Q. Witness, will you please state your full name?
A. Julius Reuhm.
Q. Will you spell your sur-name?
A. R-U-E-H-M.
Q. Witness I would like you to always make a brief pause before you answer my question. When were you born?
A. On 20 May, 1882.
Q. Where?
A. Nurnberg.
Q. What is your profession?
A. I am a municipal officire.
Q. How long were you in the Municipal service?
A. From December, 1898 until September, 1945, 47 years altogether.
Q. And what was your last position?
A. My main position was state counselleor and I was vice-mayor.
Q. Mayor of what town?
A. Of Nurnberg, the town and municipal district of Nurnberg.
Q. When did the allied troops enter Nurnberg?
A. That must have been around 17 April, 1945, the 17th or 18th of April of 1945.
Q. What was your position at that time?
A. I was a state counselleor and a referent for personnel matters.
Q. Was your official position changed after the entering of the Americans?
A. It was changed after the 21st of April through the appointment of Lord Mayor of the Municipal district of Nurnberg.
Q. Who appointed you or commissioned you Lord Mayor of Nurnberg?
A. The 1st Military Governor of Nurnberg, that was Colonel Fuller.
Q. When did that appointment take place?
A. That appointment took place on Sunday, 22 April 1945.
Q. What happened on 2 May 1945?
A. On 2 May 1945 I was called by Captain Loetcke, the control officer and was informed that I was to appear immediately before the then administrative area headquarters commandant, who worked in the Kommandantura on Schweppermann Strasse, because during the night from the 1st to 2nd of May 1945 somewhere near that office on the street Kleinreiterweg a shooting had occurred. Captain Loetke himself brought me to the commandant's office and there I was brought before the commandant's office and there I was brought before the commandant of the sub-area administrative headquarters, who was surrounded by his staff.
Q. What did he tell you?
A. He told me there through an interpreter this shooting had occurred and that I knew that I as Lord Mayor of the municipal district of Nurnberg, was responsible for such occurrences. The house from which the shots had been fired would now be destroyed by American tanks and if such an occurrance would be repeated then that district of the town where such an occurance happened would be destroyed by American tanks and razed to the ground. It was my task to inform the population about the seriousness of the situation.
Q. Witness, did you do that?
A. I did that. The officer took me back to my office and immediately I drew up a proclamation to the population of Nurnberg and I issued this proclamation on the same day. This announcement was made public and posted in the whole area of the town.
Q. How did that proclamation read?
A. I have the original of this proclamation here and I may perhaps read it?
Q. Will you read it very slowly please?
A. It is contained in the official Gazette of the Allied Military Government, Nurnberg, No. 1: dated: "Wednesday 2 May, 1945." It reads as follows:
"To the whole of the population of the city of Nurnberg: The irresponsible conscienceless elements have during the past night from various houses shot at American soldiers. Such an act of sabotage directed against the reconstruction of public law and order must lead to the most severe consequences for the participants as well as for the whole of the population of Nurnberg in their very own interest against committing any irresponsible act lest our city be in danger of being completely destroyed and of losing further human lives." Nurnberg, 2 May 1945, (Signed) Lord Mayor of Nurnberg.
Q. I have only one more question to put to this witness. You just said in your testimony that the commandant of the sub-area administrative headquarters told you that as Lord Mayor you were responsible for everything that went on in Nurnberg. At that time was there any decree of the occupation forces to that effect?
A. There was ordanance No. 1 of the occupation forces, which to the best of my recollection was posted everywhere at that time.
Q. Can you perhaps give us the text of this instruction?
A. I have it here. The text can be found in the official Gaxette of the Military Government for Germany, Control Area of the 6th Army Group. The number of the issue is One, ordanance No. 1. It says,"Crimes and other punishable offenses." In section IV of that article: "The Mayor or any appointed representative of a community can, as representative of the population of the community, be indicted and sentenced for all punishable offenses for which the residents, or a considerable number of them, presumably collectively, are responsible.
Q. Thank you very much, witness. I have no further questions.
THE PRESIDENT: Just a moment. You may cross-examine, Mr. Rapp.
MR. RAPP: Thank you, Your Honor.
Cross Examination BY MR. RAPP:
Q. Witness, were you ever in military service during your entire life?
A. No, never.
Q. Were you ever a member of the Nazi party?
A. Yes.
Q. When?
A. Since 1934 and it was dated back to 1933.
Q. Were you ever a member of any other Nazi organization?
A. No.
Q. Witness, you told us that you were called to this American headquarters on the 2nd of May?
A. Yes.
Q. Because some shooting occurred the previous night; is that correct?
A. Yes, that is correct.
Q. Was it clear to you at that time that such shooting was a result of sniper action?
A. No, no. I had no knowledge of that sort. I was of the opinion and that is what I told the administration sub-area headquarters commandant, that in my opinion, not Germans had participated in this shooting but foreigners.
