Chief of the Command Staff of the Armed Forces ChefWFSt - .
Please direct drafting of order
W [Warlimont-?] K [Keitel] 21 May
Deputy Chief of Command Staff of the Armed Forces.
[note apparently written by Keitel]
Must * * * go to the Reichsfuehrer SS
After a report of the Reichsmarshall [Goering] General Korten makes the following statement: '
[Note: All the above remarks are handwritten.]
Memorandum
The Fuehrer has rendered the following decision in regard to measures to be taken against Anglo-American air crews, in special instances; downed enemy airmen are to be shot without court martial proceedings in the following instances:
1. In the event of the shooting of our own (German) downed air crews while they are parachuting to earth;
2. In the event of aerial attacks upon German planes, which have made emergency landings, and whose crews are in the immediate vicinity;
3. In the event of attacks upon railway trains engaged in public (civilian) transportation;
4. In the event of low-level aerial attacks upon individual civilians (farmers, workers, single vehicles, etc.) [Note-this paragraph was amended to read: In the event of low-level aerial attacks upon civilian population, single civilian vehicles, etc. The words "civilian population" are in Jodi's handwriting.]
[Note on bottom of page referring to item 2: "I consider this point dangerous. For, to attack an airplane which has made an emergency landing, can not be classified as Gangster Method but is in complete agreement with the strictest standards of civilized warfare."]
J. [Jodi]
[Note on left margin: The order should be preceded by a preamble in which the disregard of the most primitive laws—civilization—(balance unintelligible).]
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Memorandum on Hitler's decision on the execution of captured Anglo-American air crews in certain situations, with annotations
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
Korten (general, German air force (1944))
Günther Korten
German Colonel General and Chief of the General Staff of the Luftwaffe in World War II
- Born: 1898-07-26 (Cologne)
- Died: 1944-07-22 (Kętrzyn)
- Country of citizenship: German Reich
- Occupation: aircraft pilot; military personnel
- Military rank: Generaloberst; colonel general; soldier
- Military branch: Luftwaffe
- VIAF ID: https://viaf.org/viaf/316737790
- ISNI: https://isni.org/isni/0000000450980473
Date: 21 May 1944
Literal Title: Memorandum
Defendants: Hermann Wilhelm Goering, Alfred Jodl
Total Pages: 1
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-731
Citation: IMT (page 6239)
HLSL Item No.: 452358
Notes:Korten reported Hitler's decision, and Jodl recorded it and added notes. PS 731 was entered as French exhibit 1407.
Document Summary
PS-731: Note of the WFST on Hitler's instructions on the killing of US-British fliers in special cases
PS-731: Memorandum in the files of the Okw, 21 May 1944, on Hitler’s decision to have English and American airplane crews shot without trial if they have performed certain acts here specified; marginal notes by Jodl