Destroy Paris: Hitler's Raging Plan to Detonate the French Capital | Witness | WWII Documentary

in August 1944 when Paris was about to be liberated after four long years of occupation Hitler gave the order to destroy the City by blowing up Bridges and monuments Legend has it that a German general commander of Paris di F choltitz deliberately disobeyed the fura to save the ancient city that Hitler wanted to wipe off the [Music] map this version of how Paris was rescued was recounted by the General in his Memoirs written in 1950 an amazing story which has been embraced by literature and Cinema and nourished the imaginations of several Generations in France it has to be said it is a great story perhaps a little too great what were Hitler's secret plans to find out the truth we have to delve into the myth and exume and investigate forgotten archives to find evidence of what really happened at the end of 1944 [Music] [Music] in June 1940 France surrendered the impact was Global Paris had fallen it was declared an open City and was surrendered to the enemy with no defense to avoid its destruction [Music] at dawn on the 14th of June the Germans marched into the City and flew the swastika from the top of the Eiffel [Music] Tower 21 years after the humiliation of the Treaty of Versailles in 1918 Germany took its revenge at the end of the month Hitler came to admire his new conqu Quest Paris a brief visit in 2 and 1 half hours the fura went from Monument to Monument in a practically deserted [Music] City Paris fascinated him but what fate did he have in store for it in mine he expresses hate and Scorn for the French the mortal enemy he writes trivial superficial who showed that they were in capable of winning the war alone in 1918 in a word the enemy who must be [Music] defeated in Hitler's eyes Paris could only be crushed or destroyed and that is what he ordered four years later to understand the myth of the declared destruction of Paris we must first look at the Memoirs of a German general we are in August 1944 for the Nazis the situation has changed a lot since Hitler's visit in June [Music] 1940 the Soviets have advanced West to the center of Poland the Allies have landed in Normandy and are Marching East Hitler appoints an unknown General the commander of the feston gr Paris division at the beginning of August his name is di fon choltitz but who is this officer and where is he [Music] fromant F chich was highly trusted by Hitler and in early August 1944 this was important 2 weeks earlier the fura had escaped an attack organized by vak officers who wanted to kill him and overthrow the Nazi regime after that he increasingly shut himself away and more than ever kept a tight control over military operations [Music] the cleansing which followed this attack left 5,000 dead the General in Paris who was implicated in the plot would end up hanging from a butcher's hook dietr V choltitz was appointed to replace him by Hitler in p he wasn't involved in the plot against the fura he was a faithful and disciplined General [Music] in reality Fon choltitz wasn't quite the humanist that the legend claims him to be he was entirely zealous and showed himself to be merciless as a leftenant colonel in 1940 he disregarded Holland's neutrality by attacking Rotterdam he totally destroyed the city center after the Dutch had already surrendered [Music] in 1942 at the siege of sevastopol he contributed towards the killing of tens of thousands of civilians and ordered the use of the kared the largest piece of artillery ever [Music] built he left nothing but ruins this was the ruthless man to whom Hitler gave full control of the festone gr Paris division it was his first experience of the capital [Music] [Music] Fon Chet's mission was of utmost [Music] [Applause] importance Paris was a vital Hub of communication as far as Ruan all the bridges over the sand had been demolished by allite bombings after D-Day [Music] on the 9th of August Fon choltitz took up Residence at l morce a luxury hotel located on R de RI in front of the T Garden upon his arrival he noted that the atmosphere in the capital could complicate his mission [Music] [Music] the summer of 19 1944 was the subject of other Memoirs in addition to that of Fon choltitz like those left by a diplomat who was the Swedish Consul in Paris at the time Raul nordling Legend has it that he is the man who persuaded the general to spare the capital written just after the war but published in the 2000s go ning's Memoirs lead us a few steps away from L morce hotel to the Cirus W as its president the consul met anybody who was anybody in Paris there the neutrality of his country and the world conflict gave nordling a unique position and makes him a valuable witness in his account he reports on the parisians mood when the general arrived [Music] for The Echoes of D-Day the victories of the Allies in Normandy mixed with the scarcity and fear of retaliation gradually SWS a spirit of Revolt among the population chaos slowly breaks out on the 19th of August 10 days after Fon chalit's arrival the goal lists and the Communist resistance sent out a call for Rebellion seeing the French flag flying on the police headquarters opposite notra Dam parisians understood that the situation had changed it all escalated very [Music] quickly everywhere in the city members of the resistance stormed public buildings from then on parisians and Germans clashed from roofs porches windows and through apartment blocks shots are heard and fighting breaks [Music] out danger is [Music] everywhere in the streets the number of barricades increases erected by a determined population [Music] r [Music] [Applause] [Music] in Normandy the German Army collapses in the face of the Allied offensive under pressure from the general staff of the resistance and general ler the US High command agreed to change their plans and let the French second Armored Division move towards the [Music] capital on hearing this news from France Hitler enters one of his legendary rages Fon choltitz re receives many telephone calls from the furas headquarters he is commanded to restore order it is said that on the 23rd of August at 11:00 in the morning an encrypted telegram coming directly from the fura staff arrives at luris it is an absolute and indisputable order parest