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{{short description|Nazi plan to create a resistance force operating behind enemy lines}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2025}}
[[Image:Werwolfwimpel.svg|thumb|''Werwolf'' [[Pennon|pennant]] with the ''[[Wolfsangel]]'' symbol in horizontal form]]
{{Campaignbox German–Polish Wars}}{{Campaignbox Campaign of Germany (WW2)}}{{for multi|the mythological shapeshifter|Werewolf|one of Hitler's military headquarters|Werwolf (Wehrmacht headquarters)|the musician|Satanic Warmaster|resistance against the Nazis|Resistance during World War II}}
{{Italic title}}

'''''Werwolf''''' ({{IPA|de|ˈveːɐ̯vɔlf|pron}}, German for "[[werewolf]]") was a [[Nazi]] plan which began development in 1944,<ref>Mazower, Mark (2008) ''Hitler's Empire: How the Nazis Ruled Europe'' Penguin Press HC. p. 546, {{isbn|978-1594201882}}</ref> to create a [[Resistance movement|resistance]] force which would operate behind enemy lines as the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]] advanced through [[Nazi Germany|Germany]] in parallel with the ''[[Wehrmacht]]'' fighting in front of the lines. There is some argument that the plan, and subsequent reports of guerrilla activities, were created by [[Joseph Goebbels]] through propaganda disseminated in the waning weeks of the war through his "Radio Werwolf", something that was not connected in any way with the military unit.

==Nomenclature==
How and by whom the name was chosen is unknown.<ref>{{cite book|title=Exorcising Hitler: The Occupation and Denazification of Germany|last=Taylor|first=Frederick|date=2012|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=978-1408822128|language=en}}</ref> It is similar to the title of [[Hermann Löns]]' novel ''[[The Warwolf]]'' ({{langx|de|link=no|Der Wehrwolf}}), first published in 1910, but there is nothing that confirms a direct inspiration.<ref name="beevor-berlin-pp">{{cite book  | last = Beevor  | first = Antony  | author-link = Antony Beevor  | title = The Fall of Berlin 1945  | publisher = [[Penguin Books|Penguin]]  | year = 2002  | page = [https://archive.org/details/fallofberlin194500beev/page/173 173]  | isbn = 0-14-200280-1  | url = https://archive.org/details/fallofberlin194500beev/page/173  }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last = Watt | first = Roderick H. | title = Wehrwolf or Werwolf? Literature, Legend, or Lexical Error into Nazi Propaganda? | journal = The Modern Language Review | volume = 87 | issue = 4 | pages = 879–95 | publisher = The Modern Language Review, Vol. 87, No. 4|date=October 1992| doi = 10.2307/3731426| jstor = 3731426 }}</ref> While Löns was not himself a Nazi (he died in 1914), his work became popular with the [[German far-right|German far right]], and some Nazis had promoted it.<ref>{{cite book | last = Neumann | first = Klaus | title = Shifting Memories: The Nazi Past in the New Germany | publisher = University of Michigan Press | year = 2000 | page = 50 | isbn = 0-472-08710-X}}</ref>

In 1942, [[Adolf Hitler]] named the [[OKW]] and [[OKH]] field headquarters, at [[Vinnytsia]] in Ukraine, [[Werwolf (Wehrmacht headquarters)|"Werwolf"]],<ref>{{cite book | last = Warlimont | first = Walter | title = Inside Hitler's Headquarters, 1939–45 | url = https://archive.org/details/insidehitlershea00warl | url-access = limited | publisher = F.A. Praeger | year = 1964 | page = [https://archive.org/details/insidehitlershea00warl/page/n130 246] }}</ref> and Hitler on a number of occasions had used "Wolf" as a [[pseudonym]] for himself. The [[etymology]] of the name "Adolf" itself carries connotations of noble (''adal''; Modern German ''Adel'') wolf, while Hitler referred to his first [[World War II]] [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Eastern Front]] military headquarters as ''[[Wolfsschanze]],'' commonly rendered in English as "[[Wolf's Lair]]" (literally "Wolf's [[Sconce (fortification)|Sconce]]").

==Operations==
{{stack|[[File:Hans-Adolf Prützmann.jpg|250px|thumb|''Obergruppenführer'' [[Hans-Adolf Prützmann]] (right) meets with ''Reichsführer-SS'' [[Heinrich Himmler]], during Himmler's visit of the [[5th SS Panzer Division Wiking]] in Ukraine (September 1942).]]}}
In late summer to early autumn 1944, [[Heinrich Himmler]] initiated ''Unternehmen Werwolf'' (Operation Werwolf), ordering ''SS Obergruppenführer'' [[Hans-Adolf Prützmann]] to begin organizing an elite troop of volunteer forces to operate secretly behind enemy lines. As initially conceived, these Werwolf units were intended to be legitimate uniformed military  or paramilitary<ref name=trevor-roper /> formations trained to engage in clandestine operations behind enemy lines in the same manner as Allied Special Forces such as [[Commandos]].<ref>{{cite book | last = Klemperer| first = Victor |isbn = 0-7734-8681-X| author-link = Victor Klemperer |author2=Roderick H. Watt | title = An Annotated Edition of Victor Klemperer's LTI, Notizbuch eines Philologen | location= [[Lewiston, New York]] |publisher=[[Edwin Mellen Press]] | year = 1997 | page = 305 }}</ref> They were never intended to act outside of the control of the German High Command ([[OKW]]), or to fight in civilian clothes, and they expected to be treated as soldiers if they were captured.<ref name=trevor-roper />

Prützmann was named ''Generalinspekteur für Spezialabwehr'' (General Inspector of Special Defence) and assigned the task of setting up the force's headquarters in Berlin and organising and instructing the force. Prützmann had studied the guerrilla tactics used by [[Soviet partisans]] while he was stationed in the occupied territories of Ukraine, and the idea was to teach these tactics to the members of Operation Werwolf.<ref name="biddis">{{harvnb|Biddiscombe|1998|p=464}}</ref>

According to German officers who were interrogated after the war, those who were familiar with Prützmann's central office said that it was, like its commanding officer, inefficient, weak, and uninspired, and that Prützmann himself was, in addition, "vain, idle and boastful". [[Walter Schellenberg]], [[Heinrich Himmler]]'s head of foreign intelligence, claimed to have told Himmler that the whole operation was "criminal and stupid".<ref name=trevor-roper />

