The book begins on July 20, 1944, when Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg successfully bombs the Wolfsschanze during a military conference and later executes Operation Valkyrie in Berlin.

However, his decision to signal Adolf Hitler's death to other conspirators by code buys enough time for SS Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler to launch his own countercoup, Operation Reichssturm.

While the Allies work to break out of Normandy through Operation Cobra, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel recovers from the injuries that he suffered during a real-life strafing run three days before the Stauffenberg coup.

Himmler appoints him as commander of all German forces in Western Europe, under the watch from the SS, after Field Marshal Günther von Kluge dies in an air attack.

Galland's efforts with the fighter program results in the mobilization of all surviving Luftwaffe units in a co-ordinated assault against an Allied bomber raid of almost 2,600 aircraft in November 1944.

Himmler sees the surrender as an opening for the SS to consolidate its grip on all surviving Wehrmacht units, and Joseph Stalin is pleased with the opportunity for a new attack since the Eastern Front is now almost clear of German forces.

A more general explanation of the story (and other in-universe events) is written in the novel through excerpts from a fictional history book, War's Final Fury by Professor Jared Gruenwald.