would now like to call the next witness. This is the witness Kaiser.
JUDGE BURKE: The witness may be excused.
DR. RAUSCHENBACH: Dr. Rauschenbach for the defendant Foertsch. Your Honor, might I take this opportunity to protest against the application of the Prosecution to cross examine the affiant von Harling. I have submitted two affidavits by von Harling in my Document Book 2. The affidavits were accepted without objection and now in my opinion things are as follows: If a witness is excused, then the other side must immediately cross examine him. If the witness has left the court room and a long period has elapsed, then the idea can not suddenly arise that he should be cross examined. The same thing happens in the case of an affidavit and in this instance I would like to refer to the practice which has been followed up to now before the Nuernberg Military Tribunals. If an affiant who had given an affidavit was to be requested for cross examination, then the other side always moved that the affidavit was only to be admitted if the witness was brought in for cross-examination. But this did not happen in this case, but the Prosecution comes after almost four months with the request for the witness von Harling to be cross examined here.
THE PRESIDENT: When was this affidavit filed?
DR. RAUSCHENBACH: It was submitted while the defendant Foertsch was in the witness stand, which was in the middle of October. If necessary, I can find the exact date. It was between the 13th and 17th of October; that is almost three months have passed since.
MR. FENSTERMACHER: I would just like to make a short answer to this objection. During the course of this trial the defendants have introduced into evidence more than 1500 affidavits. We, of course, could not apply to have each and every one of these affiants brought to Nuernberg for cross-examination, so we decided to bring a representative number, perhaps one or two from each defendant. I think we have applied for not more than fifteen, which would certainly be not more than one per cent of the total number of affidavits Court No. V, Case No. VII.
introduced by the defendants. In order that we bring the proper affiants to Nuernberg and not waste our time, the defense' time and the Tribunal's time, we had to be very careful about those whom we did select. We certainly couldn't be expected to select the representative affiants until the defendants had finished and completed each of their cases. None of the cases was completed and finished until this morning. I submit we could not be expected to submit the names of those affiants we wanted brought to Nurnberg for cross-examination prior to today.
THE PRESIDENT: I take it, Mr. Fenstermacher, that this will be the only request for witnesses, or will there be a further request?
MR. FENSTERMACHER: There will be no further application by the Prosecution.
THE PRESIDENT: The ruling that the Tribunal previously made will be adhered to unless on examination we find that the same should be changed. For the present it will stand.
DR. LATERNSER: I would now like to call the witness Joseph Kaiser.
JOSEPH KAISER, a witness, took the stand and testified as follows:
BY JUDGE BURKE:
Q Will the witness raise his right hand and be sworn?
I swear by God the Almighty and Omniscient that I will speak the pure truth and will withhold and add nothing. (The witness repeated the oath.)
JUDGE BURKE: You may be seated.
DIRECT EXAMINATION BY DR. LATERNSER:
Q Will you please state your full name to the Tribunal?
A My name is Joseph Kaiser, farmer in Pfeffershofen.
Q How long have you been in Pfeffershofen?
A I was born in Pfeffershofen, House No. 8, and I am 52 years old.
Court No. V, Case No. VII.
Q That is, you have spent your whole life in Pfeffershofen?
A Yes, with the exception of five years in the Army; otherwise, I spent my whole life in Pfeffershofen.
Q Herr Kaiser, when I ask you a question, please make a little pause because my questions have to be translated into English.
A Yes, Herr Doctor. I will do that.
Q When did the American troops come to Pfeffershofen?
A The American troops came on Wednesday, the 18th of April, around about twelve until one o'clock. Twelve to one.
Q Did the Americans stay on this day in Pfeffershofen?
A No, they only stayed around about mid-day for about an hour, and then they drove off again.
Q What happened on the next day?
A On the next day one car drove around and round, but otherwise we didn't see anything.
Q What happened on Friday the 20th?
A On Friday the 20th one car drove around about noon time, and then when it was dark firing started and the people said that there was a German tank behind the inn and that it was firing with tracer ammunition into and around the village.
Q Mr. Kaiser, you must speak a little slower. What happened on that evening when this German tank fired?
A Well, on this evening when the German tank started firing, a barn right in the middle of the village was set on fire by the shooting, and I called the people of my fire brigade staff to try and put the fire out.
Q Well, then when the barn was on fire, did you put the fire out?