must not fall into the hands of the enemy and if it does it should be nothing but ruins if an original copy of this order still exists we will need to look for it on the other side of the Ryme the German military archives are kept in fryberg and brow in the southwest of Germany five buildings 55 linear kilometers of archives conserving Prussian and German military history since the middle of the 19th century the historian bhut kruna will conduct this search for evidence among hundreds of thousands of reports registers and maps indexed in the files after a thorough search Hitler's order is finally [Music] discovered it shows the fur's intentions unequivocally [Music] [Music] for [Music] is for [Music] [Music] [Music] in his Memoirs F choltitz writes with a laudable Zeal the sections made the necessary preparations to be able at zero hour to blow every everything up was he telling the truth how can we know what in the capital was really set to blow were Paris Bridges full of explosives had the Germans really set mines along the metal sides of the Eiffel [Music] Tower despite hours spent Consulting and analyzing the AR records on site in Fry book and bral there were no clues in the documents giving any information on this matter where is the answer on further investigation we discover that after the liberation of Paris teams of bomb disposal experts thoroughly went over the city to inspect potentially mined buildings this work must certainly have generated reports but where could they be after after weeks of research the police headquarters confirms that they have these reports at their Central laboratory in 1944 this institution was already in charge of safety missions related to explosive substances it's not easy to get access to this discreet branch of the police for this investigation the historian and former General inspector ludolf was granted access to this secure s some of the documents housed in the laboratory archives are [Music] classified fortunately those from 1944 have exceeded the 60-year restriction period and are finally available for [Music] amongst all of these documents that were caught up in the war it's nothing short of a miracle to find this report rep from the 9th of September 1944 2 weeks after the events it's written by the head of the laboratory himself Professor HRI Moro will this document finally provide proof of exactly what bomb disposal really took place in [Music] Paris for [Music] [Music] [Music] in addition to these three buildings the telephone exchanges the ministry of the Navy the gardu bour and the pan clue were mined and that report tells us even more it seems that other buildings had been prepared to be late with explosives [Music] centers of political power stations Bridges but the other Revelation from this archive is that none of the monuments that we so feared could have been destroyed were mined [Music] what does this random and partial mining of the city [Music] mean for [Music] from the 22nd of August more than 600 barricades block the movements of the occupying forces who have to retreat there's no possibility for them to continue laying mines or to get close enough to the mines that are already in place to detonate [Music] them [Music] [Applause] for and for but there is even more overwhelming evidence of the General's lies which demonstrates his real desire to destroy the capital's important landmarks a document which proves that Fon choltitz was requesting reinforcements to destroy Paris until the very last [Music] moment year here [Music] general font choltitz was short of soldiers in theory he had a Garrison of 15 to 20,000 men in Paris and its suburbs but they were not all fit for combat there were general staff older soldiers administrative personnel and a lot of female [Music] staff the reinforcements requested by Fon choltitz would never arrive the Allies were at the capital skates in his Memoirs F choltitz claims that he attempted the impossible to save Paris from destruction now the truth is uncovered in reality it was the uprising of the parisians and the lack of human and material resources that prevented him from turning Paris into [Music] ruins as far as rul noling is concerned the Swedish Consul who often met the commander of the Fon gr Paris division he never mentions in his account that they had any conversations about saving the city of light nordling met with the general five times at l morice in order to urge him not to carry out any reprisals against the population the parisians were well aware of the massacres at V Dusk and orur surlan that had taken place a few weeks earlier and feared the worst foran [Music] [Music] [Music] Fon choltitz didn't hesitate for long two days after Hitler's order General L clar arrived in Paris with the second Armored Division through the Porton there would be no Massacre of parisians Fon chald surrendered after one last fight for honor at La morice he was taken to the police headquarters which today are still the private Apartments of the chief of police it was in this room identical to how it is now that he met with General lar officers of the resistance and members of the pro visional government to sign on this small table his act of surrender [Music] this meeting took place behind closed doors with no journalists or photographers however one photo was presented by the newspapers as being the photograph of this [Music] event for [Music] [Music] [Music] as a prisoner of the Allies di Fon choltitz was never charged with war crimes he was freed after two years in prison during which he began to write his own Legend [Music] after a week of insurrection and fighting Paris miraculously comes out intact after a war which had destroyed so many [Music] [Applause] cities you might have thought that the liberation of Paris would end Hitler's destructive desires yet this wasn't the case quite the [Music] opposite contrary to what has remained in people's Memories the thread that had hung over Paris for month did not vanish with General Deal's parade with the r on its last breath destroying Paris remained an obsession for the fura the archives reveal that he tried three more times to obliterate it three attempts that history does not [Music] remember research carried out at the military archives in fryberg covered an unpublished document