SHAEF, General Eisenhower's headquarters moves to prevent word leaking out about deliberate Anglo-American violations of international law, and plans for the surrender

From the Daniel Lerner (Psychological Warfare) papers in the Manuscript Division, Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace, Stanford University, California: Box 35: "SHAEF, Other Branches"

SECRET

SECRET

15 February 1945
1130 Hours    

Press Censors' Guidance No. 816
(PCG # 780,28 Jan 45, is CANCELLED).

    The following are the subjects on which every effort should be made to prevent information falling into the hands of the enemy:

STOP any definite statements concerning --

1. Surrender terms.
2. Boundaries of the British, United States and Russian zones.
3. Categories of arrest,
4. Special procedure for dealing with Waffen S.S.
5. The intention to detain all officers of the German General Staff Corps.
6. The extent of the control which we will exert over all Information Services.
7. Any other details of counter-intelligence planning.

AUTHORITY: SHAEF (Main)

STOP:

     All mention of the use of White Phosphorus Bombs as anti-personnel weapons. This is a contravention of the Geneva Conventions.

AUTHORITY:  21 ARMY GROUP

SECRET

CONFIDENTIAL

18 February 1945
1300 Hours

Press Censors' Guidance No. 824
(Paris PCG #267 -- 18 February)

1. An A.P. story to the effect that the Allied Air Command has taken a decision to carry out "Terror" bombing of German cities so as to create a refugee problem and further congestion of communication centers was passed tonight in error.

2. Censors are advised that this story is wholly erroneous and should not have been passed. Allied policy is to bomb military objectives and those only until the war is won; if a refugee problem is caused thereby, this is an incidental difficulty with which the enemy has to deal. Censors will be guided accordingly.

AUTHORITY: Lt Col Merrick

CONFIDENTIAL

Notes by this Website:

Both documents are reproduced without change. The A.P. story was of a communiqué released by British Air Commodore Grierson at SHAEF headquarters; it was true. See David Irving, Apocalypse ’45: The Destruction of Dresden (Focal Point, London).

The US Eighth Air Force target maps for Dresden have just been released and show that the Americans too had been instructed to attack the city center, not the marshalling yards as USAAF historians claimed for over fifty years.