A Yes, I and all my young helpers, we tried to put the fire out.
Court No. V, Case No. VII.
Q And you were able to do that?
A Well from nine to eleven o'clock we fought the fire and about eleven o'clock the barn fell to pieces, I posted a fire guard there and then we went home again, went to bed.
Q How long did this firing take place?
A Well, the firing went on for about six or seven minutes, not quite ten minutes.
Q And that was Friday the 20th of April?
A Yes, in the evening.
Q Well then, what happened on the next day--on the 21st?
A On the 21st, Saturday, in the morning shortly before seven o'clock, American troops came and tanks came rolling in.
Q Just a minute. Did they occupy Pfeffershofen, after fighting or was there no fighting?
A Without a fight. Not one single shot was fired.
Q When was the only time when shooting took place?
A Only on Friday in the night about nine o'clock for six or seven minutes.
Q On Saturday the 21st no shooting took place at all?
A No shooting at all, except a few intimidation shots which the Americans fired on the civilian population.
Q And against whom was this intimidation shooting carried out?
A Well-
Q We will come to your answer to that in a minute. You say they fired on civilians?
A Well, of course, because there weren't any soldiers there.
Q Well, what was the strength of the American troops?
A Well, I saw about three platoons, about 60 to 80 men and then the tanks came in and-
Q Well now, really, Herr Kaiser, you must speak a little bit slower. What was the strength of the American troops who occupied the village on Saturday?
Court No. V, Case No. VII.
A Wall, the troops--there were three platoons with not quite a hundred men, 70 or 80 men and about 30 or more cars.
Q Well then, what did the troops do?
A Well they came into the village and there were about ten to fifteen men to each farm and then the tanks rolled through the village and then encircled the village and in the fields and in the meadows.
THE PRESIDENT: Pardon me, please. We will take our afternoon recess at this time.
(A recess was taken.)
Court No. V, Case No. VII.
THE MARSHAL: Persons in the courtroom will please find their seats.
The Tribunal is again in session.
THE PRESIDENT: Pardon me, Dr. Laternser, before you continue the examination of this witness, the Tribunal wishes to call to the attention of all counsel that during the recess period there was presented to the Tribunal a notice filed on behalf of the prosecution which was dated January 10, 1948, but which only reached our office prior to the recess period in which the prosecution demands the following affiants be called for cross-examination:
1. Karl Heinz Rothfuchs 2. Ernst Strassl 3. Col.
Paul Nahlmann 4. Helmuth Reymann 5. Prinz Friedrich-Ferdinand-von Schleswig-Holstein-Glueckberg 6. Max Pemsel 7. Hans Harold von Selchow 8. Walter Warlimont 9. Willy Zorn 10.
August Winter.
11. Hermann Hoth 12.
Hans Reinhardt It is the ruling of the Tribunal that these witnesses and affiants may be called for cross-examination in keeping with our previous announced ruling in connection with the two prior affiants the application concerning whom was commented upon earlier this afternoon.
You may proceed with your direct examination.
DIRECT EXAMINATION (Continued) BY DR. LATERNSER:
Q Herr Kaiser, we were talking about the morning of 21st of April when the American troops came into Pfeffershofen. Where was the front line at the time? Were the villages in the vicinity already Court No. V, Case No. VII.
occupied?
A No, the neighboring villages were not yet occupied but a part of the troops were concentrated about three-quarters of an hour away in a place called Bergenhofen and they were digging fox holes there, but they were not successful.
Q What did the American troops do when they occupied the village on the 21st of April--that is the village of Pfeffershofen?
A In every farm there were about 15 to 20 men and they came to every farmstead. They invaded them up to the barn and they set fire to it and the bulk of the troops went into the dwelling houses and took the civilian population along the main road, marched them out onto the main road. And of course when the population was being marched off the barns were already aflame.
Q What did the Americans do in the houses?
A They were setting fire to the houses mostly from the bottom upwards, and that is what they did with the barns.
Q How did this go along? Did they open the doors and windows?
AAll the doors and windows were wide open.
Q How was it in your own house?
A In my house,--with a cart loaden with linen, my belongings and sick persons, I came around the house. I was supposed to go to the main road but I saw that the advancing armored cars were coming through the village and ran over a cow, so I said "Nothing doing" and I went away and went around to my dwelling house and went around the burning barn-
Q Always make a pause so that the translation can follow your answer; so you didn't go to the assembly center where the other population was assembled but you went into the woods, did you?
