Wolf's Lair

The Wolf's Lair (German: Wolfsschanze; Polish: Wilczy Szaniec) was Adolf Hitler's first Eastern Front military headquarters in World War II. Currently, it is a museum open to the public, as well as a hotel, conference room and restaurant. The headquarters was located in the Masurian woods, near the village of Görlitz (now Gierłoż), about 8 kilometres (5 miles) east of the town of Rastenburg (now Kętrzyn), in present-day Poland. The central complex and the Führer's bunker were surrounded by three security zones guarded by two Schutzstaffel (SS) units: the SS-Begleitkommando des Führers and the Reichssicherheitsdienst. The Wehrmacht's armored Führerbegleitbrigade was held in readiness nearby but, as a part of the German Army's elite Großdeutschland Division, was used to counter-attack Red Army break-throughs in Army Group Centre's front and rescue cut-off Army, Air Force, paratrooper, and SS armoured troops. The 20 July plot, an assassination attempt against Hitler, took place at the Wolf's Lair on 20 July 1944.