Historians in Poland have acquired Third Reich documents that they believe provide evidence of a Nazi "criminal plan" to obliterate Warsaw by aerial bombing during the Second World War.

Hospitals, water systems, traffic arteries and even a vodka factory are marked in the documents, suggesting the Nazis from the outset intended to inflict maximum civilian casualties and disrupt civil life in their new style of total war for the first time.

Jewish areas of the Polish capital also feature in the documents. The city as a whole seems to have been subjected to a meticulous plan of destruction rather than indiscriminate bombing.

Historians from the Warsaw Uprising museum describe the files as significant. "They are in a very good condition and we've never had anything like this in a museum," said Katarzyna Utracka.

From Sept 1 1939 to Warsaw's surrender 26 days later, German forces carried out a massive aerial bombardment that destroyed 25 per cent of the city and killed about 18,000 civilians.