DR. FRITSCH: I see just now, your Honors, that it has been put together wrong.
THE PRESIDENT: It is on the previous page?
THE INTERPRETER: It is on page 3.
DR. FRITSCH: Yes, it is indeed. To repeat: "All officers in the military service of the United States, and officers of the Marine Corps when detached for service with the Army by order of the President, shall be competent to serve on courts martial for the trial of any persons who may lawfully be brought before such courts for trial, when appointing courts martial the appointing authority shall detail as members thereof those officers of the command who, in his opinion, are best qualified for the duty by reason of age, training, experience, and judicial temperament; and officers having less than two years' service shall not, if it can be avoided without manifest injury to the service, be appointed as members of courts martial in excess of the minority membership thereof.
"Article 5. General courts martial. General courts martial may consist of any number of officers not less than five."
I need not read Articles 6 and 7, and I shall read Article 16:
"Officers: How Triable. Officers shall be triable only by general and special courts martial, and in no case shall an officer, when it can be avoided, be tried by officers inferior to him in rank."
I shall now come to the next document which is the document which I have given the identification number 1-A. It is Doc. No. 1. I now offer it as exhibit number 4. This is the map which we have discussed during the examination. I might merely point out here that on the photostatic copies the certificate which was given by defendant General Rendulic is not contained, but it is contained on the exhibit itself.
The next document is Rendulic number 7 in volume 1 which is offered as exhibit 5. This is an affidavit by Peter Sauerbruch. Sauerbruch was a Major on the General Staff and the Ic with the Panzer High Command 2 between May and November, 1943. Sauerbruch, during that period of time, at least during most of that time, namely, since August, studied conditions in the Balkans at close range and concerning the fighting against the Partisans he says the following:
"The Balkans partisans according to their inborn characteristics and the qualities hardened during centuries of guerilla warfare are of a cruelty which cannot be measured by any standards of normal warfare. For instance, in the autumn of 1943 in a village at the MontenegrinoSerbian border orthodox Serbs committed bestial atrocities which culminated in having the Mohammedan women set with their genitals on pointed wooded stakes.
"The partisans' methods of fighting were, of course, not more humane when fighting the German enemy. Cut off noses, cars and genitals from dead or seriously wounded soldiers, mutilations of wounded men lying on the field by knifing into their groins or eyes were almost regularly reported by the troops as soon as they had been trapped into an ambush.
"A German reserve battalion which was on the march through Northern Croatia to the Adriatic coast in September, 1943 was almost completely massacred while it tried to remove a rock used as a road block which had been partly blasted by the partisans. As far as I remember in the autumn of 1943 a short while after the Panzer Army High Command 2 had arrived in the Balkans, a list of proven atrocities committed by the partisans had been handed to the Army Group."
This concludes my reading of this document. We have attempted to obtain that list but we have not succeeded yet.
This brings me to the next document and I should say here that unfortunately from the photostatic copy I cannot decipher the document number. It probably has been cut off. This is document number 7-A. Kill you excuse me one moment please? And I offer it as exhibit 6. It is an extract from "Time", the magazine, "Time" and it shows a picture from a recent period of time from the guerilla fights in Greece. By this photograph I want to slow that these methods which have been described by a number of witnesses really occur in the Balkans down to the most recent period of time.
THE PRESIDENT: Have you incorporated that in your book?
DR. FRITSCH: Yes, I have.
THE PRESIDENT: It doesn't seem to be in our book.
DR. FRITSCH: If the Tribunal please, I have no influence on how the books are put together, unfortunately.
THE PRESIDENT: Do you have more than these copies which have just been placed on the desk?
DR. FRITSCH: I had a number of copies made and I gave them to the defense center when they put the book together. May I perhaps make the following request, lest we lose time? Perhaps I might reserve exhibit number 6 for this document 7-A and I shall come back to this matter later.
THE PRESIDENT: Very well.
