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Britain's Plot to Kill Hitler: The True Story of Operation Foxley and SOE
Operation Foxley was the name of the secret plan supported by Winston Churchill to assassinate Hitler in 1944-45. More than 75 years after its conception, the assassination plan remains shrouded in mystery. Eric Lee’s new book is the product of painstaking research and sheds more light on this plan. Lee also asks what would have happened if Foxley had been executed successfully.
Concocted in 1944 by the British Special Operations Executive (SOE), Foxley’s objective was to kill Hitler and any high-ranking Nazis or members of the Fuhrer’s entourage who might have been present at the time.
Different methods of assassination had been considered by the SOE, but were ultimately deemed too complicated. These methods included derailment and destruction of the Hitler’s personal train, the Fuhrerzug, by explosives, and also clandestine means such as slipping a tasteless poison into Hitler’s drinking and cooking water. Some of the ideas were considered quite bizarre, including one scheme to hypnotise Rudolf Hess and return him to Germany to kill Nazi leaders. The Americans and Soviets had their own plans to kill Hitler too, with some equally strange ideas (including injecting female hormones into the Fuhrer's vegetables).
Eventually, after intel gathered revealed that Hitler took a routine, solitary walk every morning to the Teehaus on the Mooslahnerkopf Hill from the Berghof residence, a plan was created to assassinate Hitler using a sniper rifle fitted with a silencer.
A perfect investigation for readers who enjoy reading about modern historyl, and the Second World War in particular. It is also tailored to those with an interest in the “secret war”, covering topics like the SOE, and military intelligence.
Concocted in 1944 by the British Special Operations Executive (SOE), Foxley’s objective was to kill Hitler and any high-ranking Nazis or members of the Fuhrer’s entourage who might have been present at the time.
Different methods of assassination had been considered by the SOE, but were ultimately deemed too complicated. These methods included derailment and destruction of the Hitler’s personal train, the Fuhrerzug, by explosives, and also clandestine means such as slipping a tasteless poison into Hitler’s drinking and cooking water. Some of the ideas were considered quite bizarre, including one scheme to hypnotise Rudolf Hess and return him to Germany to kill Nazi leaders. The Americans and Soviets had their own plans to kill Hitler too, with some equally strange ideas (including injecting female hormones into the Fuhrer's vegetables).
Eventually, after intel gathered revealed that Hitler took a routine, solitary walk every morning to the Teehaus on the Mooslahnerkopf Hill from the Berghof residence, a plan was created to assassinate Hitler using a sniper rifle fitted with a silencer.
A perfect investigation for readers who enjoy reading about modern historyl, and the Second World War in particular. It is also tailored to those with an interest in the “secret war”, covering topics like the SOE, and military intelligence.
217 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 21, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 25, 2025
I have finished reading “Britain’s Plot to Kill Hitler: The True Story of Operation Foxley and SOE” by Eric Lee.
What plans did the Allies have to kill Hitler? Why were they never implemented? These are the two central questions of this very short book.
The UK plans to kill Hitler came under the title of Operation Foxley and their very existence was not revealed until 1998. Almost everything about Operation Foxley, from when discussions about this planned assassination started to the methods of carrying out the assassination, were odd. Firstly, the discussions about Operation Foxley as a concept, only took place in the summer of 1944 while the Allies faced a tough fight from after the D Day Landings to liberate Europe starting with France.
The methods suggested for killing Hitler varied. The main method sketched out was to hide a British sniper in the woods next to Hitler’s home in Berchtesgaden, in the hope of shooting him during his daily walk between the main compound and his favourite tea house. Oddly, the candidate for the would-be assassin that the Special Operations Executive (SOE) had in mind was not a marksman, nor did he speak German, despite the outline plan involving him being disguised as a German Alpine Corps Soldier.
An alternative method for killing Hitler that was discussed, involved poisoning the water supply in Hitler’s private train, possibly with Thallium. A more outlandish method discussed by one particularly enthusiastic SOE senior officer was to hypnotise an assassin to carry out the work. Even more bizarrely he suggested hypnotising Hitler’s Depurty Rudolf Hess, who was in British custody, to kill his former boss. These ideas never got beyond the planning stage; mercifully for common sense prevailing.
In the end Operation Foxley itself was the victim of many assassins which effectively killed it. All of the plans for carrying it out had holes in it and were never seriously advanced. Furthermore, there were serious political and strategic doubts among senior SOE officers about how killing Hitler would have helped the war effort. Hitler’s obsessive insistence on holding and defending territory and his detachment from strategic reality seemed to be helping the Allies in many ways. In the end Hitler killed himself effectively killing Operation Foxley. Despite the doubts of SOE planners, the assessment of the author and contributing historian Ian Kershaw is that Operation Foxley was a missed opportunity that could have ended the war early and saved many lives for the price of one.
This was a small but informative book which revealed a little mentioned episode of World War 2 history. It is also a cautionary tale on misdirected thinking, but also on allowing doubts to cloud our decision making.
