Wolf's Lair: Hitler's secret reinforced bunker where he planned the greatest evils of WWII

As early as autumn 1940, German engineers and construction workers from Organisation Todt began clearing forest and laying concrete foundations for what would become one of Hitler’s most secure compounds.

Thousands of forced labourers, including prisoners of war, were involved in building the site over time.

Organisation Todt, which had previously constructed the Siegfried Line and other large infrastructure projects for the Nazi regime, oversaw the project.

Located in territory that had belonged to Germany before the First World War, the site offered strategic advantages.

It was close enough to the Soviet border for operational efficiency, but remote enough to avoid detection from Allied surveillance aircraft.

Layers of camouflage netting and extensive forest coverage made aerial photography nearly useless.

When Hitler arrived on 23 June 1941, the day after Operation Barbarossa began, the site was already operational.

Over the next few months, it was continually expanded and upgraded, which covered an area of approximately 6.5 square kilometres and which included its own power plant, airstrip, water supply, and a nearby rail spur with a platform for Hitler's personal train. 

By 1944, the Wolf’s Lair contained over 80 buildings, including 50 reinforced bunkers made from steel-reinforced concrete with walls up to 2 metres thick.

The complex was divided into three layered security zones known as Sperrkreis 1, 2, and 3.

The innermost zone housed Hitler’s private bunker, as well as quarters for close aides like Martin Bormann.

The second zone held barracks for SS guards, communications staff, and senior Wehrmacht officers.

The outermost zone included anti-aircraft batteries, minefields, and barbed-wire perimeters.

Up to 2,000 personnel were stationed at the site at its peak. Entry to each section required special permission, and guards checked every vehicle and person, which made unauthorised access nearly impossible.

The entire compound operated under the code name Führerhauptquartier Wolfsschanze, derived from Hitler’s favoured nickname, "Wolf," which he had used since the 1920s. 

Within the walls of this compound, Hitler hosted daily conferences with senior military leaders, including Wilhelm Keitel, Alfred Jodl, and Heinz Guderian.

In these briefings, strategic decisions were made that shaped the course of the war on the Eastern Front.

Orders were given for the sieges of Leningrad and Stalingrad. New offensives were planned with complete disregard for the millions of Soviet soldiers and civilians who would suffer as a result.

At the same time, the Wolf’s Lair became a site where Hitler issued commands that further sped up the Holocaust.

He met with Heinrich Himmler on multiple occasions in 1941 and 1942 to discuss logistics for deportations and executions.

While the Einsatzgruppen had already begun operations in the Soviet Union by the time Hitler arrived, directives from the Wolf’s Lair reinforced their brutal campaign. 

Secrecy and heavy defences failed to prevent breaches of the Wolf’s Lair. On 20 July 1944, Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg placed a time bomb inside a briefcase under the table in Hitler’s conference room.

His goal was to assassinate Hitler and launch a coup d'état against the Nazi regime.

The bomb detonated at 12:42 p.m., which killed three men instantly: Colonel Heinz Brandt, General Rudolf Schmundt and Secretary Heinrich Berger.

General Günther Korten was severely injured and died the following day. Hitler survived with only minor injuries, largely because the briefcase had been moved behind a heavy oak table leg that absorbed much of the blast.

The wooden hut where the meeting took place had been chosen over a nearby concrete bunker to avoid summer heat, a decision that inadvertently spared Hitler’s life.

This assassination attempt, known as the 20 July Plot failed and in the days that followed Stauffenberg and dozens of other plotters were arrested and executed.

Hitler became more paranoid and isolated after the event, and security at the compound was tightened further. 

As the Red Army advanced through Eastern Europe in the autumn of 1944, the Wolf’s Lair began to lose its strategic importance.

By November, Soviet forces had pushed through Poland and were approaching East Prussia.

On 20 November 1944, Hitler departed the compound for the final time. German forces began dismantling parts of the site and destroying critical facilities to prevent its use by enemy troops.

On 25 January 1945, SS demolition teams rigged the bunkers with explosives and blew up large portions of the facility.

Despite their efforts, many structures remained partially intact due to the sheer thickness of the concrete. 

After the war, Soviet troops entered the ruins and investigated the site. For decades, the area remained abandoned and overgrown, though Polish authorities eventually opened it to visitors in the 1950s.

Today, the remains of the Wolf’s Lair stand as a grim reminder of the machinery of war and dictatorship.

Cracked concrete walls and the rubble of destroyed bunkers still mark the forest floor, which offers a haunting insight into the place where Hitler spent over 800 days during which he directed conquest and mass murder.

The site, which now receives over 300,000 visitors annually, provides one of the most direct connections to the destructive power wielded from within its strong walls.