hitler's third reich was rapidly
crumbling before his very eyes
the vast empire that had once spanned
from tripoli to rome to kiev was now
shrinking drawing ever so close to
berlin
also paris was still under nazi control
but not for long
allied forces were advancing through
france and the population in the city of
lights was ardently revolting against
its nazi occupiers
hitler by now a mere shell of the man he
had been just a few years before was
visibly ill vehemently paranoic and was
determined to turn paris into dust
before anyone else could have it
the dictator also had the perfect man in
mind for such a grim task and his name
was dietrich von holtz
[Music]
a soldier from a military family who
never questioned orders van holtitz was
amply experienced with germany's
scorched earth policy having raised
several cities on the eastern front
as such hitler approved von holtetz as
the military governor of paris and on
august 23rd he received a terrifying
order from the fearer quote
paris must not pass into the enemy's
hands except as a field of ruins
the directive was clear
van holtitz had to bring down the eiffel
tower burn notre dame and the invalid
blow up the 65 bridges of paris and turn
its museums and palaces to rubble before
withdrawing from the city
it is said that as the allies surrounded
the french capital and his men awaited
orders to once again raise a city before
fleeing but holtets felt overwhelmed
with remorse and decided to disobey an
order for the first time in his life
even if it came directly from adolf
hitler
[Music]
a broken hitler
general dietrich von holtes had met
adolf hitler once before
during a summer 1943 conference on the
russian front they had spent time
together among several high-ranking
officers reportedly the young aristocrat
officer had been appalled by the
dictator's lack of table manners during
a meal but was otherwise mesmerized by
the formidable personality and
contagious confidence the fuhrer
displayed
hence van holtis was visibly ecstatic
when the fuhrer personally summoned him
a year later to be assigned an important
task
the officer had reasons to expect good
news he was just arriving from three
years of distinguished service on the
russian front
bonhoefts came from a long lineage of
prussian military tradition
he had been bred to respect military
hierarchy and value obedience overall
along with his strategic wit such traits
brought him success leading the german
invasion force into holland in the
spring of 1940 where he commanded the
bomber formations the pulverized
rotterdam before the city had a chance
to surrender
later in the july 1942 seas of
sevastopol bonholte's regiment was so
devastated that he forced russian
prisoners of war to carry shells and
load the guns being used against their
brothers
he was severely wounded but he clung to
his life even when most other german
soldiers in his unit perished
a year later von holtz obediently
enacted the fuhrer's scorched earth
policy in the east making sure that the
advancing soviets found nothing but
smoldering rubble in the wake of the
retreating wehrmacht
for van holtitz his obedience and
dedication were about to be rewarded
but in the fuhrer's eyes the officer was
a ruthless city burner which was
precisely what he needed for this
operation
von holtetz would later reflect on the
unfortunate circumstances that turned
him into a destroyer obsidius quote
since sevastopol it has been my fate to
cover the retreat of our armies and
destroy the cities behind them
as van holtz entered the wolf's lair on
august 6 he was suddenly confronted by a
completely different hitler to the one
he fondly remembered
renowned historian and biographer gene
edward smith described the dreadful
encounter quote as soon as he saw the
fuhrer van holtis realized the war was
lost
before him was quote an old bent over
flabby man with thinning grey hair a
trembling physically demolished human
being
hitler was furious and nonsensical
constantly ranting about his generals
and cursing the recent attempt on his
life
the dictator spoke in abusive language
while reportedly spitting froth out of
his mouth and drops of sweat trickled
down his face while he spoke vigorously
about the execution of the generals
vonholditz recalled quote i saw in front
of me someone who had lost his mind
the fact that the life of our nation was
in the hands of an insane being who
could no longer judge the situation or
was unwilling to see it realistically
depressed me immensely
the general emerged from that meeting as
the new military governor of paris but
the title meant little to him
it was clear that the war effort was
hopeless that hitler was insane and that
his assignment was just yet another
scorched earth task
draconian measures
a completely disillusioned von holtetz
boarded a train to berlin to briefly see
his wife uberta his daughters maria
angelica and anna barbara and his infant
son timo
while on the train he had a chance
encounter with ss reich's leader robert
lay the german workers front leader
conversing over cigars they traded news
in their dealings of the past few days
and lay told his comrade of a new law
that had been issued by hitler that very
afternoon
the zipenhaft law inspired by the bomb
plot on hitler's life essentially made
hostages of the families of front-line
soldiers and officers
if a german soldier deserted committed
treason disobeyed or simply performed
poorly his next of kin risked being
executed by the third reich
the news pushed the already disheartened
bun holtets over the edge the two recent
meetings had completely thrown his world
upside down and his life of blind
obedience suddenly felt so apparent and
meaningless
a city in chaos
when van holtz arrived in paris to
assume his new position he quickly