A Yes, when they wanted to lead me away I said "Nothing doing" and they wanted to collect me too and the cows. Then I went around into the woods.
Q Just a moment, Mr. Kaiser. How long did you stay in the woods?
Court No. V, Case No. VII.
A I took my cart about a hundred meters away from my dwelling house and took it along and went and returned then to the dwelling house.
Q How long were you in the woods?
A The first time only ten minutes.
Q Where did you go then?
A I went from the back door through the stables and to my dwelling house.
Q Just a minute -- what did you see there?
A I saw from the stable that soldiers were going through my house. I saw them walking out.
Q And what were they doing?
A To the left there was a living room where the two maids were sleeping. I saw much smoke coming out of the room, so I am that there was something on fire. I took a gas mask and some cans with water; I took everything and filled them with water. One of the maids was sleeping on strow, the other one had a mattress. Both beds had caught fire and also a cupboard with linen.
Q Please make a pause, Mr. Kaiser. Just a moment -- I am asking you to please answer my question: what did you see? What did you see in your barn?
A In the barn, when we left the house the barn doers were open and I and my eldest son went into the barn. We saw that American soldiers were in there. From the right side were strow was pilled up, they were going to the left side to a big haystack.
Q Just a moment, please. What actually did you see? What were the American soldiers doing?
A They had a handful of burning hay with which they sat fire to the strow, which was pilled up on the other side of the barn.
Q What else did they set fire to?
A When they saw us coming into the barn in order to take everything out the machinery etc, they came down the stairs and ordered us to get out, pushed us out.
Q Just a moment, what else did the American soldiers set aflame?
A I saw how they took everything, how they took the threshing machines out and how they set them on fire.
Q Just a moment. How many children do you have?
A I have ten children -- seven boys and three girls.
Q What did you say to the American soldiers who were setting fire to your barn? Just a moment please -- that has to be translated first.
A When they set fire to the barn. I did not say anything because it would have been in vain. But when they sat the fire to the dwelling house .....
Q I would ask you once again, to make a pause; the translator cannot follow you. Please speak more slowly and, having finished a sentence, make a brief pause.
What did you tell the American soldiers who were setting fire to your dwelling house?
A I asked them with tears in my eyes not to set fire to the dwelling house because I have ten children and the stables and all the animals and there were young calves and it was raining and cold.
Q Just a moment witness.
A Everything was burning already and I asked them as least not to set fire to my dwelling house.
Q What did the American soldiers say to you?
A There was only one of them among the five; he was laughing at me and mocking me and he said everything was to be "kaputt."
Q Now, when they had said that were you allowed to remain in the house?
A No, they took me by the scruff of my neck and carried me out and when I went there was a shot fired behind me. It must have been just a shot in order to frighten me.
Q And why was not your house burned down?
A It was set on fire in two different places, but I put the fire out immediately. You see, I am very well versed in this; I have been the leader of our fire-brigade for ten years and so I knew how to put out a fire.
Q Something more: What had been set afire in Pfeffershofen? The whole of Pfeffershofen?
A The whole of Pfeffershofen, the house and barns and accessories-everything with the exception of the small church. That was not burned down -- but they took the candles away.
DR. LATERNSER: I have no more questions.
MR. FULKERSON: No questions, your Honors.
THE PRESIDENT: Any members of the defense counsels itself staff wish to question this witness? Do any members of the Tribunal wish to question this witness? The witness may be excused.
May I inquire as to whether or not there are any other document books now ready which may be presented by defense counsel?
DR. LATERNSER: (Counsel for defendants List and von Weichs): May it please the Tribunal, I have been informed that further document books have been translated. They have been prepared so that the further documents may now be submitted.
MR. FENSTERMACHER: If I may interrupt for just a moment, your Honors will recall -- I think last Monday or Tuesday -- certain excerpts from the personal diary of the defendant Field Marshal List were offered and received in evidence. At that time I asked permission to preserve my right to cross examine the defendant when the excerpts were offered until the remaining portions of the diary could be translated. Later that afternoon Dr. Laternser turned over to me the entire diary and it was sent down to the Language Division for the remaining portions to be translated.
