thumb|right|300px|Map showing the location of "Werwolf", and other [[Führer Headquarters throughout Europe]]

Führerhauptquartier Werwolf was the codename used for one of Adolf Hitler's military headquarters on the Eastern Front during World War II. It was located in a pine forest about north of Vinnytsia, in Ukraine, which was used between 1942 and 1943. It was one of a number of Führer Headquarters throughout Europe, and the most easterly ever used by Hitler in person.

Naming

The name is derived from Werwolf or Wehrwolf in German, which can be translated as werewolf. The Nazis also used the term Werwolf as a codename for clandestine resistance groups which were intended to carry out guerrilla attacks against the occupying forces towards the end of World War II. The naming scheme is in accord with other code-names given to Führerhauptquartiere during the Second World War, such as Wolfsschanze. Several were named for Hitler himself, whose nickname was Wolf. The site was also the easternmost Wehrmacht headquarters.

Headquarters

The complex was located in a pine forest about north of Vinnytsia in occupied Ukraine, between the villages of Stryzhavka and Kolo-Mikhailovka on the Kiev<!--See WP:KIEV--> highway. It was built between December 1941 and June 1942 under top secret conditions by Soviet prisoners of war. In July 1941 the whole Vinnyts’ka oblast’ was occupied by the Nazi regime and later the entire region. Systematic warcrimes took place nearby. According to official figures, during the Nazi occupation of the region over 200,000 local civilians were killed, including 25,000 in Vinnytsia in September 1941 and April 1942. Also 1,800 psychiatric patients were shot, starved or poisoned. The Nazi regime built 18 camps for Soviet prisoners of war in the region, and several ghettos, labor camps and prisons for Jewish residents, all of whom were killed by the German occupants. Thousands of women from the Vinnytsia region were sent to forced labor camps in Germany—61,000 people were removed to be replaced by German occupants.

The location may have been influenced by the Nazis' proposed trans-European highway to the Crimean Peninsula, which would have connected with the site. The Wehrmacht had its regional headquarters in Vinnytsia, and the Luftwaffe had a strong presence at their airbase in Kalinovka, about away.

Hitler's accommodation at Werwolf (the Führerhaus) consisted of a modest log cabin built around a private courtyard with its own concrete bunker. The rest of the complex consisted of about 20 wooden cottages and barracks and up to three "B" class bunkers, surrounded by a ring of barbed wire and ground defensive positions connected by tunnels. A couple of observation points were set up on platforms in the oak trees surrounding the pine forest. The area was surrounded by a defensive strip of bunkers, anti-aircraft guns and tanks, as well as anti-tank ditches and minefields.

There was a tea house, a barber shop, a bathhouse, a sauna, a cinema, and a swimming pool primarily intended for Hitler who never used it. The facility also contained a large vegetable garden organised by the German horticultural company Zeidenspiner to provide Hitler with a secure supply of food. before being tried by a taster because of Hitler's fear of poisoning. Oxygen tanks were also available at Hitler's insistence. Water for the site was provided by artesian wells while power was provided by a generator. Some buildings were connected by tunnels.

The bunkers were constructed by Organisation Todt using some local Ukrainian workers, but mainly Soviet prisoners of war. The code name for the secret construction project was Anlage Eichenhain (Camp Oak Grove). The 4000 forced laborers were lined up and shot when construction was finished. The journey took 34 hours.

During Germany's Eastern campaign, Adolf Hitler lived mainly at FHQ Wolfsschanze (near Rastenburg, East Prussia) but he stayed at FHQ Werwolf three times: The site can be visited and plans to create a full-fledged museum had come to fruition as of May 2026. Nearby is a memorial to the thousands of labourers and others buried by the Nazis in gravepits at Stryzhavka.

Photos

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Залишки ставки Гітлера „Вервольф” 03.JPG|

Залишки ставки Гітлера „Вервольф” - територія із залишками бетонних брил.jpg|

Залишки ставки Гітлера „Вервольф” - бетонна брила.jpg|

Werwolf-pool.JPG|Remains of the bunker compound's swimming pool

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Залишки ставки Гітлера „Вервольф” 04.JPG|

Залишки ставки Гітлера „Вервольф” 02.JPG|

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See also

  • Führer Headquarters

References

Bibliography

  • Zeidler, Zeigert, Die Führerhauptquartiere.