MOST SECRET
Supreme Command of the Armed Forces. No. 44 1675/41 Most Secret S.O. only, Ops. Staff of the Armed Forces /L (I Ops.)
Fuehrer's Hq, 7 Oct 41.
S.O. ONLY Access only through officer
14 copies 2nd copy
Reference: Army Supreme Command (Ops. Section) No. 41 244/ 41 Most Secret dated 18 Sep 41
Naval Supreme Command, ops. 1690/41
Received: 7.10. Enclosures: Please submit
[pencil note: by I a I f.] ,
[illegible markings]
I.ops [?] conference [?] with Group North etc. supplementary to our note regarding Petersburg [?] Ia [initials] [Almost illegible marginal note in pencil]
To Army Supreme Command (ops. Section)
The Fuehrer has again decided that a capitulation of Leningrad or later of Moscoiv is not to be accepted even if offered by the enemy. .
The moral justification for this measure is clear to the whole world. Just as in Kiev, our troops were subject to extreme danger through explosions with time-fuses, the same must be expected to a still greater degree in Moscow and Leningrad. The Soviet radio itself has broadcast that the foundations of Leningrad were mined and the city would be defended to the last man.
Extreme danger of epidemics is to be expected.
Therefore no German soldier is to enter these cities. Anyone who tries to leave the city through our lines is to be forced to return under fire.
The exodus of the population through the smaller, unguarded gaps towards the interior of Russia to be allowed. Before all other cities are taken, they are to be softened up by artillery fire and airraids and their population forced to flee.
We cannot take the responsibility of endangering our soldiers' lives by fire in order to save Russian cities, nor that of feeding the population of these cities at the expense of the German homeland. -C— 123
The chaos in Russia will be all the greater; our administration and utilization of the occupied Eastern territories all the simpler the more the population of the cities of Soviet Russia flees to the interior of the country.
All commanding officers must be acquainted with this desire of the Fuehrer. (Leaving things as we find them and of course the purification of the population by reindoctrination would certainly relieve us to some extent of problems regarding the labor we may expect. Therefore it is to be supposed that the above ruling refers to the majority but not to the whole of the population.) [Red pencil note.]
Chief of Supreme Command of the Armed Forces
By Order
Checked and found correct [illegible notations]
Signed: Jodi. FALK
Captain, General Staff
[pencil note:]
(Naval War Staff Book No. 1/Naval War Staff I ops. 1690/41 Most Secret S.O. only.
Berlin, 11 Oct 41.
1. Inform by writing: Group North Naval Liaison Officer to Army Group North. Ser. No. 1. Ser. No. 2. Kapitaen zur See Weygold. No.: Naval War Staff section [ ?] Ser. No. 3.
Subject: Future of the cities of Leningrad and Moscow.
As supplement to Naval War Staff Book No. 1/Naval War Staff I c 1601/1 Most Secret S.O. only dated 29 Sep 41 the following instruction, of the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces to the Supreme Commander, Army is made known:
" [?] (bis) aus Eingang"
II) Copy to lb. Ser. No. 4.
HI) [?] of Reconnaissance Force [?] with I ops.
Distribution: Naval Supreme Command (Ops. Section 1st copy, Naval Supreme Command (2/Naval War Staff) 2nd copy, Air Supreme Command—Air Ops. Staff 3rd copy, Supreme Command of the Armed Forces, Oprs. Staff Armed Forces 4th copy, Section L Copies 5-8, Armed Forces Propaganda 9th copy, Foreign Defense 10th copy, Foreign Section 11th copy, Economics Supply Office 12th copy, Reserve Copies 13-14.
930
Instruction to the army not to accept a Soviet surrender of Leningrad or Moscow, but to allow the inhabitants to evacuate to the east, and German soldiers are not to enter those cities
Authors
Alfred Jodl (chief of wehrmacht operations staff)
Alfred Jodl
German general and convicted war criminal (1890-1946)
- Born: 1890-05-10 (Würzburg)
- Died: 1946-10-16 (Nuremberg)
- Country of citizenship: German Reich; Kingdom of Bavaria; Weimar Republic
- Occupation: military personnel; politician
- Member of political party: Nazi Party
- Participant in: International Military Tribunal (role: defendant)
- Military rank: Generaloberst
- Military branch: artillery
Date: 07 October 1941
Defendant: Alfred Jodl
Total Pages: 3
Language of Text: English
Source of Text: Nazi conspiracy and aggression (Office of United States Chief of Counsel for Prosecution of Axis Criminality. Washington, D.C. : U.S. Government Printing Office, 1946.)
Evidence Code: C-123
HLSL Item No.: 452044
Notes:A copy of C 123 was entered as USSR exhibit 114. This copy was not entered in the UK case against Jodl. Jodl's message was based on a decision by Hitler.