===Propaganda and Radio Werwolf===
Rumors of a secret Nazi guerrilla organization began to surface soon after the [[Invasion of Normandy|Allied invasion of Normandy]]. ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' ran an article containing speculation that the Germans would try to prolong the war indefinitely by going underground after their defeat.<ref>{{cite magazine |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20101126070732/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,885597,00.html#ixzz2TmNq9DIF |archivedate=26 November 2010 |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0%2C9171%2C885597%2C00.html |date=28 August 1944 |title=Foreign News: War Without End? |magazine=Time }}</ref>

The 27 January 1945 issue of ''[[Collier's|Collier's Weekly]]'' featured a detailed article by Major Edwin Lessner, stating that elite SS and [[Hitler Youth]] were being trained to attack Allied forces and opening with a 1944 quote from [[Joseph Goebbels]]: {{quote|"The enemy (invading German territory) will be taken in the rear by the fanatical population, which will ceaselessly worry him, tie down strong forces and allow him no rest or exploitation of any possible success."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://64.62.200.70/PERIODICAL/PDF/Colliers-1945jan27/14-15/ |first=Major Erwin |last=Lessner |title=Hitler's Final V Weapon: The Nazis are carefully building a program for a guerrilla blitzkrieg |work=Collier's Weekly |date=1945-01-27 |page=14 }}</ref>}}

[[File:Front und Heimat April 1945 Die deutsche Soldatzeitung front page Werwolf etc Nazi Germany (No known copyright restrictions).jpg|250px|thumb|The front page of the April 1945 issue of ''Front und Heimat'' ("Front and Home: The German soldier's newspaper"), with the headline: "Werewolf is attacking!"]]
On 23 March 1945 Goebbels gave a speech known as the "Werwolf speech", in which he urged every German to fight to the death. The partial dismantling of the organised Werwolf, combined with the effects of the Werwolf speech, caused considerable confusion about which subsequent attacks were carried out by Werwolf members, as opposed to solo acts by fanatical Nazis or small groups of SS.{{fact|date=March 2024}}

The Werwolf [[propaganda]] station "''Radio Werwolf''" broadcast from [[Nauen]] near Berlin, beginning on 1 April 1945. Broadcasts began with the sound of a wolf howling, and a song featuring the lyrics, "My werewolf teeth bite the enemy / And then he's done and then he's gone / Hoo, hoo hoo."<ref>"Hoo, Hoo, Hoo,' Lily the Werewolf Sings on Radio," ''The Washington Post,'' 6 April 1945; p. 1.</ref> The initial broadcast stated that the Nazi Party was ordering every German to "stand his ground and do or die against the Allied armies, who are preparing to enslave Germans."<ref>"Nazi Underground in Action, Foe Says: German Radio Asserts It Is Fighting in Occupied Areas, Issues 'Do or Die Order,'" ''The New York Times,'' 2 April 1945; p. 7.</ref> Every [[Bolshevik]], every Englishman, every American on our soil must be a target for our movement ... Any German, whatever his profession or class, who puts himself at the service of the enemy and collaborates with him will feel the effect of our avenging hand ... A single motto remains for us: 'Conquer or die.' "<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://whenyourerightyoureright.blogspot.com/2006/05/werwolf-and-colonel-biu-tin-lessons-in.html |title="Werwolf and Colonel Biu Tin: lessons in the psychological aspects of war." Posted Thursday, May 25, 2006. |access-date=9 July 2014 |archive-date=14 July 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714203101/http://whenyourerightyoureright.blogspot.com/2006/05/werwolf-and-colonel-biu-tin-lessons-in.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Historian [[Hugh Trevor-Roper]], writing not long after the end of the war, asserts that Radio Werwolf had no actual connection to the Werwolf military unit, and was instead organized and run by Propaganda Minister [[Joseph Goebbels]], possibly in the hope of seizing control of the unit, which Goebbels deemed to be not radical enough.  Trevor-Roper assesses Goebbels' Radio Werwolf as propagating "an ideological nihilism" which was not consonant with the limited aims of the actual unit.  This disconnect between the broadcasts of Radio Werwolf and the purpose and actions of the military unit is, according to Trevor-Roper, the reason for popular misconceptions about the actual purpose of the unit, which was to attack the Allies from behind their lines, in parallel with the Germany Army fighting the Allies from the front, not to be a guerrilla-style resistance unit once Germany was defeated.<ref name=trevor-roper>[[Hugh Trevor-Roper|Trevor-Roper Hugh]] (1995) [1947] ''The Last Days of Hitler'' (Seventh Edition) London: Pan Books. pp. 40–42 {{isbn|978-1-4472-1861-6}}</ref>

British and American newspapers widely reported the text of Radio Werwolf broadcasts, fueling rumors among occupation forces.<ref>"Werewolves' Nuisance Value May Be Great," ''The Washington Post,'' 10 April 1945; p. 2.</ref> [[Armed Forces Radio]] claimed:

{{quote|"Every friendly German civilian is a disguised soldier of hate. Armed with the inner conviction that the Germans are still superior ... [they believe] that one day it will be their destiny to destroy you. Their hatred and their anger ... are deeply buried in their blood. A smile is their weapon by which to disarm you ... In heart, body and spirit every German is Hitler."<ref name=fritz/>}}

According to [[Belgian Resistance]] operatives, the Werwolf name held clout in the general population in Northern Austria. Using an alleged link with the group as cover they were able to reroute a train of "refugees" (Belgian and French Nazi [[Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy|collaborators]] running away from justice) from Innsbruck back to Switzerland and then Brussels.<ref>Lens Claire, "La guerre au pays des frontières", unedited</ref>

===Recruits===
''[[Gauleiter]]s'' were to suggest suitable recruits, who would then be trained at secret locations in the Rhineland and Berlin. The chief training centre in the West was at Hülchrath Castle near [[Erkelenz]], which by early 1945 was training around 200 recruits mostly drawn from the [[Hitler Youth]].<ref>{{cite book | last = Dearn | first = Alan |author2=Elizabeth Sharp  | title = The Hitler Youth 1933–45 | publisher = [[Osprey Publishing]] | year = 2006 | page = 16 | isbn = 1-84176-874-X}}</ref>

Werwolf originally had about five thousand members recruited from the [[Schutzstaffel|SS]] and the Hitler Youth. These recruits were specially trained in guerrilla tactics. Operation Werwolf went so far as to establish [[front companies]] to ensure continued fighting in those areas of Germany that were occupied (all of the "front companies" were discovered and shut down within eight months).{{citation needed|date=July 2014}} However, as it became clear that the reputedly impregnable [[Alpine Fortress]], from which operations were to be directed by the Nazi leadership if the rest of Germany was occupied, was yet another delusion, Werwolf was converted into a [[terrorist]] organisation in the last few weeks of the war.

