The military situation on the Eastern Front in January 1944 was dire for the German Army. It had entered the New Year with a dwindling number of soldiers to man the battle lines. The Red Army, however, was in even greater strength than ever before and Hitler’s reluctance to concede territory was still proving to be very problematic for the commanders in the field. The persistent lack of strategic direction in the East was causing major trouble too. In spite of the worsening conditions, the German Army were compelled to fight on.
At the Wolf’s Lair, Hitler always began the New Year with optimism. He had convinced the German people to stand fast in the face of adversary and through their iron will and fortitude he promised them victory. In front of his war staff he radiated that same confidence and instilled them with fresh hope and strength of mind. But whatever assurances he gave them, January brought nothing but a string of familiar problems. By 15 January, news reached the Wolf’s Lair that the Red Army had unleashed their much awaited winter offensive against Army Group North. Within days, reports confirmed that the Soviets had wrenched open the German front and poured powerful units through the decimated gaps. The 18th Army, which bore the brunt of the main attacks, were outnumbered by at least three divisions to one. As usual, the German troops were expected to hold the front, but the overwhelming enemy firepower proved too much and General Kuerchler’s Army Group was forced to fall back under a hurricane of enemy fire. Within four days of the attack the Russians had successfully breached Army Group North’s defences in three places. This effectively wrenched open a massive corridor allowing Red Army troops to pour through towards the besieged city of Leningrad. Troops of the 18th Army were beginning to disintegrate. Already there had been reports indicating that some 40,000 casualties had been incurred trying to contain the Soviets. Fighting in the mud and freezing water, the men were totally exhausted and unable to hold back the enemy for any appreciable length of time. Hitler was disgruntled by the collapse of the Front and sent a message to Kuerchler prohibiting all voluntary withdrawals and reserved all decisions to withdraw for himself.
In a drastic attempt to infuse determination in his generals and to strengthen faith in ultimate victory, Hitler decided to summon the principle generals from the Eastern Front to the Wolf’s Lair on 26 January. Row upon row, they sat before him in the dining room of the converted inn at Security Zone II. After Morell had administered Hitler the usual injections, the Führer took to the stage and lectured them. He made it clear that all officers were to support the drive for ultimate victory and influence the conduct of operations by instilling in their men a fanatical resolve to fight in the name of National Socialism. He challenged his generals, telling them that that they must induct the seeds of National Socialism, and remain undiminished in their resolve to turn around the unfortunate circumstances that had befallen them on the Eastern Front. As Hitler paused in his speech, a deathly silence fell in the room. Suddenly, the silence was broken by a loud voice coming from the front row. Hitler glared; it was Manstein. There followed another silence, but this time it was icy, as if Hitler paused for effect, waiting for his generals to unanimously rise to their feet and applaud him. But there was neither, not even a murmur. On the rostrum, Hitler’s face became contorted with anger. He scanned the room with indignation and stopped at Manstein and asked him harshly about his derisive behaviour. Hitler felt so insulted that his concentration broke and he felt unable to finish to the speech. Instead, he brought it to an abrupt end and stalked out of the room, unable to look at any of the generals. Within half an hour Manstein was ordered to report to the Führer’s study. In a meeting that lasted only minutes, Hitler told Manstein that he would never tolerate such sarcastic behaviour again, and would not be interrupted either. Although at the evening conference Hitler’s manner towards Manstein was cordial, he was never able to forgive the field-marshal for his behaviour that day.
During late January, Hitler decided to return to his mountain retreat. He joked that he wanted to be closer to the Italian front but remarked that he never dreamt he would one day need one so close to Italy. But the real reason that Hitler had decided to leave his East Prussian headquarters was his growing fear of an enemy air raid on the Wolf’s Lair. In fact, he told Speer back in October 1943, that he had fully expected massive aerial daylight attacks on the headquarters, and for this reason he had ordered plans to be drawn up for the third construction period in order to strengthen the existing bunkers and to construct new ones. Caution too had also been taken to prevent the possibility of enemy troops being dropped into the compound, which was one of his greatest fears. Although it might have been difficult in the summer months on the few open spaces between the forests, swamps, lakes, due to the many thousands of mines surrounding large areas of the headquarters, he was becoming increasingly concerned that the enemy could be landed on frozen lakes. It was for this reason the Führer ordered anti-aircraft batteries to be installed that could fire point-blank at intruders, which could in effect smash the ice. In Goldap, some 50 miles north-east of the Wolf’s Lair, a battalion of airborne troops were stationed and could be dropped into the headquarters at a moment’s notice, should enemy troops have got in.
With the growing threat of attack on the headquarters, various degrees of alerts were introduced. There were four levels: ‘alert readiness’, ‘alert’, ‘gas alert’ and ‘fire alert’. Alert readiness was communicated only by either telephone or runner, giving instructions to order the defence of the headquarters against a possible attack by aircraft, airborne landings, parachute troops, or saboteurs. If these alerts occured after dark, armbands were put on in order to distinguishthe enemy. Those without armbands after the sirens had sounded were to be regarded as the enemy and would be shot. All gas alerts were given by a gong, whilst blasts were given by telephone or by shouting ‘gas!’. Though the official procedure was, ‘keep calm! Immediately put on gas-mask’. Other routine alert procedures were fire alerts, and these were signified over the telephone with calls or shouts of ‘fire!’
In order to tighten security, the two main telephone numbers of the Wolf’s Lair were changed on 1 February, to prevent any unauthorized persons from obtaining telephone connections into the headquarters’ telephone exchanges. This, however, had already happened. Weeks before, a great number of unauthorized persons managed to get connected to the HQ telephone exchanges by obtaining the numbers by telephone of the Rastenburg Post Office.
Although great efforts had been made to secure the headquarters from possible enemy attacks, and to increase security within the installation itself, problems still existed, especially with hundreds of labourers of Organization Todt brought in daily during the various construction stages. As the labourers poised to begin the last and final phase of construction, Hitler and staff left for Munich on 23 February. With Hitler’s departure, hundreds of workers moved in to begin erecting even stronger bunkers to safeguard the Führer and the rest of the inhabitants of the Wolf’s Lair from aerial attacks.
Now that supreme headquarters had moved to the Obersalzberg, Hitler continued presiding over important dilemmas of the War. The Eastern Front was still causing him much concern. Earlier in the month he had relieved General Kuechler for his failure to hold Army Group North together, and replaced him with General Walther Model. Model was regarded by the Führer as a great improviser who was capable of changing the tactical situation in Army Group North. Almost immediately Model went to work by introducing his ‘Schild und Schwert’ (Shield and Sword) policy, which stated that no soldiers were to withdraw without express permission, and only if they paved the way for a counterstroke later. Model had assured Hitler that he was determined to prevent the front from degenerating into a panic flight and all stragglers would be collected and sent back to the line. He cancelled leaves, sent walking wounded to their units, and sent a number of the rear-echelon troops to the front. Without hesitation he requested more reinforcements, which included Waffen-SS replacements, naval coast batteries and Luftwaffe troops.
Throughout February Hitler was updated on Model’s reforms, and by the time he had departed for Bavaria his faithful general had temporarily restored the frontline units. During March, however, the Red Army began exerting more pressure, especially against the 16th Army defending the Baltic. But the spring thaw had arrived early and melting snow had turned the roads on which the Russians were travelling into a quagmire. Model once again saw this as an opportunity and reinforced the front lines, bringing the Russian advance almost to a standstill. Thanks to Model, Army Group North was now stabilized. Due to his energetic, innovative and courageous method of leadership he had prevented the wholesale collapse of the northern sector of the Eastern Front.
Model’s success in the north soon earned him a new command in Army Group South. On 30 March, less than a week before Army Group South was re-designated Army Group North Ukraine, Model replaced Manstein and was installed by Hitler as Commander-in-Chief.
For three long months Hitler and his war staff had watched Army Group South fight a series of bitter and bloody battles in order to stem the gradual deterioration of its forces in southern Russia. Conditions for the German Army between January and March were dismal. Supplies were inadequate, and replacements in men were far below what was needed to sustain its divisions along the entire front. To make matters worse, in January a 110-mile breach between Army Group Centre and Army Group South had developed. Both groups had sufficient forces to plug the gap, but by the end of the month the gap opened even wider when the Belorussian Front pushed the 2nd Army to the line of the Ipa River.
By early March, advanced Soviet units had reached the outskirts of the city of Tarnopol. Within days of their arrival Red Army troops advanced through the ravaged city but were soon beaten back by strong German defences. As German soldiers fought for Tarnopol, Hitler issued another order appealing for his forces on the Eastern Front to use towns, cities and surrounding areas as fortified positions in order to slow the Soviet drive westward. In total, Hitler designated some 26 cities and larger towns on still occupied Soviet territory as fortified positions.
In spite of the high casuality rate, the Wehrmacht and its Waffen-SS counterparts had generally defended their positions well against terrible odds. By early April the Red Army, after nearly eight months of continuous movement had at last given the Germans respite. Hitler once again felt that he alone had displayed nerves of steel in front of his demoralized generals. During the situation conferences, his commanders made a number of furtive attempts to abandon certain areas of land to the Russians. Hitler, however, had held strong, and prohibited any attempts by his commanders to make deep withdrawals.
Whilst the Eastern Front offered nothing but a string of catastrophes, there was now growing uncertainty about the Anglo-American invasion of northern France. At Klessheim castle, a few miles away from the Berghof, Hitler once again took to the stage and repeated the view that the enemy would invade in Normandy and Brittany, and not the much closer Channel coast in the Pas de Calais area. On 1 May, Hitler impatiently wanted information relating to the prospects of Marck’s Corps being able to defend Normandy. At the war conference the next day Hitler boldly announced he was to insert stronger forces into the Normandy and Brittany peninsulas, including a paratrooper corps.
By early June Hitler received reports that German counter-intelligence had begun monitoring increased radio traffic from the BBC. From these decoded messages it was fairly certain that the invasion would start within the next fourteen days. What was also revealing about the messages was the fact that they were addressed to resistance groups located in the area of Lille/Amiens, Normandy and Brittany.