DR. FRITSCH: I shall now offer document Rendulic number 8 in volume 1 which will become exhibit number 7. It is an affidavit by Dr. Josef Fessel who, as a colonel in the medical corps, was in the Balkans. He served from June, 1942 as the commander of the transport of sick department with the 2nd Panzer Army. This is what the affiant says:
I was commander of the department for the transportation of the sick 703 (motorized) of the 2nd Panzer Army and coming from Russia with it I arrived in Summer/Autumn 1943 on the Balkans. I was responsible for the transportation of the sick and wounded from the front to the rear medical installations.
On my official trips I had the opportunity to talk to the civilian population and to the indigenous civilian officials.
In these territories (Bulgaria-Albania-Serbia-Bosnia-Croatia) reigned fighting of all against all. The Wehrmacht fighting the Chetnicks of Colonel Michailovicz. The Wehrmacht fighting Tito's partisans. The Chetniks fighting the Tito partisans. The Chetniks and Tito's partisans fighting the Nedic Government. The Wehrmacht fighting the partisans in the Bulgarian and Albanian territory. The Wehrmacht fighting the Chetniks and the Tito partisans in the territory of Croatia and. Bosnia. The Chetniks fighting the Croatian Ustascha and Domobranes. Tito's partisans fighting the Croatian Ustascha and Domobranes.
In this territory mostly the same conditions are prevailing as at the time of the Thirty Years War, though here, too, the same blood was pulsating in everyone's veins.
Wedding parties were attacked, bound together with wire, each one of them got a notice board with the inscription "Happy Landing at Belgrade" hung around his neck, and then they were altogether thrown into the Danube or into the River Save. Some individuals were even crucified and supplied with the same notice board they were thrown into the river.
The custom developed that a group went into a village and held a meeting there and made propaganda for Tito or for the Ustascha. Then, often the intimidated population had to sign declarations, men had to join and then at a certain signal reinforcements arrived, which killed, raped, and pillaged as now it had been proved that the population were adherents of the Ustascha or of Tito. This was being done by every party and the population was completely defenseless and helpless.
It has unanimously been ascertained from statements made by men and doctors, who had succeeded in escaping from imprisonment with the Tito partisans, that officers were mostly already shot when being taken prisoner, and some of the men too. The survivors were in most cases robbed of their shoes, clothing, partly even of their underwear and in exchange they often only received rags. They were being ill treated, often beaten and made to do the most difficult and debasing work. Very often they were later on shot, especially when the fighting started and the partisans had to leave their positions.
The transporting of the sick and wounded was being effected by Sanka (ambulance) or by train. Sanka, as well as any motor car belonging to a medical unit, or the railroad coaches had been clearly marked by the "Red Cross" both on the roof and at the sides of the coaches. The hospital trains and auxiliary hospital trains had been clearly marked as such by the "Red Cross" on both sides and on the roof.
When at the Serbian Easter holidays in 1944 Belgrade was having an air raid, the 2 local military hospitals were hit by bombs. The civilian population which fled the town in large numbers was being shot at from dive bombers and many hundreds were killed. During the air raid on Kraljevo the local hospital was completely demolished and could no longer be used. This medical unit subordinate to me thereupon went to an open camp near Kraljevo. It constantly received threatening letters and had all the time to be aware of attacks, though this medical unit constantly treated the Serbian population without compensation.
In the Karagujevac hospitals subordinate to me wounded Chetnicks, too, were accepted. The surroundings of this place, however, was occupied by Tito partisans. Then, this hospital, too, received threatening letters from the Tito partisans and the handing over of the wounded Chetniks was being demanded, otherwise we were threatened with armed assault. Subsequently I myself brought two Chetniks whose legs had been amputated, by my car to Belgrade and caused the transfer of the other wounded Chetniks.
Field hospital 615 in Banjaluka had strongly to defend itself and its wounded as the Tito partisans wanted to storm it.
Some of the medical units which were not on the direct line or in the partisans' territory had to be under arms all the time, for a storming or occupation - also of medical units - mostly meant in many cases sure death on the spot or often death entailing imprisonment for the inmates.