That has taken them a good deal of time because the notes in the diary were written in German script which is very difficult to interpret and also because, I understand, there were certain notations which appeared to be in shorthand which had to be transcribed. There was no one in the language Division to do that but we succeeded in having a member of the German Court Interpreter Staff transcript these notations, this afternoon I was presented to the German transcript of the portions of the diary which have not been translated and introduced into evidence.
I shall be prepared tomorrow morning to cross examine the defendant List on the diary which was not translated.
THE PRESIDENT: Very well.
DR. LATERNSER: If it please the Tribunal may I comment on this? I should like to submit that eight days ago I insisted on an immediate cross examination. I recall that the Tribunal ruled that a cross examination was to be begun within 24 hours. The Prosecution did not avail itself of these 24 hours. On the contrary they needed a whole week in order to explain that they were now at last prepared to begin the cross examination.
I should like to state that the Prosecution has gone too far in exploiting the right which the Court has conceded to them and I request that the Prosecution be now precluded from cross examination because they have trespassed on the rights which were given to them, a right which ought to be exercised immediately within a time limit of 24 hours perscribed and cannot be extended by a whole week.
THE PRESIDENT: I think we will have to be conscious of the fact, all of us, that with the difference of languages it necessarily must take some time to have these documents translated and transcribed and go through the necessary detail of presenting them in such a way that not only the Tribunal but interested counsel may have the benefit of a copy in the language with which they are familiar.
It is quite true that the Tribunal -- and I believe I was presiding at that time -- made a statement that the examination should be made within a certain limit of time but that ruling was made with the thought that the document would be so translated that interested counsel could make the necessary examination.
We have endeavored to be liberal, both to the Defense and to the Prosecution, and I think, under the circumstances, the right which was previously reserved will be granted to the Prosecution tomorrow morning.
DR. GAWLIK: (Counsel for the defendant Dehner): If it please the Tribunal, I don't know whether Document Book is already available in translation. If it is, I should like to present now Document Book IX.
THE PRESIDENT: The document book is not now in the possession of the Tribunal. The deputy secretary general has been checking on it for the last few minutes. The Tribunal will be in recess for a few minutes subject to call.
(A recess was taken.)
THE MARSHAL: The Tribunal is again in session.
DR. GAWLIK: On behalf of General Dehner, if it please the Tribunal, I wish to submit Document Book Dehner No. IX, first document Dehner No. 41. This document is to be Exhibit Dehner 36. It is on pages 116 and 117, Dehner Document Book IX. It is an affidavit by Dr. Oskar Merrem. I submit this affidavit as purporting to establish that the bands in the Southeastern area, particularly in Croatia, were not to be considered as beliggerents within the meaning of the rules of Land Warfare. I shall proceed to quote from the affidavit, the first passage, in order to establish that the affiant had the necessary knowledge in order to testify as to those facts which he alleged in the affidavit.
"From the middle of June 1941 until January 1945 I was special missions Staff Officer (at first Lieutenant, later Captain) in the Staff of Army Group E and F, in Department I c. My first job was to keep situation charts, since about the late summer of 1943 I had to draw up the I c daily report to the High Command of the Army. Today I am Judge in charge of a civil division at the local Court at Cologne.
"I can state the following concerning the distinctive marks and made of fighting of the bands in the Balkans area:
"At first the bands consisted exclusively of civilians who carried hidden weapons. Owing to the constantly increasing bitterness of the fight between the national and Communist bands the members of the bands started to wear distinctive badges, mostly on their caps.
The Serbian national bands wore the Serbian double Eagle. The Communist bands the Soviet star. Apart from this there was no standard uniform even as late as the end of 1944. The members of the bands wore wither civilian clothes or uniforms or parts of the uniforms of different nations.
Fighting methods:
"In the beginning the bands fought as civilians. I remember the reports concerning shooting at German soldiers from ambush.
This was mostly done in the following manner: the members of the bands including women in civilian clothes, who were working in the fields, let German soldiers march by and, as soon as they showed their backs, shot at them from behind, with fire arms, which had previously been hidden. Acts of sabotage of every kind constituted the main activity of the bands, especially on lines of Communications (mines, removing of rails, barriers), as well as surprise Attacks, from an ambush on single German soldiers and weak units. Cruelties were an everyday occurrence, both between national and Communist bands, especially between Serbs and Croats, and of both groups of bands against members of the German occupying power. I remember many reports and photographs concerning corpses which were mutilated in an incredible manner.