By the time Hitler was awakened at 9.00 am on 6 June, wave after wave of enemy landing craft had disgorged tanks and men onto the landing beaches of Normandy. Over the days that followed, further intelligence reports of the Allied invasion continued to elude Hitler and his war staff. OKH still believed, and so did Rommel, that the attack on Normandy was not the main assault, which would come somewhere in the Pas de Calais area. Throughout June and early July this view held sway at the supreme headquarters and influenced decisions. The formidable 15th Army was held back and did not come to the aid of the 7th Army, which was already involved in heavy fighting in the Normandy sector. Within two weeks, reports confirmed that the Normandy landings had been successful, the high casualty rate notwithstanding.
Whilst the Western Front offered no real comfort, events in the East were far grimmer. By the middle of June Hitler was already torn between remaining at the Berghof and directing the War in the West, or returning to his Wolf’s Lair and overseeing operations in the East. The third anniversary of the invasion of the Soviet Union was marked with a foreboding that not even Hitler himself could have ever imagined. During the early hours of 22 June, across vast parts of Army Group Centre the front line erupted in a wall of flame and smoke. Almost 22,000 guns and mortars and 2,000 Katyusha multiple rocket launchers poured fire and destruction on to German defensive positions. By the end of the first day of the Russian attack the situation for Army Group Centre looked grim. All along the front, battered and blasted German units had tried in vain to hold their positions using First World War tactics against overwhelming odds.
For the Soviets, their summer offensive had progressed well and the city of Vitebsk was almost surrounded. At the situation conference held on 25 June, it was reported that the Red Army were slowly and systematically bulldozing their way through with German forces either fighting to the death, or saving themselves by escaping the impending slaughter by withdrawing to another makeshift position. According to an army officer’s report, the ferocity of the Soviet attacks was immense and without respite. After four long days of almost continuous fighting, German troops were exhausted and battling for survival in a number of places. Hitler insisted that his troops must fight from fixed positions without any tactical retreat, but according to Keitel this had caused many units to become encircled by Red Army rifle divisions, leaving tank units to speed past unhindered and achieve deeper penetrations.
By 26 June, the Red Army had achieved a number of successful encirclements. Around the city of Bobruysk for instance, a total of 70,000 troops belonging to the 9th Army were trapped in the city and to the east of it. Once again OKH instructed that every soldier must hold every foot of ground, forbidding any type of withdrawal. As a result of this stubborn order, Soviet divisions closed in around the city of Bobruysk. The situation for the 9th Army was critical, and the area around the shattered city had become a vast killing ground. In just two days of fighting it was reported that some 10,000 German troops had been killed around the city, with another 6,000 captured.
During the last days of June, the Soviet summer offensive took much of Hitler’s attention, far more than operations unfolding in the West. Here in the killing fields of the Soviet Union he was aware that the outcome of the attack that fateful summer would be more catastrophic than that experienced by his brave legions on the Western Front. By 28 June the situation for Army Group Centre was dismal. General Zeitzler reported to Hitler that General Busch had cabled him, telling him that his 9th Army had been significantly damaged with high losses. The 4th Army was retreating, and the 3rd Panzer Army was in a critical state, with one corps left out of its original three.
Hitler demanded that all three armies stop withdrawing immediately and hold a new line due north, south of Beresino. Busch wasted no time and instructed the three armies to halt, but the damage inflicted on them was far beyond repair. Hitler was incensed over what he saw as Busch’s dilatory tactics and finally decided to replace him with Field Marshal Model, hoping to instil new vigour and restore determination into Army Group Centre. The change of command pleased many commanders in the field. Many of them had been bitter over developments, which they felt resulted from the way that Army Group Centre had been led. Hitler knew that out on the battlefield his ‘troubleshooter’ would try his utmost to minimize the extent of the disaster. With 28 of its 37 divisions already destroyed or surrounded, Model was called upon by his Führer to rescue the remnants and stabilize the front to avoid complete annihilation.
Whilst Model gave his best to bring about stability in Army Group Centre, on 9 July Hitler decided to fly back to the Wolf’s Lair for one day. When he arrived the headquarters was in turmoil; hundreds of Todt labourers were still busily working in shifts turning the previous bunkers of Security Zone I into gigantic concrete forts. But Hitler had not come back to oversee construction, he had flown there specifically on a mission to instil confidence in his weary commanders. Early that afternoon he gathered his Eastern commanders for a conference and spoke at length about the looming threat to the frontiers of the Reich, and his deep concerns about the possibility that East Prussia might even be invaded. The defence of East Prussia, he warned, would be the last battle in the East. He told his commanders that they must remain optimistic if they were to succeed. Although many left the conference that afternoon imbued with new courage and fortitude, they could still not miss the underlying atmosphere at the headquarters, which indicated that the War had taken a very bad turn for the worse.
Even as Hitler flew back to the Berghof later that day, high drama gripped the Wolf’s Lair as further reports were received on Army Group Centre. With nothing but a string of defeats and unable to improve the terrible situation, Model finally informed OKH that Army Group Centre could no longer assemble a projected attack north of Vilnius in time to halt the Russian armour – Army Group North would have to do it and suffer the consequences.
By 13 July the Russian summer offensive had fulfilled its objectives and left Army Group Centre almost totally destroyed. The rapid Soviet advance had taken the Army Group by complete surprise and had consequently bypassed a number of large German troop concentrations on the frontline in the 3rd Panzer Army and 9th Army sectors. Although remnants of these forces managed to claw their way west to the relative safety of Army Group North, its once proud forces were a mere shadow of their former selves. The badly beaten and bruised divisions had arrived east of Lithuania and to the east of the frontier of Poland with most of their units crushed.
In total, OKH estimated that between 25 and 30 divisions were badly mauled during the three weeks of constant fighting, with 17 divisions totally annihilated. Losses in troops were hard to gauge, but it was believed that some 300,000 were killed and captured.
The plan to ‘pull the teeth’ of the Red Army for the rest of the summer so that it could not undertake offensive operations and to shorten the front by eliminating the Soviet ‘bulge’ around Kursk had been an utter failure. Hitler was well aware of the implications. Even the Normandy landings were not such a huge disaster. The great westward retreat that would begin in September, giving up almost all territory east of the Dnieper, was the direct result of the failure of Citadel.
On 15 July, Hitler returned once more to the Wolf’s Lair, but this time to stay and direct the war on the Eastern Front more closely. When he arrived, the installation still resembled a building site. Security Zone I was almost unrecognizable. In place of small, low bunkers were huge concrete and iron structures looming skyward, their roofs expertly camouflaged by transplanted grass and trees. Many buildings were reinforced, and new, elaborate ones constructed using thousands of cubic metres of concrete. Göring, for instance, had an enormous bunker built east of his house overlooking the main railway line. Running west, just north of the Bormann bunker, a huge general purpose bunker had also been built. On the main Security Zone I road, west of the Keitel bunker, were low bunker/barracks-type buildings for the Führer’s personnel and SS adjutants (No.8), and another (No.13) for his Wehrmacht adjutant, Schmundt, who was also chief of the Army Personnel Office. The building was still scaffolded, being enlarged and joined together and shaped like a large ‘M’. West (No.8) bunker, there was a bunker/barracks building, L-shaped, for various liaison personnel posted to the headquarters.
Owing to the extensive reconstruction of the area and the finishing touches to the Führerbunker, yet another inner security zone was established, known as the Führer Security Zone. This was located in the north-west corner of Security Zone I. Its fence encircled the guest bunker (No.15) where Hitler was to live during this period and a barracks-type building taken over as the situation barracks, or Lagebaracke or Lagehaus, until the Führerbunker was completed. Hitler was to sleep in a small, cramped room in the eastern end of the south wing of the guest bunker.
There was also an area enclosed by a fence erected south-west of Security Zone I. Most of the key sections of the army’s operations staff were located in this sector and continued to be responsible for working the Führer conference pronouncements into meaningful form for issue to the staffs at OKH, OKL and OKW. The old Kurhaus became a casino for the headquarters personnel who lived and worked in the area. A huge telephone exchange too had been built in the southern part of this sector.
To the east, south of Security Zone I, there were now buildings for guests and Ribbentrop’s liaison staff. A little further east, on a road in Security Zone II, two massive, abutting general purpose bunkers (No.54) were still being constructed as shelters for that area of the Wolf’s Lair.
In this final construction period that continued until January 1945, many of the old bunkers, including Hitler’s own bunker and wooden annex, received additional shells of at least 4 metres of steel and concrete, making them completely windowless. The Führerbunker was to depend entirely on artificial air supply when the several doors and air intakes, which were fitted with gas protection chambers, were closed. The shell ceiling of the bunker alone was 5 metres thick, giving a total thickness of the two ceilings of at least 7 metres. This was considered more than enough protection against the heaviest possible aerial attacks. The immediate layer of gravel was designed to cushion and prevent damage to the inner bunker. Although enemy aircraft were frequently seen flying over the headquarters, it was suggested that there was no real immediate danger to the Führer’s safety. But Hitler still felt he could leave absolutely nothing to chance. He was constantly aware of the advancing Red Army and increasingly concerned that a special unit might be assigned to attack the Wolf’s Lair, either by parachuting into the installation or mounting a ground assault. In order to strengthen the protection of the headquarters he had ordered that a massive minefield belt containing some 54,000 mines be laid inside the outer perimeter, within Security Zone III. Here the minefields were boarded by a double-apron barbed wire chain link fence with warning signs. The area was regarded so dangerous that eleven members of Hitler’s entourage, including the secretaries, who had a tendency to wander around the barrier, signed a document outlining that they had been fully informed about the minefield’s existence.
Over a period of months the headquarters was transformed into a huge fortress of concrete and wood. The noon conferences were temporarily moved to one of these hutments in the situation barrack of the Führer’s Restricted Zone. Two partition walls had been knocked down to create the long makeshift conference room, allowing more light and air to pass through the open windows, and to fill the hut with the smell of the surrounding woods.
