Q Herr Krage, before answering the questions would you please pause before the question is translated. When and where were you born?
A I was born on the 20th July 1915 in Cologne.
Q What is your profession at the moment?
A I am now doing my preparatory as accessor Service with the District Attorney's Office at Muenchen-Gladbach in the Rhineland.
Q Did you take part in the last war?
A Yes.
Q In what capacity?
A I was officer in the signal corps in the last war.
Q What was your last rank?
A May last rank was Captain.
Q Where were you employed during the war?
A During the French campaign I was in the West, and then in September 1940 with my Regiment, I was transferred to the then Government General from there at the beginning of 1940 I was sent to the Balkans, first of all to Roumania. From there I went to Bulgaria.
Q Just a moment, witness. You said in 1940 you were sent to Roumania?
A I am sorry, 1941.
Q From when until when were you in the Balkans?
A I was in the Balkans from the beginning of 1941 until the beginning of January 1944.
Q In which unit were you?
A I belonged at that time to Army Signal Regiment 521.
Q What were your functions in this unit?
A In 1940 I was adjutant of the 2nd Battalion of the Regiment until the end of 1941. In 1942 I was Regimental Adjutant to the same Regiment and in 1943 I was Company chief of the 3rd Company of the 2nd Battalion of the Regiment. At the beginning of 1944 I left the Regiment because I was transferred.
Q How long were you in this Regiment 521?
A From the time that my company was subordinated to this Regiment that is October 1939 until the beginning of January 1944 I was a member of the Regiment with two interruptions, when I was on leave in order to study at the University in Winter 1941-1942 and Winter 1942-1943.
Q In which Battalion of this Regiment did you serve in 1941?
A In 1941 I served in the 2nd Battalion of the Regiment.
Q And what were your functions?
AAt that time I was Battalion Adjutant.
Q And where was the staff of this battalion?
A The staff was then in Belgrade.
Q And to whom was this 2nd Battalion subordinate at the beginning of July 1941.
A The 2nd Battalion had a double subordination. For signal activity, and as regard personnel it was subordinate to the Regiment and that is to the Army Signal Officer AOK 12, and in this way also to AOK 12, itself. On the other hand the Battalion was further subordinate in economical aspects, accommodation, food, etc. and other local affairs to the Commander in Serbia at that time, when the Commanding General in Serbia was set up.
Q What were the tasks of your Battalion in this period about which we are talking?
A The Battalion at that time had to maintain all the telephonic communications between Belgrade and Salonika.
Q And what cable connections had to you maintain?
A It was mainly the cables between Belgrade-MitrovicaSkolpze-Salonika, and Belgrade-Niz-Skoplje-Salonika.
Q What was the position at that time?
A The situation as regards signals was, I must say - a few days after we were transferred to the Serbian area - the communications were rather normal, and already at the beginning of the Russian campaign, sabotage on this one main line of communication increased so much, that interruptions on this sector took place almost continuously, and we were scarcely able to master these interruptions.
Q You are now talking about the period from June 1941 until when?
A I am not talking about the time from the beginning of June 1941 until about July -- August, that was the high of the sabotage acts on our sector of the communications.
Q. What happened as a result of this situation for your unit?
A. For the battalion, because of this situation we couldn't keep the companies together in one concentration point, but the battalion was forced to divide the companies up into small repair groups which were then placed along the main telephone line Belgrade-Salonika and had to maintain certain sectors of it.
Q. And what was the result of this deployment, this separation of your battalion?
A. The result was that in certain distances, along this sector the troops had certain villages allotted to them, if possible so that they could be used where German troops units were already quartered, but this wasn't always the case so that there were also cases in which our small repair groups were the only German troops there.
Q. What were these troops called?
A. We called them, repair units for short.
Q. And these repair units -- were they attacked by the partisans?
A. Yes, that happened repeatedly.
Q. When was the first incident which you remember?
A. The first incident in which the battalion suffered losses was an attack on the repair unit which was on the Sector Belgrade-Mitrovica in the small village of Usce.
Q. Would you please spell the name Usce?
A. The village Usce as far as I remember is written U-s-c-e.
Q. And you have already said where Usce is on the sector MitrovicaBelgrade?
A. Yes, it is north of Mitrovica and south of Belgrade.
Q. Would you please describe this attack briefly to the Tribunal?
A. The attack happened as follows: The troops were attacked in their billets at night. There was a short exchange of fire and then they were overcome. The troops were probably then deported, but in any case they were missing for a few weeks.
Q. And then what happened?
A. The company to whom these troops belonged then received an order through a neighboring unit -- I think this was the unit in Mitrovica ....
