Wolfschanze
(Wolf's Lair) Führer Headquarters
Adolf
Hitler's primary command headquarters on the Eastern Front was located near the
town of Rastenburg in East Prussia (now the town of Kętrzyn in Poland).
Hitler called this headquarters complex the "Wolfschanze," which is
generally translated into English as "Wolf's Lair" (although a closer
translation might be "Wolf's Fort," as a Schanze is
an earthwork fortification). The name is sometimes spelled Wolfsschanze, but on
this page I use the spelling found on period documents. The Wolf's Lair was the
largest of Hitler's field headquarters and he spent more time there during World
War II than at any other command site. (Google
Maps link)
The Wolfschanze was built in 1940-41
(many of the buildings were later rebuilt or added to) and first occupied just before the invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941.
The site chosen was located in a densely wooded area, ideal for camouflage from
aerial reconnaissance, and located behind a string of lakes that would hinder
any ground attack from the east. A convenient rail line ran through the middle of
the site. Although Hitler had other headquarters in the east, he spent over 800
days at the Wolfschanze and it was from there that the major operations on the
Russian Front were controlled. At the height of the war, over 2000 military
staff, guards, and support personnel worked at the Wolf's Lair, which consisted
of over 80 buildings including several heavy bunkers. The area was subdivided
into three security zones: Sperrkreis I was the inner area where Hitler and his
closest staff lived and worked, Sperrkreis II was an adjacent area where support
staff lived and worked, and Sperrkreis III was an outer security zone that
surrounded the other two, and contained defense and guard forces and flak
batteries. A minefield of some 50,000 land mines and anti-personnel mines
surrounded the entire area. As the Soviet Army
approached the area in late November 1944 the site was abandoned, and the
buildings and bunkers were blown up by the retreating Germans on 24-25 January 1945.
In addition to the main
Wolfschanze headquarters area, there were other nearby bunker sites for SS chief
Heinrich Himmler ("Hochwald"), Luftwaffe chief Hermann Göring
("Robinson"), and other Nazi leaders, as well as staff of the Army
High Command (OKH) at Mauerwald. Click here to visit these
sites (on a separate page).

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Most of
the buildings in the Wolfschanze complex were brick or cement block
structures, some with a reinforced concrete coating, and with metal
shutters that could be closed over the windows. Buildings such as these
served as the ordinary living and working areas for the military staff (in
contrast, Hitler lived and did much of his work in his windowless concrete
monolith bunker). These photos show Hitler with various commanders and
staff officers such as Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, Grand Admiral Erich
Raeder, Luftwaffe chief Hermann Göring, SS leader Heinrich Himmler,
Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, Reichs Leader Hans Lammers, Party
leader Martin Bormann, ambassador Walter Hewel, Armaments Minister Albert Speer,
adjutant Otto Günsche, and
others. (Bundesarchiv) |
The following photos present a
small "virtual tour" of the Wolfschanze Sperrkreis I and Sperrkreis II
areas (not every object or ruin is shown on this page).

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Near the
entry to Sperrkreis I are several bunker ruins, which served as air raid
shelters for adjacent buildings. Most of the ruined objects bear painted
numbers on them today, but these numbers have nothing to do with their
original designations or purposes. However, these numbers are keyed to all
the modern maps and plans of the site, and they are a convenient way to
refer to the objects. Some sources say that Bunker 0, on the left above,
covered a well or water pumping station. Some sources say that the bunker
on the right above covered an emergency generator. The large parking area
found today just inside the site entrance is a postwar construction, for
tourist parking. Some 200,000 visitors tour the Wolf's Lair annually. Note
the green colored rough coating on the sides of Bunker 0 on the left -
this coating will be discussed in more detail below.
(This wall
coating can also be seen in the two period photos just above.) |

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The
structures above were used by the SS guard force (Begleitkommando) and the
Reichssicherheitsdienst (RSD) security force, charged with Hitler's
personal security. Object 1 (on the left), which was just outside the
Sperrkreis I fence, has been rebuilt as a hotel with
a restaurant on the ground floor, where garages for the SS vehicles were
originally located. Object 2 (right) appears only as a ruin today. |

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Proceeding
further into Sperrkreis I, the next building (object 3) was a hardened
building called the Lagebaracke, which was used for military briefings
during the summer of 1944. When Hitler returned to the Wolfschanze from
the Obersalzberg in mid-July 1944, reinforcements to his large personal
bunker were not finished yet, so he lived in the so-called Guest Bunker
(see below), and his military situation conferences took place in this
nearby Lagebaracke building. This was the site of the assassination
attempt on Hitler on 20 July 1944, when Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg
planted a bomb in this building during a conference. The period photo
above is said to have been taken on 20 July 1944, before the bomb was
planted, and shows various personnel such as Hermann Göring, adjutant
Julius Schaub, Gen. Bruno Loerzer, and Martin Bormann in conversation
outside the Lagebaracke. Note how the native trees were left in place as
far as possible as natural camouflage, augmented by camouflage netting
seen on the building roof here, as well as netting strung between the
trees (remains of the wires holding these nets can be seen on several
trees at the site today, as well as small pieces of the green and brown
plastic camouflage netting). Only the collapsed roof, foundations and wall fragments of
the Lagebaracke exist today. The ruins have memorial monuments to
Stauffenberg and the other assassination conspirators (below). (Bundesarchiv) |
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Nearby is a memorial to engineers and
sappers from the Polish military who were
killed while clearing the minefields surrounding the Wolfschanze in the 1950s.
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The
famous photo on the left above, taken on 15 July 1944 before the assassination attempt,
shows (from left) Colonel Stauffenberg, Admiral Jesko von Puttkammer
(naval aide, in background), Gen. Karl Bodenschatz shaking hands with
Hitler, and Field Marshal Keitel. The group is standing near the
Lagebaracke, with the Guest Bunker (object 6) in the background. The
center photo shows a group of staff officers in the same area, with a
closer view of the Guest Bunker in the background. This area
was a special closed-off security zone within Sperrkreis I, during the
period when Hitler lived in the Guest Bunker. Note the artificial trees
and camouflage netting. The Guest
Bunker (Gästebunker) was one of the larger air raid shelters built in the
area, as protection for prominent visitors to the Wolf's Lair. Its roof featured two light caliber flak gun mounts, reached by the
metal rung ladder running up the side of the bunker, seen on the right
below. (Bundesarchiv; center - private collection) |
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Many of the bunkers and buildings also had trees
and vegetation planted on their roofs as further camouflage. (Bundesarchiv)

