Anlage Mitte /
Anlage Süd Führer Headquarters
In late 1940, before the anticipated invasion of the
Soviet Union, the German military planned various command headquarters on the
Eastern Front. Those to be used by Hitler as military commander were known as Führer
Headquarters. Initially, three main sites were planned, known by the code names
"Askania Nord," "Askania Mitte," and "Askania Süd,"
to disguise their functions as chemical factories. "Askania Nord"
became Hitler's headquarters Wolfschanze,
and "Askania Mitte/Süd" became Anlage Mitte
and Anlage Süd (Facility Center and Facility South).
While "Askania Nord" was planned as a permanent
headquarters complex, Anlage Mitte and Süd were only
temporary sites for the protected parking of Adolf Hitler's command train and
Wehrmacht staff trains. Both
of these sites had two similar complexes, a few kilometers from each other,
built by Organization Todt. The complexes at Anlage Mitte were two long concrete
bunkers for parking the trains, while Anlage Süd had one
bunker site and one actual underground tunnel. All sites had an associated
complex of bunkers for power generation and water supply.
The only time these FHQs were used for their planned purpose was on 27-28 August 1941,
when
Hitler's special train "Amerika" was parked in the Strzyżów
tunnel of Anlage Süd, while Mussolini's train was parked
in the nearby bunker at Stępina. Some of the bunkers were used in 1944 for
war industry production and munitions storage.
Click here
to proceed directly to the Anlage Süd site.

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This concrete train bunker, 382
meters long, is located near the Polish village of Konewka, northeast of
the town of Tomaszów Mazowiecki. Of the three train bunkers
of Anlage Mitte/Süd, this is the only one laid out in a straight line
(the Jeleń bunker is a shallow curve and the Stępina bunker
has a slight bend in the middle). The
reinforced concrete surrounding the train area is some 2.5 meters (8
feet) thick, and this bunker, like the Anlage Süd bunker at Stępina,
has a "Vorbunker" area with double entry doors. A short
distance to the east of the main bunker are the bunkers for power
generation and ventilation (above right and below left) and water
distribution (below right). These were linked to the main bunker by an
underground services tunnel. This site is operated as a museum
today. (Google
Maps link) |
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Some 14 km to the southwest of
the Konewka bunker is this similar concrete train bunker, at Jeleń.
In contrast to the other two train bunkers, this one lacks a
"Vorbunker" at the entrance, with two sets of doors. This
bunker has a simple entrance originally closed by one set of large iron
doors (left above). The far end (right above) has a simple personnel
exit. The bunker is 355 meters long, curved along its entire length.
Except at the entrance, the rails have been covered over. (Google
Maps link)
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The three concrete train bunkers have side tunnels
running beside the train tunnel, all part of the same structure. The
side tunnels were for service personnel, and had one or more exits to
the outside. On the right above is seen the original tunnel floor
configuration, with tracks to the left and the platform to the right. |

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Similar to the Konewka bunker, a
nearly identical set of power/ventilation and water distribution bunkers
is located near the Jeleń bunker. On the right above is the boiler
room, with the exterior chimney for the boiler and furnaces seen on the
left below. On the right below is a smaller concrete building of the
complex.
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Above is the power generation
facility, with the ventilation section below. The windows of this part
had a series of angled iron louvers for gross filtration of the incoming
air, which have been cut away since the war (left below). The air
filters were located on the upper floor of the ventilation room on the
right below. The outlet to the services tunnel running to the main train
bunker was from the floor of this room. |
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The water distribution bunker is adjacent to the
power bunker. On the right is the pump room, with the water tanks
beneath. |
Anlage
Süd Führer Headquarters

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Some 250 km to the southeast of
Anlage Mitte are the facilities of Anlage Süd. The facility at Stępina
is a concrete train bunker, similar to the Konewka bunker of Anlage
Mitte. In contrast to the straight Konewka bunker, this bunker has a
slight bend at its middle. This was the location of the meeting between
Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini on 27-28 August 1941. Mussolini's
train was parked in this bunker, while Hitler's train was parked some 17
km away in the Strzyżów
tunnel (see below). The entrance to the train bunker can be seen in the
background of the period photo above, covered with camouflage netting.
This bunker is operated as a museum today. (Bundesarchiv)
(Google
Maps link) |
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This bunker also has a
"Vorbunker" entry area closed by two sets of doors. The
original massive iron inner doors can be seen in these photos. The
tunnel is 382 meters long, covered with reinforced concrete some two
meters thick. |
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The views above show the back
end from the outside and inside. The main train tunnel is shown on the
left below, with the parallel staff and service tunnel on the right. |
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Several other bunkers were part
of the Stępina complex. The power generation/ventilation bunker is
at the left above. The bunkers at the right above and left below were
service / air raid bunkers located at either end of the village. At the
right below was a defensive bunker mounting machine guns, located near
the bunker on the left. |
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A similar defensive bunker is located on a hill
overlooking the village. The interior view shows one of the iron-mounted
weapons firing apertures. |

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This train tunnel at Strzyżów,
some 17 km east of the Stępina
bunker,
was the only facility of Anlage Mitte/Süd that was an
actual underground tunnel, not a concrete bunker. As a tunnel, this was
the only facility where a train could drive in or out going either
direction (the concrete bunkers had no train exits at their far ends).
The 472 meter long tunnel had double entry doors at each end, with
concrete cubes covering the side personnel entrances to the platform
inside. The western entry is shown above with the eastern entry below.
This is the most historic of the Anlage Mitte/Süd sites, as this was
where Hitler's special train "Amerika" was parked over the
night of 27-28 August 1941, when he met with Benito Mussolini. Hitler
drove from here to meet with Mussolini at the Stępina bunker, then
they returned here to dine in Hitler's dining car. From here, Hitler
returned the next day to his Wolfschanze
headquarters. (Google
Maps link) |
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The Strzyżów
tunnel was made of poured concrete with a brick lined ceiling. This
was the only facility with an emergency exit tunnel (although its
primary function was a connecting tunnel to the power bunker). A
stairwell from the covered entrance seen on the right above leads to a
tunnel (below left) that proceeds about 120 meters, beneath the
railroad, to an exit in the power bunker across the road (below right). |
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