The last stand, German National Redoubt
This thread is not about Operation Sea Lion but a other thing that was nothing but a Nazi dream, but the Alpine Fortress (German: Alpenfestung) or Alpine Redoubt was the World War II national redoubt planned by Heinrich Himmler in November/December 1943 for Germany's government and armed forces to retreat to an area from "southern Bavaria across western Austria to northern Italy". The plan was never fully endorsed by Hitler and no serious attempt was made to put the plan into operation.
Time magazine, in February 1945, predicted that top Nazi officials, accompanied by Hitler Youth fanatics and dedicated SS officers, would retreat, “behind a loyal rearguard cover of Volksgrenadiere and Volksstürmer, to the Alpine massif which reaches from southern Bavaria across western Austria to northern Italy.”
Immense stores of ammunition and food were being laid down in prepared fortifications there, Time reported. “If the retreat is a success, such an army might hold out for years.”
Map of “Hitler’s Inner Fortress” in the Alps, from Time magazine, February 12, 1945
Life magazine similarly reported two months later, only days before Adolf Hitler shot himself in Berlin, that the German army was “wheeling back toward the best defensive positions in Europe, the Bavarian and Austrian Alps.”
It seemed significant to Life that, as the Rhine and Order lines were rent, the Germans held firm in the Italian mountains and Franconia, north of Bavaria.
Salt mines in the area had been converted into war factories, it claimed, producing guns, fighter planes and gasoline. “There were said to be subterranean hangers, tremendous depots of coal, grain and foodstuffs.” The magazine estimated that as many as 25 divisions could hold up in the region.
Map of the “mountain heart of Europe” from Life magazine, April 9, 1945
“The mountain heart of Europe forms a natural fortress,” according to Life.
The neutrality of the republic of Switzerland protects the western flank. There are said to be extensive fortifications around Bolzano, southwest of Graz and around Berchtesgaden. Close to Berchtesgaden are the estates of Hitler, Göring, Himmler, Ribbentrop and the president of the Nazi Party, little-known Martin Bormann. This area in the high Tauern Alps would probably be the final defense system.
Life was in no doubt that the Nazis were capable of “so criminal and irresponsible an idea.”
Indeed, it could not believe the regime was about to give up. “The way the Nazis seemed to be whimpering into defeat belied their boastful threats of Götterdämmerung.”
This thread is not about Operation Sea Lion but a other thing that was nothing but a Nazi dream, but the Alpine Fortress (German: Alpenfestung) or Alpine Redoubt was the World War II national redoubt planned by Heinrich Himmler in November/December 1943 for Germany's government and armed forces to retreat to an area from "southern Bavaria across western Austria to northern Italy". The plan was never fully endorsed by Hitler and no serious attempt was made to put the plan into operation.
Time magazine, in February 1945, predicted that top Nazi officials, accompanied by Hitler Youth fanatics and dedicated SS officers, would retreat, “behind a loyal rearguard cover of Volksgrenadiere and Volksstürmer, to the Alpine massif which reaches from southern Bavaria across western Austria to northern Italy.”
Immense stores of ammunition and food were being laid down in prepared fortifications there, Time reported. “If the retreat is a success, such an army might hold out for years.”
Map of “Hitler’s Inner Fortress” in the Alps, from Time magazine, February 12, 1945
Life magazine similarly reported two months later, only days before Adolf Hitler shot himself in Berlin, that the German army was “wheeling back toward the best defensive positions in Europe, the Bavarian and Austrian Alps.”
It seemed significant to Life that, as the Rhine and Order lines were rent, the Germans held firm in the Italian mountains and Franconia, north of Bavaria.
Salt mines in the area had been converted into war factories, it claimed, producing guns, fighter planes and gasoline. “There were said to be subterranean hangers, tremendous depots of coal, grain and foodstuffs.” The magazine estimated that as many as 25 divisions could hold up in the region.
Map of the “mountain heart of Europe” from Life magazine, April 9, 1945
“The mountain heart of Europe forms a natural fortress,” according to Life.
The neutrality of the republic of Switzerland protects the western flank. There are said to be extensive fortifications around Bolzano, southwest of Graz and around Berchtesgaden. Close to Berchtesgaden are the estates of Hitler, Göring, Himmler, Ribbentrop and the president of the Nazi Party, little-known Martin Bormann. This area in the high Tauern Alps would probably be the final defense system.
Life was in no doubt that the Nazis were capable of “so criminal and irresponsible an idea.”
Indeed, it could not believe the regime was about to give up. “The way the Nazis seemed to be whimpering into defeat belied their boastful threats of Götterdämmerung.”