The Berghof was Adolf Hitler's home in Obersalzberg , in the Bavarian Alps near Berchtesgaden. It was located lower down the same mountain as the Eagle's Nest, which Hitler rarely visited due to his fear of heights.
The Berghof was connected to the Platterhof Hotel by a series of complex bunkers deep in the mountain which exist to this day, some of which can be toured from the new German Documentation Center as well as the old Zum Turken Hotel which borders the old complex of ruins. The government of Bavaria has plowed under almost every trace of the actual house which was the Berghof, as well as the Hotel Platterhof where many Nazi officers stayed while visiting Hitler.
The Berghof was set on fire on May 4, 1945, by the retreating SS guards when the Allies approached. (Hitler was not there when the area fell—he had taken his own life in the Führerbunker on April 30). The buildings are gone but the tunnel system, which still exists today, is a masterpiece of underground engineering built at great speed and powered by a subterranean engine like the one that remains at the Eagle's Nest. This provides power to run the elevator. The site is itself scenic; the valley below appears, by illusion, as a lake almost at one's feet.
Allied capture
The fictional war series Band of Brothers depicts the Berghof being taken by troops of E company of 506th A regiment of the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division, without a shot being fired. As is often the case, it was more complicated and messy than the limitation of dramatic reconstruction allows. The first allied troops to arrive were U.S. 3rd Infantry Division who secured Berchtesgaden and the Berghof. They were followed four days later by the French 2nd Armoured Division who secured the Eagle's Nest, then 1st Battalion of the 506th A regiment, led by Company 'C'. The 3rd battalion of the 506th came into Berchtesgaden by a different route and lost men in a skirmish with the crews of two German 88 mm guns.
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Last updated: 06-01-2005 22:16:01
