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27 JUN 1945 ---=-~~------- shy

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HEAWUA RTERS XXI OORPS Office of the Assft A O of S G-2

c APO 101 U S AFMY 28 May 1945

The Allied Armies over-running Germany have tUfdrJ one by one the closely guarded secrets of~he Nazi Regim e - horrors of the concentration camps the eagll talk~of t 1 great the view of the country at clgtse-handhave Wiuced mantic Super-Race mystics to the simple matter-of-fact that they are

bullPerhaps the most closel~ guarded or-all shouTd Berchtesgaden the home of the Fuhrer the cente~f the Redoubt the mountain fastness to which Hitle r ld ret twilight of the Gods to take his place among lte legendary man heroes It didnt happen that way The mountain retreat without him and turned out to be a far more ordinary plaoe rumor and Nazi propaganda had made i Their pretentions seen for what they were the attempts of very weak and morta ~

to satisfy their dreams of greatness ~ ~

The dreams have crumbled Invading Ame r ican t~s discove r ed some of the facts ~bout Berchtesgaden Not all the bull story is told but enough ha s been learned to make the pictur e ear That picture is indeed an interesting4lr ~

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ADLERHOF THE EAGLES

Ever since news of Adolph Hitlers mountain refuge his Eagles Nest on the 6000-footsu=it of the Kehlstein came out of Nazi Germany ~he world has been curious about Der Fuhrers lonely mountain perch This curiosity deliberately stimulated by the Nazis themshyselves to brighten the aur~ of mystery built around Der Fuhrer made the name of ~rGhtesgaden the little town at its foot a symbol for what tne Nazis billed as the ho ly mountain 0

The glamour scaled off however When life at the Nest and on the Obersalybrg l evel half-way up the mountainside came to light Themountain fastness Obersalzberg colony and Eagles Nest which Nazi propashyganda pictured as the nerve-center ofihe so-called If Redoubt Area lf Was taken on 4 May 1945 without serious resistance by the XV Oorps Third Division It Was the mission of the XXI Oorps to take Berchtesgaden and the mountain but as the rapidly changing situation developed it Was more expedient to have the Third Division move on the town and accordingly 7th Army Headquarters so directed

Subsequently Berchtesgaden WaS assigned to Major General Milburns XXI Oorps sector On 9 May 1945 Oolonel Vance Batchelor Oorps G-2 sent a Target Fqrce to Berchshytesgaden to secure certain targets and to find uut as much as possible about the life that the Nazi hierarchy led bullthere bull

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The Keraquoiaj~i~n~s e mountain top was named by the Germans fIll~mtarils r ep resented a Nest or refuge where Der--IlUn rer or t he Super-Race withd rew for inspiration or solitary contemplation In fact Hitler went up to his lonely lodge on only four occasions and on t hose r emaine d fo r only two or three hours He did not like t he altitude and complained that it bothered his heart

Der Fuhrers last visit to his mountain lodge Was in the autumn of 1943 with Oount Oiano Mussolinis son-in-law Hi S visits to his more pretentious Ob ersalzshyberg house ma de famous by its enormous f ront Window beshycame progressively fewer and shorter a s German reverses grew in numbe r and magnitude And when he left 10 July 1944 it WaS neve r to return again Othe r Nazi big-wigs went to t he Obersalzberg colony less and less frequently during t he last two years of the war

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That i s what Berchtesgaden towns people said They were pretty sure when Hit ler was on the mountain and when he left at least in h is hey- day Hi s visits were almost always preceded by purchasing agents who bought up every delicacy and almost everything else edible in town

His specia l train would always be standing in the railroad ya r ds in the morning and would lie in waiting until as sec retly as it came in the night it would disshyappear in the night signalling his arrival and departure But despite 88 Troops Gestapo and informe rs the g rapeshyvine telegraph never failed to give them such vital local news

From time to time certain guests selected with calculated intent for the propaganda values were pe rshymi tted to visit the Eagles Nest amidst panoply designed to impress with Nazi achievements It worked because visiting dignita ri es were duly impressed and the name Berchtesgaden sp read far and wide

Hermann Goe ring and Heinrich Hi mmler eaoh went up twice and Goebbels on l y once Whether they were toshygether on any of these occasions is a question But Martin Bormann Rei chs l eiter or leader of t he Nazi Party for Hitler Was a f requent visitor