The dive bombers also attacked the clearly marked "Red Cross" ambulances on the roads. Thus before Karagujevac I lost my adjutant through dive bombers.
Colonel or Oberstarzt Dr. Krueger, whose car was also clearly marked "Red Cross", near Arandelovac was shot at a short distance out of ambush, and as by a miracle he was spared, as the bullet entered the car next to him.
Many an ambulance driver was killed or wounded as well through dive bombers as through shooting from ambush, even though the ambulances were clearly marked with the "Red Cross".
I need not read the other things at this time, and shall on the next page of the document read -- it is the seventh paragraph from below:
When retreating from Kraljevo my company commander (Oberarzt; Chief physician Dr. Orland) was being taken prisoner by the Tito partisans at Uzice and he and his first sergeant were shot instantly, as I was being told later on by two men who had succeeded to escape.
The blastings of the tracks occurred to such an extent, that every day soldiers and civilians were killed. This occurred mainly between Belgrade and Agram. Nevertheless the villages on this line were not burnt down, the inhabitants were not evacuated, though the partisans made their assaults and effected their blastings from these villages and got their food supplies there.
It was this leniency of the Army that brought it about that General Rendulic was being reproached by many officers and men with being too lenient.
War in the Balkans was not a war as it was being conducted in Europe, but in this area it was a war of all against all with Balkan methods and with Balkan customs.
Genera! Rendulic only arrived on the Balkans in Summer-Autumn of 1943. He was forced to take measures in order to safeguard the life of his soldiers and that of the civilian population, measures which were not necessary in any European theater of war, but which had to be taken on the Balkans. According to his directives we tried always and everywhere to conduct the war humanely which ultimately made the troops reproach the General as being too lenient.
The affiant then goes on to speak about the welfare measures taken for all wounded, including those of the partisans, and he also mentions the fact how American soldiers were being treated. There was an American First Lieutenant who had been captured, and who later on expressed his gratitude for the good and chivalrous treatment he had received. I might add that this document has been sworn before the District Court of Feldkirch in Carinthia.
The next document will be Rendulic Document No. 9, in Volume I, in which will be Exhibit 8. This is an affidavit by Peter Sauerbruch who as mentioned before, was the 1-c. He reports on incidents, particularly those occurring near railways. I shall read only the second paragraph:
Among the rail-and road-demolition attacks, (averaging 15-20 daily) which the guerrillas conducted in the area of the 2nd Panzer Defense Division, there were as a rule some which affected the lifeline of the Army i.e. the railroad between Belgrade and Zagreb. The trains running on this line also were constantly attacked. Soldiers going home on furlough were always in danger to be attacked en route and to be killed brutally. Therefore single trips were forbidden altogether. The furloughers were concentrated in groups and well armed. But also these measures did not offer sufficient protection against the attacking guerrillas which always outnumbered us.
German soldiers continued to be killed. At such occasions also Serbs and Croat civilians who traveled on those trains became pray of the guerrillas.
I have certified this affidavit, which was sworn to in front of me on the 11th of October 1947.
The next document offered is Exhibit No. 10, in Volume I, which will be Exhibit 9. This is an affidavit by Erich Brack. Brack was an SS Obersturmfuehrer with the 5th SS Mountain Corps, between August 1943 and December 1944. Brack in the first paragraph tells us what he did in the war. He was the corps engineer, and in that capacity he was much traveling in the area infested by the bands. I shall real the second paragraph:
The members of the Partisan groups disguised themselves during the day as innocent civilians or shot at the traffic from well-covered hiding places. Most of the attacks took place during the night or during dusk and in the following manner: All traffic was stopped suddenly by exploding mines; during the general confusion the attackers shot with all sorts of arms. For such minor attacks, the Partisans used hunting-, hand- and mechanized weapons of all kind, grenadethrowers, highly explosive bombs and mines up to 10 kilograms. Among other infantry weapons so-called dum-dum bullets were used, such as they have been found in the guerrilla camps. It also was possible to establish this fact through medical examination of the wounds of our soldiers. The attacks always occurred without any consideration towards the civilian population who often helped the guerrillas, hid them or aided them considerably by transmitting news.