About since 1944 Tito in Croatia tried to wage war with larger units in addition to the cruel guerrilla warfare. But the atrocities committed also by the larger units of the bands, did not cease.
DR. GAWLIK: The next document will be Document 42, to be Exhibit Dehner 37. It is an affidavit by Walter Warlimont. It reads -
MR. FULKERSON: I object to this on the ground that the affidavit itself shows that it is strictly derivative; secondly, it is a violation of the "best evidence" rule and is hearsay. The affiant talks about his knowledge which he got from reading reports that were passed up to the OKW. We have the reports themselves in evidence here and it seems to me that this affiant's conclusions, drawn from other reports that he has seen, are certainly not helpful and are of no probative value.
DR. GAWLIK: May I say, if the Tribunal please, that the whole evidence submitted by the prosecution against the defendant Dehner, my client, is only hearsay evidence. They are only daily reports and teletypes and the issuants of these reports did not make their statements from their own knowledge. Therefore I can not be told now that I must not submit affidavits because it is hearsay evidence, in order to refute hearsay evidence submitted by the Prosecution.
And there is one more point: I do not know who signed this hearsay evidence of the Prosecution. It is not shown by any document as to who the author of the various daily reports is and whether the author had the necessary knowledge. Whereas General Warlimont, the affiant in this case -
THE PRESIDENT: The objection will be overruled. The document will be received for such probative value as the Tribunal deems that it merits.
DR. GAWLIK: Second paragraph on page 118:
I was from the beginning of the war to the end of 1941 Chief of the National Defense Department, from 1 January 1942 to September 1944 Deputy Chief of the Armed Forces Operational Staff in the OKW.
The partisans in the South East were never regarded by the OKW as legitimate enemy military forces. For this they lacked the most essential prerequisites as defined by the Hague Rules of Land Warfare.
In particular, the reports to the OKW which were accessible to me showed the following characteristics of their fighting methods: They combined for a limited period and for a restricted area to carry out raids, destructions and sabotage, after which they dispersed under the pressure of the occupying power, they did not carry their arms openly, but posed as peaceful citizens or peasants, as the case might be; they did not observe the customs of war, but used every conceivable kind of deceit and cruelty, both against members of the occupying power and against groups of the indigenous population, who would not do their bidding.
According to these reports the partisans also wore no uniforms or at least no standard uniforms or other military badges.
The next documents I wish to submit in order to show that the bands did not adhere to the rules of warfare and that for that reason they could not be regarded as belligerents within the meaning of the rules of land warfare.
The first document is an affidavit, Dehner 43, to be Exhibit No. 38, Dehner Document Book IX, pages 120 and 121, an affidavit by Wilhelm Hammer, who testified as follows:
From September 1942 until the conclusion of the Armistice I was an officer of the reserve and acting Ic (intelligence officer) of Army Group F.
As to atrocities committed by partisans against members of the German Wehrmacht, Herr Dr. Detig, who at the time was in charge of the Army newspaper, "Wacht im Sudosten" (Watch in the SouthEast), will certainly be in a position to give detailed information. I know that a great number of photos showing such atrocities were submitted to the Army Group which, because of the bestial manner in which the latter were carried out, can hardly be described. I personally still remember the raid on a German motor column in the region of Larissa, in the course of which all drivers and the accompanying personnel were slaughtered in the most bestial manner.
The affidavit goes on to report various raids and cruelties on the part of the bandits.
The next document I wish to submit is Dehner No. 44, to be Exhibit Dehner 39, Dehner Document Book IX, pages 122 and 123, an affidavit by Dr. Ernst Hamm, who states as follows:
When I was a regimental adjutant on the staff of Railway-Protection Regiment 3 at Doboj (Croatia) our base at Petrovo Selo along the railway line Doboj-Tuzla was captured by partisans on 11-12 October 1943. The garrison of the pill box, made up of some 15 Croats and 4 German Landesschuetzen of Landesschuetzen Battalion 825 (reserve defense units) were captured by the partisans, against all military law brutally tied up with wires, immediately put against a garden fence and, except for one Croat who managed to escape, shot. The shot men, beginning with the right wing, had their brains knocked out with rifle butts. The Croat who during the execution was standing on the left wing, was grazed by a bullet on the thigh, dropped to the ground and feigned death.