-THREE VIEWS FROM THE AI Rshy THE EAGLES NEST FROM THE NORTHWEST

AND FROM THE SOUTHWEST THE VALLEY BELOW THE CRAGS OF THE

KEHLSTEIN RIDGE

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This information Was supplied by George Mehr who operated and maintained the elevator

Mehr denied that Mussolini ever went to the Eagles Nest with Hitler

None of the visitors Were ever known to stay over night Indeed no f acilities such as beds were found in the lodge On only one occasion as far as can be detershymined Was a party thrown That Was a wedding feast for the sister of Eva Braun Hitlers friend

During Hitlers visits however no one Was pershymitted to smoke or drink according to most reliable reshyports These added that Hitler himself ate only vegetables and drank only water fruit juices or Apollinaris water quantities of which Were found in the cellar along with supplies of dried vegetables bull

It Was a myth that the area Was a redoubt at all The elaborate system of tunnels which honeycombed the mounshytain was not completed They had ventilating lystems hot and cold running water and electric light and heat but they were neither adequately armed nor stocked with suffi shycient foodstuff to withstand effectively any kind of a proshytracted modern siege One attack of three Waves by the RAF on 25 April 1945 was enough to reduce the Obe rsalzberg

9-Qlony-4o- llnambles although failing - tn~ th a direct hit - even to crack the tunnels The Eagles NeBt shyhowever escap ed any damage

The mystery of whether secret tunnels existed remained des pite a systematic and extensive search in those whose surf ace openings were apparent Every tunnel

visited showed signs of having b~en ransacked by troops who scattered everything far and wide in their search for secret panels leading to apartments where t hose with high priority on the list of Nazi Wanted mi ght be eluding Allied capture bull

TEA FOR TWO

From Hitlers house and also Goerings there Was a small railed path with an asphalt surface that followod the contour of the mountain to the lower part of the western side This Was a two-mile walk ending in a secluded little tea house

This Was Hitlers Lovers Lane the path he liked to wander down for tea with his friend Eva

Braun Servants said he wa s also in the habit of walking down to the tea house every day for exercise and being driven back to the Berghof by his guards

The labyrinthine tunnels with every copvenience for living comfortably during a sustained air attack gave plenty of room for suspicion that somewhere in t he depths of that mountain Nazi big-Wigs even Hitler himself might be sheltered pending a propitious moment for escape There Were long incompleted passageways on which half-filled stone Cara still remained on t heir tracks and deep shafts whose inky blackness GI flashlights could not penetrate and whose depths returned only delayed and hollow echoes to GI shouts bull

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ALONG THE SIDE OF EAGLES NEST STAIRS LEAD TO THE FOOTPATH DOWN THE MOUNTAIN

I t The idea of bui ldi ng on the Keh l stein WaS not

Hit l e r s It was Bormann s I t was Bormann who suggested building the r e the Teehaus o r Tea House wi th Nazi Pa rty funds as p gift to De r Fuh r e r and rt Was not until Hi t l er gave the OK on his gift that the p re limi~a ry wo rk on the roads and tunnels Was started in 1936 The Ea gle s Nest a monument that the worke r s were t old Was designed to l ast 1000 years WaS not compl eted until June of 1939 Du r i ng i ts construction Bormann lite~al ly haun ted the j ob

The project of r eaching the Kehlstein involved the construction of a two- lane black t0P road hewn fo r almost four mi les from the ro cky sides of the mounta i n with f i ve tunnels and innumerable r etaining wa l ls to pr event landshys l ides The T Force found t hat despite the l atte r at least three lands l ides had compl ete l y ob lite rated t he road during the winte r In addit ion another r oad f or the haulshyi ng of materials and supp l ies WaS also built

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bull Blt the bLgj oQ ws s the poundlinking of an e l evato r shaft th~~ugh morethan400 middotfeetio(~~iid rci bull This r equired the cutting of anothe r tunne l a l a rge spacious vau lt ed affai r f or aqoui 500 feet frOll) the entran ce on the side of the mounta in to the ba~e of the shsft

