Ludwig Beck
By 1938, Witzleben was a member of the Oster Conspiracy, a group of plotters including Generaloberst (Colonel General) Ludwig Beck, Generals Erich Hoepner and Carl-Heinrich von Stülpnagel, Admiral and Chief of the Abwehr Wilhelm Canaris and Abwehr Oberstleutnant (lieutenant colonel) Hans Oster. The men planned to overthrow Hitler in a military coup d'état, which seemed feasible at the time of the 1938 Sudeten Crisis, until the Munich Agreement defused the crisis, temporarily averting war. Witzleben's command, including the key Berlin Defense District, was to have played a decisive role in the planned coup.