The heat during July was oppressive. Hitler spent most of his time working in the new bunkers, which were much cooler than the stuffy wooden barracks. But his poor health, coupled with the hot weather was bothering him. The adjutants did their best to keep their Führer in the best of spirits, but it normally did not last long. It had become quite noticeable to Hitler’s staff that the heat was causing him to become more irritable and irrational. One such episode of his irrational behaviour was during a conference on 18 July. Whilst he was conferring with his war staff, pouring over maps, he became very annoyed that a winged insect was interrupting his concentration. He suddenly turned to one of his SS adjutants and accused him of disrupting the conference by not using his initiative and removing the insect. Later that day his staff was shocked to hear that he had dismissed the young adjutant and had him transferred to the Eastern Front. Such unreasonable behaviour staggered his intimate circle. Lunching with Fraulein Schroder however, she noticed how relaxed Hitler seemed, but he stunned her by mentioning that he had premonitions of something terrible was going to happen to him.
On 20 July, Hitler rose earlier than normal as Mussolini was expected after lunch. The regular 1 pm war conference was brought forward 30 minutes and Keitel was advised he must make it as brief as possible as Hitler was meeting the Duce. At about 12.25 pm, Hitler walked the 40 yards or so to the usual grey camouflaged conference hut, finding Warlimont and twenty other staff officers waiting outside. Although it was cloudy and rain was in the air the weather was warm and stuffy and as a consequence all the windows to the hut were open. Guarding the hut was an SS guard and an RSD patrol in the area. Inside, there was a sergeant operating a small telephone switchboard, and in the conference room two SS officers. One of them, Gunsche, and the other Himmler’s liaison man SS-Gruppenführer Herman Fegelein greeted Hitler and the twenty officers as they gathered around the long, narrow, oak map table. Only Hitler used a chair, his back to the door, at the middle of the table. A pair of spectacles rested on the map. Playing with a magnifying glass in one hand, which he now needed at the conferences to read the print on the maps, he began listening to General Heusinger, who was standing to his right, briefing him on the Eastern Front. Shortly afterwards, Keitel broke in to announce the presence of General Fromm’s chief of staff, a one-armed, one-eyed colonel holding a yellow briefcase. Hitler and a few other staff officers had recognized this colonel from a meeting with them five days earlier. Keitel announced to Hitler that this was Colonel Count Schenk von Stauffenberg who was to brief him on the new divisions. With composure, the Colonel raised his left hand in a Hitler salute. Hitler then shook Stauffenberg’s mutilated hand, and sat down again, announcing that before he heard his report he was to finish listening to Heusinger first.
Whilst the General busily reported on the situation at the front, Hitler leaned over the map table, using his elbow as support. Using various coloured pencils in his left hand he made alterations to the map whilst Heusinger continued to talk. As he began to conclude his report by telling them about withdrawing forces from Lake Peipus there was suddenly a tremendous, blinding flash. Heusinger’s explanation came to an abrupt end as the room exploded. Outside officers and guards dived for cover as an avalanche of debris from the hut blew out through the windows and roof. A number of passing officers also took cover behind trees and parked vehicles, fearing that the headquarters was under direct aerial attack.
Inside the hut, thick smoke filled the room. A number of staff officers were buried beneath the debris. Admiral Puttkamer was in a state of shock, and through the dust and pieces of building he noticed a twisted heater under the window and thought it had exploded, but then realized it was the summer. He then immediately thought that foreign labourers who were working on the new bunkers had attacked the hut. Many others caught in the explosion thought that the headquarters was under attack, and feared leaving the hut, thinking that they might suddenly blunder straight into enemy fire. The majority though were in complete shock and those that could stand hurriedly clambered across the wreckage through the charred fragments of maps and papers, out to the fresh air, coughing and spluttering. Keitel had been blown on his back by the explosion and for a moment he could hear nothing except sounds of groaning men in pain. He slowly pulled himself up and struggled towards a figure lying near the left door jamb – it was the Führer. Hitler had been stunned by the explosion, but also feared leaving the building, worried that there had been a paratroop attack on the installation. Painfully he stumbled to his feet, beating out the flames on his shredded black trousers. Supported by Keitel and Sonnleiter, who had assured the Führer that that the headquarters was not under enemy attack, they shuffled into the corridor and then out the door.
Inside the security zone all was a hive of confused activity as first aid personnel, guards and officers waving their pistols were seen running to and fro. Whilst being supported by Keitel, Hitler momentarily paused for composure, relieved to have survived the explosion, and then looked back at the smouldering hut. Keitel exclaimed that it must have been one of the Todt workmen but Hitler immediately rebuked his General and declared confidently that no workman would ever lift a hand against him. As Hitler unsteadily limped past all the confusion, one of his adjutants called for Hasselbach and Morell. Inside the bunker Hitler took a seat to relieve the discomfort and took his own pulse. His three secretaries immediately arrived and to their surprise saw their Führer grinning at them with a smoke-blackened face. Traudl Junge almost burst into laughter at the sight of his hair, which resembled a scarecrow’s. Afterwards he retired into his bedroom to let Hasselbach and Morell remove his tattered trousers. Both doctors noticed that he had been wounded on both thighs by the explosion and had to carefully remove over 100 fragmented splinters from his legs. His face was also cut in many places, and his forehead had received a deep cut from a falling roof timber. Though Hitler appeared outwardly composed despite the whole trauma, inside he was a man steeled for revenge. Without resting he immediately sent out guards to search for additional bombs hidden inside the headquarters and ordered the injured and deafened Colonel von Below to the telephone exchange to forbid the telephonists from using the switchboard. All security guards at the gates into the Wolf`s Lair were ordered not to allow any persons out under any pretext, and those entering the installation were first frisked for hidden weapons, and accompanied to their place of business. The outer gate was immediately closed, obstacles were placed in the roadway, and the guards were ordered not to allow any persons through.
Apparently, new pass procedures inside the Führer’s Restricted Zone had not been set up in the short time since the headquarters had been moved back from the Berghof. Although there were only a very small number of people allowed to enter, and only on legitimate business, both the SS and RSD guards who had been patrolling the Führer’s Restricted Zone were shocked by the lack of security that they themselves had imposed. To increase Hitler’s safety, during the night of 20/21 July elements of Hitler’s personal bodyguard detachment, the Leibstandarte-SS Adolf Hitler, arrived and occupied all major points inside the compound, sealing off Security Zone I. In the course of just 24 hours SS guards were added to every FBB post inside and outside the headquarters. In addition, an entire SS alert unit was employed inside Security Zone I, much to the resentment of the regular headquarter troops.
Despite the increased security measures, Hitler refused to rest, and at about 1.15 pm, he emerged from his bunker, wearing a new uniform. To the surprise of his staff he insisted on wandering by himself, deliberately making a point of chatting with the construction workers to let them know they were not under any suspicion. Strolling in sight of the Führer Zone’s perimeter fence, Hitler was clearly totally unhurt by the explosion. Watching from a distance, his adjutant guessed that he wanted to show everyone at the Wolf’s Lair that he was very much alive.
Fraulein Schroder wrote in her diary:
I did not expect to be called in for lunch with him [Hitler] after the assassination attempt. But nevertheless I was sent for to join him. I was astounded to see how fresh he looked, and how sprightly he stepped toward me. He described to me how his servants had reacted to the news: [Heinz] Linge was indignant, Arndt had begun to cry. Then he said, verbatim, ‘Believe me, this is the turning point for Germany. From now on things will look up again. I’m glad the schweinehunde have unmasked themselves!’25
Over lunch with Fraulein Schroder, Hitler reported what had happened in detail and proudly exhibited his tattered and burnt black trousers. He was sure, he said, that his miraculous escape from death was a clear indication that he was guided by the hand of God. He openly admitted that the War was in a perilous situation, but he confidently asserted that surviving the assassination attempt was evidence that the War would turn in Germany’s favour. With fresh new courage and optimism he said that he was looking forward to the Duce’s visit.
After the meal he was driven to the small railway platform adjoining the Wolf’s Lair where he met his old ally. As Mussolini stepped onto the platform at 2.30 pm, Hitler warmly embraced him and immediately revealed what had happened earlier that day. Security was tighter than ever before and on their return to Security Zone I an assortment of armoured vehicles could be seen accompanied by well armed Waffen-SS soldiers. Yet, in spite of the increased security that day, the source of the explosion was still unknown. Hitler did learn that the bomb had blown a deep hole into the conference hut floor, which evidently pointed to a bomb being planted with a timing device of some kind. He was aware that only a handful of officers had known that the war conference would be brought forward because of the Duce’s visit. It was some hours later when hard evidence revealed what had actually happened. A sergeant who had operated the telephone switchboard outside the conference room reported to Bormann that a one-eyed colonel, who had informed him he was expecting a long-distance call from Berlin, had come out of the conference room and without even waiting, hurriedly departed without even his cap, belt and his recognizable yellow briefcase. He was seen walking over to building 8/13, where his aide and General Fellgiebel were standing, and waited. When the great explosion was heard, passing officers watched as the general and his aide climbed into a staff car, which passed the situation hut, and sped off making its way to the Führer’s security gate. According to an RSHA report the General was Stauffenberg. He and his aide bluffed their way through two checkpoints. At Security Zone I checkpoint Stauffenberg had said to the FBB and RSD guards that he had an urgent order of the Führer’s and even having heard the explosions they still allowed them through. Stauffenberg went into the southern guard house and telephoned to one of the headquarters commandant’s officers, Captain von Leonhard Mollendorf, whom he knew very well and had had breakfast with that morning. Mollendorf immediately ordered the guard to let Stauffenberg and Haeften pass. They then proceeded to the airfield and left East Prussian soil forever.
Hitler insisted on taking his old Italian collaborator to the smoking debris of the conference hut, and gave him a guided tour, reliving the moment Stauffenburg nearly took his life. Although Hitler had emerged with minimal injuries, his staff caught the brunt of the explosion. Those who had been on his right had suffered worst. General Korton had been impaled by a table leg, Schmundt had terrible leg injuries and lost an eye, Stenographer Berger had lost both legs and died of his horrific injuries later that day, Colonel Heinz Brandt lost a foot.1 Mussolini was horrified and amazed that such a thing could have happened at the Wolf’s Lair.
