June 1st, 2007, 04:02 PM
|
 |
WW2F Veteran
|
|
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Texas Ambassador to Ohio
Posts: 4,454
Salute!: 1
Saluted 11 Times in 9 Posts
|
|
Re: Hitler and Eiffel tower
Quote:
Originally Posted by Skipper67
This is fiction that came up in Von Choltitz memoirs. Von Choltitz did not save Paris. He could have burnt it earlier, but By the time he got the order to blow up the Eiffel tower, buildings , bridges etc.. large strategical buildings were no longer under German control and the General needed every man to defend/ evacuate the city , not blow up buildings. This besides was very unpopular among his men who often loved the city.
As to why he was spit on, why don't you ask the thousands who were deported from Fresnes (or the Allied airmen who were tortured there) , Drancy and other Parisian prisons. Our President has just celebrated a commemoration for a 17 year old man that was shot in Paris in August 1944 for fighting von Choltitz. I agree that he wasmore a follower than a fanatic, but please don't tell me he is the hero who saved Paris.
|
The majority of buildings that fell to the allies did so because Choltitz did not fight for them. I have found multiple articles that report him meeting with the French Resistence negotiating with them to prevent an uprising forcing him to carry out Hitler's orders to level Paris. The Germans as a whole did not deserve respect for what was done in France but as an individual, von Choltitz could have done worse but he chose not to. At least he did the right thing in Paris whether the French want to admit that or not.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/ar...8372-1,00.html
__________________
American by birth, TEXAN by the grace of GOD!
|