ORDERS IGNORED

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 21755, 3 July 1945, Page 3

ORDERS IGNORED

PARIS DESTRUCTION HITLER’S PLAN FOILED GENERALS’ "DISOBEDIENCE (10 a.m.) NEW YORK, Jrfne 2. Hitler ordered the destruction of Paris last August, but General von Cholitz, the cosmopolitan commander of the city’s garrison, disobeyed his orders. The New York Sun reveals that the Fuhrer ordered the explosion of mines laid under the principal buildings and also the extermination iof as many Frenchmen as possible ’before he abandoned the city. General von Cholitz pretended that he had not sufficient time to carry out the orders. General von Cholitz’s predecessor, ■ General von Boineberg, similarly disobeyed Hitler’s orders to mine Paris’ beautiful bridges. He described the command as “militai’y stupidity” and sent Hitler a document showing that the orders had been Tarried out. The mines, however, actually existed only on paper. The deception was discovered and General von Cholitz was appointed to replace him, but he warned General von Boineberg not to return to Germany as “Hitler hated the generals with sadistic fury and holds us responsible for the Allied victories.” Hitler had General von Cholitz courtmartialled, but the presiding genera! saved him by prolonging the proceedings until the Allies swept across Germany. General von Gholitz and General von Boineberg and other high officers of the Paris garrison were hand-picked aristocrats with a cosmopolitan background.