The Tea House Was built on a rocky prag 1 822 mete r s or 6 013 feet ab ove sea l evel Thi s Was 205 feet be low the hi ghest point on the mountain but offered a bett e r vi ew o f the surroun ding peaks and va ll eys The re WaS a prec ipitous drop f rom the living room winshydoWS t o the va ll ey f l oor

MAIN ROOM FROM A POINT ON THE FOOTPATH NOTE CAMOUFLAGE ON THE RIGHT

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A gravelled and fenced path led from the Tea House 1000 yards across the summit of the ridge to the top-most crag This little promenade which gave one the feeling of walking on the roof of the wo rld had little appeai to Hitler His attendants said he walked only a short distance out on the path on one visit and nervously turned around and returned

From Berchtesgaden and to those toiling up the mountain the most striking feature of the Kehlsteinhaus was what appeared to be the octagonal shaped front facing Northwest That Was the living room which Was actually circular inside and flat on the side joined with the re st of the building The structure WaS so well designed that it blended in lihe and color with the rock in which it WaS

rooted

This effect held true for t he building from the vantage point of the highe r crag on the mountain except that the Tea House as the very mountain i tself tended to lose its pa rticularity in the vastness of the surroundshyings

The Nest itse lf Was 8 lonE low and substantial structure It Was a lo dge nothing more and nothing less with proportions commensurate with the magnitude of its setting most of the granite walls measuring more than six feet in thickness Its roof Was in the style of a Swiss chalet wit~ wide overhanging eaves Its lines we re horishyzontal not verticaL Just as Hitler h imself reached out and not up

Most i mp re ssive feature of this re t reat Was the huge living room 45 feet in diameter Whose six enormous Windows were opened by being lo~ered by chains to the cellar below It had only two outlets one up six steps to the dinin g room and the other down e i ght to the tea room The whole room gave a definite impression of sheer massiveshyness and austere simplicity

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From the windows Hitler had a 180 degree panoshyrama of the surrounding mountain peaks and the valleys Which dropped so precipitously The room itself with its windows cut through the six-foot walls Was the last word in luxurious l y finished accoutrements In all it contained 18 large upholstered chair~ three Wicker deck chairs witn-pads and pillows six marble topped table~ one ra dio and one combination r adio-phonograph

The floor was of selected flagstone l a id on concrete The ceiling height Was 14 feet Two 14 x 18 inc h Wooden beams supported 8 x 8 inch cross beams all beautifully burnished graine d wood The room Was devoid of decoration except perhaps the beautiful brass candelshyabra on the walls and the magnificent red marble fireplace There Were seven clusters of candelabra five with six beeswax candles and two with four Hidden in the base of each Was an electric light It WaS reporte d that an old tapestry or painting hun g over the fireplace

THE EAGLES NEST AS IT LOOKED TO THOSE CLIMBING THE KEHLSTEIN PEAK

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The mantle of the fireplace Was one block of marble fourteen feet long In the back of the firebox Was the only sculpture in the room two wrought iron plates with bas relief figures of two nude women riding horses The fireplace WaS raised about a foot and a half above the floor level on a granite stone In front of it Was a semi-circular davenport sixteen feet long flanked by two massive stuffed armchairs

In the center of the room WaS a circular table ten feet in diame~er And in keeping with the horizonshytal lines of the room it Was only two feet high The r floor Was covered with a soft rug approximately 25 x 35] feet obviously hand-woven Its rich colors abounded in shades of- green gray blue and brown

NUMBER PLEASE

Telephone directories for the Obersalzberg colony found in a guesthouse near the Berghof Hitlers house listed two numbers for Der Fuhrer uFuhrer Arbeitszimrner u which means Leaders Workroom Was 501 and Fuhrer Schlafzimmer or uLeaders Bedroom 601

Ubiquitous GIs tried to put through a call and found that the Wires were out The last of the 143 numbers listed WaS 609 for Hitlers workroom at the Eagles Nest It WaS preceded by Reichsmarshall Goerings number 608

The automatic selection buttons of the radio did not include London although the panel did indicate that the Fuhrer could get the BBe and even New York if he cared to turn the dials The places for which there were automatic selection buttons were Konigsburg Bresshylau Hamburg Berlin Leipzig Munich Koln Stuttgart and Deutschland Sender

