943)

Continued from previous post

Stauffenberg's vehicle was strafed on 7 April, 1943 by British fighter-bombers and he was severely wounded. He spent three months in hospital in Munich, where he lost his left eye, his right hand and 2 fingers on his left hand. He jokingly remarked to friends never to have really known what to do with so many fingers when he still had all of them. For his injuries, Stauffenberg was awarded the Wound Badge in Gold on 14 April, 1943 and for his courage the German Cross in Gold on 8 May, 1943.



Tom Cruise as Colonel Claus Philipp Maria Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg (15 November 1907 – 21 July 1944) from "Valkyrie (2008)" the movie. DiD included the eye patch as well as extra hands (left hand only having two fingers and a thumb)



A closer look at the eye patch. In the movie, Tom Cruise as Colonel Stauffenberg also has a glass eye





The Colonel's injured left hand with only two fingers



DiD 1/6 scale 12-inch Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg getting ready for his mission to assassinate Hitler at the Wolf's Lair





On 20 July, 1944, Stauffenberg entered the briefing room at Wolfsschanze (Wolf's Lair) carrying a briefcase containing two small bombs. The location had unexpectedly been changed from the subterranean Führerbunker to Speer's wooden barrack/hut.



He left the room to arm the first bomb with specially-adapted pliers, a task made difficult because he had lost his right hand and had only three digits on his left.



DiD has included with this set a 1/6 scale 1kg block of plastic explosive wrapped in brown paper, the pencil detonator (it consisted of a thin copper tube containing acid that would take ten minutes to silently eat through wire holding back the firing pin from the percussion cap), two pliers (one specially made for Stauffenberg), a German Army journal or notebook and the identification card of the German Anti-Nazi Resistance Movement. All these go inside his functional briefcase.





A guard knocked and opened the door, urging him to hurry as the meeting was about to begin. As a result, Stauffenberg was able to arm only one of the bombs. He left the second bomb with his aide-de-camp, Werner von Haeften, and returned to the briefing room, where he placed the briefcase under the conference table, as close as he could to Hitler. Some minutes later, he excused himself and left the room.

When the explosion tore through the hut, Stauffenberg was convinced that no one in the room could have survived. Although four people were killed and almost all survivors were injured, Hitler himself was shielded from the blast by the heavy, solid-oak conference table and was only slightly wounded.



Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg was not anti-Germany but anti-Nazi and shared the widespread conviction among Army officers that Germany was being led to disaster and that Hitler must be removed from power.



Also included in this set is a 1/6 scale Nazi Party Banner Standard with eagle on top, brocade and tassels OR Standartenspitz (Eagle and Wreathed Finial), Standartenquerb (Standard Box), Standartentuch (Cloth) with Cross-pole and tassels, and Standartenstange (Standard Staff).

Though once commonly used all over much of the world, the Swastika symbol has become stigmatized in the Western world because of its iconic usage by Nazi Germany, and it has notably been outlawed in Germany if used as symbol of Nazism (usage of the sign by religious groups is tolerated). Because of its use by Hitler and the Nazis and, in modern times, by neo-Nazis and other hate groups, the swastika is largely associated with Nazism and white supremacy (see Western use of the Swastika in the early 20th century) in most of the Western countries. As a result, all of its use, or its use as a Nazi or hate symbol is prohibited in some jurisdictions. Because of the stigma attached to the symbol, many buildings that have contained the symbol as decoration have had the symbol removed.

The German (and Austrian) postwar criminal code makes the public showing of the Hakenkreuz (the swastika) and other Nazi symbols illegal and punishable, except for scholarly reasons. It is even censored from the lithographs on boxes of model kits, and the decals that come in the box. [source: wiki]

Also included with this DiD Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg set is another jacket with crimson pipings and the badges he was awarded. I did not switch jackets because the jacket is a real pain to take off and put on because it is made quite fitting and the top button at the collar is a 1/6 scale button that works but is quite hard to fasten and unfasten so I opted to put the jacket on another figure in order to take a shot. Also comes with its own brown leather belt with gold buckle.





Important Note: This product is for military collectors & historical education purposes only, and it is not intended to glorify nor exploit the horrors and atrocities of war.