Many villages were known as outspoken Partisan-villages which the rest of the population feared and from which they stayed away. The military strong-points of the respective areas asked again and again and issued orders which would have empowered them to take severe punitive actions. In spite of these facts the Troop Command insisted repeatedly that the troops should treat the civilian population in a friendly manner in spite of their violations against the Hague Rules of Land Warfare. I myself lost my closest colleague (Obersturmfuehrer Alfred. RHOLFS, buried at the German Soldier Cemetery at Sarajevo during the course of such an attack by the Partisans which suddenly disappeared when received aid from parts of the civilian population.
I shall now read the paragraph, "Towards the end of October 1944 the strong-point of Tomislavgrad was recaptured.
In connection with this operation, a large column of trucks went from Mestar to Temislavgrad in order to supply the occupational forces there with arms and equipment. Already when the columns, bound for Tomislavgrad, went through the guerilla territory, the protecting units suffered great losses through the armed attacks of the guerillas. My own driver was seriously wounded too. Approximately ten men were made prisoners by the Partisans during this attack. When we returned from Tomislavgrad to Mostar we found them, terribly mutilated and without any doubt - as the medical examination of the bodies proved - beastly tortured while still alive. We found them naked, lying on the highway. This highway was surrounded by a chain of high rocks. Their bodies had been placed on the road in intervals ranging from 20 to 400 meters, so that when we would try to take our dead we could be shot at from the hiding places in the rocks, and as a matter of fact we did suffer now losses."
We find in the last paragraph it says that such methods as used there he never again experienced anywhere else. The statement has been sworn to before a defense counsel.
This brings me to the next document in Document Book I, which is No. 11, and is Exhibit 10. It is an affidavit by Dr. Fritz Josef Willmes, a resident of Wuppertal-Elberfeld. He at the end was Oberarzt with the Hospital 4/837. I shall read this affidavit verbatim.
MR. RAPP: I shall only have a short question of defense counsel with reference to the affidavit. The jurat of Exhibit 9, I notice that it states here that the above signature of the affiant at the present in the internment camp at Regensburg was ascertained by the undersigned attorney Dr. Bolka von Stein, and is to be true and correct. I merely ask the question that the jurat is signed in Nurnberg. I think the man himself is in Regensburg, and did he come to Nurnberg for the purpose of signing the affidavit? This is not quite clear from the jurat. Therefore, I would like to ask Dr. Fritsch just what the affiant did.
DR. FRITSCH: I CAN ENLIGHTEN THE PROSECUTION. Dr. Brack, who is actually in the camp at Regensburg, was on leave orders and spent the time at Nurnberg, and he happened to be in Nurnberg and I myself saw him. The affidavit was taken down, but before it was completed I had to leave Nurnberg. I believe because I had to examine another witness. I therefore asked my colleague, Dr. von Stein, who is also a defense counsel in this building, to certify this signature. I believe that would comply with all the rules and regulations.
MR. RAPP: His explanation is perfectly clear to me. It is only not apparent from the jurat, therefore I think my question is now cleared up.
DR. FRITSCH: I shall now read Document 11, in Volume I, which has been marked Exhibit 10.
"On 8 September 1944 I was captured by Tito-Partisans at Derwenta which is situated between Brod and Sarajevo, because the Domobrans had surrendered. We were approximately 40 Soldiers among whom there were 7 other officers and I. The treatment which we received was bestially cruel. First of all, we were robbed; most of us were left only a shirt and shorts. We had neither socks nor shoes. For fourteen days and nights these 40 men tied to a long rope with their hands and part of the time our feet were tied too. Thus we had to march 30 kilometers, barefoot, we were put into indescribable places, for example five days in a chicken-coop which was so small that we had to take turns sitting down. We were mistreated most severely, one permitted that fourteen-year-old boys would take out their rage on us by beating us, who were defenselessly tied, with canos and kicking us with their feet. We were kicked and beaten into our faces and below the belt. Thus, one broke three ribs of a First Lieutenant. After two weeks I was sent to a Partisan hospital and was liberated there when the 2nd Panzer-Infantry Battalion advanced. According to a report to the Commandant of said battalion my seven comrades were shot in Prinjawer several hours after my successful escape. Unfortunately I have not succeeded so far in finding the Commandant who, as I have heard, may have been killed in action. He could have certified this report" This affidavit was given on 12 September 1947 to a Notary in Gronau, Westphalia, and was sworn to there.
