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20-634: On September 28, 1944 the OKH ordered the creation of Panzer Corps Grossdeutschland. It was planned to contain enlarged corps troops and several panzer divisions; a unit that could be used as strong reserve for an army. To achieve this, parts of the Panzer-Grenadier-Division Großdeutschland were, while the division retained its status, used as base for the Generalkommando Panzerkorps Großdeutschland . Units for

40-843: A series of above and underground bunkers built 20 kilometres south of Berlin in Wünsdorf near Zossen , Brandenburg , to house the High Command of the Army (in Maybach I) and the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces (in Maybach II) during the Second World War . Along with the military fortress complex Zossen, Maybach I and II were instrumental locations from which central planning for field operations of

60-506: A signal intelligence centre. The code name for the bunker was Amt 500 , i.e., (Postal) Office 500. The structure consisted of a two-lane longitudinal building with measurements of 117m × 22m with an associated three-storey annex measuring 57m × 40m. After several project changes, a third entrance was added in 1938. Called the Reich Post Building ( German : Reichspostgebäude ), it could be accessed by light trucks, directly above

80-608: The Oberkommando der Wehrmacht . OKH had been independent until February 1938, when Hitler created the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht which, on paper, subordinated OKH to OKW. After a major crisis developed in the Battle of Moscow , von Brauchitsch was dismissed (partly because of his failing health), and Hitler appointed himself as head of the OKH. At the same time, he limited the OKH's authority to

100-882: The Oberkommando des Heeres (Supreme High Command of the German Army - OKH) moved into Maybach I. The army general staff moved their quarters into Maybach II. During 1945 the site was heavily bombed both by the British and by the Americans; a raid on 15 March injured the Chief of the Army General Staff, Hans Krebs . On 20 April the Soviet 3rd Armoured Guard Army threatened the HQ near Zossen. General Krebs asked Hitler for permission to leave and destroy

120-588: The 20 July plot against Hitler was discovered at Maybach II in a safe at Zossen . Among the documents reportedly uncovered were excerpts from the diary of Wilhelm Canaris , conspiratorial correspondence between Abwehr agents, information on the secret negotiations between the Vatican and members of the originally planned coup d’état of 1938, the Oster conspiracy , and data on the resistance activities of Lutheran minister Dietrich Bonhoeffer . Between 15 and 17 January 1945,

140-642: The Brandenburg Division were ordered to Poland, while the Division Großdeutschland was detached to Eastern Prussia. Ultimately the corps never fought as a unified body, and during the retreat towards the west its composition steadily changed. When von Saucken was promoted to command the 2nd Army in February he was succeeded by General der Panzertruppe Georg Jauer , who commanded the corps's 20. Panzer-Grenadier-Division . Never surrendering at-large

160-573: The Eastern front . The OKH commander held the title of Commander-in-chief of the Army ( Oberbefehlshaber des Heeres ). After the Battle of Moscow , the OKH commander Field marshal Walther von Brauchitsch was removed from office, and Hitler appointed himself as Commander-in-Chief of the Army. From 1938, OKH was, together with Oberkommando der Luftwaffe ( transl.  Air Force High Command ) and Oberkommando der Marine ( transl.  Naval High Command ) formally subordinated to

180-597: The Wehrmacht took place, and they provided a key connection between Berlin’s military and civilian leadership to the front lines of battle. The complex was named after the Maybach automobile engine. The Zeppelin bunker was erected by the Reichspost on the orders of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht at the end of the 1930s. The bunker was built between 1937 and 1939 in the area of the so-called Stalag ( German : Stammlager ) as

200-497: The four-power agreement on the occupation of Germany and an Allied Control Council order, although some buildings survived, including the almost entirely intact separate communications bunker Zeppelin . The Zeppelin bunker later formed part of the Soviet Cold war era installations in Wünsdorf under the name Ranet . Further bunker installations were subsequently added to house the central command and communications functions of

220-565: The Russian front, giving OKW direct authority over army units elsewhere. This enabled Hitler to declare that only he had complete awareness of Germany's strategic situation, should any general request a transfer of resources between the Russian front and another theatre of operations. Although both OKW and OKH were headquartered in the Maybach complex in Nazi Germany, the functional and operational independence of both establishments were not lost on

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240-567: The Soviet Army in the GDR. The area was demilitarised in 1994 when the last Russian troops left Germany. The ruins of the above-ground bunker entrance houses remain. The area can be accessed by guided tours, and a museum in the Wünsdorf Book Town houses exhibits on the military history of the town and the bunker complexes. Some parts of the underground complex of Maybach I remain accessible through

260-494: The corps was dismissed on war's end on May 8, 1945. Generalmajor Gerd-Paul von Below Generalmajor Max Lemke Generalmajor Hermann Schulte-Heuthaus Generalmajor Georg Scholze OKH The Oberkommando des Heeres ( lit.   ' Upper Command of the Army ' ; abbreviated OKH ) was the high command of the Army of Nazi Germany . It was founded in 1935 as part of Adolf Hitler 's rearmament of Germany . OKH

280-436: The extension with a stairwell and an elevator. A south tunnel ( German : Südstollen ) connected the bunker with Maybach I and II to the southwest. Maybach I was built starting in 1937. In December 1939, it was fully operational. The complex consisted of twelve three-storey buildings above ground designed to look from the air like local housing, and two floors of interlinked bunkers with two-foot thick walls below. Deeper in

300-519: The important items. By the time Krebs received permission, it was too late to destroy anything. At midday on 20 April the OKH evacuated to Eiche near Potsdam and the OKW to Krampnitz . The Soviets arrived in the afternoon, and found the site empty apart from four German soldiers. The two Maybach bunkers were largely destroyed by the Soviet Armed Forces in late 1946, according to the stipulations of

320-761: The latter command of forces on the Eastern Front. In 1944, these elements were subordinate to the OKH: The Commander-in-Chief of the Army ( German : Oberbefehlshaber des Heeres ) was the head of the OKH and the German Army during the years of the Nazi regime . The Chiefs of the OKH General Staff (German: Chef des Generalstabes des Heeres ) were: Maybach I and II 52°11′36″N 13°28′24″E  /  52.1934°N 13.4733°E  / 52.1934; 13.4733 Maybach I and II were

340-480: The respective staff during their tenure. Personnel at the compound remarked that even if Maybach 2 (the OKW complex) was completely destroyed, the OKH staff in Maybach 1 would scarcely notice. These camouflaged facilities, separated physically by a fence, also maintained structurally different mindsets towards their objectives. On 28 April 1945 (two days before his suicide ), Hitler formally subordinated OKH to OKW, giving

360-615: The staff and the corps troops were: With the addition of the Panzer-Grenadier-Division Brandenburg the corps had its first structure with two active divisions. The first commander of the corps was General der Panzertruppe Dietrich von Saucken , the former commander of the XXXIX Panzer Corps . Still in the forming phase during the looming of the Soviet Vistula–Oder Offensive the staff and

380-404: The subterranean levels of Maybach I, there were wells for drinking water and plumbing, air-filter systems for protection against gas attacks, and diesel engines to keep the system operational. Later the site was further camouflaged by the use of netting. Maybach II was completed in 1940 and was of the same design with eleven surface buildings. Incriminating evidence left by the conspirators of

400-580: Was de facto the most important unit within the German war planning until the defeat at Moscow in December 1941. During World War II , OKH had the responsibility of strategic planning of Armies and Army Groups . The General Staff of the OKH managed operational matters. Each German Army also had an Army High Command ( Armeeoberkommando or AOK). The Armed Forces High Command ( Oberkommando der Wehrmacht ) then took over this function for theatres other than

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