When he saw that all the executed men had their skulls crushed he freed himself from the wire fetters and escaped. The shots fired upon the fleeing man missed their target in the growing dusk. The Croat reported about the incident. When Petrovo Selo was recaptured by us, the truth of the Croat's report could be established. The corpses of the 4 killed Landesschuetzen were exhumed and buried in the Local Defense Units Cemetery 823.
On 2 December 1943 Emergency Armored Train 105 was started from Doboj to Maglay (railway line Doboj-Sarajewo) to support the garrison of Maglaj, which was fighting against the partisans, With the aid of a mine Emergency Armored Train 105 was blown up by the partisans, captured by surprise attack, and the surviving crew made prisoners by the partisans. According to the statement by a Croat who escaped from captivity, the officer candidate in command of Emergency armored Train 105, when being marched off to be interrogated, was beaten bloody and shot the following morning against all military law.
He then cites a few examples and proceeds, towards the end, "Whoever should attempt nowadays to make a non-stop trip by motor care without an armed escort, perhaps from Zagreb or Belgrade via Sarajevo-Skoplje-Saloniki, in the direction of Athens will come to know the bandit plague."
The next document I wish to present is Document Dehner No. 46, to be Exhibit 41, from Dehner Document Book IX, on pages 126 to 128. It is an affidavit by Dr. Ernst Hamm. He testified as follows; I shall now quote verbatim.
From June 1943 until summer 1944 I served as First Lieutenant of the Reserve and as Captain of the Reserve with the Railway Security Regiment Staff 3 in Doboj (Croatia) in the position of Adjutant with the Regiment.
On 30 June 1943 the railroad bridge over the Bosna near Catici with 4 pillboxes occupied by our Battalion XVII was blown up by partisans. The master of the railroad depot of Kakianj reported this occurrence to us in the Regiment Command Post on 1 July 1943, and stated that the crews of the 4 pillboxes fell living into the hands of the partisans and that the commander of the 4 pillboxes, the Croatian officer candidate Grahor, Nicola, was marched off by the partisans fettered in violation of military law. According to assertions of the population of Kakanj the officer candidate Grahor was "butchered" by the partisans on the slaughtering bench for pigs of the Kakanj slaughterhouse, by a stab in the neck like a pig.
The Croatian First Lieutenant who defended the Kaknj mine on 30 June 1943 was, according to statements of the population, dug in by the partisans up to the shoulders after he had been seriously wounded, and he was found on 1 or 2 July by the battalion of the division "Prinz Eugen" which relieved the village of Kakanj, dying and with his eyes put out.
On 11/12 October 1943 our strong point Petrovo Selo at the railroad line Doboj-Tuzla was conquered by the partisans. The crew of the pillbox consisting of about 15 Croatians and 4 German privates of the Regional Defense Battalion 823 was taken prisoner by the partisans, contrary to all military law heavily fettered with wire, at once placed against a fence and all but one Croatian, who succeeded in escaping, were shot dead and the skulls of the shot men were smashed in with the butts, beginning from the right.
The next document I wish to present in Document Dehner No. 51, to be Exhibit Dehner No. 42. It is in Document Book IX, on page 135. It is an affidavit by Karl Christiani. I am also submitting it as purporting to establish that the bands could not be regarded as belligerents within the meaning of military law and the rules of war. Christiani states as follows:
"During the time when I served in Croatia and Slovenia, from the autumn of 1943 till February 1944, the partisan troops fighting against us mainly consisted of ununiformed civilians. Partly they wore a Soviet-Star on their caps or on the breast but frequently no badges at all. In many cases also women took part in the raids, especially in the surprise attacks on the security troops of the Prinz Bach Battalion in the area round Karlstadt.
(signed) Karl Christiani Colonel (retired) and former commanding officer of infantry regiment 303".The next document on the same subject I wish to submit is Document No. 47, to be Exhibit Dehner 43.
It is an affidavit by Otto Frankenreuther. It is in Document Book IX, on pages 129 and 130. Frankenreuther states as follows:
"From the 9 February until 21 September 1944 I was a PFc with the Security Battalion 812 SouthEast, in the Ia paymaster's office (assistant)."
He then states, ad rem:
On the 13.2.1944 I was moved with the Security Battalion 812 from Regensburg to Croatia and was allocated in the area of Ruma.