===Weaponry and tactics===
Werwolf agents were supposed to have at their disposal a vast assortment of weapons, from fire-proof coats to silenced [[Walther arms|Walther]] pistols but in reality, this was merely on paper; Werwolf never actually had the necessary equipment, organisation, morale or coordination.<ref>Gilbert, James L., John P. Finnegan and Ann Bray. ''[http://permanent.access.gpo.gov/lps103181/GPO_Army_318-530.pdf In the Shadow of the Sphynx: A History of Army Counterintelligence]'', History Office, Office of Strategic Management and Information, US Army Intelligence and Security Command, Fort Belvoir, Virginia, Dec 2005; p. 63. {{ISBN|1234461366}} (This file might take time to load.)</ref> Given the dire supply situation German forces were facing in 1945, the commanding officers of existing ''[[Wehrmacht]]'' and SS units were unwilling to turn over what little equipment they still had for the sake of an organization whose actual strategic value was doubtful.

Attempts were made to bury explosives, ammunition and weapons around the country (mainly in the pre-1939 German–Polish border region) to be used by Werwolf in resistance fighting after the defeat of Germany, but not only were the quantities of material to be buried very low, by that point the movement itself was so disorganised that few actual members or leaders knew where the materials were. A large portion of these "depots" were found by the Soviets, and little of the material was actually used by Werwolf.<ref name="beevor">{{cite book  | last = Beevor  | first = Antony  | author-link = Antony Beevor  | title = The Fall of Berlin 1945  | url = https://archive.org/details/fallberlin1945beev_822  | url-access = limited  | publisher = [[Viking]]  | year = 2002  | page = [https://archive.org/details/fallberlin1945beev_822/page/n548 490]  | isbn = 978-0-670-03041-5 }}</ref>

In the early months of 1945, SS [[Obersturmbannführer]] [[Otto Skorzeny]] was involved in training recruits for the Werwolfs, but he soon discovered that the number of Werwolf cells had been greatly exaggerated and that they would be ineffective as a fighting force. Knowing, like many other Nazi leaders, that the war was lost, he decided that the Werwolfs would instead be used as part of a Nazi "underground railroad," facilitating travel along escape routes called "[[Ratlines (World War II aftermath)|ratlines]]" that allowed thousands of SS officers and other Nazis to flee Germany after the fall of the Third Reich.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://homepages.ius.edu/RVEST/SkorzenyDr2.htm |title=Rob Vest, 'Otto Skorzeny: The Scar-Faced Commando.' |access-date=13 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130625233117/http://homepages.ius.edu/RVEST/SkorzenyDr2.htm |archive-date=25 June 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Wartime capture of Werwolf personnel===
On 28 April 1945, [[Staff Sergeant]] [[Ib Melchior]] of the US [[Counter-Intelligence Corps]] captured six German officers and 25 enlisted men dressed in civilian clothes, who claimed to constitute a Werwolf cell under the command of Colonel Paul Krüger, operating in [[Schönsee]], Bavaria. The group was captured while hiding in a [[tunnel network]] which contained communications equipment, weapons, explosives and several months' food supplies. Two vehicles were hidden in the forest nearby. Documents discovered in the tunnels listed US military commanders as targets for assassination, including General [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]].<ref>[http://www.90thdivisionassoc.org/afteractionreports/PDF/XIICorpsHist.pdf George Dyer, ''XII Corps: Spearhead of Patton's Third Army'', XII Corps History Association, 1947; Chapter 16, section 4.]</ref><ref>Melchior, Ib. ''Case by Case: A U.S. Army Counterintelligence Agent in World War II''. Presidio, 1993; Chapter 8, pp.&nbsp;135–53.</ref> Krüger stated that in 1943 a school was created in Poland to train men in guerrilla warfare. On 16 September 1944, it was relocated to the town of Thürenberg, Czechoslovakia.<ref>[https://www.scribd.com/doc/174205409/Counter-Intelligence-Corps-History-and-Mission-in-World-War-II Counter Intelligence Corps History and Mission in WWII] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140223122916/http://www.scribd.com/doc/174205409/Counter-Intelligence-Corps-History-and-Mission-in-World-War-II |date=23 February 2014 }}, U.S. Army Military History Institute, Carlisle, PA (undated); p. 51.</ref> Krüger claimed that a total of 1,200 men completed Werwolf training in the school in less than two years. On 1 April 1945, the school was moved to Schönsee and a subterranean base was constructed. The students were instructed to "stay behind, evade capture, and then harass and destroy supply lines of [[United States Armed Forces|United States troops]]&nbsp;... Special emphasis was put on gasoline and oil supplies."<ref name= "G-2">[https://www.scribd.com/doc/122123682/Order-of-Battle "G-2 Periodic Report No. 262, 3 May 1945, XII Corps HQ,"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140223123009/http://www.scribd.com/doc/122123682/Order-of-Battle |date=23 February 2014 }} reproduced in full in ''Order of Battle: Hitler's Werewolves,'' by Ib Melchior, epilogue, pp.&nbsp;900–17.</ref> According to the G-2 report:

{{quote|"Operations were to begin three or four weeks after being overrun by US troops. The plan was for each unit to receive designated targets from the headquarters. Bands of from 10 to 20 men were then to be sent out to destroy the target and to return immediately to their unit. No targets were to be located nearer than {{convert|15|km|spell=in|sp=us}} to the unit. Secrecy and [[camouflage]] were relied upon for security and all personnel had strict orders to conceal themselves if US troops came into their area and under no circumstances to open fire in the bivouac area. No routes of escape had been planned. Members of the unit usually wore the Wehrmacht uniform, but a few members disguised themselves as [[forester]]s and were used as outposts to report any approaching danger. Their ordnance supplies consisted of mortars, machine guns, sub-machine guns, rifles, and various types of side arms. Each man was issued a [[Liliput pistol]] which could be very easily concealed on the person. The ammunition supply for each type weapon was ample for four months of ordinary operations. The unit had one civilian type sedan and one Wehrmacht motorcycle which were well hidden in the woods, and 120 horses which were dispersed on farms throughout the vicinity. Food consisting of canned meat, biscuits, crackers, chocolate, and canned vegetables was sufficient for over four months. Additional food supplies such as bread, potatoes, fresh vegetables, and smoked sausages were obtained from local sources. The unit was supplied with water by a brook passing through the area. [[Dugout (military)|Dugouts]] were constructed in such a manner as not to destroy the live trees around them. The dugouts were located on the slope of a hill which was densely covered with [[Conifer|fir trees]]&nbsp;... The entrance to the dugout was a hole approximately {{convert|24|in|cm}} in diameter and {{convert|4|to|5|ft|spell=in}} deep. Approximately {{convert|2|ft|cm|spell=in}} down, this hole extended horizontally to a length of {{convert|8|to|10|ft|spell=in}}. The dugout has a capacity of three men and has a wooden floor and a drainage ditch. Walls and roof are reinforced with lumber."<ref name="G-2"/>}}

