Instructions to military commanders in the west that the commando order remains in force after the Allied landing in France, and that Allied soldiers outside the immediate combat area are to be killed if captured, or turned over to the SD

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Authors

Walter Warlimont (general; deputy chief, operations staff of the armed forces)

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Walter Warlimont

German general (1894-1976)

Варлимонт през 1939 г.
  • Born: 1894-10-03 (Osnabrück)
  • Died: 1976-10-09 (Kreuth)
  • Country of citizenship: Germany
  • Occupation: military officer (military rank: general)
  • Member of: High Command of the Armed Forces (since: 1941-01-01)
  • Participant in: Hostages Trial (date: 1947-07-04; role: affiant); Judges' Trial
  • Significant person: Hermann Foertsch (role: colleague, friend); Walter Kuntze
  • Military rank: General of the Artillery

Alfred Jodl (chief of wehrmacht operations staff)

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Alfred Jodl

German general and convicted war criminal (1890-1946)

Alfred Jold
  • 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

Wilhelm Keitel (Field Marshal, Chief of the High Command of the Armed Forces)

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Wilhelm Keitel

German field marshal

el Mariscal Keitel
  • Born: 1882-09-22 (Helmscherode) (country: German Empire; located in the administrative territorial entity: Duchy of Brunswick)
  • Died: 1946-10-16 (Nuremberg) (country: Allied-occupied Germany)
  • Country of citizenship: Germany
  • Occupation: military officer; military personnel; politician
  • Member of political party: Nazi Party
  • Military rank: general field marshal
  • Military branch: artillery
  • VIAF ID: https://viaf.org/viaf/74027425

Oberkommando of the Wehrmacht (OKW) (high command and/or general staff)

Date: 25 June 1944

Literal Title: Subject: Treatment of Kommando Participants.

Defendants: Alfred Jodl, Wilhelm Keitel

Total Pages: 2

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: PS-551

Citation: IMT (page 2189)

HLSL Item No.: 451855

Notes:A note on the second page (by Jodl) states that the order was extended to the Italian front.

Trial Issues

Criminal organizations (Gestapo, Leadership Corps, Cabinet, SS, SD, OKW) (… Partisan fighters (and commandos), operations against, and treatment of (I…

Document Summary

Staff Evidence Analyses

PS-551: Keitel's Order on Execution of Hitler's Order of 18 October 1942 (re Killing of Parachutists) in Normandy. (Top Secret)

Red Series Doc Descriptions

PS-551: Keitel’s top-secret order, 25 June 1944, concerning the application of Hitler’s "commando" order of 18 October 1942 in connection with the allied landing in France. only troops fighting in the area of the bridgehead itself are to be spared immediate annihilation

WFSt/Qu! (Verw. 1)
Chef OKW—[in pencil] of
[initial] J
26 June 1944
TOP SECRET [Rubber Stamp]
5 copies—1st copy Checked before Release Chef WFSt
KR - Teletype
To 1. Supreme Commander West.
2. Chief of Army General Staff.
3. OKL/Lw Fu Stab.
4. OKM/l.Skl.
5. Reichsfuehrer SS—Command Staff.
6. Military Commander, France.
7. Military Commander, Belgium/Northern France.
8. Armed forces Commander, Netherlands.
9. OKW/WR.
10. Supreme Commander Southwest [in pencil].
Reference: 1. Fuehrer Order No. 003830/42 Top Secret of 18 Oct 1942 OKW/WFSt.
2. Teletype Supreme Commander West No. 1750/44 Top Secret of 23 June 1944 (only to OKW/WFSt).
Subject: Treatment of Kommando Participants.
1. Even after the landing of Anglo-Americans in France, the order of the Fuehrer on the destruction of terror and sabotage units of 18 Oct 1942 remains fully in force.
Enemy soldiers in uniform in the immediate combat area of the bridgehead, that is, in the area of the divisions fighting in the most forward lines as well as of the reserves up to the corps commands, according to #5 of the basic order of 18 Oct 1942, remain exempted.
2. All members of terror and sabotage units, found outside the immediate combat area, who include fundamentally all parachutists, are to be killed in combat. In special cases, they are to be turned over to the SD.
3. All troops committed outside the combat area of Normandy are to be informed about the duty to destroy enemy terror and
OB. WFSt
Remark 1
440
55I-PS
sabotage units briefly and succinctly according to the directives issued for it.
4. Supreme Commander West will report immediately daily how many saboteurs have been liquidated in this manner. This applies especially also to undertakings by the military commanders. The number is to be published daily in the armed forces communique to exercise a frightening effect, as has already been done toward previous Kommando undertakings in the same manner.
[Initial] W [Warlimont]
[signature] Keitel OKW/WFSt/Qu. (Verw. 1) Nr. 006688/44 Top Secret
Addition for Supreme Commander Southwest
Similar action is to be taken in the Italian theater of war.
[Written by hand]
[initial] J [Jodi]
After forwarding:
Qu (Verw. 1) Simultaneously teletype—1st copy.
Op (H)—2nd copy.
Op (M)/(L)/Ktb.—3rd copy.
VO Foreign—4th copy.
VO W Pr—5th copy.
Copy was sent on 18 Aug to the Chief of the Security Police and the SD.