In a small pinewood 8 km far from Vinnitsa during the years of the Great Patriotic War Hitler’s headquarters «WERWOLF» were built. The headquarters were meant for the purpose of commanding of the military activity during the Eastern Front. «WERWOLF» are not the only headquarters, but perhaps the most famous ones, as Fuhrer is considered to have spent most time of the Second World War there.
Initially the construction of the headquarters was planned to be done near Lubnu in the Poltav region, but partisans were very active there, that is why Vinnitsa, a detached and cozy town was chosen. Besides nearly 10 German reconnaissance schools were situated near Vinnitsa, which allowed controlling partisan and conspiracy movements. Not the last role was paid to the fact that the location of the town coincided with the way of future trance European highway Hamburg- Gotenland (the German called the Crimea so). Some historians claim that Fuhrer followed the advice of 400 magicians, astrologists from the Institute of occult sciences in Berlin in the choice of the place of the headquarters.
There exist a suggestion that the German were planning to create here the zone, free from local residents and inhabited by ethnical Germans but the idea was not realized. Another version suggests that the German headquarters are located exactly in the area, where prior to the War on the granite riverbank underground headquarters of the Soviet Army were built.
Actually «WERWOLF» became the copy of the central headquarters of Hitler «Wolfsan» in the eastern Prussia. Near the headquarters analytic- reconnaissance department of the Joint Staff of the land army, which was situated in the village of Voronovitsa, in the Mozajskij palace, the headquarters of the head of the air military army and the ministry of home affairs was situated. The leaders of the Vermaht were located in Vinnitsa, which guaranteed security and strict control of the territory. At the airport in Kalinovka(20 km from Strizavka) 2 regiments of fighters, which guaranteed the defense of the headquarters from the air were situated. «WERWOLF» was guarded by a special part of the division « Adolph Hitler». Near Vinnitsa large amounts of police, Gestapo, security and different reconnaissance services were located. The defense group «Ost» cleaned the area from all unfavorable and suspicious people, such as Jews, Komsomol workers, the ones who were against the existing authority. A strict defense regime was established in the region: after the registration of the inhabitants, they all got special passes, a curfew was imposed, and often examinations of the houses were performed.
The construction of the headquarters lasted from December of 1941 till June 1942 under conditions of full secrecy. Germans spread rumors about the construction of the sanatorium for military officers. But soon Kiev conspiracy knew about the arrival of Hitler to Vinnitsa and informed Moscow.
Historic sources give evidence that German contractors, who did the main secrecy works, freelance citizens of European countries took part in the construction. Prisoners of war of the Red Army and local residents performed the hardest works on the construction of trenches, extraction of granite outside the central zone. The conditions were horrible, many died of hunger and diseases, hard work, delinquents were killed immediately, and their bodies were put in huge pits near Strizavka and Kolo-Mihajlivka. Many versions exist about the destinies of the workers of the secret object: from the shooting of prisoners and setting on fire the plane with German engineers to exporting of prisoners to camps and evacuation to Germany.
From the highway Vinnitsa-Zutomir the German put an asphalted road to the central part of the pinewood. Near the object landing ground was situated. They established every day railway and air connection with Berlin. To hide the construction the Germans brought and planted nearly 800 trees and a couple of thousands of bushes.
The ground part of the object was comprised of 81 construction, almost all of them were built of wood. Two 120m-artesian holes provided consuming and technical water and electro station supplied with power. There was a kitchen, a canteen for soldiers, warehouses, bomb shelters, houses and two radio stations. There also was a church. In the central zone the main buildings were located: Gestapo, a telephone station, canteens for generals and officers, a summer swimming pool, a gym, 12 houses for the supreme officers, a bomb shelter and a log house of the Fuhrer.
The main part of the object was situated under the ground. Historians suggest that underground quarters are covered with a 6m thickness of sand and are located in granite. There are opinions that the headquarters comprised 7 floors. The quarters were equipped with the systems of air filtration, conditioning, autonomic energy supply.
When the Germans retreated they blew the ground constructions with the help of powerful bombs and mined the entrances to the underground part. In March 1944 a special committee by a personal order of Stalin made an investigation of the headquarters and came to the conclusion that the Germans took all valuable documents with them. Other investigations of the «WERWOLF» were held later, but more than 60 years the headquarters bare their mystery, provoking the appearance of new suggestions and hypotheses.