The next document will be Rendulic Document 12, Volume I, and I shall give it Exhibit 11. This is an affidavit by Dr. Gerhard Wendel, a surgeon.
Dr. Wendel was staff-physician in the reserve, and was in charge of the surgical department of the field hospital of the 2nd Panzer Army. I shall begin with the second paragraph:
"From the beginning of 1944 I was at the Sub-hospital Vranjska-Panja. This hospital was clearly identified by Red Cross flags which could be seen from a long distance. The existence of the hospital was well-known to the civilian population within a circle of 50 kilometers and they came a long distance in order to ask for medical aid which in fact was granted them. There were no German troops either in the village itself or in the immediate environment. In the night of Easter Sunday to Easter Monday 1944, the night of 8/9 April 1944, the first attack by the Partisans occurred at dusk. They attached the hospital with mortars and infantry weapons from two directions.
The hospital was defended by patients who were able to walk, and these Partisans who had come close enough to throw handgernades were beaten back. These attacks were repeated several times and beginning with the summer of 1944 occurred also during the day-time. The attacks only could be repelled by bringing in German re-enforcements whenever an attack was to come. We knew that an attack would take place whenever the civilian population was asked by the partisans to leave the village at dusk. These attacks became more frequent and stronger and the hospital had to be moved to Skoplje in the beginning of September 1944. In the summer of 1944 three German soldiers of the Luftwaffe Were missing at a neighboring village. They belonged to a unit which repaired interrupted telephone-communication lines. A Searching party found their automobile in an abyss, the three soldiers dead and without clothes in a cistern. The bodies were brought to my hospital where I examined them.
They were identified by soldiers of their company. The bodies were already in an advanced state of decomposition and the heads showed large wounds. I could not ascertain if these wounds had been afflicted before or after the death of the soldiers.
And in the last paragraph the afficant has reference to an incident which occurred in Vransjka-Banja, when the station and the hospital were attacked. The affidavit has been sworn to before my assistant Dr. Oskar von Jagwitz on the 13th October.
The next document, Document 13, in volume I, is offered as Exhibit 12. Here we have an affidavit given by Otto Meerpohl. Meerpohl was an officer in the Balkans and belonged to the 7th SS Division. The Tribunal will remember that the 7th SS Division has been mentioned before as a unit subordinate to the 2nd Panzer Army. I shall read two:
During the time that I was there, August 1943 to March 1944, the 7th SS Division was involved in guerrilla warfare with TITO'S troops. Since I had come from the eastern theater of operations, I was here confronted by an entirely different picture. It was warfare without any fronts. The partisans appeared all over the place. The battles were characterized by the cunning methods of fighting practised by TITO's troops. The battles were made even more complicated as a result of the fact that part of the civilian population also took part on TITO's side. In 1943, some of the partisans wore uniform (old Serbian uniform), and many were in civilian clothes. It was only in 1944 that their clothing became more uniform.
The affiant then reports matters similar to those reported by other affiants, namely that the partisans went into hiding and disguised themselves as peaceful men on the street in daytime, whereas at night they raided railways, rail transports, motor car columns, etc. I shall only read the last sentence in paragraph two. It says there:
"I still remember 1st Lieutenant Kirchner, a fighter pilot, I believe, who had to make a forced landing and whose corpse we found brutally mutilated, a few days after his arrival at the theatre of operations."
Paragraph 3 deals with the conduct observed by the command of the Panzer Army, and this is what the affiant says:
"In spite of those and numerous other similar incidents, the discipline and usages of war were strictly enforced by the commander in chief. I did not hear of any violations of military law, especially of inhuman acts. I am also convinced that the commander in chief would have punished such incidents most severely."