MR. FENSTERMACHER: If your Honor please, I object to the question and ask the answer of the witness to be stricken. I don't think he has been qualified or is competent to testify as to what happened to a unit to which he did not belong.
DR. LATERNSER: I think probably the prosecutor misunderstood the statement. This attack did happen to a unit which belonged to the witness. He was the adjutant of this unit.
MR. FENSTERMACHER: I think it ought to be stated and made clear as to how he got knowledge of the attack, your Honor.
DR. LATERNSER: I will ask all these questions.
PRESIDING JUDGE CARTER: Overruled.
BY DR. LATERNSER:
Q. I asked you, witness, what the unit had to do by reason of this attack?
A. The unit officer of a neighboring repair unit received the order, together with infantry units which were in this district, to find out what had happened to the repair unit. This investigation, however, didn't have any result.
Q. How do you know about this order and about the unsuccessful investigation?
A. I know about the order because the commander of the battalion gave the order to the company concerned to carry out this investigation.
Q. And who was the adjutant of this commander?
A. I myself was the adjutant of this commander.
Q. Were you finished with the answer?
A. No.
Q. Please continue.
A. After the unsuccessful investigation, the company as in duty bound then reported about this to the battalion and that is how I found out about it.
Q. When did the event happen which you have just described?
A. The attack on the Usce unit was round about the last days of September 1943.
Q. Then what happened in the first days of October, 1941?
A. A few days after the attack on the Usce unit, that is in the first October days, the Fourth Company concerned received the order on the occasion of a supply trip for the repair units on the Sector BelgradeMitrovica, to carry out further investigations about the whereabouts of the unit.
Q. Just a moment, witness. How do you know about this order?
A. I know about this order because all orders in this respect were either known by me because I passed then on, or else they were given by the commander in my presence, or else in case if the procedures which I have just mentioned didn't occur, the commander always told his adjutant about the things which happened.
Q. And now you started to describe the order which the Fourth Company received.
A. The Fourth Company received the order to carry out further investigations concerning the whereabouts of the troops, but according to the express terms of the order they weren't to use force or to take any kind of offensive action, because we, as members of the Signal Unit, had less infantry experience and the commander didn't want to undertake a further risk.
Q. What was the strength of the battalion or the squad which was to carry out the supply trip, and also to make the investigation about the missing repair unit?
A. This squad was about as big as a platoon. There were certainly two officers and these were the chief of the Fourth Company Lieutenant Lehr.....
Q. Will you spell the name?
A. It is spelled L-e-h-r.
And then another platoon officer of other company, 2nd Lieutenant Raab. I will spell it R-a-a-b. And then about five NCO's and about 40 soldiers.
Q. And then how did the trip go? What was reported about it?
A. The trip proceeded in the direction of Topola, it went on normally until there, and then south of Topola suddenly and quite unexpectedly from both sides, from the cornfields, machine guns and rifles started firing.
Q. When did you receive the first report about this attack?
A. I received the first report on the afternoon of the same day.
Q. Did you receive this report personally?
A. Yes, I remember quite definitely I received this report by telephone from the Chief of Staff at that time, Chief of Staff of the Higher Command 65, which was subordinate to the Military Commander.
Q. And then what was done by reason of this report?
A. The Chief of Staff told me that parts of the division lying in the Topola area had sent out a search squad and that this search squad then found the rest of the vehicles which had been burned on the road and they also found several dead belonging to the squad, and later on they found a seriously wounded men by reason of whose statements further dead were found in a valley.
Court No. V, Case No. VII.
Q. Witness, how great were the German losses at this time?
A. Our own losses of the battalion from the attack on the Usce repair unit as well as on Lieutenant Lehr's squad were altogether 22 dead, approximately 3 wounded, and about 15 to 16 missing, and some of these came back later on.
Q. Did these missing all come back?
A. No, only a small part of them came back. I think it wasn't more than 3 or 4.
Q. And was there an inquest on the victims of your battalion?
A. Yes.
Q. By whom?
A. The inquest was undertaken by the medical officer of our battalion, a then Assistant Dr. Gasser.
Q. Would you please spell his name?
A. G-A-S-S-E-R.
Q. And what was found out from this post mortem?
A. The medical officer found out that those who were shot were not all shot during the fighting, but some must have been shot from close-up.
Q. What kind of wounds were there?
A. They were mostly gun shot wounds, also fragmentation wounds and in a few cases there were also cuts.
Q. When and where were the German victims buried?
A. The soldiers were buried in the Belgrade cemetery about two days after the attack.
Q. And then what happened after the attack -- from your office?
A. Those soldiers who escaped the attack were interrogated by the officers of the companies to which they belonged, and then minutes were made of these interrogations.
