Poisoned tea, a lone sniper and aerial bombardment were among secret plans, made public for the first time today, drafted by British agents to kill Hitler during the closing months of the second World War.
Assassination was opposed by some operations planners, however, as they feared that Germany would "canonise" the Nazi leader as a martyr if killed by special agents.
Details of the plot, endorsed by Churchill and the military chiefs of staff, are contained in a 120page dossier in the Public Record Office, London.
Operation Foxley was centred on Hitler's mountain hideaway, Berchtesgaden, in the Bavarian Alps.
Assassination by a sniper using a high-powered rifle as Hitler took his morning stroll to a local teahouse, or a bazooka attack on his car on the way back were top of the list of options.
Aerial bombardment of Berchtesgaden followed by a raiding party of special service paratroopers was also considered. As was derailment of Hitler's personal train, the Fuhrerzug, and poisoning the train's water supply.
"Hitler, according to reliable information, is a tea addict. He always drinks it with milk. Since the milk is poured first into the cup, it is unlikely that the tea's opalescence would be noticed as it came from the teapot," the dossier says.
On March 16th, 1944, London contacted its Washington embassy, pinpointing a military attache there, Capt E.H. Bennett, as a possible hit man.
"He, far from being discouraged by my intimations of the possible toughness of the assignment showed even greater keenness," the embassy replied.
The assassination plot was hatched in the Special Operations Executive Algiers office on June 19th, 1944, when agents demanded authorisation to kill Hitler, who had been spotted at a mountain chateau near Perpignan, southern France.
"We are not repeat not mad nor is this a joke," the Algiers office reported to London.
Clearance was given by foreign secretary Anthony Eden and Churchill was informed, but the initial plans were stalled. Thereafter, the SOE chief, Maj Gen Colin Gubbins, formed a committee whose remit was to "liquidate" the Fuhrer.
However, the plan was bitterly opposed by some senior figures in the SOE, who believed that Hitler's capacity for strategic blunders meant he was more use alive.
The head of the German section, Maj Field-Robertson, said Germany would "canonise" a murdered Hitler, adding that it would be "disastrous" for the Allies to resort to such "low methods" because they were unable to defeat the German military machine.
"As a strategist, Hitler has been of the greatest possible assistance to the British war effort. I have no hesitation in saying that his value to us has been the equivalent to an almost unlimited number of first-class SOE agents strategically placed inside Germany," Maj Field-Robertson said.
In contrast, the SOE's air adviser, Air Vice-Marshal A.P. Ritchie, said Hitler was seen as "something more than human" by many Germans. "It is this mystical hold which he exercises over the German people that is largely responsible for keeping the country together at the present time. Remove Hitler and there is nothing left." In the event, Hitler is believed to have committed suicide in his Berlin bunker.
Other plans drafted by the SOE included attempts to hypnotise Hitler's former deputy, Rudolf Hess, who would be sent to kill Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS.
Files detailing gold the Nazis looted from Auschwitz and other death camp victims disappeared without trace and were possibly destroyed as late as the 1970s, according to an official report obtained yesterday by Reuters in Bonn.
The report, compiled by Germany's Federal Archive, with help from the Bundesbank, concerns 26 lost folders, known as the Melmer files after the SS officer responsible for tallying up how much gold was plundered from Jews exterminated in concentration camps. They could have provided a basis for Holocaust victims' claims for damages against German and Swiss banks. Their disappearance could be an embarrassment to the German government and a setback to its post-war efforts to come to terms with its Nazi legacy.
"With increasing displeasure it became clear that the 26 Melmer folders that were not microfilmed had disappeared without trace," the report concludes.
A report commissioned by the Swiss government showed that Nazi Germany took $146 million in gold, valued at $1.3 billion at today's prices, from Holocaust victims and other individuals.