The chestnut-panelled dining hall had ~qually simple lines Its long table seated thirteen persons on each side and two at the ends a total of thirty On one side of the room Was a stained cupboard and on the other double-paned windows looking down on a walk borshydered by five large granite arches with a view to the West The room WaS carpeted with a heavy rUg 15 x 40 feet with an infinite variety of shades in which red predominated

The kitchen Was complete with everything imaginable for the preparation of food Everything Was electric The walls Were white tile and the floor selected flagstone The chinaware a numbered set WaS decorated with a beautiful red and gold flying dragon pattern

The only edibles found in the kitchen howshyever Were dried vegetables and cereals cane of baby beets carrots and spinach and jare of preserv9d chershyries and other fruits There Wae plenty of sugar about forty pounds and some real coffee contraeting with the scarcity of the latter in the reet of Germany

Despite Hitlers own total abstinence - of which there Was abundant testimony from servante - cupshyboards throughout the lodge had been stocked with choice Wines and liqueurs They Were replete with Napoleon brandy and othere of rare vintage In the cell~r howshyever were large reserves of Apollinaris water and deshylicious bottled fruit juices

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The little tea room down from the living room WaS finished in knotted pine On one side it looked out on the mountains to the west Through this room one could reach the arch-bordered walk which paralleled the dining hall

Hitlers study and lounge which adjmiddotQined the dining hall in the rear WaS simply decorated with dark stained wainscoating It Was rather dark and sombre light coming in from only one side

The lodge WaS conspicuous for its absence of books and recreational facilities Other than the radios phonograph and scenery there Were none Several large pads of expensive sketching paper Were found in the livshying roomwhich Were probably there for the convenience of Hitlers once frustrated aspirations

Everything Was new brand new and even the furshyniture gave the appearance of having just come from the manufacturer It looked as though it needed living and the warmth that human living could give it

EVen the cables of the elevator showed little Wear Workmen found in the village explained that the elevator WaS never satisfactory in cold weather in that altitude

The basement consisted of a room with two beds for the guards storage rooms with refrigerators and more toilets In the guards room Were found tw~ 20shypfennig pulp romance magazines and incompleted crossshyword puzzles On the wall Was the Crass of Lorraine crudely carved by visiting French soldiers

Obersalzberg workers had definite opinions about t he ir maste rs and showed no hesitancy in expressshying them to the T Force interpreters

Most of them spoke of Hitler with obvious revshyerence in their voices but two Stammerbeiter or regshyular employees cha racterized him along with Himmler and Bo rmann as mean

They declared that When Hitler flew into a rage he would chew on a rug or anything he could get h i s teeth into and sometimes beat himiddots dog

George Mehr elevator operator at the Ea gles Nest spoke we ll of Hitler and Goering but evi denced keen dislike for Bormann He said that on several ocshycasions Bormann telephoned to him at 230 oclock in the morning to saymiddot that he and his family would ascend to the Keh lsteinhaus to see the sunrise and on each occasion failed middot to show up

A telephone technician named Loder told of Bormanns forcing Frau Bormann and the children out of their Obersalzburg house at five oclock in the morning and forcing them to flee to Munich He added that Borshymann got along very well however with screen actresses Whom he invited to the mountain frequently

Loder also said that Bomiddotrmann Was a heavy eater and drinker His favorite drink Was cognac and he Was known to lock himself up in his room for extended sprees

After having dinner with Hitler a strict vegetarian Loder declared Bormann returned to his oWn home to gorge himself with roast goose and cognac

Mrs Zynchski Goerings housekeeper reported that Goering disliked both Himmler and Bormann Bormann WaS heard by others to declare that he made Himmlermiddot

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Hitlers

Kitchen He IIStdY~ 0100

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EAGLES NEST

Investigation revealed that the elevator which WaS found suspended slightly above the shaft Was intact except fo r minor repair A heavy steel bar which had been dropped down the concrete encased shaft to immobilize the appa ratus had broken a panel from the roof of the cab

Bags of sand bits of wood and other objects easily obshytained which had been tossed down by capricLous soldiers had damaged other parts none seriously Engineers estishymated that it could be restored in good working order in about two weeks

