Germany & Austria 1945
Band of Brothers sites in Germany & Austria
In 1945 Easy Company crossed into Germany for the last campaign of the war. Near Landsberg in late April the men came upon one of the Kaufering concentration camps, a sight many of them never forgot.
In early May they reached Berchtesgaden and the Kehlsteinhaus, the "Eagle's Nest", and the war in Europe ended with the company in Austria, around Zell am See and Kaprun. Below are all the places from our free Germany & Austria guide.
Berchtesgaden & the Eagle's NestBerlin & the ElbeThe Rhine — Cologne to RemagenBavaria — Landsberg, Dachau & MunichAustria — Zell am See, Kaprun & Mauthausen
Berchtesgaden & the Eagle's Nest
Bad Reichenhall
allow 30 min
The spa town at the valley mouth where the 506th's column waited at a blown bridge on 4 May while the 3rd Infantry Division and the French got into Berchtesgaden first.
Berchtesgaden — town and the Berchtesgadener Hof site
allow 30 min
The 506th's headquarters hotel stood in the town, near today's Haus der Berge national-park centre, until 2006; the old station built for Hitler's guests and the market square survive. VE Day found the 506th in this area.
Berghof site and the Obersalzberg walk
allow 45 min
The foundations of Hitler's house, Göring's and Bormann's plots, the SS barracks site — mostly demolished in 1952, the rest cleared later, and forested. Signed paths from the Dokumentation centre.
Dokumentation Obersalzberg
Museum · allow 2 h
The museum on Hitler's mountain: the Obersalzberg as the second seat of government, the bunker system underneath, and the American arrival of May 1945. Rebuilt and reopened in 2023.
Kehlsteinhaus — the Eagle's Nest
Site · allow 2 h
The tea-house at 1,834 m: the brass lift, the marble fireplace, the terrace traditionally identified as the setting of the famous Easy Company photograph (the exact location is disputed).
Königssee
Lake · allow 2 h
The fjord-like lake below the Watzmann, where the 506th swam and boated in May 1945. Electric boats to St Bartholomä; the echo trumpet still plays.
Salzbergwerk Berchtesgaden — salt mine
Berchtesgaden · allow 1 h 30 min
The salt mine 506th men toured in May 1945 as tourists. Göring's looted art was found in Obersalzberg shelters, trains and regional caches; the celebrated salt-mine art store was Altaussee in Austria, not this mine.
Salzburg
Austria · allow 3 h
The regiment's nearest city in the summer of 1945. Fortress, old town, and the site of the first post-war festival in August 1945.
Berlin & the Elbe
Berlin — Reichstag and the Führerbunker site
Berlin · 30 April – 2 May 1945 · allow 1 h
The end of Hitler and of the Reich; the bunker site is a car park with an information board.
Torgau — Elbe Day
The Elbe · 25 April 1945 · allow 1 h
Where American and Soviet troops met and cut Germany in two.
The Rhine — Cologne to Remagen
Cologne — cathedral and Hohenzollern bridge
City · allow 1 h 30 min
The city 506th men saw on passes in April 1945: the cathedral standing over 90 % destruction. Climb the tower for the view the Americans had from the west bank.
Ludendorff Bridge, Remagen — Peace Museum
Bridge · 9th Armored, 7 March 1945 · allow 1 h 15 min
The railway bridge captured intact on 7 March that put the first Americans across the Rhine; it collapsed ten days later. The surviving towers hold the Peace Museum.
Stürzelberg — the Rhine dike
allow 30 min
The village on the river where the 2nd Battalion's HQ and Easy's outposts were, facing the Ruhr pocket across the water. Winters' patrols crossed here by boat.
Zons — the walled town on the Rhine
Town · 506th sector · allow 30 min
A medieval customs town on the 506th's stretch of river, untouched by the war, between Cologne and Dormagen. The dike path north of it is the regiment's April 1945 outpost line.