The following day a CIC unit led by Captain Oscar M. Grimes of the [[97th Infantry Division (United States)|97th Infantry Division]] captured about two hundred [[Gestapo]] officers and men in hiding near [[Hof, Bavaria]]. They were in possession of American army uniforms and equipment but had decided to surrender.<ref>Kurt Frank Korf, quoted in Patricia Kollander, [https://books.google.com/books?id=FX0Ip-n-Tc0C&q ''I Must be a Part of this War: A German American's Fight against Hitler and Nazism,''] Fordham University Press, 2005; {{ISBN|0-8232-2528-3}}; p. 109.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://archives.explorebaltimorecounty.com/community/6003301/obituary-notices/ |title=Obituary: Oscar M. "Mel" Grimes Jr., 80, ''Catonsville Times,'' 14 May, 2001. |access-date=13 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222065429/http://archives.explorebaltimorecounty.com/community/6003301/obituary-notices/ |archive-date=22 February 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/13096335/ "Bemedaled Ex-Nazi Youth Home from Europe Wars,"] ''The Salt Lake Tribune,'' 16 July 1945, p. 6.</ref>

In May 1945 CIC Major John Schwartzwalder arrested members of a Werwolf cell in [[Bremen]] whose leader had fled. Schwartzwalder believed that the Werwolf never constituted a threat to Allied personnel:

{{quote|"...the Bremen group of the [[Hitler Youth|Jugend]] had received its orders to organize as a Werwolf cell only about four days before the fall of the city. By that time the Wehrmacht had taken all but the halt and the lame, and the [[Volkssturm]] had taken most of the rest. Nevertheless an organization had been started using the younger boys but it had not progressed to accumulating either weapons or supplies before the entry of the Allied troops...The only remaining fraction of the Werwolf that was of any importance was a residue of veterans of the last war who were physically ineligible for service in this one and who had weapons concealed here and there. These were not too hard to dispose of."<ref>{{cite book |first=John |last=Schwartzwalder |title=We Caught Spies: Adventures of an American Counter Intelligence Agent in Europe |publisher=Duell, Sloan & Pierce, Inc. |location=New York |year=1946 |pages=262–63 }}</ref>}}

==Assessment by historians==
Historians [[Antony Beevor]] and [[Earl F. Ziemke]] have argued that Werwolf never amounted to a serious threat, and furthermore propose that the plan barely existed. According to a study by former ambassador [[James Dobbins (diplomat)|James Dobbins]] and a team of [[RAND Corporation]] researchers, there were no American combat casualties after the German surrender.<ref name="rand">{{Cite journal |last1=Dobbins |first1=James |last2=McGinn |first2=John G. |last3=Crane |first3=Keith |last4=Jones |first4=Seth G. |last5=Lal |first5=Rollie |last6=Rathmell |first6=Andrew |last7=Swanger |first7=Rachel M. |last8=Timilsina |first8=Anga |title=America's Role in Nation-Building From Germany to Iraq |date = January 2003 |publisher=[[RAND Corporation]] |format=PDF |url=https://www.rand.org/pubs/monograph_reports/MR1753/index.html |access-date=3 August 2007 |journal=RAND }}</ref>

German historian [[Golo Mann]], in his ''The History of Germany Since 1789'' (1984) stated: {{quote|"The [Germans'] readiness to work with the victors, to carry out their orders, to accept their advice and their help was genuine; of the resistance which the Allies had expected in the way of 'werwolf' units and nocturnal guerrilla activities, there was no sign."<ref name="golomann">{{cite book |last=Mann |first=Golo  |author-link=Golo Mann |title=The History of Germany Since 1789 |publisher=Vintage/Ebury |year=1984 |page=560 |isbn=978-0-7011-1346-9 }}</ref>}}

Historian [[Richard Bessel]] concurs that "'Werewolf' resistance to Allied occupation never really materialized," noting one exception in the form of the assassination of the American-installed mayor of Aachen, [[Franz Oppenhoff]], on 28 March 1945,<ref name="Germany 1945: From War to Peace">{{Citation |last = Bessel |first = Richard |title = Germany 1945: From War to Peace |place = Great Britain |publisher = Simon & Schuster UK Ltd. |orig-date = 2009 |year = 2010 |chapter = 7. The Beginning of Occupation |isbn = 978-1-84983-201-4}}</ref> probably the most successful Werwolf operation.<ref name="ziemke1975">{{Cite book |last=Ziemke |first=Earl F. |url=http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/Occ-GY/index.htm |title=The US Army in the Occupation of Germany, 1944-1946 |publisher=Center of Military History, United States Army |year=1975 |location=Washington DC |page=183 |lccn=75-619027 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071213200328/http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/Occ-GY/index.htm |archive-date=13 December 2007}}</ref> He highlights that the threat was nonetheless taken seriously by the Allies and that fear of the Werwolf among the Americans may have had hysterical characteristics, pointing to the "Intelligence Information Bulletins" issued by the American 6th Army Group which anticipated a guerrilla war and warned American soldiers of concealed explosives and hidden strongholds.<ref name="Germany 1945: From War to Peace"/> Similarly, he observes that the NKVD appear to have believed that such an organization existed and posed a real threat to the Soviet occupation forces,<ref>See report of 22 June 1945 by the head of the NKVD in Germany, Serov, to L.J. Beria concerning Werewolf activity, printed in: {{cite encyclopedia |last = von Platow |first = Alexander |editor-last = Reif-Spirek |editor-first = Peter |editor-last2 = Ritscher |editor-first2 = Bodo |title = Sowjetische Speziallager in Deutschland 1945 bis 1950. Ergebnisse eines deutsch-russischen Kooperationsprojektes |encyclopedia = Speziallager in der SBZ. Gedenkstätten mit ‘doppelter Vergangenheit |pages = 138–139 |location = Berlin |language = German |date = 1999}}</ref> with the Soviets using unfounded suspicions of Werwolf activity as a pretext to tighten police control and secure forced labor.<ref name="Germany 1945: From War to Peace"/>

[[Perry Biddiscombe]] has offered a somewhat different view. In his books ''Werwolf!: The History of the National Socialist Guerrilla Movement, 1944–1946'' (1998)<ref name="biddis"/> and ''The Last Nazis: SS Werwolf Guerrilla Resistance in Europe, 1944–1947'' (2000), Biddiscombe asserts that after retreating to the [[Black Forest]] and the [[Harz mountains]], the Werwolf continued resisting the occupation until at least 1947, possibly until 1949–50. However, he characterizes German post-surrender resistance as "minor",<ref>{{harvnb|Biddiscombe|1998|p=275}}</ref> and calls the post-war Werwolfs "desperadoes"<ref>{{harvnb|Biddiscombe|1998|p=151}}</ref> and "fanatics living in forest huts".<ref>{{harvnb|Biddiscombe|1998|p=80}}</ref> He further cites U.S. Army intelligence reports that characterized Nazi partisans as "nomad bands"<ref>{{harvnb|Biddiscombe|1998|p=197}}</ref> and judged them as less serious threats than attacks by foreign slave laborers<ref>{{harvnb|Biddiscombe|1998|p=152}}</ref> and considered their sabotage and subversive activities to be insignificant.<ref>{{harvnb|Biddiscombe|1998|p=115}}</ref> He also notes that: "The Americans and British concluded, even in the summer of 1945, that, as a nationwide network, the original Werwolf was irrevocably destroyed, and that it no longer posed a threat to the occupation."<ref>{{harvnb|Biddiscombe|1998|p=51}}</ref>

Biddiscombe also says that Werwolf violence failed to mobilize a spirit of popular national resistance, that the group was poorly led, poorly armed, and poorly organized, and that it was doomed to failure given the [[war-weariness]] of the populace and the hesitancy of young Germans to sacrifice themselves on the funeral pyre of the former Nazi regime. He concludes that the only significant achievement of the Werwolfs was to spark distrust of the German populace in the Allies as they occupied Germany, which caused them in some cases to act more repressively than they might have done otherwise, which in turn fostered resentments that helped to enable far right ideas to survive in Germany, at least in pockets, into the post-war era.<ref name="biddis"/>

Nevertheless, says Biddiscombe, "The Werewolves were no bit players";<ref name="Biddiscombe, The Last Nazis, p. 8">Biddiscombe, The Last Nazis, p. 8.</ref> they caused tens of millions of dollars of property damage at a time when the European economies were in an already desperate state, and were responsible for the killing of thousands of people.<ref name="Biddiscombe, The Last Nazis, p. 8"/>

==Alleged Werwolf actions==
{{stack|[[File:OppenhoffgrabAachen 3323.jpg|thumbnail|[[Franz Oppenhoff]]'s grave in [[Aachen]].]]}}
A number of instances of resistance have been attributed to Werwolf activity:
* 25 March 1945 – Under the code name Unternehmen Karneval, [[Franz Oppenhoff]], the newly appointed mayor of [[Aachen]], was assassinated outside his home by an SS unit which was composed of Werwolf trainees from [[Hülchrath]] Castle, including [[Ilse Hirsch]]. They were flown in at the order of Heinrich Himmler.<ref>{{cite book | last = Rempel | first = Gerhard | title = Hitler's Children: The Hitler Youth and the SS | publisher = UNC Press | year = 1989 | page = [https://archive.org/details/hitlerschildren00gerh/page/244 244] | url =https://archive.org/details/hitlerschildren00gerh| url-access = registration | isbn = 0-8078-4299-0}}</ref>
* 28 March 1945 – The mayor of the eastern [[Ruhr]] town of [[Meschede]] was assassinated, even though Meschede was still behind German lines and was not overrun until mid-April. Radio Werwolf later announced that the assassination had been carried out by Werwolf agents.<ref>{{harvnb|Biddiscombe|1998|p=40}}</ref>
* 30 March 1945 – Radio Werwolf claimed responsibility for the death of Major General [[Maurice Rose]], commander of the US [[3rd Armored Division (United States)|3rd Armored Division]],<ref>{{harvnb|Biddiscombe|1998|p=139}}</ref> who was in reality killed in action by troops of the [[German heavy tank battalion|507th Heavy Panzer Battalion]].<ref>{{cite book | last = Miller | first = Edward G. | title = Nothing Less Than Full Victory | publisher = Naval Institute Press | year = 2007 | page = 254 | isbn = 978-1-59114-494-6}}</ref>
*14 April 1945 – Former social-democrat councillor and farmer Willi Rogge was shot and killed by a Werwolf unit near [[Dötlingen]], in [[Lower Saxony]], accused of stealing from a [[Reich Labour Service]] store.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Schnibben|first=Cordt|date=14 April 2014|title=Mein Vater, ein Werwolf|journal=Der Spiegel|language=de|issue=16|pages=62–73}}</ref>
* 21 April 1945 – Major John Poston, [[Field Marshal]] [[Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein|Bernard Montgomery]]'s liaison officer, was ambushed and killed by unidentified assailants shortly before Germany's surrender; in reality Poston died in an ambush by regular troops.<ref>{{cite book | last = Whiting| first = Charles | title = Monty's Greatest Victory | publisher = Leo Cooper | year = 2002 | page = 83 }}</ref>
* 22 April 1945 – Radio Werwolf claimed that a Werwolf unit composed of German citizens from [[Leuna]] and [[Merseburg]] had entered the Leuna [[synthetic petroleum]] factory and set off explosives, destroying four factory buildings and rendering it inoperable.<ref>"Hitler Admits His Western Armies Have Been Reduced to Guerrillas," ''The New York Times,'' 23 April 1945; p. 1.</ref>
* 28 April 1945 – [[:de:Penzberger Mordnacht|The Penzberg Murders]]: Werwolf operatives were allegedly responsible for the murder of the mayor of [[Penzberg]], Bavaria, and fourteen others, because of their actions in freeing prisoners and preventing the destruction of property.
* 5 June 1945 – It has been claimed that the destruction of the [[Office of Military Government, United States|United States Military Government]] police headquarters in Bremen by two explosions which resulted in 44 deaths<ref name="roehner">{{cite web  | last1 = Roehner | first1 = Bertrand M.  |title = Relations between allied forces and the population of germany  | url=http://www.lpthe.jussieu.fr/~roehner/ocg.pdf  | access-date = 3 August 2007  }}</ref> was a Werwolf-related attack. There is, however, no proof that it was due to Werwolf actions rather than to unexploded bombs or [[Delay-action bomb|delayed-action ordnance]].
* 16 June 1945 – Colonel-General [[Nikolai Berzarin]], Soviet [[Red Army]] commandant of [[East Berlin]], is often claimed to have been assassinated by Werwolfs, but actually died in a motorcycle accident.<ref>{{cite web  |title = Voice of Russia: Commandant of Berlin  |url = http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=10888&cid=114&p=08.05.2007  |access-date = 3 August 2007  |archive-date = 2 November 2009  |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20091102134741/http://ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng  |url-status = dead  }}</ref>
* 31 July 1945 – An ammunition dump in [[Ústí nad Labem]] (''Aussig an der Elbe''), a largely [[Sudeten Germans|Sudeten German]] city in northern Bohemia exploded, killing 26 or 27 people and injuring dozens.<ref>[http://www.usti-nad-labem.cz/dejiny/1945-95/ul-8-9.htm The Blast at the munitions depot in Brezno and the massacre of the German population, 31 July 1945.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181229021521/http://www.usti-nad-labem.cz/dejiny/1945-95/ul-8-9.htm |date=29 December 2018 }} Massacre description in Czech by Vladimír Kaiser.\</ref> The explosion was blamed on the Werwolf organization and resulted in the "[[Ústí massacre]]" of ethnic Germans.

==Allied reprisals==
According to Biddiscombe "the threat of Nazi partisan warfare had a generally unhealthy effect on broad issues of policy among the occupying powers. As well, it prompted the development of draconian reprisal measures that resulted in the destruction of much German property and the deaths of thousands of civilians and soldiers".<ref name="Biddiscombe 1998 252">{{harvnb|Biddiscombe|1998|p=252}}</ref> Fear of fanatics willing to die for Nazi ideology contributed to strict anti-[[fraternization]] rules for Allied forces.<ref name="gott2005">{{Cite book |last=Gott |first=Kendall D. |url=https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Books/CSI-Press-Publications/World-War-II/ |title=Mobility, Vigilance, and Justice: The US Army Constabulary in Germany, 1946-1953 |publisher=Combat Studies Institute Press |year=2005 |series=Global War on Terrorism, Occasional Paper |location=Fort Leavenworth, Kansas |pages=4-5, 8-9 |format=PDF |id=OP 11 |access-date=13 July 2025}}</ref> [[Ian Kershaw]] states that fear of Werwolf activities may have motivated atrocities against German civilians by Allied troops during and immediately after the war.<ref>Kershaw, Ian. ''[[The End: Hitler's Germany 1944–45]],'' Allen Lane, 2011. {{ISBN|0-7139-9716-8}}</ref>

The German resistance movement was successfully suppressed in 1945.<ref>{{harvnb|Biddiscombe|1998|p=263}}</ref> However, [[collective punishment]] for acts of resistance, such as fines and curfews, was still being imposed as late as 1948.<ref>{{harvnb|Biddiscombe|1998|p=265}}</ref> Biddiscombe estimates the total death toll as a direct result of Werewolf actions and the resulting reprisals as 3,000–5,000.<ref>{{harvnb|Biddiscombe|1998|p=276}}</ref>

===Soviet reprisals===
In the [[Soviet occupation zone of Germany|Soviet occupation zone]], thousands of youths were arrested as "Werwolves".<ref name=Weber99>{{cite book|first=Petra |last=Weber |title=Justiz und Diktatur: Justizverwaltung und politische Strafjustiz in Thüringen 1945–1961. Veröffentlichungen zur SBZ-/DDR –Forschung im Institut für Zeitgeschichte |publisher=Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag |year=2000 |page=99 |isbn=3-486-56463-3}}</ref><ref name=swr>{{cite news|url=http://www.swr.de/swr2/programm/sendungen/wissen/-/id=6163770/property=download/nid=660374/1dqc2hs/swr2-wissen-20100507.pdf|title=Die Lüge vom Werwolf. Warum Tausende Jugendliche in sowjetischen Lagern landeten|last=Fruth|first=Pia|date=7 May 2010<!--, 8:30&nbsp;– 9:00 CEST -->|work=[[Südwestdeutscher Rundfunk]] 2|language=de|access-date=16 May 2010|archive-date=6 June 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606152811/http://www.swr.de/swr2/programm/sendungen/wissen/-/id=6163770/property=download/nid=660374/1dqc2hs/swr2-wissen-20100507.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> Evidently, arrests were arbitrary and in part based on denunciations.<ref name=Weber99/> The arrested boys were either executed or interned in [[NKVD special camps]].<ref name=Weber99/> On 22 June 1945, Deputy Commissar of the [[NKVD]] [[Ivan Serov]] reported to the head of the NKVD [[Lavrentiy Beria]] the arrest of "more than 600" alleged Werwolf members,<ref name=Ritscher138>{{cite book|last1=Reif-Spirek|first1=Peter|last2=Ritscher|first2=Bodo|title=Speziallager in der SBZ|year=1999|publisher=Ch. Links Verlag|language=de|isbn=3-86153-193-3|page=138}}</ref> mostly aged 15 to 17 years.<ref name=Ritscher139>{{cite book|last1=Reif-Spirek|first1=Peter|last2=Ritscher|first2=Bodo|title=Speziallager in der SBZ|year=1999|publisher=Ch. Links Verlag|language=de|isbn=3-86153-193-3|page=139}}</ref>

The report, though referring to incidents where Soviet units came under fire from the woods,<ref name=Ritscher138/> asserts that most of the arrested had not been involved in any action against the Soviets, which Serov explained with interrogation results allegedly showing that the boys had been "waiting" for the right moment and in the meantime focused on attracting new members.<ref name=Ritscher139/> In October 1945, Beria reported to [[Joseph Stalin]] the "liquidation" of 359 alleged Werwolf groups.<ref name=Weber99/> Of those, 92 groups with 1,192 members were "liquidated" in [[Free State of Saxony|Saxony]] alone.<ref name=Weber99/> On 5 August 1946, Soviet minister for internal affairs [[Sergei Nikiforovich Kruglov]] reported that in the Soviet occupation zone, 332 "terrorist diversion groups and underground organizations" had been disclosed and "liquidated".<ref name=Weber99/> A total of about 10,000 youths were interned in NKVD special camps, half of whom did not return.<ref name=swr/> Parents as well as the East German administration and political parties, installed by the Soviets, were denied any information on the whereabouts of the arrested youths.<ref name=Weber99/> The [[Red Army]]'s torching of [[Demmin]], which [[Mass suicide in Demmin|resulted in the suicide of hundreds of people]], was blamed on alleged preceding Werwolf activities by the East German regime.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.focus.de/politik/deutschland/die-letzten-kriegstage-tragoedie-an-der-peene_aid_151639.html|title=Tragödie an der Peene|last=Vernier|first=Robert|magazine=[[Focus (German magazine)|Focus]]|date=8 May 1995|access-date=20 August 2010|language=de|archive-date=24 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924201514/http://www.focus.de/politik/deutschland/die-letzten-kriegstage-tragoedie-an-der-peene_aid_151639.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===American reprisals===
Eisenhower believed he would be faced with extensive [[guerrilla warfare]], based on the [[Alpine Redoubt]].<ref name="Biddiscombe 1998 252"/> The fear of Werwolf activity believed to be mustering around [[Berchtesgaden]] in the [[Alps]] also led to the switch in U.S. operational targets in the middle of March 1945 away from the drive towards Berlin and instead shifted the thrust towards the south and on linking up with the Russians first.<ref name="Biddiscombe 1998 267">{{harvnb|Biddiscombe|1998|p=267}}</ref> An intelligence report stated "We should&nbsp;... be prepared to undertake operations in [[Southern Germany]] in order to overcome rapidly any organised resistance by the [[Wehrmacht|German Armed Forces]] or by guerrilla movements which may have retreated to the inner zone and to this redoubt".<ref name="Biddiscombe 1998 267"/> On 31 March Eisenhower told Roosevelt, "I am hopeful of launching operations that should partially prevent a guerrilla control of any large area such as the southern mountain bastions".<ref name="Biddiscombe 1998 267"/>

Eisenhower had previously also requested that the occupation directive [[JCS 1067]] not make him responsible for maintaining living conditions in Germany under the expected circumstances; "...&nbsp;probably guerrilla fighting and possibly even civil war in certain districts&nbsp;... If conditions in Germany turn out as described, it will be utterly impossible effectively to control or save the economic structure of the country&nbsp;... and we feel we should not assume the responsibility for its support and control."<ref name="Biddiscombe 1998 252"/> The British were "mortified by such a suggestion", but the [[United States Department of War|War Department]] took considerable account of Eisenhower's wishes.<ref name="Biddiscombe 1998 253">{{harvnb|Biddiscombe|1998|p=253}}</ref> In addition, civilians held by the U.S. climbed from 1,000 in late March to 30,000 in late June, and more than 100,000 by the end of 1945.<ref name="Biddiscombe 1998 254">{{harvnb|Biddiscombe|1998|p=254}}</ref> Conditions were often poor in the camps for civilians.<ref name="Biddiscombe 1998 254"/>

===British reprisals===
In April 1945 Churchill announced that the Allies would incarcerate all captured German officers for as long as a guerrilla threat existed.<ref name="Biddiscombe 1998 253"/> Hundreds of thousands of German last-ditch troops were kept in the makeshift [[Rheinwiesenlager]] for months, "mainly to prevent Werwolf activity".<ref name="Biddiscombe 1998 253"/> 

Prior to the occupation [[SHAEF]] investigated the reprisal techniques the Germans had used in order to maintain control over occupied territories since they felt the Germans had had good success.<ref name="Biddiscombe 1998 257">{{harvnb|Biddiscombe|1998|p=257}}</ref> Directives were loosely defined and implementation of reprisal was largely left to the preferences of the various armies, with the British seeming uncomfortable with those involving bloodshed.<ref name="Biddiscombe 1998 257"/> Rear-Admiral [[Harold Tom Baillie-Grohman|H.T. Baillie Grohman]] for example stated that killing hostages was "not in accordance with our usual methods".<ref name="Biddiscombe 1998 257"/> Thanks to feelings such as this, and relative light guerrilla activity in their area, relatively few reprisals took place in the UK zone of operations.<ref name="Biddiscombe 1998 257"/>

==Similar organizations==
===In Germany===
From 1946 onward, Allied intelligence officials noted resistance activities by an organisation which had appropriated the name of the anti-Nazi resistance group, the ''Edelweiss Piraten'' ([[Edelweiss Pirates]]). The group was reported to be composed mainly of former members and officers of Hitler Youth units, ex-soldiers and drifters, and was described by an intelligence report as "a sentimental, adventurous, and romantically anti-social [movement]". It was regarded as a more serious menace to order than the Werwolf by US officials.<ref name=fritz>{{cite book | last = Fritz| first = Stephen G. | title = Endkampf: Soldiers, Civilians, and the Death of the Third Reich | publisher = University Press of Kentucky | year = 2004 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/endkampfsoldiers00frit_391/page/n236 218–19]| url =https://archive.org/details/endkampfsoldiers00frit_391| url-access = limited| isbn = 0-8131-2325-9}}</ref>

A raid in March 1946 captured 80 former German officers who were members, and who possessed a list of 400 persons to be liquidated, including [[Wilhelm Hoegner]], the prime minister of Bavaria. Further members of the group were seized with caches of ammunition and even anti-tank rockets. In late 1946 reports of activities gradually died away.<ref name=fritz/>

===In Denmark===
In 2015, Danish police uncovered files in their archives outlining the Danish part of Operation Werwolf under the command of [[Horst Paul Issel]]. Issel was arrested in Germany in 1949 and handed over to Denmark.<ref>[https://archive.today/20150428185611/http://www.dansk-politi.dk/artikler/2015/april/varulvene-%E2%80%93-et-uhyggeligt-netvaerk-under-anden-verdenskrig.aspx Varulvene – et uhyggeligt netværk under Anden Verdenskrig]</ref> A total of 130 stashes of weapons and explosives were placed around Denmark and personnel were inserted into strategically important parts of society.

===In Yugoslavia===
The remains of some military organizations which collaborated with Axis forces continued with
raid activities like [[Crusaders (guerrilla)]] (until 1950),
[[Balli Kombëtar]] (until 1950).

===Comparison to Second Iraq War===
The [[Iraqi insurgency (Iraq War)|Iraqi insurgency]] was initially compared to the history of Werwolf by the [[George W. Bush Administration|Bush Administration]] and other [[Iraq War]] supporters.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.defenselink.mil/speeches/speech.aspx?speechid=513
|title=DefenseLink Speech: Veterans of Foreign Wars
|access-date=12 August 2008
|date=19 July 2006
|author=Rumsfeld, Donald H
|work=Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defence
|publisher=US Department of Defence
}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
|url=https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2003/08/20030825-1.html
|title=National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice Remarks to Veterans of Foreign Wars
|author=Rice, Condoleezza
|work=Office of the Press Secretary
|publisher=White House
|access-date=12 August 2008
|date=25 August 2003
}}</ref> In speeches given on 25 August 2003 to the [[Veterans of Foreign Wars]] by [[National Security Advisor (United States)|National Security Advisor]] [[Condoleezza Rice]] and [[United States Secretary of Defense|Secretary of Defense]] [[Donald Rumsfeld]] parallels were drawn between the resistance faced by the [[Multi-National Force – Iraq]]'s [[Occupation of Iraq (2003–2011)|occupation forces in Iraq]] to that encountered by [[Allied-occupied Germany|occupation forces in post-World War II Germany]], asserting that the Iraqi insurgency would ultimately prove to be as futile in realizing its objectives as had the Werwolfs.<ref name=carafano>{{cite web | last = Carafano | first = James | title = A Phony 'Phony History' | publisher = Heritage Foundation | date = 23 September 2003 | url = http://www.heritage.org/Press/Commentary/ed092303d.cfm | access-date = 8 July 2008 | archive-date = 14 March 2009 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090314021134/http://www.heritage.org/Press/Commentary/ed092303d.cfm | url-status = unfit }}</ref>

