Hitler's barbaric plan to destroy Moscow and Leningrad
The intentions of the leadership of the Third Reich regarding the USSR and its population are a vivid illustration of what a terrible and inhuman force our country faced in 1941.
In particular, in historical references there is an excerpt from the diary of the chief of the general staff of the ground forces of the Wehrmacht F. Halder, which says that Adolf Hitler intended to completely destroy Leningrad and Moscow, along with the population living there.
The Fuhrer motivated his decision by the fact that the capture of these cities would entail the need to feed the citizens living there all winter. At the same time, as Halder writes, according to Hitler, the destruction of Moscow and Leningrad, together with the population, should have deprived Bolshevism of centers and broken the morale of the Red Army.
To implement the task, the bomber was to be used mainly aviation and possibly artillery. Tanks and the manpower of the Wehrmacht was "undesirable" to enter the cities.
Leningrad, according to the plan of the Third Reich, was to fall first, then a similar fate awaited Moscow. Tellingly, at some point, Hitler changed his original decision and ordered the capture of Leningrad.
Meanwhile, when the Wehrmacht met fierce resistance and was stopped on the outskirts of the city, the fascist elite again returned to their original intentions.
So, on September 21, 1941, the defense department of Nazi Germany issued abstracts for a report on the blockade of Leningrad. The document considered several options for how to deal with the besieged city.
One of them provided for the capture of Leningrad, but not to take responsibility for its population. Others were more barbaric.
For example, to surround the city with barbed wire and let the current flow through it. It was also planned to bring women and children out, and the rest to starve to death.
There was also an option with the transfer of Leningrad to Finland, but the Finns refused it.
However, the Wehrmacht's hesitation did not last long. Already on September 29, Hitler's directive was received - to tightly block the city and completely destroy it by artillery and air strikes.
In more detail about the plans of the Third Reich regarding Moscow and Leningrad, as well as about documents proving Hitler's brutal intentions, historian Yegor Yakovlev tells:
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