Barbarossa - The Air Battle - Chapter 17 on atrocities

[Franek Grabowski]

No, we cannot. There is a major difference between incidents and general policy. Concerning 2 TAF, there was indeed a case of a general who said on a briefing to strafe anything that moves to let know every Hausfrau what the war is but it was followed by a written order clearly stating that this does not refer to civilian targets. Thus I have no idea what orders Rod Smith followed.

[Ruy Horta]

Whatever the exact circumstances it is clear by the previous statement that there was some uncertainty with aircrew. At best it was an unclear order. Likewise if a similar directive had been issued by the OKL it would have been regarded as proof of intent, regardless if there had been a counter order. Generally everything on the ground was fair game if it remotely looked like a target (and anything besides if over Germany proper).

Besides there is little in RAF policy that puts such an order out of place. We are talking about the same general policy that aims at bombing the Germans back to the stone age. Strafing a civilian isn't different from bombing him.

[Mirek Wawrzynski]

BTW, I agree with Franek's opinion about Ch. B's. credibility etc.,

I wonder, if he did mention about attrition made by Russian's NKVD prisons in the first weeks of Barbarossa.
Russian had mordered at least 10.000 people there (according own NKVD interenal reports), other calculations estimates this figure for about 15-20.000.
This is important thing, when the first time invading German forces had seen on their eyes about hundred places with bloody mordered. massacred people - prisoners.
There were of course among killed then Polish, Ukrainian, Białorussin etc. also a few captured German (including Luftwaffe crew's too).

There was edited in German in 200o and 2001 next edition (also edited in Poland, 2001, a book about this even and escalation of war's crimes.

The book was written by Bogdan Musiał (Polish title is: Rozstrzelać elementy kontrewolucyjne. Brutalizacja wojny niemiecko-sowieckiej latem 1941 roku).
German soldlier had made many visit to many ex-NKVD's prisons - it was for them total shock. The propaganda made many press news about these crimes, so such began these nasty war of killing people.

PS

This information of course does not meant, that German were "holy people", they had mordered eralier or later also very big figure of innocent, civilian people in Poland or in Russina. German had made own first war's crimes in Poland in IX-X 1939.

Regards,
Mirek Wawrzyński

[Franek Grabowski]

Well, the point is that while most if not all participants committed some war crimes, Germans and Soviet did it as a part of official policy. That is the reason crimes exceeded average margin of such incidents.