learned how dire and complex the
situation in the city was
on the one hand general dwight
eisenhower's troops were drawing close
to the town and the liberation assault
was expected to commence any day now
on the other hand vonholtitz only had
about 20 000 men at his disposal and the
approaching american troops were not his
only problem
paris was in violent turmoil communist
rebels had risen up against the german
occupiers and they were unleashing a
gorilla campaign on the streets of paris
to make matters worse he and his group
of loyalists were also rapidly gaining
power and being pressured by the public
to establish an independent government
in the city
unbeknownst to paris's military governor
general eisenhower debated whether to
liberate paris now or postpone the
battle
paris mayor pierre charles tattense was
pressuring the general to act as soon as
possible to avoid paris falling into a
communist regime but the allies knew
that if they sent troops to paris now
their overall liberation efforts in
france would suffer a severe setback
the situation in the french capital was
a ticking bomb with a violent race to
see which faction would seize power
sooner the allies the communists were
the gallest forces
longholtec stood amid this chaos while
constantly being pressured to raise the
city
then on august 17th the german general
received an urgent telegraph from field
marshal gunter von kluge that read quote
i gave the order for the neutralization
and destruction envisaged for paris
german engineers had already started to
prepare for the destruction of paris and
many of the city's bridges had already
been set up with explosives while they
had stored significant amounts of u-boat
torpedoes in the underground tunnels
that could be triggered when the order
was given
despite some historians reports that von
holtetz didn't have the men and
resources necessary to destroy the city
the germans had already mined the cellar
of leian belides with enough explosives
to blow up the french army museum as
well as the military art gallery 400
year old barracks and napoleon
bonaparte's tomb
furthermore on august 23rd four ss
engineers inspected the support of the
eiffel tower looking for the best spots
to place charges
[Music]
the plan was well in motion to destroy
the city of lights
all that was needed now was vonholtz's
order
the moment of truth
as perez descended into madness and
savagery with communist rebels attacking
more and more german soldiers
and the already dwindling nazi troops
being reassigned to the south of the
city expecting the allied incursion van
holtz found himself facing unbearable
pressure to begin the destruction of
paris
then in a mind-blowing outburst
vonholtitz put his and his family's
lives on the line by lying to the chief
of staff of army group b henry
lieutenant han spidel and informing him
that the city's devastation had already
begun
as he spoke the city's military governor
secretly hoped that the allies would
liberate the city as soon as possible
meanwhile not wanting to leave the
entirety of the task to van ghottitz
hitler also ordered the luftwaffe to
bombard the city
however unhalted fought back commanding
to halt the attack on the pretense that
the raid would hit numerous german
positions
the allied top brass had hesitated for
months whether to invade paris or
continue liberating the rest of france
moving on to paris meant saving it from
the nazi's scorched earth policy but at
the cost of risking delaying the
liberation of the rest of the country
before the winter months
still as if you could hear of unholton's
plea
general eisenhower finally decided to
liberate paris after continuous pressure
from the city's mayor and godless
representatives who convinced him that
the city would either be destroyed or
fall to communist rebels if he didn't
act now
the allied troops then advanced
practically unopposed through the weak
german defenses as the fewer than twenty
thousand demoralized men defending the
city mostly surrendered at the sight of
the american forces
aftermath
while the allied advance was taking
place von holtz did all he could to
stall the city's destruction and only a
few bridges were blown up with most
landmarks remaining intact
u.s forces soon entered the governor's
office where van halted ceremonially
surrendered to the allies to be taken as
a prisoner of war
then as he was taken out of the building
allied soldiers had to protect him from
being lynched by the furious parisian
mobs who had no idea what he had just
done
despite the colossal historical value of
liberating paris eisenhower's decision
came at a high cost
allied oil reserves had been exhausted
and the german forces that escaped
reached the protection of the zigfried
line
the western front would stagnate for
several months as winter drew close and
there would be brutal carnage in
hurricane forest
meanwhile the british would be
obliterated at arnauma followed by the
battle of the bulge
what's more innumerable innocent people
would continue perishing in
concentration camps while awaiting
allied liberation
it was a terrible price to pay to save
one of the most important cities in
europe
throughout the decades many experts
disputed von holtes's role as the
so-called savior of paris stating that
the man nearly clung to the idea in
order to save face as the third reich
crumbled into pieces and adding that by
the time he was given the order to go on
with the attack he had little resources
left to execute the command
still other accounts describe many
parisian landmarks as already being
rigged for detonation and von holtes
himself claimed to have saved the city
till the day he passed
but
if for this first time i disobeyed an
order
it was because i knew hitler was crazy
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