The affidavit has been sworn to in Regensburg on 14 July 1947.
I shall now offer Rendulic Document 14, in Volume I, and I shall give it Exhibit 13. This is another affidavit by Peter Sauerbruch mentioned before, who was 1-C, and he deals with the problem with which we have dealt in detail in the direct examination of the defendant, namely the order of 15 September 1949 Sauerbruch states that he himself was involved in these matters, and this is what he says:
At the end of August 1943, the 2nd Panzer Army was assigned to the Balkans, under the command of the new commander in chief, Rendulic former General, of the Infantry. Among the troop units under his command, some of which had been newly assigned to the Balkans, there was uncertainty about the validity of orders for the combatting of partisan activity. The commander in chief therefore directed that a compilation be made of the orders which were then in force. He issued this direct ive in his order of 15 September 1943, which is thus not an order initiated by the Commander in Chief of the 2nd Panzer Army but a compilation of actually existent orders from higher headquarters, I can remember that on this occasion, the question of the so-called ratio was also discussed, namely, whether or not these proportionate numbers should be included in the compilation. Since it was a Fuehrer Order which could not be annulled by the commander in chief of an army, the question of ratios was, it is true, included, but in a moderated form, both as to quantity as well as to applicability.
The affiant concludes his affidavit by saying:
"This may be readily seen by a comparison of the order of 15 September 1943 (Exhibit 340) with the order of the OKW of 16 September 1941."
This affidavit given before me 11 October 1947 was sworn before me.
This brings me to the next document, which I offer as Exhibit 14. It is Document 15, in Volume 1. This is an extract from the official Gazette of the City of Berlin, 10 July 1945.
The Tribunal will remember that during the direct examination of defendant Rendulac reference was made to a reprisal order given by the City of Berlin by order of the Russian occupying power. This order I submit here. It is signed by the Mayor of Berlin on 31 May 1945. The two initials paragraphs I need not read, but I would like to read the next paragraph which reads as follows:
"Every would-be assassin and incendiary will be duly punished.
He will pay for it with his life. Anyone who attemps an assault upon a member of the occupying troops or a public official or because of political enmity, attempts arson, will also drag 50 former members of the Nazi Party along with him into the abyss. They will forfeit their lives together with that of the would-be assassin or incendiary."
Then I shall read the last paragraph, and I want to point out particularly it does not only refer to the assassin himself:
"Whoever gains any knowledge about an attempted assassination or about arson and does not inform the Police immediately, will be judged in the same manner as the perpetrator himself."
May I point out to the tribunal here that, as my learned colleague, Dr. Laternser, has stated, do not challenge the legality of such measures, we merely want to show the fact that these things have developed as inevitable usages of war, as the defense maintains.
This brings me to Rendulic Document Book, 1, Document No. 16, which as offered as Exhibit 15. Once again --
MR. RAPP If Your Honor, please, if I understand defense counsel correctly, he paraphrased this particular document as having been part of a publication in the Russian sector of Berlin, unless I misunderstood him, there is nothing apparent in this particular document which he has here that it was published in the Russian sector. I can't find that from this particular document. I would like to have the defense counsel comment on it, whether I am mistaken or not.
DR. FRITSCH: I believe there is a misunderstanding there. I had reference to the Russian occupation, not to the Russian sector of Berlin. This official Gazette was published at a period of time, July 1945, when as far as I know Berlin was exclusively occupied by the Russians. The other allied forces reached Berlin only later. For that reason I pointed out that it occured during the Russian period of occupation. I believe, if Your Honors, please, that it is not material for the fact we wish to prove whether at that moment the Russians were in exclusive occupation of Berlin or whether other allied forces were there as well.
MR. RAPP: Inasmuch as Dr. Fritsch concedes the fact it would not be important for the trial who occupied Berlin, I would like to have that part of Dr. Fritsch's comment as to the Russian taken from the record anleft outside of army argumentation the evidence.
THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal will give consideration to remarks of Dr. Fritsch as it feels that they merit and that does not apply to the fact and issues as presented. The Tribunal will take care of the matter.
DR. FRITSCH: I shall now offer Document 16 in Volume 1, which is offered as Exhibit 15. I have pointed out before that there is yet another affidavit by the 1-C of the 2nd Panzer Army, Peter Sauerbruch, He describes an incident, the details of which , need not read out. It is an act of pardon with respect to partisan, hostages who had apparently made an attempt on the headquarters of General Rendulic. The affidant describes that incident, and also says that these people were granted a pardon. At the end he says:
"In this connection, I should like to add that this was one of the few cases with which the Commander in chief was able to concern himself personally."
This brings me to Rendulic Document 17 in Volume 1, which I offer as Exhibit 16. The Court will recall a discussion both by the prosecution and the defense concerning the burning down of hospitals.
I now submit an affidavit given by the army physician of the 2nd Oanzer Army, Dr. Helmuth Richter. From December 1942 until September 1944 Richter was with the Army in the capacity I have mentioned. That is to say, throughout the period of time when the defendant Rendulic was Commander in Chief. I shall read this affidavit:
No case of destruction of military hospitals in the course of operations against guerrilla bands has ever been reported to me nor do I remember such a case. But wherever this has allegedly happened this must have been carried out mainly from hygienic considerations.
As a rule, the guerrilla hospitals were housed in barns and only in rare cases in schools or other permanent buildings. These so-called hospitals mostly contained just crude bedsteads without mattresses or blankets. In particular the wounded and sick partisans were badly infested with lice and typhoid fever was prevalent. In Zagres typhus was introduced into a hospital by the admission of wounded partisans.
Those poor hygienic conditions, also known to the unit, occasionally required the burning down of infested partisan hospitals nearly always empty when they fell into our hands because the partisans had previously evacuated their sick and wounded wherever they were not located in permanent buildings and could not be disinfected.
These so-called infirmaries and hospitals of the partisans can hardly be named hospitals in the meaning of the Hague Convention and by the standards of the German sanitary service, owing to their primitiveness and conditions as described above.
This affidavit was signed and duly certified and sworn to in Goeppingen.
This brings me to Document 18 in Volume I, which is Exhibit 17, and is an affidavit given by the same Dr. Helmut Richter. To save time I simply point out what this affidavit is about. It is a character description of the defendant Richter and describes the measures he took for the welfare of the troops, and of the civilian population. This document again has been sworn to in Goeppingen.
This brings me to Rendulic Document 19 in Volume I, which is offered as Exhibit 18. This affidavit was given by Paul Mahlmann, and it deals with the problem of the Commissar Order. The Tribunal will recall that the defendant General Rendulic was for a time the commanding officer of an infantry division and the commanding officer of the Infantry Regiment 181 which was insubordinate to this division was Paul Mahlmann. The first says that he was informed briefly about the Commissar Order, and he also says he did not know who informed him about it, but says that he is quite sure that he did not hear about it by Brigadier General Rendulic, as he was at the time. In the fourth paragraph the affiant continues: In my regiment Russian political commissar who had been taken prisoner, was not shot on account of the Commissar order. I also know of no such incident in any other regiment of the 52nd Infantry Division. In view of the good relations between the commanders of the various regiments on the one hand and their Division commander Brigadier General RENDULIC on the other I would most certainly have heard if such an incident had occurred.
My Divisional Commander at that time, Brigadier General RENDULIC never asked me whether we held imprisoned commissar nor did he point out to me that such a man would have to be treated in accordance with the Commissar Order.
Then he gives a brief statement to the effect that the troops also took a negative view towards the Commissar Order inasfar as they knew about it at all. This affidavit given 26 September 1947 was signed before a Notary in Bad Kissingen.
This brings me to Rendulic Document 20, Volume I, which is offered as Exhibit 9. This is an affidavit by the Commanding Officer of the Infantry Regiment 205, a man called Reymann.