that revealed a previously unknown threat [Music] when it was announced that the commandant of the Fest gr Paris division had surrendered the fura decided to use his secret Arsenal using these weapons to carry out a terrible Revenge was his last attempt to regain control of the war by terrorizing the people hidden by vegetation on Mount Alo in the pakal a huge underground bunker covered with a dome was built from 1943 to act as a launching pad for these new weapons this conrete giant is now a museum that houses the first of these secret weapons the famous V1 the first long-range missile in the history of aeronautics [Music] [Applause] [Music] England had already been suffering under a deluge of v1s for over 2 months Every Day 70 were bombarding the city causing thousands of casualties [Music] and this was the weapon of mass destruction that Hitler ordered to be fired at Paris on the 26th of August the day when General deal would be parading through a jubil in [Music] Paris this matter is practically unknown there is just one mantion of it in invasion 44 the Memoirs of the chief of staff of the army Group West General Hans spidel at the time he was at raand dulu which was 90 square kilm of militarized Zone north of swason in marival 475 reinforced concrete bunkers including the largest German Communication Center [Music] this is where General spidle second in command of army Group B receives the order from Berlin fors [Music] in the 1930s Hans spidel was sent to Paris as military atache to the German ambassador he returned 2 years later under the occupation and it was him who organized Hitler's visit in 1940 [Music] [Applause] in his Memoirs spidal writes that he didn't pass on the order and Paris was safed [Music] in this case Legend would have got the wrong General the hero would have been Hans spidel and not Dion schit but we must be suspicious of stories that are too good to be true the [Applause] for we will never know if spidel was telling the truth in his Memoirs but whether or not he passed it on Hitler's order was impossible to carry out [Music] once again the capital escapes unaware of these threats parisians are euphoric about The Liberation their celebrations are [Music] shortlived the same day at 11:00 p.m. as if in response to the festivities the bomb Sirens suddenly sound [Music] [Music] all night the L vaffa drops bombs at random at Daybreak the feeling of freedom is long gone hundreds of buildings are destroyed the bisha hospital the AL in the center of Paris the mar District the B Park but also the suburbs B Monro and so [Music] for but the Lu vafer has been decimated by the Battle of Normandy and is unable to repeat its Air [Music] Raids despite the 200 killed and 1,000 injured this bombing will disappear from collect [Music] [Music] memory in everyone's Minds however from the 26th of August 1944 the threat of retaliation was very real once again 2 weeks later on the 8th of September an explosion destroyed 60 houses an entire neighborhood in the town of Meson alfor less than 10 km outside of Paris damage that was hardly believable for a single explosion lefigaro reported on the incident describing unexpected debris which indicated that a device superior to the V1 had been used HRI moru the director of the central laboratory who had been tasked with bomb clearing in the capital went to the scene he made a detailed report of his findings the search for this classified report took us to The Archives of the ministry of Defense in the heart of the chatau de vanen the historian moari knows just where to find it amongst the Maze of these millions of [Music] documents Professor moru described in detail his thoughts on the damage but it is the survivors testimonies that open his eyes they recount that they didn't hear any sound or see any aircraft pass pass in [Music] over and for good reason the French Capital had just had the privilege of being the target of the first ballistic missile in history the V2 rocket danat kruna found the first tegram from Hitler regarding this rocket the fur's orders are direct [Music] the V2 is a revolution ution a rocket that flies at a speed of 5,000 kmph it only takes it 5 minutes to cover the 300 km that separate the launch site in Belgium from Paris faster than the speed of sound it is totally silent and impossible to intercept for Hitler it was the miracle weapon that would Mark a turning point in the war in early October 1944 V2 bombing of Paris resumed and would affect many towns [Music] in 4 days 22 municipalities in the Paris region were the target of V2s the authorities prepared for the worst but the bombing stopped abruptly from the 6th of October not a single missile was reported in the capital why did Hitler abandon Paris when its destruction was finally in reach [Music] it's once again in fryberg that we find our answer in an order from the verar high command [Music] Hitler seemed to give in to reason in addition his high command has an Unstoppable argu the delivery of the V2s was made almost impossible by the advance of the allies [Music] with the V2 rocket the city of light has never in its history come so close to the risk of Destruction this episode has been erased from our collect active memory why at the end of the war the Allies picked up the V2s technology and engineers and these were the German scientists who would develop the space programs in the United States and the USSR for the fall of Nazism restored Serenity to the capital 20 years later the very real threat from V2 Rockets had been erased from the official story and World opinion is excited about a German general who was the savior of Paris [Music] [Music] [Music] why was one of Hitler's faithful followers the parisians hero on the ruins of Europe the alliances were formed in two blocks west against East torn in the center Germany is a pivotal Point yesterday's enemy becomes a necessary partner [Applause] at the same time the thrilling novel by Dominique laier and Larry Collins is released is Paris burning it was based on the memories of a man whom the authors met and who gives a new face to the historical enemy the bestseller will be followed 2 years later by Rene clemon International Blockbuster a mythus born a falsified account of History reflecting the stakes at play on the new world stage [Music]