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The elaborate electrical machinery with intrishycate wiring the generators and diesel engines housed deep in the mountain were all in good c on~ition needing only the normal adjustments and overhauling that a winter in the cold of the high altitude would necessitate

No one had been able to enter the bottom of the shaft The outer pair of the locked doub le sets of heavy bronze doors had been sprung by a l a r ge rock wedged beshytween the top of one door and a great snow drift that almost completely covered the portal

Entry Was effected by b urrowing through the snow to another tunnel about 150 feet to t he right of the grand entrance which WaS known to Mehr the elevato r operator It Was through this unp retentious passageway that the heavy machinery for the operation of the lift Was brought and set up in large rooms hollowed out of the stone

To reach the e levato r it sel f f rom the engine room it WaS nec es sary to crawl through a low pipe and wire conduit The lift WaS within easy climbing distance and Was reached t h rough a trap doo r in the lower compartment

This section Was a plain gray painted box without any seats that Was used for servants and the transportation of supplies Above it and actually a part of the twoshycompartment cage Was the section reserved fo r Hitler Party guests and their friends

The formal show section of the lift which accomshymodated 15 persons Was finished in bronze panels It Was not elaborate or luxurious - rather its lines Were severe and rich In the center of the nine-foot hi gh ceiling were eight plain unshaded frosted electric light bulbs in a circular pattern On the side opposite the only door Was a mirror two feet in diameter

The door which opene d from the middle each half sliding into the sides Was al so of heavy bronze with small plate g lass panels about 3 x 4 i nches in the upper two-thirds portion Around three sides of the cab except for the opershyating panel on the right where Mehr stood were plain leather benches In the dull emergency lighting which still worked it Was difficult to determine whether their color Was olive drab or g reen

TEA HOUSE DINING ROOM ELEVATOR ENTRANCE BLOCKED WHAT HITLER SAW BY SNOW

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The elevator operating panel contained the same thirteen push button lights that gave rise to considerable speculation when they Were observed in the foyer of the Eagles Nest It Was thought when the Kehlstein Was first taken over that those lights might i udicate stops for conshycealed landings where Nazi secrets had been hidden The fact that a spring returned them to position when pressure Was relieved tended to excite suspicion

Mehr explained that the springs behind the little round pieces of glass Were there merely to proteot them by absorbing the shock The lights on the panel he continued Were to indicate the lifts progress by lighting every 10 meters This Was confirmed by an officer of the T Force Who climbed down the steel ladder of the shaft and back again without seeing any breaks in the shaft wall

The base of the elevator opened out into a rotunda 22 feet in diameter constructed of unpolished granite blocks Normally it Was lighted by four sets of electric candelabra of three sticks each Along the sides on the left and right of the entrance to this rotunda were two semi-circular benches Even in the sepulchral light of candles and GI flashlights the place Was truly impreSsive From the roshytunda a spacious arched corridor led straight for 500 feet to the bronze doore of the entran~e and the built-up plaza which had accommodations for automobiles of a large retinue I

THEY PLAY SO NICE

One of the stories brought out WaS that of The last will and testament of Adolph Hitler Hermann Goerings last visit to his Obe rsalzberg home Was supposed to have been read at this meeting His housekeeper a Mrs Zynchski WaS found with her fam~ ily occupying the servants quarters in Goerings house Two hours after the meeting broke up Goering just as though the capture of Obersalzberg meant merely his family his servants and his adjutants were all placed a change in bosses She related the incidents to the T under house arrest by t he SS Mrs Zynchski declared She Force i nterpreter explained that they Were told this mea sure WaS taken beshy

cause Goe-ring had proposed capitulating to the Western General Koller head of the Luftwaffe came to Powers

s ee Go ering at his Obersalzberg home on 23 April 1945 And a short time later Dr Lammers Reichsminister and On 25 April t he Goering crew Was still under head of the Ohancellory also arrived arrest in the house When the first Wave of Allied planes

bombarded it Subsequently a meeting Was held which Was

attended by Goering Koller Lammers the head of the The Qoering prisoners escaped the first Wave Obersalzberg SS and Goerings adjutants Mrs Zynchski and in the half hour interval before the second everyone took reported that Dr Lammers had brought word from Hitler shelter in the tunnel apartments The House Was wrecked in that Goering Was to take over the government of Germany t he second and t hird Waves of t he hour-long raid Mrs and rule from Obersalzberg Zynchski said Two days later t he SS took Goering and his

