20.3 1945 - Nero's order

When the end of the war approached, Hitler thought he would destroy everything. He signed the so-called Nero Order, which ordered the destruction of all strategic buildings. It was to be carried out by Albert Speer, who only carried out the order under the guise of...

Nero's order took effect on March 20, 1945 (some say March 18 or 19). Hitler practically ordered the total destruction of Germany. "All military, transport, communication, economic and supply facilitiesas well as material goods on Reich territory must be destroyed," the order read. Hitler also ordered all locks, dam weirs, canal bridges and port facilities to be blown up....rip out all power lines, raze all banks and remaining cultural monuments.

But Germany was short of resources, and so this plan was not fully implemented. Hitler's supplies were simply exhausted. "Theodor Morell, a physician, even had to tell the Führer on 8 April 1945 that he had run out of Vitamultine. He now gave him injections of whatever they still had in stock. These were obscure substances such as strophantose I and II, benerva forte, betabion forte, omnadine or hastily requisitioned remaining supplies. Substances one had hardly ever heard of were suddenly being injected on a daily basis," Norman Ohler writes in his book Total Rausch: Drugs in the Third Reich.

By issuing Nero's order, Hitler wanted Germany to pay for its failure to try to take over the world. It was to fall along with the Nazi regime and its leader. Hitler even later ordered that any man who put a white flag on his dwelling be shot. At the same time, Germans were not allowed to stay in territories that had been acquired by the Allies.

Overseeing the execution of the order was to be Hitler's chief architect and Minister of War and Armaments, Albert Speer. He himself asked Hitler to be given the authority to execute the plan. He then persuaded the generals to ignore the order.

"Hitler did not learn that his orders had been disobeyed until the very end, when Speer confessed to him that he had deliberately disobeyed his instructions. Speer knew it was time to end the fighting. But the madman wanted to go ahead and kill everyone," writes Dag Heward-Mills in The Good General.

Hitler named the order after Emperor Nero, to whom the fire of Rome in 64 AD is attributed. Speer only carried out the order "in appearance". According to him, the scorched earth tactic had absolutely no meaning for Germany. When asked about the demolition of power and water plants, he even replied to the local leader that the Führer's order was rescinded and that temporary decommissioning would suffice. As for military buildings, he touched on the demolition of only a few.

Sources: Norman Ohler: Total Rausch - Drugs in the Third Reich, Dag Heward-Mills: The Good General, www.rallypoint.com