Figure 1.--The NAZIs as they were driven west by the Red Army did not just destroy factories, mines, rail lines, and bridges. They destroyed swelings, hospitals, and schools leaving a wasteland in their wake. There were also inumerable actions involving the murder of civilians. A common tactic was to heard civilians into a church and then burn down the church. There were also many shootings. Some of this was done by the SS, but much of it was carried out by the Wehrmacht. One such action occurred at Zhlobin. The Germans shot 2,500 civilians including women and children.

The Soviet Winter offensive before Moscow startled the NAZIs (December 1941). Although not widely preceived at the time, the losses sustained by the Wehrmact were of such an order that many on the general staff realized that Germany would be unable to win the War. For the first time in World War II, areas conquuered by the Germans were liberated. A furious Adolf Hitler issued scoarched earth orders of his own to his commanders. The result was enormous property destruction. This was not only facilities linked to the war effort like factories, mines, communications lines, and other productive facilities, but dwelings, schools, and hospitals. The result was a wasteland. And it did not stop here. German soldiers in countless towns and villages carried out actions against civilians. This was done rotinely by the SS, but regulasr Wehrmacht units were also involved. The Commander of the Army Group South in the Ukraine issued a "Top Secret" Memorandum (December 22, 1941). "The following concept of the Fuehrer is to be made known ... to all commanders ... " "Each area that has to be abandoned to the enemy must be made completely unfit for his use. Regardless of its inhabitants every locality must be burned down and destroyed to deprive the enemy of accomodation facilities ... the localities left intact have to be subsequently ruined by the air force." [Kondufor, p. 172.] German actions were not limited to the destruction of property. The Germans retreating from villages drove villagers into churches and then burned the churches. These actions were not just the work of the SS, but regular Wehrmacht units. The retreat from the the eastern Ukraine began with the fall of Stalingrad (February 1943). The defeat at Kursk (July-August 1943) meant that the western Ukraine would have to be abandoned. The NAZIs intensified their destruction. SS leader Henrich Reinhard Himmler ordered SS-Obergruppenfuehrer Prutzmann "to leave behind in Ukraine not a single person, no cattle, not a ton of grain, not a railroad track ... The enemy must find a country totally burned and destroyed" (September 7, 1943), [Bezymenski p. 38.] The Wehrmascht as it retreated west destroyed 18,414 miles of railroad track. Mines were flooded and otherwuse destroyed, factories that the Soviets had left standing were blown up. Efforts were also made to make it impoosible for the Siviet people to survive. Wells were poisoned and over two million dwellings and other uildings were burned or destroyed. The Ukraine was devestated. The Germans "razed and burned over 28,000 villages and 714 cities and towns, leaving 10,000,000 people without shelter. More than 16,000 industrial enterprises, more than 200,000 industrial production sites, 27,910 collective and 872 state farms, 1,300 machine and tractor stations, and 32,930 general schools, vocational secondary schools and higher educational institutions of Ukraine had been destroyed. The direct damage to the Ukrainian national economy caused by the fascist [Nazi German] occupation came to 285,000,000,000 rubles..." [Bazhan, p. 155.]

Sources

Bezymenski

Kondufor, Yu. ed. History Teaches a Lesson (Kiev: 1986). Document no. 119.

Bazhan, M.P. ed. Soviet Ukraine (Kiev: Editorial Office of the Ukrainian Soviet Encyclopedia, Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, 1969). 569 p.

Created: 4:49 AM 3/25/2005
Last updated: 4:50 AM 3/25/2005