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開始火燒巴黎了嗎? - 古德明

蘋果日報 2009/03/29 00:00


On23August1944,whileAlliedforceswererollingthroughFrance,GeneralDietrichvonCholtitz,theGermanmilitarygovernorofParis,receiveddirectordersfromHitlertodestroythecity:"Thecitymustnotfallintotheenemy'shandexceptlyingincompletedebris."
Aftermuchrumination,vonCholtitzdecidedthathedidnotwanttogodowninhistoryasthemanwhodestroyedParis.SohegotamessagetotheAlliesaskingthemtoinvadePariswithin48hours,orhewouldbeforcedtocarryouthisorders.TheGermanambassadorhelpedbysendingatelegramtoBerlinprotestingvonCholtitz's"brutality".ThatconvincedBerlinhewasbeingtoughandboughthimtheextratimeneeded.Acommonaccountholdsthat,shortlybeforevonCholtitzand17000menunderhiscommandsurrenderedtotheAllieson25August,Hitlerphonedhiminarage,screaming,"IsParisburning?"
一九四四年八月二十三日,盟軍席卷法國的時候,希特勒直接命令德國的巴黎軍事總督迪特里希.馮.肖爾蒂茨將軍,要他把巴黎摧毀:「巴黎不夷平,不得落入敵人手裏。」
馮.肖爾蒂茨反覆思量,實在不願意在歷史上留下「摧毀巴黎者」惡名,於是向盟軍通個信息,請他們四十八小時之內進侵巴黎,否則他將被迫執行命令。德國大使助他一臂,發電報到柏林,抗議馮.肖爾蒂茨「手段殘酷」,令柏林當局相信馮.肖爾蒂茨處事夠狠,給他多一點時間執行任務。一個流行說法是:馮.肖爾蒂茨八月二十五日率領一萬七千名部下向盟軍投降之前不久,希特勒怒氣沖沖打電話給他,尖聲大叫:「開始火燒巴黎了嗎?」