Bavaria — Landsberg, Dachau & Munich
Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial
Memorial · liberated 29 Apr 1945 · allow 2 h 30 min
The first camp and the model for all the others; the Kaufering camps were its sub-camps. Liberated by the 42nd and 45th Divisions the same weekend Easy was at Landsberg.
European Holocaust Memorial — Kaufering VII
Memorial · allow 1 h
The only Kaufering camp that survives: the earth huts, the foundations and the memorial stones of the nations whose citizens died in the eleven camps. 14,500 died here building underground factories.
Hurlach — Kaufering IV camp site
allow 20 min
The camp usually identified as the one Easy Company entered on 28–29 April: the SS had set fire to the huts with the sick inside two days before. A memorial stone in the fields north of the village marks the site.
Landsberg am Lech — old town and prison
Town · allow 45 min
Easy's billets from 30 April; the fortress prison above the town is where Hitler wrote Mein Kampf in 1924. The Lech weir and the painted old town are unchanged.
Munich Documentation Centre for the History of National Socialism
Museum · allow 1 h 30 min
On the site of the Brown House, the party's headquarters: how Munich made the movement, and what the city did with it. Context for everything on the Obersalzberg.
Nuremberg — Documentation Centre & Zeppelinfeld
Bavaria · the rallies and the trials · allow 1 h
The party's parade ground and the courtroom of the 1945–46 trials.
Austria — Zell am See, Kaprun & Mauthausen
Grand Hotel Zell am See — regimental HQ
Site · allow 30 min
Sink's headquarters on the promontory in the lake; the ballroom and terrace are as the regiment knew them. Still a hotel — coffee on the terrace is allowed.
Kaprun high-mountain dams (Mooserboden)
Site · slave-labour history · allow 2 h
The hydro-electric project begun in 1938 with forced and slave labour from the camps; the 506th guarded the site and its DP camp in 1945. Finished after the war as a symbol of Austrian reconstruction.
Kaprun — village and castle
Village · allow 45 min
Easy's billets and the 2nd Battalion HQ, May–June 1945. Kaprun castle above the village; the church; the road-block where Sgt. Grant was shot was on the valley road.
Mauthausen Memorial
Austria · the camps · 5 May 1945 · allow 1 h
The Austrian main camp, liberated the day Easy reached Berchtesgaden.
Saalfelden — the surrender basin
Town · allow 30 min
The wide valley where German units marched in to surrender to the 506th in May 1945, and where a German surgeon saved Sgt. Grant's life.
Zell am See — lake promenade
Town · allow 30 min
The 506th's occupation capital in the summer of 1945. The lake is where the men swam and sailed Göring's yacht.
Questions
How many places are there to visit?
This page lists 26 places from the free Easy Company in Germany & Austria guide, each with its story, what you can see today, how to visit and GPS directions.
How much time do I need?
Allowing the suggested time at each place adds up to about 30 hours on site, plus driving between them. Plan on about 7 days to see everything, or pick the places that matter most to you. The guide's tour planner puts any selection in driving order.
Do I need to book?
Most places can be visited without booking. 2 of them need booking or can only be seen on a guided visit; they are marked “Booking needed” below. For 11 places we checked opening times and prices on official websites in September 2026; open each place to see them. Opening times change, so check before you travel.
Can I visit every site?
Some places, especially open fields, are on private land: view them from the road or a public path. Cemeteries and memorials are places of remembrance first.
Is the guide free, and does it work without signal?
Yes. The Easy Company in Germany & Austria guide is free and works on your phone with no signal once it has been opened, with maps, stories and a tour planner. There is nothing to install from an app store.
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- Bastogne & Battle of the Bulge sites to visitBois Jacques foxholes, Foy, Bastogne
- D-Day sites in NormandyThe five beaches, batteries, museums
- Spanish Civil War sites in MadridCiudad Universitaria, Jarama, Brunete
- Battle of the Ebro & Catalonia sitesGandesa, Corbera, Barcelona shelters
All 26 sites in Germany & Austria 1945 →
Easy Company in Germany & Austria
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