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Near the
Guest Bunker were two brick buildings with reinforced concrete roofs, used
by (left - object 7) military stenographers and secretaries who recorded
the situation conferences, and (right - object 8) SS-Gruppenführer Johann
"Hans" Rattenhuber, head of the RSD and Hitler's personal
security (this building also served as a post office). |

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Hitler's
bunker was originally built with walls 2-3 meters thick, but in common
with most of the Wolfschanze buildings, it was further reinforced during
two subsequent construction phases (many of the brick and concrete
buildings at the Wolf's Lair started as wooden buildings, which later had
concrete and masonry added to their walls and roofs). The major bunkers,
such as those for Hitler, Göring, Bormann, and guests, later had 2-3
additional meters of concrete added in a second layer, with a 50cm layer
of gravel and rubble between, to absorb shock waves from bomb explosions.
Although the final products appear huge from the outside, the inner rooms
were actually quite small, as (with the exception of Hitler's bunker) they
were meant only as air raid shelters, not as living or working spaces (see
the intact bunkers at Mauerwald). |

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Immediately
adjacent to Hitler's bunker was a flak tower bunker (object 12). This
bunker was completely destroyed, with the rooftop flak and machinegun
positions lying on the ground today. A water reservoir originally for
fire-fighting purposes, located beside the flak bunker, now has several
pieces of the bunker in it (another such reservoir was located in
Sperrkreis II). This reservoir (object 14) figured in the
never-ending battle against the hordes of mosquitoes that infested the
Wolfschanze in the summer (and still do). In an effort to control these
insects, the water reservoirs were covered with a layer of oil. However,
all this did was kill the frogs that lived in the reservoirs, which made
the situation even worse because these frogs were the natural predators of
the mosquitoes. Hitler ordered the reservoirs to be cleaned and
replacement frogs brought in. |

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Adjacent
to Hitler's bunker on the other side was a Kasino (dining hall) and
Teehaus. Hitler normally ate meals and took tea here with his closest
supporters. The dining hall of Kasino I was decorated with a red star cut
from a downed Russian aircraft. Today only sections of the Kasino walls
with tiles attached exist along the path behind Hitler's bunker (seen in
the distance on the right above). Brick walls remain of the so-called Old
Tea House (Altes Teehaus) nearby (below). (Bundesarchiv) |
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As second
man in the Third Reich leadership hierarchy, Luftwaffe chief Hermann
Göring had his own house (object 15) and bunker (object 16) near Hitler's
bunker in Sperrkreis I. In spite of this, Göring actually spent most of
his time at his own Luftwaffe headquarters complex and personal hunting
lodge in the Rominten area, some 90 kilometers to the northeast of the
Wolfschanze. The period photo shows the bunker on the left
surrounded by specially planted natural trees and artificial trees with
camouflage netting, with Göring's house visible in the background. (Bundesarchiv) |

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Generaloberst
Alfred Jodl, chief of the Wehrmacht operations staff, had a headquarters
building with living quarters in Sperrkreis I (left above - object 17).
Nearby was another dining facility, Kasino II (right above - object 18 -
this building is labeled with the name Buhle on a sketch map of Sperrkreis
I drawn for the Nuremberg Trials - apparently a reference to Gen. Walter
Buhle, chief of the Army staff of OKW). A
shooting range for tourists has been installed in Jodl's bunker today. |

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Jodl's
boss Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel had a personal bunker near Hitler's
bunker and staff buildings (object 19). Keitel's bunker suffered badly
during the 1945 demolition. |
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A
multi-wing reinforced building in the vicinity of Hitler's bunker served
as a residence and working area for Hitler's personal adjutants Julius
Schaub, Albert Bormann, Otto Günsche, and also military adjutants and
liaison officers under the leadership of Hitler's chief Wehrmacht adjutant Gen. Rudolf Schmundt (object 20, left above). A heating plant
(chimney, center) and a cinema (right above) were also located in
Sperrkreis I. A garage for staff vehicles was located nearby (object 22,
below). |
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Large
bunkers to shelter communications personnel (Nachrichtenbunker) were
located in Sperrkreis I near the Guest Bunker (object 21, above), and in
Sperrkreis II. |

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Press
chief Otto Dietrich had a personal residence with attached bunker in the
southwest corner of Sperrkreis I. This ruin (sometimes labeled as object
23) is not on any of the marked tour routes and is rarely visited today. The
1945 demolition largely collapsed the entire structure. |

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These are
two of the miscellaneous structures that exist in Sperrkreis I. The
building on the left (object 5) was used by the SS-Begleitkommando and
personal staff and valets. The underground space on the right (object 10),
near Bormann's bunker, is sometimes identified as a storage area for
foodstuffs, and sometimes as an underground sauna. |
Proceed
to the Wolfschanze Sperrkreis II
Proceed to
the Army High Command (OKH) center at Mauerwald
Back to the Third Reich in Ruins homepage
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