70
years ago on this date, March 19, 1945, Adolf Hitler issued the Nero Decree. I
will post information about this directive from Wikipedia.
Speer (right) awarded an Org.Todt ring by Hitler – May 1943 |
Background
By 1945, the German situation was
desperate. Most of the conquered territories had been liberated or recaptured,
the Ardennes Offensive had failed, and Allied
armies were advancing on Germany proper from both the East and the West.
However, Adolf Hitler was not willing to lay down arms and accept the
unconditional surrender.
This was not the first time Hitler had
tried to destroy infrastructure before it could be taken. Shortly before the Liberation of Paris, Hitler ordered explosives
to be placed around important landmarks, such as the Eiffel
Tower, and key transportation hubs. If the Allies came near the city, the
military governor, Dietrich von Choltitz was to detonate these
bombs, leaving Paris "lying in complete debris." Von Choltitz,
however, did not carry out the order and surrendered to the Allies.
The
Decree
Its
most pertinent section reads as follows:
"It is a mistake to think that transport and communication facilities, industrial establishments and supply depots, which have not been destroyed, or have only been temporarily put out of action, can be used again for our own ends when the lost territory has been recovered. The enemy will leave us nothing but scorched earth when he withdraws, without paying the slightest regard to the population. I therefore order:"1) All military transport and communication facilities, industrial establishments and supply depots, as well as anything else of value within Reich territory, which could in any way be used by the enemy immediately or within the foreseeable future for the prosecution of the war, will be destroyed."
Actions
The
decree was in vain. The responsibility for carrying it out fell on Albert Speer,
Hitler's Minister of Armaments and War Production. Speer was appalled by the
order and lost faith in the dictator. Just as von Choltitz had several months
earlier, Speer deliberately failed to carry out the order. Upon receiving it,
he requested to be given exclusive power to implement the plan, instead using
his power to convince the generals and Gauleiters to ignore the order.
Hitler remained unaware of this until the very end of the war, when Speer
admitted to him that he deliberately disobeyed. Hitler, then confined to his
bunker in Berlin, was angry with his minister, but there was little he could do
at that point. Hitler committed suicide on April 30, 1945, 42 days after
issuing the order. Shortly afterwards, on May 7, 1945, General Alfred Jodl
signed the German military surrender, and on May 23 Speer was arrested on the
orders of U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower, together with the rest
of the provisional German government led by Admiral Karl
Dönitz, Hitler's successor as head of state.
No comments:
Post a Comment