Editing Werwolf (section)

===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=2014-02-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130625233117/http://homepages.ius.edu/RVEST/SkorzenyDr2.htm |archive-date=2013-06-25 |url-status=dead }}</ref>