adjutants to Goerings estate in Mauterndorf Austria

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BERGHOF HITLERS RETREAT

There Was some question in Berchtesgaden at least of the secruty of the foundation on which the Nazis had established the Eagles Nest monument on their Holyl mountain and their Obersalzberg colony At the foot of the mountain there Was a salt mine and part of the mounshytain settled as a result of that activity A local engishyneer in charge of many of the construction projects said that fact Was pointed out to Hitler before he started building Nonetheless in the opinion of the engineer the foundations of all the buildings on the Obersalzberg level and particularly the Kehlstein Tea House were sunk so deep that there Was little likelihood of their being affected He deni~d rumor that cracks had become evident in some of ths Obersalzberg buildings before the bombing

The Berghof as Hi tlers Oberealzberg house was called was all but completely destroyed What little waS left after the aerial bombardment WaS wrecked by the fire which was set by the SS - after careful looting on their

own part - to prevent records and other items of possible interest f~lling into Allied hands

The main room approximately 45 x 70 feet waS an empty black shell The 17 x 25-foot window in front of which Hitler delighted in having himself photographed was scattered in innumerable broken and melted pieceS of plate glass Lying here and there were the springs of upholstered chairs In another place were several of them all joined together - probably a davenport The remnants of several radios were discovered inthe ashes The places where two chandeliers hung from the ceiling were still evident All that Was left of the red marble pedestals of statuary was bleached and broken stone

The mantle of the 10-foot red marble fireplace waS white and hanging together somehow despite numerous breaks The fire had been so hot that it melt-ed and twisted the grates in the fire-box But the bas-relief figures on its

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wrought iron panels were still clear The left panel dated 1928 represented a sower casting seed Opposite on the right WaS one dated 19)6 with a man with a scythe In the center panel Were three uniformed figures bearing a standard

The room on the second floor above this main room Was probably Hitlers bedroom It Was a shambles with nothing to identify it as Hitlers except its size There Were a great number of smaller rooms in which nothshying remained but simple iron beds twisted by the heat into fantastic shapes

The dining room on the right of the main room Was in ruins but the principal part o f the equipment in the kitchens Was recogni zab le It was ev ident from the facilities all electric and modern that Hitlers chefs were not hurting for anything

The left wing of the house suffered a direct hit which left nothing but dust brick and boards In that wing were the apartments of members of Hitlers enshytourage his adjutants and other flunkies Their apa rtshyments as far as could be determined from those at the west end which escaped the full force of the blast were simply but comfortably designed

THE FAMOUS WINDOW IN THE BERGHOF

The basement consisted of supply and storage rooms and the machinery required to run the establishment A passageway led down a long flight of stairs to Hitlers shelter tunnel wh ich had another opening near the house

The Berghof grew by remo deling and additions out of the Haus Wachenf ield which Was one of the two es t ates on the mountain when the Nazis moved in The fact that the terrain Was no t suitable for farming explained why the mountain had been s o sparsely settled

Both Goerings and Bormanns houses were also demolished by the air attack In contrast with Bormanns house Goering s except fo r Frau Goerings room Wa s rathe r simple The bric-a-brac in the house however Was rare and valuable hav i ng been collected f rom the ends of Europe

The SS Kaserne or ba rracks conta ined only 100 men before the War but was later inc reased t o 400 or 500 There Was also a contingent of 50 ss women in the barracks who together with othe r women who worked there provided companionship at the orgies r epo rted to have gone on the re by all workers on the mounta in Foo d and drink f or the elite SS was a pparent l y plentiful

A German telephone technic ian named Lo de r r eshylated a sto ry that Hitle r wanted t he SS barracks to be used as a rest and conva l escent cente r fo r wounded SS men and had so inf ormed Bormann Al though Bormann did nothing about it Lo de r said he arranged to have the SS chief send a Wire t o Hitler in 1942 to the effect that his wi sh had been carried out And Lode r a dded Hitler n eve r checked

