Construction The main complex was a collection of seven cottages, in a heavily wooded compound beyond the castle's main entrance. Although each building was designed as an air raid bunker with 3 feet (0.91 m) thick concrete walls, each had the appearance of a traditional locally built (half-timbered) style wooden cottage, complete with second storey dormer windows and flower baskets under a sloped tiled roof. Internally, each was furnished in traditional German style with oak floors, pine wall paneling, utilitarian leather upholstered furniture, and decorated with fringed shade wall lamps, wall hangings depicting hunting scenes or battles, and a set of deer antlers. The cottages were numbered and allocated as follows:. Main article: After giving his 1945 New Year's speech from the Pressehaus, Hitler returned to Haus 1 to welcome in the New Year with his close friends and secretarial support team. At 04:00 he walked to the casino to watch the development of, his counter-offensive on New Year's Day. At midnight, nine Panzer divisions of commanded by had mounted an all-out attack on.
Deutsche Kunst Und Kultur, 3:46. Goebbels - Die Welt Wird Neu Verteilt, 2:42. Goebbels - Deutsche Kunst Und Kultur (Radio Wolfschanze), 3:48.
Then a faked diversionary attack was mounted by eight German divisions of commanded by, against the and position, which was the thinly stretched line of 110 kilometres (68 mi) long, near in the Upper mountains in; 120 miles (190 km) to the southeast. This defense line had been weakened by U.S.
General, who had ordered troops, equipment and supplies north to reinforce the American armies involved in the in the. If successful, the German operation would have opened the way for, a planned major thrust into the rear of the U.S. However, having cracked the, each German maneuver was either prepared for, or out-flanked by an allied counter-move. This resulted in a bitter attritional campaign that was lost from the 25th January onwards, with the Germans running out of replacement man power, machinery and supplies. Abandonment and attempted demolition On 6 January 1945, a was jettisoned on Ziegenberg by a returning Allied bomber, damaging the church and several houses, killing four residents. With the Ardennes Offensive failed, and no new military plans or the resources with which to carry them out, the German military high command accepted that the western front was lost.
Hitler left Adlerhorst on January 16, 1945, for Berlin. Having been made commander of OB West on March 11, on March 17, Kesselring ordered all classified documents and sensitive equipment removed from the castle, moving himself and the command centre to the house. On March 19, the Allies, once alerted of the original purpose of the complex, and not knowing if Hitler was still in residence, subjected the castle and surrounding area to a 45-minute fire bombing air raid by a squadron of. This resulted in the loss of 10 civilian lives, and the castle and many of the surrounding buildings were damaged, destroyed or set on fire. On March 28, with the American army only 12 miles (19 km) away, using all available motor pool equipment, Kesselring ordered all civilian employees and families of military personnel to evacuate. German troops were instructed to dynamite the Fuehrer’s compound. Capture by Allied forces The castle and village were captured by units of the on March 30, 1945.
They found the compound as a burned-out jumbled mass of concrete bunkers bearing no resemblance to the original 'wooden country house' design. But for some reason both the Wachhaus and the Pressehaus escaped demolition, both well preserved and with access to the remaining Adlerhorst bunker complex.
Soon afterwards a British-American detention center or, was moved from and re-established in parts of the complex for high-ranking German non-military prisoners of war. It focused on key industrialists, scientists and economists; among those interrogated here were, and the leaders of the chemical conglomerate.
The highest-ranking of these persons of interest was the complex's original designer Albert Speer, who during his detention between June and August 1945 provided very open and detailed accounts of the inner workings of the Third Reich and the impact of Allied bombing of Germany. Others interrogated here included and many technical, financial and industrial leaders.