Naval War Staff Book No. 1 Naval War Staff la 1601¡bl Most
Secret S.O. Only
' Berlin, the 29th September 1941.
MOST SECRET
Disposal: S. 0. Only Access only through officer
1. Inform by Writing: Group North Naval Liaison Officer to Army Group North Ser. No. 1, Ser. No. 2.
For distribution to: Naval War Staff Section | ?] H. Q. [?] Ser. No. 3.
Subject: Future of St. Petersburg
I. In order to obtain a clear view of the measures to be adopted by the Navy in case St. Petersburg should be occupied or should surrender, the question of further military operations against this city was made clear by the Chief of Staff, Naval War Staff to the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces. The result is reported as follows:
II. The Fuehrer has decided to have St. Petersburg wiped off the face of the earth. The further existence of this large town is of no interest once Soviet Russia is overthrown. Finland has also similarly declared no interest in the continued existence of the city directly on her new frontier.
III. The original demands of the Navy: that the dockyard— harbor—and other installations important to the Navy be preserved, are known to the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces, but in view of the basic principles underlying the operation against St. Petersburg, it is not possible to comply with them.
IV. The intention is to close in on the city and raze it to the ground by bombardments of artillery of all calibres and by continuous air attack.
Requests that the city may be handed over, arising from the situation within, will be turned down, for the problem, of the survival of the population and of supplying it with food is one which cannot and should not be solved by us. In this war for existence, we have no interest in keeping even part of this great city's population. If necessary, a forced evacuation towards the Eastern territories of Russia may take place. [Blue pencil note]
V. The consequences arising from the extinction of St. Petersburg and relating to the measures for organization and personnel, already carried out or held in readiness, will be worked out at Supreme Command and the corresponding guiding principles will then be made known. If any suggestions on this subject are to be made at Group Command, it is requested that they be forwarded at the earliest possible moment to Naval War Staff.
C-124
C-124
[Pencil note: Should the situation develop in a manner contrary to expectation, the necessary organization must be set up afresh, for which purpose there will be time enough, in the present stage of the plans]
Additional note for Naval War Staff Section [ ?] only.
Further modification on the lines of Paragraph V is requested. The point is that forces becoming available should be placed if possible in still more important war-areas where there is need for them (e.g. South Eastern Region).
II. Copy to: lb. Ser. No. 4
III. To I Ops for archives.
Head of Naval War Staff
1/Naval War Staff la
Instructions to army and navy commands on Hitler's decision to destroy St. Petersburg (Leningrad), rather than occupy it, so that the navy's request to occupy the naval facilities there will not be granted
Authors
Adolf Hitler (Fuehrer, Reich Chancellor, Supeme Commander of Wehrmacht)
Adolf Hitler
Austrian nationalized German politician, leader of the National Socialist party and dictator of Germany (1889-1945)
- Born: 1889-01-01 1889-04-20 (Braunau am Inn) (country: Austria-Hungary; located in the administrative territorial entity: Archduchy of Austria above the Enns; statement is subject of: Adolf-Hitler-Geburtshaus)
- Died: 1945-04-30 (Berlin Führerbunker) (country: Nazi Germany; located in the administrative territorial entity: Berlin; statement is subject of: death of Adolf Hitler)
- Country of citizenship: Cisleithania (period: 1889-04-20 through 1918-11-11); First Republic of Austria (period: 1919-01-01 through 1925-04-30); Nazi Germany (end cause: death of Adolf Hitler; period: 1933-01-30 through 1945-04-30); Republic of German-Austria (period: 1918-01-01 through 1919-01-01)
- Occupation: painter (statement is subject of: paintings by Adolf Hitler); political writer; politician (reason for preferred rank: generally used form); soldier
- Member of political party: German Workers' Party (period: 1919-09-12 through 1921-07-11); Nazi Party (series ordinal: 556)
- Member of: Nazi Party
- Participant in: Aktion T4; Beer Hall Putsch; The Holocaust; ethnic cleansing
- Significant person: Albert Speer; Benito Mussolini; Eva Braun; Joseph Stalin
Date: 29 September 1941
Literal Title: Subject: Future of St. Petersburg.
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: C-124
Citation: IMT (page 10016)
HLSL Item No.: 453034
Notes:C 124 was entered as USSR exhibit 113.