Q. To whom were these minutes submitted?
A. The minutes were submitted to the battalion.
Q. Did you yourself have knowledge of these minutes?
A. Yes, I read these minutes as adjutant.
Q. And at that time you were adjutant of this battalion?
A. Yes.
Q. Did you also personally speak with eye-witnesses of the attack?
A. Yes.
Q. With whom?
A. I spoke with those soldiers who escaped capture and also with one soldier from the battalion who had been captured and who had escaped being shot.
Q. What was the name of this soldier?
A. This soldier was Corporal Kerbler. I spell it K e r b l e r.
Q. And then what happened to Kerbler? What did he tell you?
A. Kerbler told us the following. The squad, as I have already described, was fired on by machine guns. He himself was severely wounded by this; and then he was captured together with other wounded and non-wounded men, and then, together with these men, he was led into a valley.
Q. By whom? Would you start again with the description of this phase? I didn't understand you properly at the moment.
A. After a certain exchange of shots, part of Lieutenant Lehr's squad amongst them this Kerbler and Lieutenant Lehr himself, were taken prisoner and some of them walking and some, supported by their comrades because of their extraordinary loss of blood caused by their wounds, were led into a valley, and there the German soldiers were first of all removed of their valuables and the most important items of uniform were taken from them, and then, according to Corporal Kerbler's description, the company officer Lieutenant Lehr tried, first of all, to effect and exchange with partisans who had been taken prisoner, but this attempt was unsuccessful, and instead the wounded and the non-wounded soldiers received the order to sit down beside each other on the ground.
Q. In this valley?
A. Yes, in this valley?
Q. And then how were they treated by the partisans?
A. Some of the partisans then placed machine guns a little way away from them, the machine guns which had been taken from the Germans, and then shot one volley intentionally above their heads.
Q. And was this Kerbler whom you mentioned amongst these men sitting on the ground?
A. Yes, Kerbler was with them.
Q. And then what did Kerbler tell you happened?
A. Then Kerbler told me the following: by the heavy loss of blood, as a result of his wounds, and also because of the excitement of the moment, he became unconscious for a short time and fell down and, therefore, the second volley didn't touch him, so that the shots which should have killed him and through which some of his comrades were shot dead, didn't touch him; and then Kerbler went on -- this second volley woke him up from his unconsciousness, but he had the presence of mind to pretend that he was dead and, therefore, he had to observe how after the second machine gun volley the partisans went up to the shot men, and those who weren't dead or whom they didn't think were dead, were again shot with a pistol through the head.
Q. And then how was Kerbler saved from this situation?
A. Kerbler said that the partisans didn't shoot him again with a pistol shot to kill him off, but just kicked him and then the partisans went away and disappeared from the valley; he remained there for a certain time, and then he crawled into a nearby cornfield where he collapsed unconscious again. A short time later he then heard German voices. This was probably the search squad sent from Tupola, and he then called for help and was found by this squad and taken to a hospital.
Q. And how were the dead men found, the ones who were shot?
A. According to the description, the shot men were lying next to each other.
Q. How were they found?
A. They were found by the fact that Kerbler told the search squad that in the valley described by him there were still some more comrades, and then the squad found them.
PRESIDING JUDGE CARTER: We will recess until 9:30 tomorrow morning.
THE MARSHAL: The court is in recess until 9:30 tomorrow morning.
(The Tribunal adjourned until 8 October 1947 at 0930 hours.)
Official Transcript of the American Military Tribunal in the matter of the United States of America against Wilhelm List, et all, defendants, sitting at Nurnberg, Germany, on 8 October 1947, 0930, Justice Wennerstrum presiding.
THE MARSHAL: Persons in the courtroom will please find their seats.
The Honorable, the Judges of Military Tribunal V is now in session. God save the United States of America and this honorable Tribunal. There will be order in the courtroom.
THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Marshal, have you ascertained whether or not all the defendants are present in the court?
THE MARSHAL: May it please your Honor, all defendants are present in court except the defendant von Weichs who is hospitalized for an indefinite number of days.
THE PRESIDENT: Are we ready to proceed?
You may proceed, Dr. Laternser.
HERBERT KRAGE - Resumed DIRECT EXAMINATION - Continued BY DR. LATERNSER (Counsel for defendants List and von Weichs):
Q Herr Krage, yesterday, just before the recess, we were talking about the way in which the shot German soldiers were found. I don't know whether you finished answering this question but please let's do it again and tell us in which manner the shot German soldiers were found.
A The shot German soldiers wore found partly lying beside the vehicles on the road and partly in a valley lying next to each other.
