Inside global hunt for Hitler’s lost £20BILLION Nazi gold horde with sunken ships, hidden bunkers & a buried train

TREASURE hunters the world over are scrambling to uncover the secret locations believed to have been used by Nazi officers to hide stolen loot in the dying days of World War 2.

From sunken shipwrecks, to buried trains, and hidden bunkers - the global gold rush for the rumoured Nazi fortune spans from Argentina, to Europe, to the depths of the Atlantic.

Hitler and his evil empire are known to pillaged gold, jewels and other treasures such as priceless artwork as they stormed across Europe and Russia.

It is believed it was stashed with the intention of the Nazis to collect it and potentially fund the resurgence of a new Fourth Reich.

And despite some of this being recovered, much of it remains lost - with speculative figures of its value range from several million to up to £20billion.

With this tantalising promise of fame and fortune, real life Indiana Jones treasure seekers have sought to uncover the hidden locations for decades.

Many believe the motherload is still out there, and these dreams were inflamed last year by the discovery of a diary allegedly written by an SS officer using the pseudonym “Michaelis".

It laid out a plan outlined by by SS boss Heinrich Himmler to hide stolen European treasure in the dying days of the war - although the authenticity of the diary has not been verified.

So with renewed passion, the gold rush for the hidden Nazi treasure is on once again - and The Sun Online can now reveal some of the locations believed to be hiding Hitler's fortune.

Minkowskie, Poland

One team of treasure hunters are hoping to dig up 48 crates of gold worth nearly half a billion pounds at a Polish palace used by SS henchmen.

The Silesian Bridge foundation, a non-for-profit body set up to find Nazi loot, are seeking to uncovered 10 tonnes of gold believed to have come from the Reichsbank and from a Polish police quarters.

The group is basing their search off an entry by Michaelis from March 12, 1945, discussing the stash at a mansion in Minkowskie, southern Poland - and they are hoping to unearth the treasure next week.

It is hoped there could be up to 48 chests of gold worth up to £500million could be hidden at the palace, which was used a brothel by the SS.

Hochberg Palace, Roztoka, Poland

Michaelis’ entries also name an abandoned well nearly 200 feet (60 metres) below the 16th-century Hochberg Palace in Roztoka, southwest Poland.

The gold at the bottom of the well is thought to also have come from the Reichsbank in the Polish town of Breslau (now Wrocław) and is estimated to be worth billions of euros, Polish news channel TFN reported.

The palace lies in Lower Silesia, an area in Poland well known as the location for Nazi  goods stolen from wealthy Jewish families, and art looted from museums and galleries.

The area is riddled with caves, mines and tunnels, "as well as castles and palaces with cavernous dungeons," which offered the Nazis plenty of hiding places for even very large works of art, according to the polish minister of culture and national heritage.

Hartenstein Hills, Dresden, Germany

In 2017, a group of amateur sleuths claimed they had found the missing Amber Room of the Russian Tsars inside a cave in the Hartenstein hills near Dresden, Germany.

The Amber Room is considered the crown jewel of the missing Nazi treasure haul after it was stolen from Catherine Palace near St Petersburg.

Before its loss, it was considered an "Eight Wonder of the World" - bedecked with amber panels, gold leaf, gemstones and ornate statues when it was built in 1701.

Homeopath Leonhard Blume, 73, scientist Günter Eckardt, 67, and georadar specialist Peter Lohr, 71, used specialist radar imaging to detect what appeared to be an underground bunker and booby traps.

The trio believe the room had been used as a hideout by Nazi officers, and may be the resting place of the Amber Room.

Bavaria

In the same year, 76-year-old Hans Glueck pinpointed a possible stash worth £500million in a Bavarian wood.

He spent 20 years hunting the haul, and believes it is full of gold, diamonds, artworks and rare stamps - much of which was looted from Jews by the Nazis during the Holocaust.

Unfortunately, Glueck has been unable to excavate the treasure due to a falling out with the landowner, whose permission he needs to extract it.

Glueck used a map handed down by a senior Nazi in charge of transporting a trainload of loot from Berlin Reichsbank to the Alps.

Walbrzych, Poland

The small Polish town of Walbrzych is said to be the resting place of a train filled with treasure worth around a billion pounds, according to sources in 2015.

After consulting historians, the town’s authorities believe a fortune in gold, paintings and precious gems lies aboard a 330ft-long set of carriages hidden underground.

The Nazis left nothing to chance and are believed to have rigged the train with explosives and nerve gas.

Wrecks of SS Minden and MV Wilhelm Gustloff

UK-based Advanced Marine Services claimed it found four tonnes of gold from South American banks in the post room of the SS Minden, which sank in 1939.

The gold, thought to be worth £100million, was believed to be on board the ship and headed to Germany when the boat sank 120 miles southeast of Iceland on September 24, 1939.

Minden’s captain scuttled his ship on orders from Adolf Hitler after it was spotted by British cruisers.

Meanwhile, another theory claims the Nazi gold may be hiding in the wreck of the MV Wilhelm Gustloff.

It has been speculated some £100million worth of gold bars and parts of the Amber Room could have gone down with the ship when it was sunk by the Soviets.

The vessel now has international war grave status after 9,400 died when it went down, which means no-one can dive within 50 metres of the wreck.

Patagonia, Argentina

The Third Reich is believed to have smuggled millions of pounds worth of gold to Argentina in the last days of the war as the Nazis sought to flee.

German U-boats alleged transported loot from the dying Nazi regime to Patagonia, in Argentina, according to documentary makers.

2004 film Oro Nazi En Agrentina (Nazi Gold In Argentina) claimed that Swiss banks, Roman Catholic bishops and Argentine politicians helped to plunder hundreds of millions of dollars in Hitler's treasures.

Argentina is at the centre of many myths about the final days of the Reich, with it know that many high profile Nazis sought to flee across the Atlantic.

The Sun Online previously revealed how spy files held in the archives of the CIA and the FBI show how the US and UK hunted Hitler for ten years after the end of the war, with many "sightings" in South America.

Secret documents revealed investigations into claims Hitler had a body double, U-boat sightings in Argentina, and claims that Adolf was photographed alive in Colombia.