On the evenin g o f 11 May while the T Force was at Obe r salzbe rg the main wing o f t he SS Kase rne caught fi re f rom an undetermined ori gin and bu rned out compl etely deshyst roying any pos s i bili ty o f r ecove ring any of i ts r eco r ds

In addi t i on t o tte SS t r oope rs gua r ding the colony t here was a group o f what is popula rly re f e rred to as the RS D

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or ReichBicherheitBdienBt TheBe were HitlerB Bpecia l Sec r et Service men j bull ~ I- - ~

~ i ~ lji f

Shortly before the coBapBe o f the German annieB bull I

a bout 200 women Were brought to the mountain to operate the Bmoke mach ines that were Rlaced along the roadB Bome a B c lo se aB every 200 feet The idea of protecting the mount ain Banctuary by t h is device did not work out howshyeve r because aerial destruction of Nazi tranBpo r t p r e shyvented the con tin uouB supply of the necesB~~ c~emicals

All o f this Obersa l zberg life WaB p~edicated on an d ma de pOBs i b l e by the sweat toi l and miBery of hundredB of Pol es OzechB Slovaks a n d RuBBian B he r ded at the en d o f each da y B f orced l abo r i ntp a camp opound wretched Bhanti eB

i

About t h e ohl y BpOt t i nged wi th human k i ndneBB WaB a hospita l whi c~ accomo dated 500 Bick an d bombed out chil dren It Wa B compo Bed of 5 0 we ll-built b ri ck buildingB

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UPPER RIGHT THE RUINED BERGHOFWINDOW FROM THE OUTSIDE

LOWER RIGHT A TUNNEL ENTRANCE WHICH BOUNCED A BOMB

BOTTOM ANOTHER VIEW OF BERGHOF LIVING ROOM AND WINDOW FROM BURNED OUT INTERIOR

----6 Brick a Concrete Tunnel Wall

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TYPICAL TUNNEL APARTMENT

c o-o ~ -

a

CD C o a 0 o o ~

bullAll Lights in Vapor-Proof Bulbs

Furniture a Rugs

Central Kitchen Dental Dispensary Showers

Mirror

Bed Room 15x 17

Oak Floor a

Pane led Sidewalls

Living Room

Bui It- in Wa Cabinets

15x 17 Oak Floor

a

Excellent a Expensive

Storage

Machine Gun N est at each Turn of Corridor 2 Guns 8 Peep Holes

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Each houee had a playroom bedroom and bath In each WaS childrens furniture And everywhere there were pictures of Hitler in various poses so that no child could pOseibly forget his benefactor

Unfortunately the hospital Was struck in the bombardment Although none of the children Were killed nurses said that ~ome Were wounded before they could be evacuat~d to the tunnels They Were subsequently removed elsewhere before Obersalzberg Was taken

All of the Obersalzberg buildings had air raid eheltera to which there were entrances either in the baseshyIIeIlt of the buildings or nearby These consisted of a

lIampze of arched connecting tunnels going deep into the rock heart of the mountain serving as corridors to commodious apartments

These shelters were not mere emergency refuges with the usual benches 0 r bunkpound ~he type that Was common in Germany and other parts of Europe where those seeking protection could reet while sweating out an air-raid They were modem apartments provided with every convenshyience for normal living

The tunnel from Hitlers house Was a case in point There Were apartments for the comfort of all of his staff These Were dry electrically heated and lighted and comfortably furniShed

This tunnel system Was in itself a community underground There Was a telephone room with a 6O-plug local SWitchboard another with a long distance panel and a third the exchange with intricate wiring and roW upon row of storage batteries

There lIere storage chambers with stacks pf elecshytric light bulbs inhalators hand-painted china vacuum cleaners extra furniture Wines and even Ohristmas tree decorations A 10-foot telescope lay in its opened shipping box in the corridor the pedestal near by

bullThere Wae a medical clinic fully equipped with

an operating room adjoiningbull Nearby WaS the dental clinic with b rand neW equipmj3I1t And under the SS Kaserne WaS a complete barberehop~

In addition Hitler had a library of a large but undetermined number of books At the far end Were arranged lounge chairs and reading lamps Most of the books were concerned with art architecture photography and histories of campaigns and Ware A hasty inspection of the scattered books showed that it Was noticeably lacking in literature and almost entirely devoid of drama and poetry

