I mean this came up several times in court. It's totally legal for him to order these things. It might be illegal for the generals to act on those orders. But then, because the order is legal by virtue of the officeholder issuing it then it's also illegal to refuse a lawful order. Only one set of illegal orders comes with a pardon though.
It's still one's duty to refuse an immoral order. The Allies convicted Nazis on that basis at Nuremberg, and "just following orders" was famously invalidated there.
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I mean this came up several times in court. It's totally legal for him to order these things. It might be illegal for the generals to act on those orders. But then, because the order is legal by virtue of the officeholder issuing it then it's also illegal to refuse a lawful order. Only one set of illegal orders comes with a pardon though.
It's still one's duty to refuse an immoral order. The Allies convicted Nazis on that basis at Nuremberg, and "just following orders" was famously invalidated there.