Q And then did the battalion make a report on this?
A Yes, I drew up this report myself.
Q To whom did this report go?
A This report went on the one hand, because of the double subordination, through our signal service to the regiment and in this way also to the army signal officer and also in this way to Army High Command XII: and then the report also went, for reason of the territorial sub ordination, to the Military Commander in Serbia; and, if I remember correctly, it also went to the Higher Command 65th, subordinate to the Military Commander in Serbia, which partly shared the office rooms with us.
Whether it went to other offices also I can't remember any more.
Q When approximately was this report sent out?
A Of course, I can't remember the exact date today, but I assume with certainty that it wasn't drawn up before four days after the attack.
Q Why do you assume that?
A I assume this because only a few days after the attack the first survivors came back to the battalion and also, because naturally on the first day after the attack the battalion had other affairs to look after than to deal with the detail about losses of equipment, et cetera. Furthermore the reports of the companies concerned certainly had to be checked because the reports which I have already mentioned didn't only contain facts about the attack itself but also definite statements about all losses of men, vehicles, signal equipment and other material, arms, et cetera and, therefore, the report can scarcely have been drawn up until the 4th day after the attack and sent to the office which I have mentioned.
Q Before this report was drawn up were the persons concerned interrogated?
A Yes, on the next day and the day after that the first survivors came back and those were the men who escaped being captured.
Q You said that the report was sent off a few days after the attack. When was the attack?
A The attack, I notice from a diary note, was, I think, if I am not mistaken, on the 2nd of October 1941.
Q And when do you think, then, that the report was sent out approximately?
A The report was drawn up probably, in my estimation, about the 6th of October and then, of course, a certain time passed before the report from Belgrade reached our regiment near Athens where it was lying at that time, as far as I remember.
Q And then what was the final result of your investigations?
AAs far as I remember through the two attacks we had certainly 22 dead; in addition about 3 or 4 wounded and missing, possibly, in my estimation, about 15 or 16.
Q I think I already asked about this yesterday. Did the missing persons come back?
A I only remember that a small part of the missing persons came back and I think there were about 3 men from the Ustja unit who, by executing a commission, had made themselves independent and, therefore, escaped being captured.
Q And then were reprisal measures ordered?
A Yes.
Q Who gave this order?
AAs far as I remember, this reprisal order was given by the Commanding General in Serbia at that time, General Boehme, I think.
Q How did you receive knowledge of this order?
A Whether the report came in a written form or orally to the battalion, I can't say with certainty today but, in any case, I heard about it.
Q Who had to carry out the reprisal measures?
A The order contained the direction that the execution should be carried out by the companies who had sustained the losses.
Q Who executed it?
A Since the company officer of the one company concerned, Lieutenant Lehr, was himself killed in the attack, the company officer of the second company which had suffered losses, was made responsible.
Q And then who carried it out?
AAs I have already said, the company officer of the 3rd company did this with a commando composed of members of the two companies concerned.
Q Did this company officer make a report about it later on?
A I think I can remember that the company officer, after the carrying out of two separate executions on two separate days, made a report on this.
Q How many Serbs were shot?
A the figure I remember is between 400 and 500. I think on each of the two days around about 200 executions wore carried out.
Q Did the company officer report to the battalion commander about this?
A Yes, I remember that the company officer, after the two executions had been carried out, reported that he and his men who were commissioned to carry out the executions, because of the extraordinary mental burden, were in no position to carry out further executions. Because of the extra heavy assignment of the battalion and for the losses which they had previously suffered, there was hardly any possibility to change the participants in this.
Q And were further executions undertaken?
A No, further executions by the units concerned or by the units of the regiment were not undertaken.
Q It is maintained here that because of this incident 2,200 Serbs were shot. You say 400 to 500. Can you say anything about these contradictions? Can you give some explanation?
A It is correct that the order about the shooting of 2,200 Serbs was given but, at any rate, by the units concerned, the order wasn't carried out because, by reason of a representation made for the reasons which I have mentioned, the executions were discontinued.
Q What kind of persons were the men shot?
AAs far as I know, the men shot were partisans who were captured and who were in a hostage camp -- I think in Belgrade or near Belgrade.
Q And who made these partisans available, these captured partisans?
A I remember that the company officer commissioned to carry out the executions, received these partisans from the Security Service in Belgrade.
Q Did the battalion to which you belonged carry out further shootings later on?
A No, that was the only case.
Q And later on, too?
AAt any rate, as long as I belonged to the regiment.
DR. LATERNSER: I have no further questions.
THE PRESIDENT: Is there any further examination by other defense counsel? Apparently not, so you may proceed with the cross-examination, Mr. Fenstermacher.
