While the term "criminal orders" is usually associated with the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941,
Jochen Böhler is convinced that some orders issued by the Wehrmacht command during the
invasion of Poland in September 1939 may already be considered "criminal orders." He pointed out, in this context, the following: • A special directive issued on September 4, 1939, regarding the supply of the
8th Army's rear services, included a recommendation to execute without trial not only partisans and those found with weapons, but also Polish civilians "found in homes and farms from which [German] soldiers were fired upon." • An order issued on September 10, 1939, by the commander of
Army Group North, General
Fedor von Bock, instructing troops to burn down houses behind the front lines from which shots had been fired at German soldiers. If it was not possible to determine the exact source of the fire, the entire village was to be burned down. ==Orders issued in 1941 ==