Afterwards, in the rain they walked out of the wreckage down the path to resume discussion at five o’clock in the headquarters mess. On the way Hitler walked over to the wire fence and was once more seen speaking with the Todt workers. He told them that they did not need to fear anything and that his investigators (RSHA) had found the real criminal. At tea he spoke at length with the Duce, but was constantly being interrupted by telephone calls from generals who wanted to know if the report of his death was true. After the tea party, which continued until about 7.00 pm, Mussolini bade Hitler a warm goodbye. After putting on his coat, the Duce was ushered into the light drizzle, never to see the Führer again.
By this time, encouraging reports from Berlin reached the headquarters that an attempted military revolt by a number of prominent officers, including Stauffenburg, had been stopped. All that was now needed to bring about an end to the conspiracy was to prove that Hitler was not dead. This was done over the telephone that evening by Hitler to Major Otto Remer, commander of the Berlin troops guarding the government building.
With the military revolt shut down the hours of anxiety and mystery at the Wolf’s Lair were finally over. The atmosphere at the headquarters was now like one never experienced before. Hitler was determined that never again would anyone raise a hand against him or his leadership. What came next were loud protestations of loyalty from the General Staff. Almost immediately, to assure the Führer of their solemn devotion, Keitel ordered Warlimont to inform the commanders in chief in all OKW theatres of war of the attempted military coup by telephone. At the same time OKH was to tell commanders on the Eastern Front what had happened at the headquarters. In order to pledge his undying allegiance to the Führer publicly, Jodl personally decided to make a fanatical speech over at Security Zone II to the officers of the staff. Meanwhile, Bormann decided to inform the Gauleiters, using his modern teleprinter linkup.
At the 10 pm war conference Hitler began by expressing the sad loss to the two stenographers over the death of their colleague, Berger. The conference continued with discussions relating to operations on the Western Front and then dealing with the climactic showdown in the East.
During the second half of July the German position in Russia was as bad as ever. Army Group North Ukraine had tried its best to hold positions on the River Bug, whilst remnants of the battered and worn Army Group Centre were attempting to create a solid front on the line Kaunas, Bialystok-Brest and assemble forces on both its flanks. Plans were put forward at the conference to strike north and south to restore contact with both neighbouring groups. Army Group Centre was far too weak to reverse the deteriorating situation and the Russians had already begun rolling through its shattered front, bearing down toward the River Vistula. During this period, alarming reports confirmed that Soviet forces would soon be within striking distance of the Vistula. This meant that the Soviets would then be able to secure a bridgehead in the suburbs of Warsaw itself. In spite of the terrible situation left by the destruction of the centre of the front, by incredible application of military skill and courage, coupled with the fact that the Red Army’s offensive was showing signs of slowing down, it was predicted that the line of the central sector of the front would be temporarily stabilized. In no more than six weeks the Russians had bulldozed their way westward covering more than 450 miles, but were finally slowing down east of Warsaw, having for the time being outstripped their supplies.
While news confirmed that the Eastern Front was beginning to show signs of stabilizing, Hitler terminated the conference. Afterwards, he wandered over to the tea house where he had assembled his entire staff to hear him read a hastily drafted message to the nation. The secretaries, adjutants, Keitel with bandaged hands, Jodl with a white bandage around his head, and others too who were wearing cuts and grazes on their faces and hands, all stood quietly to hear their Führer’s recorded speech to the nation. It was broadcast at 1 pm.
Soon after his impassioned speech, which he hoped would bring the nation together in steadfastness, he retired to his bunker where he was again checked by Dr Morell. He was given an analgesic and a tranquilizer before going to sleep. His inner circle waited in the tea house until Morell returned to announce that the Führer’s health was satisfactory. Yet, despite Morell’s encouraging words, the assassination attempt had affected Hitler’s health more than many people realized. He could hear nothing with his right ear and his eyes constantly flickered to the right. In fact, while taking one of his strolls around the headquarters that evening, he twice wandered off the path.
The next day, despite a persistent pain in his ear and appeals from his doctors to rest, he insisted on visiting his wounded officers at the nearby field hospital. On his arrival he found to his sorrow that two were on the edge of death. Schmundt was in a very bad way indeed. Trying to compose himself, Hitler spoke to Assmann and Puttkamer, who shared a room. Sitting on the end of Assmann’s bed, he expressed his sorrow for what had happened and spoke about the vile treachery that lurked in the General Staff.
Later that day, the pain in Hitler’s ear became much worse and caused him so much discomfort that Morell summoned Dr Erwin Giesing from the field hospital, the ear, nose and throat specialist. After examining his patient, Geising found that the eardrum was badly ruptured, the inner ear was damaged and that there appeared to be infection. Although Hitler was now convinced that he would never hear with his right ear again, he remained optimistic and in good spirits. When Goebbels arrived at the Wolf’s Lair on 22 July he was deeply moved by Hitler’s appearance. The Propaganda Minister was shown the conference hut in which the assassination attempt took place. Trampling over the wreckage, Hitler became extremely agitated by the whole scene and emphasized that there would be vengeance on the treacherous generals that were accomplices in the bomb plot and the attempted military coup that followed. For years, he said, he had held the generals in contempt, particularly his General Staff, for their inability to fight the War properly. He said that the assassination attempt had finally given him an excuse to exterminate, root and branch, the whole clan of generals who were still opposed to him. In this way, he added, he could continue the War with those he trusted, and perhaps begin to turn around its course in Germany’s favour.
Already, Hitler’s thirst for revenge on the perpetrators was obvious to those living and working at the Wolf`s Lair. Each day, it seemed the list of the conspirators grew, causing many at the headquarters, particularly the General Staff, concern. Virtually every section head of the Army General Staff appeared to be implicated. Those that had not already committed suicide were arrested and interrogated, thus providing new names to be added to the long list of suspects. Hitler was handed three names on the arrest list that he never ever expected – Franz Halder, Admiral Canaris and Dr Hjalmer Schacht, pre-war governor of the Reichbank. At first he could not believe that such high ranking people were involved. It was a terrible disappointment to him and something that he never got over. In his tormented mind treachery and treason now became the only explanation for his string of military defeats.
Hitler had always been suspicious, but now his suspicions had become obsessions. He trusted nobody but himself, and projected the blame for everything that went wrong on his generals. Even some of his closest collaborators were under suspicion. Everyone now entering the Führer’s presence was meticulously scrutinized and all briefcases checked. It was now being considered whether an X-ray screening device should be set up. Warlimont was so angry about having his briefcase checked that he no longer brought it into conference. Many other officers too found the security precautions intimidating or extreme. When they entered the Führer’s zone in Security Zone I they found an even greater number than ever before of SS and RSD officers guarding the situation hut and the guest bunker. Even Hitler’s food was tested for poison. On one occasion when Marshal Antonescu sent him caviar and sweets he ordered them to be destroyed, fearing they might be poisoned. He even ordered Stauffenburg’s executed corpse and others shot by firing squad in Berlin to be cremated, just in case the army had deceived him about their executions. In the eyes of the generals it was worse than the Stalingrad crises. Everyone that entered the Wolf’s Lair could feel the grim atmosphere and no one felt safe.
Although the Todt workers knew that they were not under any suspicion, they found that every SS and RSD officer guarding the compound scrutinized their every movement. Ludwik Stanislaw was a Polish labourer who had been contracted to work at the installation on the final phase of its construction. He vividly remembered being searched almost daily and felt that all eyes were on him whenever he moved around the building site. When the final whistle was blown signifying the end of his shift a number of well armed guards immediately came to the fenced-off area which divided the building site from the rest of the security zone. Here the guards watched everyone packing their belongings and scrutinized all workers as they boarded the column of lorries, ready to take them out of the Wolf’s Lair. Once they were all herded inside they were escorted out by armoured vehicles accompanied by motorcycle combinations with machine-guns at the ready. At each gate the driver was asked for his special pass and papers, before finally driving out of the last gate at Security Zone IV.
Upon their return next day, the whole process was repeated, but depending upon which officers were at the particular gate, the driver was sometimes searched and all those onboard, as well as the interior of the vehicle. It had been proposed that the workers were to draw up a list of all tools and supplies that they were bringing into the headquarters, and this would be randomly checked by the guards before they entered the headquarters. However, this security measure was never enacted.
Life for everyone at the headquarters had changed forever. Hitler had become a virtual recluse and was very rarely seen wandering around his Security Zone, preferring now to sit in his bunker and brood. To make matters worse, his insomnia became unbearable and he only managed three or four hours sleep in the morning after a heavy dose of sedative. This consequently made him more irritable and bad tempered. Slowly he began to withdraw, not just from the military, but from almost everyone. His secretaries and dog seemed exempt from being accused of treachery and treason. Only they, he repeatedly said, were faithful to him.
During this anxious time, Göring and other equally faithful members did what they could to restore Hitler’s trust. A staff stenographer noted in his diary that before the noon conference the Reichsmarshal delivered a short speech to the Führer and proposed that as a form of allegiance after the assassination attempt, the entire Wehrmacht should adopt the Hitler salute.
The next day, 24 July, the Hitler salute was made compulsory in place of the old military salute. General Guderian, the newly appointed chief of the General Staff, did what he could to instil belief in National Socialism into the army and try and bring about some kind of accord between it and the party. As a sign of the army’s unwavering loyalty to the Führer, he issued two orders of the day assuring Hitler of the Wehrmacht’s everlasting devotion and determination to win ultimate victory. The reaction the orders caused throughout the Wehrmacht amazed many members of staff at the headquarters. Even sacked army officers, fearful that they might be suspected of having lost faith in the Führer, or worse still, be suspected of the least sympathy with the plotters, rushed out of retirement to the Wolf’s Lair to personally assure Hitler of their absolute allegiance. Even Field Marshal von Brauchitsch, whom Hitler had branded as the root cause of all his troubles in Russia in 1941, and Grand Admiral Raeder, came to the headquarters to emphasize their everlasting and fierce admiration for the Führer and condemn the plotters. They also welcomed the appointment of Himmler as Chief of the Replacement Army, in spite of the fact that they had repeatedly criticized him in the past.