MR. FENSTERMACHER: Ok, your Honor.
CROSS EXAMINATION BY MR. FENSTERMACHER:
Q Mr. Krage, when did you join the army?
A I came to the 12th Army in October 1939.
Q But when did you first join the German army?
A In the war, at the beginning of the war, the beginning in 1939 I was called up.
Q How old were you at that time?
A I was 24 years old at that time.
Q Had you been in the Hitler Union before that?
A No.
Q Were you ever a member of the Nazi Party?
A Yes, but I have been de-Nazified.
Q When did you first join the Nazi party?
A I was transferred into the Party in May 1937.
Q How do you mean, you were transferred into the Party?
A I didn't carry out the entry into the Party myself, but as a student, as a member of the motor corps, by reason of an order of it, when the Party was opened again in May 1937, I was transferred into the Party.
Q What motor corps was this that you belonged to?
A The so-called NSKK; that is the National Socialist Motor Corps.
Q Did you join that corps voluntarily?
A No, as a student I received the order to join some kind of formation of the NSDAP and for this reason, because I had a driving license, I joined the NSKK.
Q And then in 1937 you were automatically made a member of the Party without your doing anything further about it?
A Yes.
Q Were you in full sympathy with the full program of the Nazi Party when you joined in 1937?
AAs far as I can remember, in 1937 any kind of criminal intentions of which we have mostly heard about after the war, were not known at that time and, even if I had rejected these things, it wouldn't have meant anything else except professional suicide and, after all, I wanted to take my examination and to become an official.
Q What was your profession at that time?
AAt that time I was still a law student.
Q Did you ever become a lawyer?
A No, through the war my studying was considerably interrupted and only now I am in preparatory service to taking the Assessor examination.
Q Were you familiar as a student with the Nurnberg Laws of 1935 which discriminated against the Jews in Germany?
A Yes.
Q Were you in agreement with those laws?
A It is rather difficult to say today. The results and consequences of these laws could not possibly have been envisaged by anyone at that time. One just took the laws at that time as an accomplished fact.
Q You were in agreement with the laws in principle but you were annoyed by the effects which the laws later proved in Germany?
THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Fenstermacher, do you feel that this is cross-examination?
MR. FENSTERMACHER: Your Honor please, I am trying to show the type of mentality which this man had and with which he approached the problems which he as a soldier faced in the Balkans.
THE PRESIDENT: He has merely testified as to certain facts which he as an adjutant and company official observed and saw. It seems to me that we will be going into an unlimited study of the mentality of the witness if, after testifying as to facts that he saw and observed, we then go into a study of his mental characteristics. It seems to me it should be limited.
MR. FENSTERMACHER: Very well, your Honor.
Q How long did you remain in Serbia as a soldier?
A In Serbia itself I was from June 1941 until my first study leave in November 1941 and later on again in 1943 for the whale summer.
Q Where did you go after you left Serbia towards the end of 1941?
AAt the end of 1941 I went home because of four months' leave for study and went back again to Serbia in April 1942.
Q With what unit did you serve in Serbia in 1943?
A In 1943 I served with the same unit, with this 2nd Battalion of the 521st Regiment with whom I was adjutant in 1941.
A. I repeat. In 1943 I was a member of the same Second Battalion, with which I was adjutant in 1941, only with the difference that in 1943 I was company officer of one of the companies concerned.
Q. Were you continually in the Army until May of 1945?
A. No. In January, 1944 I received a transfer and then I left the XIIth Army.
Q. At what date were you discharged from the Army?
A. I was released eventually when I was discharged as a PW in September 1945.
Q. To whom was the 521st Signal Regiment subordinate during the period June to November, 1941?
A. I have already mentioned that the Regiment had a double subordination.
Q. I understand it was subordinate to General Bader, as Commander of the LXVth Corps on one hand and to the XIIth Army on the other.
A. Yes. Whether it was the higher Command of the LXVth or the Military Command of Serbia directly, I'm not quite certain, but in any case of the Military Command Serbia on the one hand and the XIIth Army on the other hand.
Q. Who was the Military Commander of Serbia at that time?
A. At that time concerned, as far as I remember, the Commanding General was General Boehme.
Q. Do you know to whom General Boehme was subordinate in the chain of command process?
A. I don't know exact details about it. I assume to the Army Group in the Balkans.
Q. You stated on direct examination, Mr. Krage, that there were some attacks on your Regiment in June, July, and August, 1941.
A. Yes.
Q. Do you know who were the perpetrators of those attacks?
A. At that time in June, July, and August there were more or less sabotage acts which were more directed on our work, that is, the telephone communications etc.