There Were many books illustrating types of archishytecture throughout the world one treating the early domestic architecture of PennsylVania and another of American public buildings

Emanual Kants Oritiques were there as well as Machiavellis The Prince One of the few American authors represented WaS Harry Elmer Barnes The Genesis of the Worldmiddot War bull

A big folio size book printed in heavy Gothic type outlined Hitlers geneology and a note penned on the fly-leaf showed that it Was worked out and presented by an admirer

Many of the books bore Hitlers bookplate Ex Libris Adolph Hitler This consisted of a black engraved eagle with outstretched wings carrying the SWastika in his claws

None of the books examined gave the appearance of extensive use They had no marginal notes or undershylining

In the same room were filed close to 4000 phonograph records Every record had a duplicate and carried a iittle paper sticker showing that it WaS reserved for the Berghof

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bull Wagner and Beethoven records far outnumbered

those of other composers Of the Wagner selections Tannhauser Was apparently Hitlers favorite Five pages of the index Were devoted to listing the orchesshytras in various parts of the world whose renditions of the opera were carried in stock for Hitlers convenience Other composers whose chief works the musical librart carried almost complete weremiddot Mozart Handel and Johann and R1chard strauss

The most pretentious apartment leading off front the Hitler ttmnel was that of his friend Eva iralm At least it Was assumed it WaS Eva Brauns beshycause books indicating that they Were given to her as presents Were found there and rugs on the floor bore her name

The living room had oak floors and polished ou oabinets built in the walls which contained books knitting wooladishes and a large glass punch bowl and ladle The walls Were painted in light yellow cream color In themiddot center of the floor Was a handshyWoven Ng

The bedroom had a single bed whose frame WaS covered with blue chintz A reading lamp WaS fi~d to the head of the bed On the floor WaS an expensive wall tapestry used as a Ng The walls were paneled half-way up with a cream-blue enamelled wood Built shyin closets lined the Sides A dressing table With a three-sided mirror Was across from the bed On the door leading to the bath was a full-length mirror

~ few doors down the corridor from Eva Brauns apartment Was a storage room for paintings with racks for about thirty large canvases and about one hundred small ones

What apartment WaS Hitlers remained a quesshytion inasmuch as EVa Bralms Was the only one that WaS dfstinguished from the others by any pretens8 of luxshyury

Hitlers tunnel WaS connected with Goerings and the two Were in tum connected with the one under the SS barracks Bags of rice wheat dried peas and com as well as loose ammlmition such as small anns cartridges and potato mas~ers Were stacked in the tlmnel corridor under the SS barracks

The living quarters of each tunnel Were proshytected by a series of concrete chambers Imdergrolmd pill shyboxes with poSitions for two and three machine guns These commanded the 50-foot or more stretch of corridor leading into the tlmnel and each of the right angle tums that the ttmnels made before reaohing the interior main seotion

Within a short distance of the apartment in Hit lers tlmnel further construction into the mOlmtain Was being pushed Shafts Were being sunk to lower levels t unnels were being middotdriven and chambers carved out At these points it WaS possible to observe the construction methods and materials used

This involved the blasting of a hole roughly 17 x 20 feet The jagged sides were then covered over With an espeoially strong concrete Four inches of brick Were laid inside this and a quarter inch mat of watershyproofing material Was cemented to it bull Another 12 inches of brick Was added and finished over with a half inch of plaster cement and a thin coat of whitened oement A concrete floor 16 x 18 inches thick Was laid separating the main ttmnelfrom the lower section where pipes and Wires were laid

The main corridor of each tunnel When finished was approxiJl8tely 6 x 8 feet with vaporproof electric fixtures

Beoause cif the nature -and number of ttmnels the qUestion of what other sec rets the BlOlmtain may hold

is one that Dlustawait careful engineering studies and painstaking inve8tgations ove1 a long period of tim~

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TYPICAL TUNNEL X-SECTION

~4 Rubber Cemented Fill to Bricks for

Waterproof i n 9 4 Brick

12 Brick I Cement 14 Wh ite

Cement

~ ~ 16 Rein forced TUNNEL Numerous Small ~ ~ 4

Concrete Floor Lad der Openings With Concrete lids6

12 to 16 Concrete

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