Kaltenegger, R. Die Alpenfestung. Der Endkampf um das letzte Bollwerk des Zweiten Weltkrieges

March 1944. The war had long been decided. With the aim of keeping soldiers and civilians believing in final victory, Hitler pursued the tactic of declaring as many towns as possible "fortresses", to be defended to the last man by troops massed there - a fatal mistake that cost countless soldiers their lives. However, as part of this strategy, German propaganda succeeded in convincing the US leadership that the German Reich was about to build a massive defensive position in the Alps as the last place of retreat for German forces and the leadership of the German Reich - The "Alpine Fortress". Although actual construction projects of this scale had never taken place, 300,000 soldiers of the Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS as well as large sections of the party elite had retreated to the mountains shortly before the end of the war to await the end of what they considered the "unnatural coalition" of the Allies.

The "Kernfestung Alpen" project - only approved by Hitler on 24 April 1945 - worried the Western Allies to such an extent that the US Supreme Commander Eisenhower abandoned the planned concentric assault on Berlin and threw himself with the mass of his military forces on this supposedly last bulwark of National Socialism. This decision had grave consequences for world history. Did the "Alpine Fortress" really represent a concrete threat or were the Americans chasing a phantom?