By the summer of 1944, Hitler had reduced his generals into a sad group of frightened and anxious men. There was no more opposition to him whatsoever, not even any criticism. Over the days that followed, the General Staff were lectured repeatedly on how the War on all fronts would be conducted. At the situation conferences they would have to sit there and listen while Hitler moved the fate of entire armies from one part of the map to another. The General Staff did continue at these conferences to voice their own opinions on strategy, movement of the forces and supply, but never to argue with the Führer if he overrode their decision or ideas.
During the last days of July, Hitler’s insomnia had become so bad that Dr Giesing recommended cancellation of the nightly tea session. On numerous occasions Hitler admitted that he had tried avoiding staying up half the night in the company of his intimate circle, but he found that it only made his sleep more difficult. He wearily declared that he needed to relax more and stop thinking about the War. Whilst lying on his bunk he could draw an almost exact map of each army group position. This would go around in his head for hours until he finally fell asleep. He was well aware that his life at the Wolf’s Lair was making him ill and he needed to change his habits. The assassination attempt of course did nothing to ease the way he felt; nor did his growing concern about losing France.
As the Allies fought across France against the well dug-in and experienced German troops, Hitler was prepared for the worst. Already he and his staff had drafted an order for the ‘West Wall’ fortifications to be prepared for the defence of the homeland. OKW were instructed to build strong garrisons. As another example of the Führer’s growing paranoia, Hitler stipulated that Army Group West headquarters were to be given no information concerning these preparations, as he feared there were still traitors fighting in France corrupting operations.
By early August it was clear that the battle of France was going to be lost. Much of the conference was taken up with consideration of how to avoid utter collapse in the West. Warlimont and others beleived that an immediate withdrawal from France altogether was the best option. Jodl wanted a more gradual strategic withdrawal, stating that a retreat from the coastal sector would be better. Hitler expressed the desire to quit the Wolf’s Lair and go to the Western Front to take personal charge, but Eicken and Giesing forbade it. Confined to his Eastern Front headquarters, the Führer was obliged to watch from a distance as the Allies broke out of the Normandy beach head.
On the Eastern Front the situation reports confirmed a far bleaker picture. Throughout July, German troops had been withdrawing steadily through Poland, the weary soldiers forced back by overwhelming enemy pressure. The last of the German infantry units capable of retreating along the Warsaw highway over the Vistula River at Siedlce were Hitler’s crack Waffen-SS division Totenkopf and the Luftwaffe’s Hermann Göring Division. The German position in the East was now cracking, and any hope of repairing it was made almost impossible by crippling shortages of troops. German infantry divisions continued desperately to try to fill the dwindling ranks. However, by early August the Red Army was already making good progress towards the Polish capital, Warsaw. On 7 August, the Soviet offensive finally came to a halt east of Warsaw. Model cabled the Wolf’s Lair and gave Hitler an optimistic report that Army Group Centre had finally sent up a continuous front from the south of Shaulyay to the right boundary on the Vistula near Pulawy. The new front in Poland stretched some 420 miles and was manned by 39 divisions and brigades. Although the strength seemed impressive, Hitler knew that the army was weak and thinly stretched. What made matters worse was that reports confirmed that it faced a Russian force that was a third of the total Red Army strength. With these under-strength divisions, the Germans were compelled to hold large areas along the Vistula, which included Warsaw. In Hitler’s eyes, Warsaw possessed great strategic importance owing to vital traffic arteries running north–south and east–west, which crossed into the city. Hitler was determined – if he hoped to keep control of the Eastern Front – to hold onto the city at all costs.
The fear of losing the war in the East was bad enough, but to actually see a Russian invasion of East Prussia or Upper Silesia, was a worry that constantly gnawed at Hitler. Troops had already been ordered to renovate the meagre frontier defences and install them with minefields and a motley collection of captured flak and artillery guns. Hundreds of thousands of men and women began frantically digging anti-tank trenches across miles of farmland.
In order to brace the population of East Prussia against the advancing Red Army, Hitler decided to call his Gauleiters to the Wolf’s Lair on 4 August. A stooping Hitler greeted the Gauleiters outside the Führerbunker. He went from man to man shaking hands. Many, like Friedrich Karl Florian of Düsseldorf, were moved by the sight of their beloved Führer. Although they were rejuvenated by his presence they could see that he was in bad health. After Hitler’s impassioned speech to the Gauleiters, a one pot meal was served, after which Hitler slowly staggered to his feet and left the building, trying to hide his stoop.
At the Wolf’s Lair, the disaster that was looming in Normandy was openly blamed on the Luftwaffe. Hitler had not seen Göring since 23 July, but the Reichsmarshal had for sometime not been welcome at the headquarters to many of the staff. At nearly every conference, for hours on end, officers had to bear the brunt of Hitler’s attacks on Göring and what he saw as a corrupt air staff. Göring’s advisors were also blamed for lying and making too many hollow promises. As a result of their incompetence, he remarked, the skies over Normandy were virtually defenceless.
To make matters worse, Hans Pfeiffer, Hitler’s old adjutant, was killed in a blazing tank in Normandy. If this was not enough, Hans Junge, the young SS-Hauptsturmführer who had been his orderly, was killed by a strafing Spitfire. His wife was Hitler’s youngest secretary, Traudl Junge. Hitler was so distraught when he heard the news that he kept it a secret until he felt strong enough to tell her in person. But at one midday meal Truadl noticed that he was acting strangely. He said not a word to her and when their eyes met they looked serious and probing. Later in the day, Herman Fegelein telephoned and asked if she could come to his barracks. Comforting her in a fatherly way he slowly broke the news that her husband had been killed in action. The Chief, he said, had known about it since yesterday but was unable to break the tragic news. That evening she was summoned to the Führer’s study. Taking her hands in his Hitler softly spoke and told her how sorry he was about the loss of Hans. He was a fine character, he remarked. He then asked if Traudl would remain his loyal secretary and promised he would always help her.
By 14 August this gloomy episode had been overtaken by events transpiring in France. Tense drama gripped the midday conference as it became clear that France would soon be lost. Out on the battlefield both the Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS were disintegrating. Corps and divisions remained in action on paper, but they were becoming a collection of small battle groups, shrinking down to battalion size.
As the Americans broke out, and the Normandy campaign became mobile, catastrophe threatened. To save the German forces in Normandy from being completely encircled and annihilated, a series of withdrawals had been approved from the Wolf’s Lair, which were made through the Falaise–Argentan gap. Hitler and his war staff watched nervously the ominous signs of an army struggling to escape the pending slaughter.
Hitler and OKW were vexed by the outcome in France and fixed the blame upon Field Marshal von Kluge’s tactics in Normandy. There were also worrying rumours that Kluge had been consciously misleading the war staff at the Wolf’s Lair. Later in the day further evidence convinced Hitler that Kluge was a defeatist and probably anti-Nazi. Another Western Front Field Marshal that Hitler suspected of deliberately ruining the general strategy in France was none other than Field Marshal Erwin Rommel.
The next day the war conference was tense, and those that participated were well aware that Hitler was in a black mood. The conference opened with the normal routine of listening to the daily war reports, and making amendments to the maps. It was confirmed that on 16 August German forces on the Western Front were continuing their retreat by crossing the River Orne. The 12th SS Panzer-Division Hitlerjugend desperately battled to keep open the gap. The bulk of the German armour, however, was still trapped in what became known as the Falaise Pocket. Angrily, Hitler remarked that much of his armour would soon be destroyed, and he began to lose his composure. Talking about both the Eastern and Western Fronts, General Guderian remarked that the bravery of the Panzer forces was not enough to make up for the failure of the Luftwaffe and Navy. Suddenly the room went silent. Hitler saw Guderian’s comments as defeatist and became even more infuriated. His eyes bulged, and in an effort to contain himself he quickly moved to another room to speak with Guderian. Within minutes their voices became so loud that an adjutant had to caution the Führer that every word could be heard outside the window.
This rage, however, was nothing compared to the one during the evening conference. Hitler had learned that Kluge had disappeared from his post in the West. Either he had been killed in action, or had deserted his post and was negotiating with the enemy. Later that day, a report reached the headquarters that Kluge had arrived to confer with General Hausser and Eberbach in the Falaise Pocket, but there was no explanation of where he had been for the last twelve hours. Hitler could no longer trust Kluge and radioed an urgent message that the Field Marshal was to leave the danger area imminently and direct the rest of the battle from the headquarters of the 5th Panzer Army. General Hausser was instructed to take charge of all forces inside the pocket. Model, who had only just returned to the Eastern Front was called back to the Wolf’s Lair and secretly appointed Kluge’s successor. He was then sent by aircraft to Kluge with a sealed letter from the Führer ordering him back to Germany. On 20 August, Hitler received news that Kluge was dead, having been killed by a cerebral haemorrhage, according to the army doctor.2
With the death of Kluge, Hitler turned his attention to matters in France, which were now spiralling out of control. To avert a complete catastrophe, Model had been given freedom to evacuate as rapidly as possible units from the Falaise Pocket. Of the 100,000 men breaking out, it was confirmed that some 10,000 were killed and 40,000 captured. Half of them, however, escaped. Hausser was seriously wounded in the attempt, as was General Eugen Meindl. The losses in equipment were appalling and a devastating setback. Some 344 tanks, self-propelled guns, and armoured vehicles, 2,447 motorized vehicles, 252 towed guns, and thousands of horse-drawn vehicles and horses were lost. Approximately 50,000 troops of the Western Front had escaped the slaughter; these troops would no longer be defending France, but the borders of the Reich.
Five days later word reached the Wolf’s Lair that Paris had fallen. With the loss of France, Germany’s allies began deserting Hitler. The Rumanians declared war on Germany and Finland, Bulgaria and Hungary began defecting. Morale at the Wolf’s Lair plummeted to an all time low. Hitler’s staff noticed how detached their Führer had become and his trusted secretaries were not even invited for afternoon tea. Tension and drama continued to grip the headquarters and the summer heat did nothing to lessen the oppression and despondency everyone felt.