What plans did the Allies have to kill Hitler? Why were they never implemented? These are the two central questions of this very short book.
The UK plans to kill Hitler came under the title of Operation Foxley and their very existence was not revealed until 1998. Almost everything about Operation Foxley, from when discussions about this planned assassination started to the methods of carrying out the assassination, were odd. Firstly, the discussions about Operation Foxley as a concept, only took place in the summer of 1944 while the Allies faced a tough fight from after the D Day Landings to liberate Europe starting with France.
The methods suggested for killing Hitler varied. The main method sketched out was to hide a British sniper in the woods next to Hitler’s home in Berchtesgaden, in the hope of shooting him during his daily walk between the main compound and his favourite tea house. Oddly, the candidate for the would-be assassin that the Special Operations Executive (SOE) had in mind was not a marksman, nor did he speak German, despite the outline plan involving him being disguised as a German Alpine Corps Soldier.
An alternative method for killing Hitler that was discussed, involved poisoning the water supply in Hitler’s private train, possibly with Thallium. A more outlandish method discussed by one particularly enthusiastic SOE senior officer was to hypnotise an assassin to carry out the work. Even more bizarrely he suggested hypnotising Hitler’s Depurty Rudolf Hess, who was in British custody, to kill his former boss. These ideas never got beyond the planning stage; mercifully for common sense prevailing.
In the end Operation Foxley itself was the victim of many assassins which effectively killed it. All of the plans for carrying it out had holes in it and were never seriously advanced. Furthermore, there were serious political and strategic doubts among senior SOE officers about how killing Hitler would have helped the war effort. Hitler’s obsessive insistence on holding and defending territory and his detachment from strategic reality seemed to be helping the Allies in many ways. In the end Hitler killed himself effectively killing Operation Foxley. Despite the doubts of SOE planners, the assessment of the author and contributing historian Ian Kershaw is that Operation Foxley was a missed opportunity that could have ended the war early and saved many lives for the price of one.
This was a small but informative book which revealed a little mentioned episode of World War 2 history. It is also a cautionary tale on misdirected thinking, but also on allowing doubts to cloud our decision making.
December 1, 2022
There were at least 46 attempts made to assassinate Adolf Hitler. None of these attempts, however, were initiated by those associated with "Operation Foxley" - a little known project created by the British Special Operations Executive (SOE).
Many are familiar with the failed "Operation Valkyrie" through books and movies in which German nationals attempted to assassinate Hitler, however in this book Lee dissects the British counterpart discussing the plans that varied from logical to downright bizarre in order to end the Führer's life and therefore shorten the war.
"Foxley" became declassified in 1998, and Lee includes the dossier in full within the book adding to a fascinating read but also emphasised the author's comments that this plot for assassination was more "a brainstorming exercise than an operational plan".
The prose is gripping with straight-to-the-point chapters presented with an almost forensic edge and even though I already knew how it ended I found I simply couldn't put it down once I started to read.
I especially enjoyed the author's comparisons between the SOE and the plans of the Office of Strategic Services in US (OSS) the GRU (Soviet Military Intelligence in USSR) who were completing their own operations.
While it is impossible to know if any of these attempts could have succeeded, Lee undoubtedly creates a compelling set of "what-if" scenarios ranging from terrorism, shooting, poisoning and even hypnotism.
Thank you again to @greenhill_books for sending me this fascinating book to review.
Many are familiar with the failed "Operation Valkyrie" through books and movies in which German nationals attempted to assassinate Hitler, however in this book Lee dissects the British counterpart discussing the plans that varied from logical to downright bizarre in order to end the Führer's life and therefore shorten the war.
"Foxley" became declassified in 1998, and Lee includes the dossier in full within the book adding to a fascinating read but also emphasised the author's comments that this plot for assassination was more "a brainstorming exercise than an operational plan".
The prose is gripping with straight-to-the-point chapters presented with an almost forensic edge and even though I already knew how it ended I found I simply couldn't put it down once I started to read.
I especially enjoyed the author's comparisons between the SOE and the plans of the Office of Strategic Services in US (OSS) the GRU (Soviet Military Intelligence in USSR) who were completing their own operations.
While it is impossible to know if any of these attempts could have succeeded, Lee undoubtedly creates a compelling set of "what-if" scenarios ranging from terrorism, shooting, poisoning and even hypnotism.
Thank you again to @greenhill_books for sending me this fascinating book to review.
February 6, 2024
First attempt in reading history related events, it was an interesting read in the beginning where “Operation Foxley” was initiated by the British to assassinate Hitler. The 46 assassination attempt on Hitler was an eye-opener but this book doesn’t really do for me since it’s kinda a “dry genre”. In my opinion this genre does not intrigued my interest much. However, the information in this book is pretty interesting if one who’s interested in historical events related type of genre. One may consider if this genre piqued your interest.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews