The operation targeted Obersalzberg, a complex of residences and bunkers in Bavaria which had been built for Adolf Hitler and other key members of Germany's leadership.

The attack was conducted by a large force of 359 heavy bombers in an attempt to destroy the bunkers located below Obersalzberg, from which the Allies feared that senior members of the German Government would command an Alpine Fortress.

Most of the Allied personnel involved in the operation took satisfaction from attacking Hitler's residence, and it received extensive media coverage.

During the period in which Germany was ruled by the Nazi Party, the Obersalzberg complex of chalets and mountain lodges was constructed near the Bavarian town of Berchtesgaden.

Hitler and British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain met at the Berghof on 15 September 1938 as part of the negotiations that led to the Munich Agreement.

[2] A sophisticated network of bunkers and tunnels was constructed under Obersalzberg during the war in response to the intensifying Allied air raids on Germany.

Arnold made this decision on the grounds that it was unlikely that Hitler would be killed, and attempting this was undesirable anyway as his inept leadership of the German military was to the Allies' advantage.

[9] The only attack on Berchtesgaden prior to April 1945 was made on 20 February 1945 by eight Republic P-47 Thunderbolt fighter bombers from the Fifteenth Air Force.

These aircraft struck the area after being unable to complete a mission in Italy, and their commander, Major John L. Beck,[10][11] was initially unaware of its importance.

[13] As a result of the weakening of the German air defences and the availability of long-ranged Allied escort fighter aircraft, the RAF's Bomber Command had been making occasional daylight raids on targets in Germany in addition to its usual night operations since late 1944.

[16] In line with this order, Bomber Command attacked German cities that lay in the path of the Allied armies and made precision bombing raids against other targets until 25 April.

[17][18] As the war in Europe neared its end in 1945, the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) became concerned over intelligence reports that indicated senior members of the German Government as well as Waffen-SS units would assemble at Berchtesgaden to prolong the fighting from an "Alpine Fortress".

[20] Göring had been stripped of all his positions and was being held under house arrest on Hitler's orders as punishment for sending a telegram on 23 April seeking permission to assume Germany's leadership.

The attack was proposed by the head of Bomber Command, Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Harris, and approved by SHAEF.

[25] Harris specified that the goal of the raid was to support the United States Army's XV Corps, which was rapidly advancing towards Munich from whence it would attack Berchtesgaden.

[3] She has also suggested that the attack aimed to "wipe from memory" the humiliation of the pre-war appeasement policies, including the Munich Agreement, which were associated with the Berghof.

[28] Several secondary targets, including bridges in the city of Salzburg, were selected for the crews of aircraft which were unable to bomb Obersalzberg.

[25] They spent only a small amount of time within range of anti-aircraft guns during the approach flight and, as the Luftwaffe had almost ceased to exist, no fighters attempted to intercept them.

460 Squadron was hit shortly after dropping its bombs, and all of its crew survived after the pilot made a forced landing near the German town of Traunstein.

These raids formed part of an operation conducted at the request of the Allied ground forces that targeted the Škoda Works munitions facilities near Pilsen in German-occupied Czechoslovakia as well as railways in Austria which were believed to be transporting German troops.

Due to Obersalzberg's associations with the Nazi leadership, the extent of this looting was unmatched by that in any other German town occupied by Allied forces.

Stratigakos has observed that this contributed to memorabilia associated with Hitler being spread across the world, which partially undermined the air raid's goal of discrediting the Nazi regime.

[27][45] The American photojournalist Lee Miller, who arrived at Obersalzberg shortly after it was captured, commented that "there isn't even a piece left for a museum on the great war criminal, and scattered over the breadth of the world people are forever going to be shown a napkin ring or pickle fork, supposedly used by Hitler".

Contemporary news reports stated that the operation had been of strategic importance as Obersalzberg had been both an alternative command centre and a symbol of the Nazi regime.

[27] As the Alpine Fortress proved to be a myth, postwar histories, including Harris's memoirs, made little mention of the operation.

To stop such visits, the Bavarian Government destroyed the buildings on 30 April 1952, the seventh anniversary of Adolf Hitler's suicide in Berlin.

[51] The US Army closed its recreation centre and handed Obersalzberg to the Bavarian Government in 1996, which demolished the other buildings in the area during the early 2000s to make way for a resort complex.