During this period, Hitler excoriated his generals for the string of defeats on both the Eastern and Western Fronts. He branded the General Staff incompetent, and scathingly said that they had failed to ardently believe in final victory.
At the war conference a number of heated debates continued to escalate, with Hitler regularly losing his composure with his generals. In the East the familiar problems made everyone increasingly anxious, especially those that had to listen to their Führer’s constant insults and criticism of the way his generals were conducting the War. Soviet forces were already seriously threatening East Prussia and the headquarters staff could occasionally hear the distant rumbling of heavy artillery pounding positions. The approach of the Russians emphasized to everyone at the Wolf’s Lair how important it was to infuse the German soldier at the front with iron will and fortitude. With the war in the East taking on a new, more frightening dimension, the situation conferences dragged on longer as Hitler grappled over divisions, trying to plug the huge holes along the front punched in by massive Soviet forces. In southern Poland the 1st Ukrainian Front had captured Lemberg, while Rumania fell to the 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts. Soviet forces had also penetrated Hungary and its powerful German defences, and the Red Army reached the Bulgarian border on 1 September.
With every defeat Hitler’s health took a turn for the worse. Although he was generally seen, according to his secretaries, joking about his right hand, which trembled so much he could no longer shave himself, his physical condition had seriously deteriorated further. His memory too was fading and he easily forgot names and faces.
In early September, Hitler did try and reduce his medication to one injection every day. But yet again within days he was having trouble sleeping. He told Morell he would lay on his bunk unable to sleep with agonising stomach pains. His insomnia was aggravated by the banging and grinding of pneumatic drills used around the clock by the Todt workers in a frantic effort to strengthen the bunkers.
Unwell and tired, Hitler continued to attend the war conferences. On 8 September, Bulgaria and Rumania declared war on Germany. It seemed that nothing but a series of defeats characterised the Eastern Front during that summer of 1944. In a radical effort to stem the series of reverses, General Guderian proposed that 30 divisions of Army Group North, which were stationed redundant in Kurland, be shipped back to the Homeland so that they could be re-supplied and strengthened to reinforce Army Group Centre in Poland. Hitler, however, emphatically rejected Guderian’s proposal.
Over the next few days, Hitler watched as the German Army defended Poland with everything it could muster. Reports established that the front lines were being held in many places, making Hitler even more determined to hold out at all costs.
Whilst resolute German forces battled to prevent Red Army troops from spilling out through western Poland and reaching the frontiers of the Reich, Hitler began contemplating a bold plan in the West. Around 12 September he called Jodl to his bunker, who came equipped with a map, which they spread out on Hitler’s bedspread. Excitedly, Hitler told a surprised Jodl that he had thought not of another defensive line, but a new offensive, this time against the West.
He said that they were to prepare for a great winter counter-attack through the Ardennes that would mean the capture of Antwerp. He was sure that by sending his powerful Panzers through the Ardennes, as he had done in the summer of 1940, that victory would be secured. Fog and snow would hamper Allied operations and he predicted that the strategic port of Antwerp was within his grasp. With Antwerp lost, he said, the British and Americans would be doomed. A new Dunkirk would emerge, but this time the enemy would be destroyed.
Although the proposal seemed adventurous to his war staff, they thought that the Führer was once more exhibiting an energy and enthusiasm that he had not shown for some time. Many believed that this was the dynamic Hitler of 1940.
By 16 September, American troops were reported to be standing on German soil, and a bloody battle for Aachen, the first big German city under siege, ensued. From the Wolf’s Lair Hitler issued a secret message to his commanders, urging them to pass a message to the troops, calling on them for the last-ditch defence of the Reich.
The following day, the headquarters was again inundated by dramatic news. The Allies, it had been reported, instead of attempting a direct assault on the West Wall, had suddenly launched a surprise airborne attack on the key river bridges in Holland. Thankfully for Hitler and his war staff, the attack was a complete failure. Yet during one of the evening conferences Hitler thundered at his generals for allowing the enemy to capture the bridges at Nijmegen intact.
A couple of days later Hitler’s anger intensified when he threw himself into a tirade about the Luftwaffe. On 19 September, Göring was called back to the Wolf’s Lair and the Reichsmarshal had to listen reluctantly to his Führer’s biting criticism of the way the Luftwaffe was run. After the discussion Hitler felt ill and seriously considered replacing Göring by a frontline commander like General von Greim. Instead he sacked acting Chief of Air Staff, General Werner Keipe, whom he denounced as a typical self-centred staff officer – a defeatist who was constantly fully of objections. Shortly after midnight, Fegelein told Kreipe that he was to pack his belongings and was forbidden to set foot in the Wolf’s Lair again.
Hitler’s irrational behaviour during these uncertain times was certainly related to his poor health. Late in the afternoon of the 19th, with a splitting headache, he was driven to the field hospital under heavy guard with a string of armoured vehicles flanked by motorcycle combinations with machine-guns at the ready. When he arrived the whole area was cordoned off and he was escorted into the X-ray room, which had been searched carefully for hidden explosives.
After he was examined he shook hands with the Catholic nursing sisters, and then was given a guided tour by his doctor, Hasselbach, around the wards where his wounded officers of 20 July lay. By this time Schmundt had a high fever, gangrene had set in and he was dying. At the General’s bedside, Hitler was seen to be very emotional and on the point of tears. When he rejoined his car his spirits were momentarily lifted by the hundreds of people outside, including recuperating soldiers who had been taking walks in the hospital grounds, some of them on crutches and many with missing limbs. To the astonishment of the guards Hitler stopped and took time to speak with them. Under the spotlight of a number of cameras he was captured even shaking hands and smiling with several wounded soldiers. This was the Hitler of the early years of victory. As he clambered back into his Mercedes the crowds shouted their support with cheers of ‘Seig heil!’ For many it was the first time they had ever seen him, and unknown to them, it was probably the last.
Over the next few days Hitler’s health became much worse. He again complained of stomach cramps, which were agonizing. In daylight his staff noticed that his skin and eyes had turned an unhealthy yellow. Those who wandered through the grounds of the Führer’s restricted zone and managed to get a good glimpse of him were shocked at his appearance. General Nikolaus von Vormann, who visited the Wolf`s Lair on 26 September on his way home from the Eastern Front, wrote that Hitler looked tired and broken. He shuffled over to him with drooping shoulders and sat down like an old man. He spoke so softly that it was difficult to understand him.
That evening, Hitler was again racked with terrible stomach cramps. They were so bad that next morning he was unable to get out of bed. Wearing a grey flannel dressing gown over his night shirt, he lay on his bunk; pale, weak and hardly able to bring his voice above a whisper. His staff were shocked by this sudden deterioration in health. No one could remember the Führer being so ill that he could not get out of bed. Some believed he would never recover.
According to Morell’s diary, between 28 and 30 September Hitler lost some six pounds and during this period stayed in bed with stomach pains. He was so unwell that the daily war conferences were cancelled. Instead, Admiral Puttkamer, still recovering from his bomb injuries, hobbled in to Hitler’s bunker on crutches to read the daily war reports. Puttkamer later remarked that the Führer just lay there not saying a word. Gunsche told Traudl Junge that he had never seen the chief so listless and expressionless. Even the dramatic events unfolding on the Eastern Front failed to animate or interest him.
Occasionally his secretaries would bring him freshly picked flowers and tried to lift his spirits, but it was clear to Traudl Junge that he was very weak and feeble and unable to interact as he normally did in female company. For Traudl and the rest of his intimate staff there was a feeling of despair. They felt that their Führer had given up.
On 1 October, Schmundt died of his injuries from Stauffenberg’s bomb. Hitler’s adjutant, Richard Schulz, found him sitting on the edge of his bunk in black trousers and a collarless shirt. It was Schulz’s 30th birthday and Hitler felt strong enough to present him with the now customary Glashutte gold watch.
Over the next few days Morell saw a slight improvement in Hitler’s health. Morell was eager for the Führer to leave the confines of his badly ventilated bunker for the clear mountain air of the Berghof, even for a couple of weeks. But in spite of the unsuitability of his bunker with its tiny living and sleeping quarters, and a ventilation system that was inadequate, Hitler was resolute that he did not want to leave the Wolf’s Lair, fearing that without his leadership East Prussia would be overrun by the Red Army. Instead, Hitler would direct the War against the East from his headquarters, in spite of his declining health.
Although everyone at the headquarters had been extremely concerned about Hitler’s physical condition, doctors Giesing and Brandt both blamed Morell for Hitler’s ailments. They agreed that since Stalingrad, Hitler was slowly being poisoned by his little doctor’s drugs. These rumours soon became common knowledge around the headquarters and people started whispering that Morell had treated the Führer negligently. Few in Hitler’s intimate circle ever believed that Morell had deliberately attempted to poison the Führer. Most of them held Gerda Christinas’s opinion that Morell was a good doctor, in spite of his rather shabby appearance. Hitler declared that the rumours were untrue and reassured his faithful doctor that he was not to blame. As a consequence of the rumours he had Morell’s rival doctors formally dismissed from the Wolf’s Lair. On 9 October Himmler’s personal doctor, a 36-year-old orthopedic surgeon named Dr Ludwig Stumpfegger replaced Brandt, Hasselbach and Giesing on Hitler’s personal staff.
During Hitler’s two-week illness the War stagnated. By 7 October in Poland Army Group Centre, the 3rd Panzer Army and 4th Army were defending a weak salient in the north. To the south-west, the 2nd Army was holding along the River Narew. Army Group A - which would swiftly collapse under the shock of the Soviet avalanche in the New Year - had prepared defences from Modlin to Kaschau. The 9th Army was either side of Warsaw along the Vistula. (It too would be crushed by the Soviet 47th and 61st Armies in January.) The 4th Panzer Army had dug-in at Baranov and was holding out against strong Russian attacks. The 17th Army had prepared a string of machine-gun posts and mines between the Vistula and the Beskides. The 1st Panzer Army was holding Kaschau and Jaslo.
