Idea #725 – Exploring a destroyed bunker at Hitler’s headquarters in Poland
Adolf Hitler’s main headquarters during WWII, the Wolfsschanze or “Wolf’s Den” was located in the woods near Gierłoż , not far from Kętrzyn, in Poland. It consisted of a collection of blockhouses and log houses with grass roofs located in a thick forest, all protected by several concentric circles of defences, barbed wire, and minefields. The complex was abandoned and dynamited by the Germans on January 25, 1945 during the retreat of the Wehrmacht in the face of the Soviet advance. They used nearly 30,000 tonnes of TNT.
The site was divided into several areas. The most important, Sperrkreis 1 (“security zone 1”), in which there were ten bunkers, including the Führer’s bunker and those intended for members of his inner circle, including Bormann. His bunker, camouflaged and protected by a seven-meter slab of reinforced concrete, is in an advanced state of collapse, blown by dynamite. In this episode, we opted not to respect the warning signs, and to explore this bunker, in caving mode. For the more adventurous, who cannot read the signs, it is possible to enter the bunkers, at your own risk! The risks mainly relate to the collapse, the falling concrete element, and the reinforced concrete bars, which protrude almost everywhere, getting you very easily. Not to be reproduced.
Some Pictures
Where is it ?
Wolfsschanze, Kętrzyn, Poland