Hitler's Headquarters in the East Then & Now

The Führerhauptquartiere, or FHQu, were a series of command posts used by Hitler and his close circle of commanders and officials during the Second World War. The construction of Führerhauptquartiere was entrusted to the Organisation Todt, the Nazi civil engineering body, which built sixteen FHQu throughout the Third Reich and the occupied territories, with three more still under construction in early 1945\. Their nature and size followed Hitler involvement in the direction of military operations, ranging from the simple Führersonderzug, the Führer’s special train, of 1939, to extensive concrete compounds built in the West and in the East. The most notable of the eastern FHQu, the ‘Wolfsschanze’, or Wolf’s Lair as it is commonly known, was set deep in the heart of the Masurian woods of northern Poland, in what was formally East Prussia. Built under a veil of secrecy, the reinforced concrete bunkers, minefields, and anti-aircraft defences established there ultimately served as Hitler’s primary base from 1941 to 1944\. the ‘Wolfsschanze’ was made famous by the failed attempt on Hitler’s life on 20 July 1944. The ‘Wolfsschanze’ was not the only command centre built to cover the Eastern Front and the author reveals in this book how the Organisation Todt built seven headquarters behind this front, and two more were still under construction at the end of the war, including ‘Riese’, the largest of the nineteen FHQu either completed or in construction. However, Hitler only used a few, and only two for long periods, the ‘Wolfsschanze’ – over 700 days – and ‘Wehrwolf’ in Ukraine – about 120 days. As the war turned against Germany and Hitler’s armies were forced to retreat, the eastern FHQu were abandoned. On 16 January 1945, Hitler moved into what could be referred to as his last Führerhauptquartier – this being the bunker that had been built under the Reichskanzlei in Berlin. Though he initially spent some time above ground, he generally remained in this underground bunker complex for the final 105 days of his life until his suicide on 30 April 1945. In this book, the renowned historian Jean-Paul Pallud reveals the full story of each of the Führerhauptquartiere used or constructed on the Eastern Front, all of which are explored in After the Battle’s well-known ‘Then & Now’ format.