WW2-Poland-2015

Consultation was at about 12.00 . After meetings Hitler would have lunch. Until September 1942 he ate meals in the
dining room of casino I and later in his bunker. The number of guests during a meal at the casino was limited and
consisted of people closest to Hitler.
“Evening meetings” were held at about 18.00 during which problems of airspace war were mostly dealt with. Those
meetings lasted for approximately one hour and usually took place in Hitler's work room.
The dates of Hitler's visits in Wolf's Lair: June 24, 1941 - July 16, 1942, November 1, 1942 - November 7, 1942,
November 23, 1942 - February 17, 1943, March 13, 1943 - March 19, 1943, May 9, 1943 - May 21, 1943, July 1, 1943 -
18 July 1943, July 20, 1943 - February 27, 1944, July 14, 1944 - November 20, 1944.
Localization and construction
The decision about the construction on the site was taken in autumn 1940. The following considerations had decided
about the location of the headquarters right here: closeness to the former Soviet Union border of the Kętrzyn forest
/this had an important psychological meaning (the Barbarossa plan foresaw an attack against the Soviet Union)/, East
Prussia was one of the most fortified districts of the Third Reich, there were many fortresses in this area (Giżycko,
Toruń, Kłajpeda, Pilawa) and there were also the so called 'fortified areas' with entrenchments and barbed wire.
The area selected for the headquarters was located far from major roads in an old forest which formed a natural shield
all year round. Also the Great Mazurian Lakes were a natural barrier against land troops.
The stated in many guide books overall number of employees /3000 to 5000 / seems to be severely underestimated.
Prof. F. Seidler in the monograph about F.Todt says that in programming assumptions the construction of the main
field at Hitler's headquarters projected to hire 50 thousand workers (20, p. 352). Peter Hoffmann in a letter to the
author of this guide indicates that on 20 July 1944 (the day of the attack on Hitler) about 5 thousand labourers worked
in the headquarters. The author of this publication - despite the widely circulated rumours about hiring prisoners of
war and forced labourers - didn't find any documents confirming that opinion.
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