A number of intelligence reports to the Supreme Headquarters of the Allied Expeditionary Forces (
SHAEF) identified the area held stores of foodstuffs and military supplies built up over the preceding six months, and could even be harbouring armaments production facilities. Within this fortified terrain, they said, Hitler would be able to evade the Allies and cause tremendous difficulties for the occupying Allied forces throughout Germany.
The minister of propaganda,
Joseph Goebbels, set up a special unit to invent and spread rumours about an
Alpenfestung. Goebbels also sent out rumours to neutral governments, thus keeping the Redoubt myth alive and its state of readiness unclear. He enlisted the assistance of the intelligence service of the SS, the
SD, to produce faked blueprints and reports on construction supplies, armament production and troop transfers to the Redoubt. This utter deception of allied military intelligence is considered to be one of the greatest feats of the German
Abwehr during the entire war.