Over the days to come the German Army defended Poland with everything they could muster. The fighting withdrawal had left the bulk of the forces exhausted and undermanned. With reserves almost non-existent the dwindling ranks were bolstered by old men and low-grade troops. Convalescents and the medically unfit were drafted in to what were known as ‘stomach’ and ‘ear’ battalions because most men were hard of hearing or suffered from ulcers. Poland would be defended at all costs. It was at this time that Hitler decided that the Varsovians should be punished further for the Warsaw Uprising. Despite the desperate strain on resources, he ordered that what remained of the city be razed to the ground, district by district, building by building.
As Hitler and his war staff braced themselves for the final defence of Poland, news that East Prussia might be threatened became a real cause for concern for everyone at the Wolf’s Lair. The East Prussian border was less than 100 miles away from Russian territory and advanced units of the Red Army were reported to be less than 200 miles to the east. Hitler did not hide how grave the situation had become, and geographically his Eastern Front headquarters was now under serious threat from an enemy attack. In anticipation of the battle of East Prussia, he decided it would be safer if he moved over into his newly completed bunker. First, the bunker’s gas filtering system, which was installed just in case it came under gas attack, was found to be defective and would have to be fixed, as it was generally believed there was a danger of being gassed by the enemy.
On 16 October, two days after Rommel’s death,3 the Red Army suddenly stormed into East Prussia evidently forming a spearhead pointed toward the ancient Germanic coastal city of Konigsberg. It was reported that German divisions were outnumbered 4:1. Whilst the Red Army Air Force dived and bombed, on the ground Russian artillery simultaneously pounded the German lines, to a depth of more than three miles in some places. Slowly and systematically the Russians bulldozed their way through, with German troops either fighting to the death, or saving themselves by escaping the slaughter by withdrawing to another makeshift position. The military situation was becoming increasingly desperate. Whilst many areas of the front simply cracked under the sheer weight of the Russian drive, a number of German units continued to demonstrate their ability to defend the most hazardous positions against well-prepared and superior enemy forces. German infantry bitterly contested large areas of countryside. Fighting was often savage, resulting in terrible casualties on both sides; it was also confusing and German communication between the various commands was repeatedly lost, making the situation much worse. As a result, often commanders in the field could not give a precise situation report and this led to numerous problems for the Wolf’s Lair. Communication was so bad in some areas that troops that had been embroiled in heavy contact with the enemy for long periods repeatedly found that their rear positions had already been evacuated. As a result, the troops were regularly exposed to heavy fire without support, and on many occasions were quickly encircled and destroyed.
By 22 October it had been confirmed that hundreds of Red Army tanks were heading across northern areas of East Prussia and literally smashing to pieces any German defensive positions that fell in their way. Both night and day the staff could hear the distressing sounds of heavy artillery rolling across the countryside as their brave troops tried in vain to halt the enemy advance. Many feared that one day they would suddenly awaken to fighting outside their huts and bunkers. No one could relax. Keitel came over to the Führerbunker and asked Hitler to leave for Berlin at once. Martin Bormann secretly ordered the stenographers to begin packing for the move to the chancellery. Others, including Hitler’s secretaries, began contemplating packing their suitcases and wanted to know if they would soon be leaving with the Führer. Officers and a number of party officials eager to leave made a variety of excuses as to why they were needed in Berlin. In spite of the fear of the approaching enemy, the Todt workers continued working around the clock reinforcing the installation. Ludwik Stanislaw was quite aware, as were many of his colleagues, that the Wolf’s Lair was under threat, but the order from the site foreman was to continue working regardless of the military situation.
Hitler, to the astonishment of his staff, was determined to stay. But he was still far from well and half the evening conferences were cancelled so that he could retire to bed. Many now believed that without his leadership in good health the enemy would soon be at the door. Constant anxiety continued to grip everyone at the headquarters, including many of the generals, who were all in agreement that it would be safer to return to Germany. A number of stories had reached the headquarters that the Soviet advance through East Prussia had been a barbaric one. The Soviets, it seemed, were determined to exact vengeance. These ‘slant-eyed Mongols’ had butchered women and children. Innocent people had been burned to death with flamethrowers, whilst others were forced to walk naked through the streets, and other less fortunate victims it was rumoured had their tongues nailed to tables, or were hanged from lamp posts. The staff at the Wolf’s Lair were appalled at the prospect of being captured, tortured and murdered.
On 23 October there was a sigh of relief when it was announced at the situation conference that the German 4th Army had launched a courageous counter-attack, halting the Russian onslaught through East Prussia. Two days later Hitler told Bormann he would not leave the headquarters until the crisis on the Eastern Front was mastered. His staff nervously resigned themselves to stay with their Führer and watch the battle unfold before their eyes. The female secretaries asked if they should learn to use a gun, but Hitler replied with a warm smile that he had no yearning to die at the hands of one of his secretaries. He assured them that everyone at the headquarters would be safe and he concluded that the enemy would eventually be destroyed.
Hitler was well aware of the grave position, but surprisingly he still showed glimmers of optimism. His great winter offensive gamble in the Ardennes now depended entirely on the Eastern Front remaining stable. From his bunker bedroom he sat for hours with Jodl surveying the first drafts of the plan of attack. To ensure absolute secrecy only a handful of the party faithful were told of the daring offensive. Hitler specifically instructed that under no circumstances would any officers be allowed to speak about the plans, nor were they allowed to teletype or telephone. Only special couriers could pass details of the offensive.
The offensive was undoubtedly a huge risk, but Hitler’s military advisors knew they had no choice. During the situation conferences held on the offensive, it was evident to the war staff that Hitler had not lost his nerve in the face of adversity. On 10 November he signed an order to prepare for the Ardennes offensive.
Two days earlier, during the afternoon he had in fact moved over to his newly completed bunker. His sleeping and working quarters were far larger and there were no draughts. After weeks of constant complications with the U-boat type air circulation system, technicians declared the unit safe for use, and the air conditioning system was found not to be dangerous. Herman Giesler, Hitler’s Munich architect, visited Hitler in his new bunker and recalled that his bedroom was a windowless cell. Beside his bed there was a low table with a pile of reports, maps, a few books and a telephone. The light from the lamp revealed the dark and dreary concrete walls, which appeared to him like a burial chamber. The restricted sleeping quarters was equipped with a built-in washbasin and fresh air equipment, as well as furniture in natural wood, and he also had his own lavatory. His bed was a simple army cot.
In the morning, Hitler worked in a spacious outer room which could be used as a conference room as well as a dining area. The room had large windows and a nice view of the forest and meadows. But in spite of his new reinforced bunker he was still a prisoner. Visitors were astonished to see him propped up on his spare cot, pale and weak. His breathing was heavy and he appeared to sweat profusely when he moved feebly like an old man from one part of the room to another. Before the conferences, Morell had to now administer a host of drugs, just to get him through the session with his war staff. These were very difficult times for the Führer but he was compelled to oversee all military operations. He blieved that he dare not leave the War in the hands of his generals for one moment.
As the winter closed in on the headquarters, various party officials and generals continued visiting the Führer. Despondent though he may have appeared during these cold, dark days, Hitler was not to show any signs of weakness in his determination to fight to the bitter end. Though he was concerned more than ever about East Prussia being totally engulfed by the Red Army, in front of his staff, particularly his secretaries, he tried to dismiss any possibility that the headquarters was under threat.
His optimism was soon crushed at the war conference by further developments in the East. The Russian forces continued their thrust through the Baltic, and although slowed at several points along the way, they were making good progress and seriously threatening to overwhelm the whole of East Prussia. He left the conference late on 17 November deflated, and knew his days at the Wolf’s Lair were numbered.
The following day he surprised his staff by telling them that he now had decided to leave the Wolf’s Lair so that he was able to watch the Ardennes campaign more closely. He did not admit to anyone that he had been forced from his headquarters by the advancing Red Army. For Hitler, that would have been admitting defeat. His departure from the headquarters was kept very secret. Most of his staff was told that they would be leaving for the Western Front, and were relieved when he gave the impression that he would soon be returning to the Wolf’s Lair. The days and weeks of anxiety were gone for those who did not swallow the story and could now leave, hoping they would never have to return. Hitler himself knew that he would never return but he ordered the construction workers to continue as though he would one day come back.
At 3.15 pm on 20 November, amid the noise and clatter of the construction teams as they continued to work on the last bunkers, Hitler and his entourage left the headquarters for the Gorlitz station to board his train Brandenburg. Before the train took the Führer to the Western Front, he was advised to make a visit to Berlin first. On board the train he sat in his compartment with all the shades down and the light switched on. Then he joined some of his staff for lunch. By 5.30 am, the train hauled into Berlin’s Grunewald station. Hitler and his entourage drove almost immediately across the blitzed Reich capital to the Reich Chancellery. His stay in Berlin was to last only two weeks.
Just two days after his departure from the Wolf’s Lair Hitler surprised Keitel by instructing him to make preparations so that the headquarters would not fall into enemy hands intact. A detonation calendar for all the bunkers and huts was drawn up, and within 24 hours of the final order, code-named Inselsprung, the destruction could be carried out. Hitler however, could still not bring himself to destroy his Wolf’s Lair, and he told Keitel that he yet might return to East Prussia.
At the Wolf’s Lair construction continued, despite the pending detonation of the installation. Gas experts continued worrying about the Führerbunker, and the headquarters still functioned more or less as it had done in the past when Hitler was away. Reports from the front were still monitored from the Wolf’s Lair and deciphered and accordingly dispatched to Hitler’s supreme headquarters, currently in Berlin.
At the end of November Hitler told his headquarters staff to prepare for a trip. At 5 pm on 1 December he secretly left Berlin finally bound for the Western Front. At 1 am, under the cover of darkness he switched from the train to a waiting column of cars and drove to the Eagle’s Nest, the bunker headquarters built in 1940 at Bad Nauheim 800 ft above sea level. Within hours of his arrival he was back at work. Following an unusually long conference, his generals would note that he appeared extremely optimistic about the fothcoming Ardennes offensive. He reiterated how important winning the offensive was if they stood any chance of gaining the initiative in the East. Even at this stage of the War Hitler still imagined returning to the Wolf’s Lair.