Former Clinton-era [[United States National Security Council|National Security Council]] staffer [[Daniel Benjamin]] published a riposte in ''[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]]'' magazine on 29 August 2003, entitled "Condi's Phony History: Sorry, Dr. Rice, postwar Germany was nothing like Iraq"<ref>{{cite news|url=http://slate.com/id/2087768/
|access-date=12 August 2008
|title=Condi Rice's phony history
|first=Daniel
|last=Benjamin
|work=Slate Magazine
|date=29 August 2003
}}</ref> in which he took Rice and Rumsfeld to task for mentioning Werwolf, writing that the reality of postwar Germany bore no resemblance to the occupation of Iraq, and made reference to [[Antony Beevor]]'s ''[[Berlin: The Downfall 1945]]'' and the US Army's official history, ''The U.S. Army in the Occupation of Germany 1944–1946'',{{r|ziemke1975}} where the Werwolf were only mentioned twice in passing.<ref name="Benjamin">{{cite magazine | last = Benjamin| first = Daniel | title = Condi's Phony History | magazine = Slate magazine | date = 29 August 2003 | url = http://www.slate.com/id/2087768/ | access-date = 8 July 2008}}</ref> This did not prevent his political opponents from disagreeing with him, using Biddiscombe's book as a source.<ref>{{cite web|last=Marek |first=Ed |title=The occupation of Germany, the occupation of Iraq, many parallels |publisher=Talking Proud! |date=1 September 2003 |url=http://www.talkingproud.us/International090103.html |access-date=8 July 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928035451/http://www.talkingproud.us/International090103.html |archive-date=28 September 2007 }}</ref>

==In popular culture==
* The 1955 James Bond novel [[Moonraker (novel)|''Moonraker'']] portrays the primary antagonist [[Hugo Drax]] as a former Werwolf commando who disguised himself as a British industrialist after the war and used his identity to build a [[Nuclear weapons delivery|nuclear missile]] to launch at London. 
* The novel ''[[The Odessa File]]'' features a network within the [[ODESSA|titular organization]] that is designed after the Werwolf unit: their leader even uses the "Werwolf" title as his codename and is revealed to have been an actual Werwolf during the war.
* The 2001 film ''[[The Substitute: Failure Is Not an Option]]'' by Robert Radler. The movie depicts a white supremacist colonel at a military academy, who trains a group of young soldiers to carry out terrorist attacks on American soil.
* The 2008 [[alternate history]] novel ''[[The Man with the Iron Heart]]'' by American author [[Harry Turtledove]] depicts a longer-lived [[Reinhard Heydrich]] organising a "German Freedom Front", also called Werewolves, in an attempt to drive the Allied occupiers out of Germany.
* The 2015 alternate history novel ''[[Germanica]]'' by [[Robert Conroy]] sees Goebbels bring his hypothetical resistance force to fruition. In one scene, an Allied character discovers that the insurgents use a particularly frightening werewolf as an insignia.
* [[Lars von Trier]] uses the Werwolf theme as backdrop in his 1991 movie ''[[Europa (1991 film)|Europa]]''.<ref>
[http://www.filmsufi.com/2015/12/europa-lars-von-trier-1991.html “Europa” – Lars von Trier (1991)], filmsufi.com</ref>
* The [[Golden Age of Comic Books|Golden Age]] [[Horror comics|horror comic]] ''[[Adventures into the Unknown]]'' #14, released in December 1951, includes the story "The Werewolf Strikes", by [[Charles Spain Verral]]. In this story, American occupation forces are tasked with protecting pro-democracy German figures from assassination by Werwolf agents, allegedly co-ordinated by a surviving [[Schutzstaffel]] officer. The presence of Werwolf activities creates fear and uncooperativeness among the occupied German population. The leading Werwolf assassin is revealed to be an actual [[werewolf]], and she is slain with a silver knife.

==See also==
{{div col|colwidth=22em}}
* [[Anti-Soviet partisans]]
* [[Alpine Fortress]]
* [[Auxiliary Units]]
* [[Battle of Baghuz Fawqani]]
* [[HIAG]]
* [[Japanese holdout]]
* [[Nero Decree]]
* [[Operation Gladio]]
* [[Operation Unthinkable]]
* [[Ratlines (World War II aftermath)|Ratlines]]
** [[Operation Paperclip]]
** [[Stille Hilfe]]
** [[ODESSA]]
{{div col end}}

==References==
'''Citations'''
{{reflist}}

'''Bibliography'''
* {{Cite book | last = Biddiscombe | first = Perry | title = Werwolf!: The History of the National Socialist Guerrilla Movement, 1944–1946 | publisher = [[University of Toronto Press]] | year = 1998 | isbn = 978-0-8020-0862-6 | url = https://archive.org/details/werwolfhistoryof00bidd }}
* {{Cite book | last = Biddiscombe | first = Perry  | title = The Last Nazis: SS Werewolf Guerrilla Resistance in Europe 1944–1947  | publisher = Tempus Publishing  | year = 2004 | isbn= 0-7524-2967-1 }}

'''Further reading'''
* Henke, Klaus-Dietmar (1995) ''Die amerikanische Besetzung Deutschlands'' Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. {{isbn|978-3486561753}}
* Lucas, James (2014) ''Kommando: German Special Forces of World War Two'' (part 4) Frontline. {{isbn|978-1848327375}}
* Rose, Arno (1980) ''Werwolf, 1944–1945: Eine Dokumentation'' Stuttgart: Motorbuch-Verlag. {{isbn|978-3879437009}}
* Whiting, Charles (1972) ''Hitler's Werewolves'' New York: Stein & Day. {{isbn|978-0812814682}}

==External links==
*{{Commons category-inline|Werwolf (Nazi organization)}}

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{{Nazism}}
{{Fascism}}

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[[Category:Military history of Germany during World War II]]
[[Category:Stay-behind organizations]]
[[Category:Resistance against the Allied powers]]
[[Category:Military units and formations established in 1944]]
[[Category:Anti-communist guerrilla organizations]]
[[Category:Anti-communist resistance movements in Eastern Europe]]
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