Wolfsschanze

Information about Wolfsschanze

Remains of largest bunker (Adolf Hitler's) at Wolfsschanze. Its height may be gauged by doorway at lower left.

FÃ¼hrerhauptquartier Wolfsschanze (English: Wolf's Lair, Polish: Wilczy Szaniec) was the codename for Adolf Hitler's World War II Eastern Front military headquarters. It was one of many other FÃ¼hrer Headquarters throughout Europe.

Wolf's Lair's location in former East Prussia (present national borders shown).

Details

The remains of the complex are located in Poland at the hamlet of Gierłoż (German: Forst GÃ¶rlitz) near Kętrzyn (German: Rastenburg), although at the time of operation this area was part of the former German province of East Prussia, the southern part of which was assigned to the People's Republic of Poland after 1945. It consisted of a group of bunkers and fortified buildings in a thickly wooded area, surrounded by several rings of barbed wire and defensive positions. The complex was served by a nearby airfield. It was built for the 1941 German invasion of the Soviet Union, codenamed 'Operation Barbarossa' (22 June 1941), and abandoned on 25 January 1945 as the Soviet army front line troops approached Wegorzewo (German: Angerburg) located only 10 miles away. Hitler arrived on the night of 21 June 1941, and departed for the last time on 20 November 1944. He spent over 800 days there, off and on, during World War II.

The original bunker system was constructed by Organisation Todt, but the enlargement of Wolfsschanze was never finished; the expansion work was stopped only a few days before the Russian advance to Wegorzewo pressured German forces to blow up the entire Wolfsschanze bunker complex just prior to the Wehrmacht retreat westward.

The Wolfsschanze was the location of the failed assassination attempt on Hitler which was carried out by Claus von Stauffenberg on 20 July 1944.

The whole complex was severely damaged by the demolitions carried out during the German retreat because Hitler thought it was too valuable to allow the Soviets to use. Clearance of the large minefields around the site set up by the Germans was carried out from 1945 to 1956 by the Polish Army. Nowadays the complex is a museum, open all year long. Despite the damage, the site remains to this day a notable tourist attraction. A monument to the July 20 plotters can also be found on the site.

Origin of the name

A self-adopted nickname of Hitler's was "Wolf," likely suggested by the derivation of his given name Adolf from the Old High German "adal" and "wolf" ("noble wolf"). Hitler began using the nickname in the early 1920s and was so addressed only by those in his intimate circle. The nickname is reflected in the names of his various headquarters scattered throughout continental Europe (Wolfsschanze in East Prussia, Wolfsschlucht in Belgium, Wehrwolf in Ukraine).

Enormous amounts of explosives were used to destroy the Wolfsschanze bunkers. Here the explosion has lifted a bunker's roof — 2-meter-thick solid ferro-concrete.

A better-preserved Wolfsschanze bunker.

A code name or cryptonym is a word or name used clandestinely to refer to another name or word. Code names are often used for military purposes, or in espionage. They may also be used in industry to protect secret projects and the like from business rivals.
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Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party (The Nazi party). He was appointed Chancellor of Germany in 1933, and became FÃ¼hrer (leader)^[2] in 1934, remaining in power until his suicide in 1945.
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Allied powers:
Soviet Union
United States
United Kingdom
China
France
...et al. Axis powers:
Germany
Japan
Italy
...et al.
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Military has two broad meanings. In its first sense, it refers to soldiers and soldiering. In its second sense, it refers to armed forces as a whole. Over the years, military units have come in all shapes and sizes.
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Headquarters (HQ) denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are concentrated. The corporate headquarters is the entity at the top of a corporation taking full responsibility managing all business activities.
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Fuehrer Headquarters.

The FÃ¼hrer Headquarters (FÃ¼hrerhauptquartiere in German), abbreviated FHQ, is a common name for a number of constructed headquarters used, or intended to be used, by the Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and various German
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Motto
none¹
Anthem
Mazurek Dąbrowskiego (Polish)
Dąbrowski's Mazurek
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German language (Deutsch, ] (help info ) ) is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages.
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Anthem
"Das Lied der Deutschen" (third stanza)
also called "Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit"
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The People's Republic of Poland or Polish People's Republic (Polish: Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa, PRL) was the official name of Poland from 1952 to 1989, during its period of rule by the Communist party, officially called the Polish United Workers' Party
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19th century - 20th century - 21st century
1910s 1920s 1930s - 1940s - 1950s 1960s 1970s
1940 1941 1942 - 1943 - 1944 1945 1946

Year 1945 (MCMXLV
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bunker is a defensive military fortification. Bunkers are mostly below ground, compared to blockhouses which are mostly above ground. They were used extensively in World War I and World War II.
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Barbed wire, also known as barb wire^[1] (and frequently in dialect form spelled bob^[2] or bobbed^[3]), is a type of fencing wire constructed with sharp edges or points arranged at intervals along the strand(s).
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19th century - 20th century - 21st century
1910s 1920s 1930s - 1940s - 1950s 1960s 1970s
1938 1939 1940 - 1941 - 1942 1943 1944

Year 1941 (MCMXLI
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Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (abbreviated USSR, Russian: (help info ) ; tr.
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(German estimate):
1,750,000 killed in combat operations by end of 1941
^[3]

(Soviet estimate):
802,191 killed .
2,335,482 missing/captured.^[4] Parameter not given Error...
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A front line is a line of confrontation in an armed conflict, most often a war. On either side of the front line stand the forces of the various combatants. In modern warfare, due to the broken nature of mechanized combat, front lines rarely form; instead a zone of confrontation
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German language (Deutsch, ] (help info ) ) is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages.
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November 20 is the 1st day of the year (2nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 0 days remaining.

Events

284 - Diocletian was chosen as Roman Emperor.

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19th century - 20th century - 21st century
1910s 1920s 1930s - 1940s - 1950s 1960s 1970s
1941 1942 1943 - 1944 - 1945 1946 1947

Year 1944 (MCMXLIV
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Allied powers:
Soviet Union
United States
United Kingdom
China
France
...et al. Axis powers:
Germany
Japan
Italy
...et al.
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The Organisation Todt (OT) was a Third Reich civil and military engineering group in Germany eponymously named for its founder, Fritz Todt, an engineer and senior Nazi figure.
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The July 20 Plot of 1944 was a failed attempt to assassinate German dictator Adolf Hitler, the leader of Germany, and subsequently take power by means of an altered Operation WalkÃ¼re plan which was supposed to subdue possible unrest.
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Claus Philipp Maria Schenk Graf^[1] von Stauffenberg (15 November 1907 – 21 July 1944) was a German army officer and one of the leading figures of the failed July 20 Plot of 1944 to kill German dictator Adolf Hitler and seize power in Germany.
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