On 7 December he approved the final draft of the offensive, which was kept secret. As mentioned previously, the aim of Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein (Operation Watch on the Rhine) was to divide the British and American line in half through the Belgian forests of the Ardennes and capture Antwerp, then encircle and hopefully destroy four Allied armies to ensure - at the very least - that the Allies were in a weaker position when the time came for negotiations for peace. To secure this final victory he now called everyone participating in the war conference preceding the Ardennes offensive to sign a document which swore them to secrecy. A few days before the planned attack he finally summoned the troop commanders of the Western Front to confer with him. Having first been relieved of revolvers and briefcases the generals and their staff were first driven about the countryside to confuse their sense of direction, until the column of cars at last halted at the entrance to the extensive system of bunkers that was the Eagle’s Nest. They entered this heavily guarded encampment not knowing why they had been summoned.
The generals were all led down through lines formed by SS to Hitler’s underground bunker. The Führer sat at a narrow table flanked by Keitel and Jodl. Across were Rundstedt, Model and General Hasso von Manteuffel, who would command the most powerful of the three armies in the offensive. Half the summoned participants in the room had not seen Hitler for many months and were shocked to find ‘a stooped figure with a pale and puffy face, hunched in his chair, his hands trembling, and his left arm subject to a violent twitching which he did best to conceal’. An armed bodyguard stood behind every chair.
In a two-hour speech cum lecture to the 60 or so assembled commanders, Hitler revealed to them the political motives for his decision on an all-out offensive in the West. Over the next few days Hitler appeared confident and in high spirits.
On the eve of the attack, Hitler held a final conference and received a welcome forecast of several days of bad weather, which would ground Allied aircraft. That evening he dined with his secretaries and retired to bed at five in the morning. By the time he was awakened at 11.30 am on the 16th, the American lines had crumbled along an 80-mile front. Confusion gripped the bewildered enemy. The atmosphere at the Eagle’s Nest was fizzing with excitement. Hitler was delighted by the progress of the offensive, and was found by his staff already in the conference room eagerly scrutinizing the maps, contrary to custom.
On 23 December, the skies over the Ardennes cleared. By day and night the Allied Air Force gradually regained control. Bombing raids on German supply points in the rear were devastatingly effective and the P-47 Thunderbolts started to hit German troops exposed on the roads. One crisp winter morning Hitler was seen outside his blockhouse impassively watching as 2,000 enemy bombers swarmed eastward. Returning to his bunker he seemed to have shut his eyes to the possibility that outright success could not be achieved. His confidence carried over to Christmas, which he celebrated, to the astonishment of many, with a glass of wine. It was the first time Fraulein Schroder had ever seen him indulge himself.
Three days later at a special meeting with his senior commanders, he admitted the situation was desperate, but he had never learned the word ‘capitulation’, and would pursue his aims to the end.
At the beginning of the New Year he appeared revitalized by the momentary successes of the Ardennes offensive. But the Führer of 1945 was not the man who had set out for Poland in 1939. He had aged, his back was hunched, his face drawn, his voice quavered, his hair was grey and the famous moustache was snow white. Admiral Heinz Asemann wrote that he looked like a senile man. His midday conference now never started before 5 pm. After it, his doctors insisted that he sleep. He would then take frequent strolls in the snow around his bunker, trying to conceal his trembling left hand. Because of this tremor he could now hardly put pen to paper. Since December, a faithful civil servant had been forging his signature on official citations and awards.
On 3 January, the long awaited news finally reached the snow-covered headquarters that the Allies had gone on the counter-offensive. To make matters worse, on 9 January General Guderian once more journeyed across the frozen plains to the Führerhauptquartiere to pester Hitler for the third time about the threat of Stalin’s big push. Guderian, using maps and diagrams showed Hitler how the distributions of German strength were understood – and a recommendation that East Prussia be evacuated immediately to save Berlin. Hitler suddenly flew into an uncontrolled rage. Throwing down his magnifying glass he angrily labelled the reports completely idiotic and ordered his Chief of Staff to have the man who had made them shut up in a lunatic asylum. Guderian too lost his temper and boldly told his Führer that Gehlen was one of his best General Staff officers and if he wanted him to be sent to a lunatic asylum, then he should have Guderian certified as well. Hitler’s flare-up quickly subsided. The Eastern Front, he said, had never before possessed such a strong reserve and praised Guderian for his work. When Guderian likened the Eastern Front to a house of cards, Hitler lectured him, saying that only iron will and fortitude would hold the front.
When Hitler rose at noon on 11 January news reached his bunker that the the Soviet offensive had already begun. In a few days the German Army was engulfed in a storm of fire along the Vistula Front. The Vistula-Oder Operation, the assault westward to the River Oder, involved nearly four million men. By the end of the day on 13 January the offensive had ripped open a breach more than 20 miles wide. The 4th Panzer Army was smashed. Children and old men were being thrown into what was now being called the last bastion of defence for the Reich. In Army Group Vistula the lines of communication had broken. There was no contact between units on the battlefield, battalions were out of touch with their companies, and regiments had no links with their divisions. The Red Army was ripping apart SS Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler’s Army Group Vistula. The scattered German ran westward towards the Oder or north-westwards into Pomerania.
As the whole front began to retreat, the 9th and 2nd Army’s right wing lost contact. General Weiss’s 2nd Army tried to stabilize the front between the towns of Thorn and Graudenz, to little strategic effect. The Soviets had soon wrenched open the door to East Prussia.
Shocked by the appalling losses and devastation on the front, Hitler once again expressed his desire to return to the Wolf’s Lair and take command of the terrible situation that was now spiralling out of control. The Führer was warned that developments in the East were now so rapid that it was more than probable that East Prussia would soon fall into Soviet hands. Despite this worrying prospect, Hitler had still not given the order for the Wolf’s Lair to be blown up, hoping that by some miracle the Red Army flood would be stemmed. He had however, already instructed those left at the headquarters to be evacuated, including the Todt workers. Keitel, whose job it was to monitor the Russian advance through East Prussia, informed Hitler that the Red Army were reported to be within miles of the East Prussian headquarters and that the complex would inevitably fall. Grudgingly, after weeks of hesitation, Hitler finally gave the order to blow up his greatest headquarters of the War. Once the site had been completely evacuated and files and other important data burnt over an eighteen-hour period between 25/26 January, the demolition began, with General Eduard Hauser’s pioneer troops sent into blow up the Wolf’s Lair bunkers.
Within hours of the headquarters demolition Russian troops had captured Rastenburg and marched into the Gorlitz forest, finding a tall perimeter fence that led into the Wolf’s Lair.
Look on my works, ye Mighty …
After the demolition of the Wolf’s Lair Hitler remained in Berlin where he resided at the Reich’s Chancellery and fought out the rest of the War. It was here that Hitler and his supreme headquarters would spend their final days entombed beneath the Reich Chancellery building in what became known as the Führerbunker. When Hitler committed suicide on 30 April, the fortunes of the Führer headquarters were taken and buried in the ruined, charred remains of the Reich Chancellery gardens, with the man who was its architect. With Hitler dead, his companions were killed or captured, although some escaped as anonymous fugitives.
On 2 May 1945, the Russians finally stormed the Reich Chancellery. Hitler once remarked: ‘Men and wars come and go, but what is left, are the buildings.’ The Chancellery did indeed outlive its architect, but in 1947 this grand columned structure of yellow stucco and grey stone, which had dominated a quarter-mile stretch of the centre of Berlin since 1939, was ripped from its footings and demolished.
As for the Führerbunker; its remains were preserved, entombed 50 feet beneath the Chancellery. It would not be until 1988, more than 40 years later, that workman labouring around the clock began demolishing this monolithic tomb of Nazism. From a historical point of view, one cannot help feeling disappointment at the destruction of Hitler’s Berlin bunker, as it bore so much significance during the last days of the War. Yet, just 300 miles to the east, the ruins of the Wolf’s Lair still stand today as a reminder of Hitler’s determination to win the War against the Soviets and of the titanic Russian sacrifice that thwarted his ambitions. People from all over the world visit the Wolf’s Lair and through their interest are preserving the foundations for generations to come.
Here they can visit many of the bunker installations that still stand, despite their contorted appearance. Although many of the visitors are impressed by the sheer size of the bunkers, one is also equally impressed at the amount of explosive charge that must have been used to blow large parts of the concrete bunkers apart. Many of the buildings today lay in heaps of rubble, whilst the larger buildings like the Führerbunker, Guest bunker and Göring bunker are a gutted ruin, with twisted and cracked walls and huge fragments of protruding steel lying in the undergrowth.
Surrounding the bunkers were the concrete-covered brick barrack-type buildings, which were the most common structure at the Wolf’s Lair. Many of these were mined and completely destroyed, whilst some were burnt out and still stand there today intact with their roofs.
The original railway line which passed through the headquarters in the Gorlitz Forest was destroyed during the Wehrmacht’s evacuation in January 1945. After the War a single track was laid by the Poles, which now operates only to Angerburg. The walls and foundations of the old brick railway station at the headquarters still stand today, but all other buildings in and around the area were heavily mined and are now piles of twisted rubble.
Despite the undergrowth, the many trees, and the disappearance of many of the paths and roads, Hitler’s former headquarters remains a fascinating place to visit. More than 60 years since the Führer vacated the Wolf’s Lair for the last time, the appearance of the installation is changing dramatically with every passing decade.
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1 Colonel Heinz Brandt was chief of operations division of the general staff. He had also been an accomplice in the assassination attempt, but had not been warned to leave the conference hut before the explosion.
2 Kluge was under no illusion about what was in store for him when he arrived back in Germany. On 19 August he told his driver to stop the car at Metz, the scene of some of his First World War battles. Here he spread out a blanket and quietly took a cyanide capsule. He left a farewell letter to the Führer, who read it without emotion.
3 Rommel in fact had been forced to take cyanide after Hitler had become convinced he was an accomplice in the 20 July bomb plot. The official story of Rommel’s death was that Rommel had either suffered a heart attack or succumbed to his injuries from the earlier strafing of his staff car whilst in northern France in July 1944. To give the story credibility, Hitler ordered an official day of mourning in commemoration, and Rommel was buried with full military honours.