Q. I don't think you got my question, witness.
A. Yes, please.
Q. I didn't want you to tell whether the snipers were Germans or non-Germans. I was merely asking you whether you were told that people shot from concealment, out of ruins or buildings at American soldiers, that is what I want to ask you?
A. No, I don't know that and that was not said, all that was said was that in the area of Kleinreiterweg shootings had occurred. That is all I remember.
Q. But, upon the recommendation I presume of the American authorities in Nurnberg at that time you published a proclamation saying that shootings had occurred from houses; is that right?
A. Yes, that becomes apparent from my proclamation, otherwise I could not have drawn up that proclamation in the way I did.
Q In other words you did knew that shootings took place from houses, and they must have told you that; isn't that right?
A I was told by the interpreter of the administrative sub-area head-quarters commandant. Before that I did not know anything about it because in our district there was quite a lot of shooting at that time. I personally knew nothing of that shooting until I was called to the commandant's office.
Q And you were told that the only military action or any counter measure that the occupation forces were to do were to erase the city blocks or houses from where the shooting occurred; is that right?
A Yes, that is correct and that is also contained in the proclamation which I issued with the permission of my control council officer, Captain Loetke.
Q You were not told that the inhabitants of these houses would forfeit their lives if the shootings would continue; were you?
A No, that was not said, they just said that they would be chased out of their homes.
Q But they were not put to death, were they?
A I cannot say that, that depends on the situation.
Q Well, witness, my question is very simple. I merely asked you whether you were told by the American commandant if this shooting doesn't stop the inhabitants will forfeit their lives?
A In those words it was not said.
Q Well, just what was told to you then?
A The discussion or conference was quite brief. The administrative sub-area headquarters commandant pointed out to me that this shooting had taken place, as I stated before and that the house from which the shots had been fired be razed to the ground by American tanks and that in case of a Repetition the whole sector of the town would be erased. Much more was not said to the best of my recollection, it was quite a brief conference.
Q That will do then. You did know by the way at that time that Germany had also surrendered unconditionally to the Allies; that was known to you, wasn't it?
A I can well assume that it was know to me, yes.
Q Witness, you read a certain paper here in Court, may I see that please?
A Yes.
Q You told us that as a result of this publication, which you read into the record, the authorities, that is the American authorities in this particular case held you personally responsible for.....
A Yes.
Q ...Any acts detrimental to the welfare of the occupation forces, if such acts had a collective character?
A Yes.
Q But you did know that this responsibility entailed first that you were to be indicted, if it would happen at all and that it was only to be determined as a result of a trial; is that right?
A Yes, that is what I assumed.
Q In other words your guilt had to be established and then only if at such trial your guilt was established, you would be responsible, but summarily responsible without a trial, you were not?
A Well, I did not assume that I was, because it says something in the decree about sentencing.
Q Thank you, I have no further questions, Your Honor.
DR. LATERNSER: Will you please take your ear-phones off again, witness? I would first of all like to clarify certain, circumstances. You were asked whether at the time when you issued your proclamation of 2 May in Nurnberg, whether at that time it was known to you that Germany had unconditionally surrendered. One preliminary question when did the unconditional surrender take place?
THE WITNESS: I don't know that by heart, I am sorry.
DR. LATERNSER: Don't you know that the unconditional surrender took place on the 6th or rather on the 8th of May.
THE WITNESS: I cannot say that, I don't remember it.
DR. LATERNSER: In this particular point, you might possibly admit that there was an error when you answered the Prosecution's question that you were issued your proclamation after the capitulation.
THE WITNESS: I had assumed when I answered the question that the surrender had occurred before.
MR. RAPP: I object, Your Honor. Dr. Laternser is not to crossexamine his own witness.
THE PRESIDENT: The Court will take judicial notice of when the surrender took place, which is of common knowledge to our Court generally.
DR. LATERNSER: And you were asked about your membership in the National Socialist party?
THE WITNESS: Yes.
DR. LATERNSER: Were you active within the Party?
THE WITNESS: No, never.
DR. LATERNSER: How long were you in service as a municipal official.
THE WITNESS: 47 years from 1898 until September of 1945.
DR. LATERNSER: Were you entitled to a pension for your old age?
THE WITNESS: According to the German Civil Service law for decades I had that rights.
DR. LATERNSER: Do you receive a pension now?
THE WITNESS: No.
DR. LATERNSER: Why don't you receive one?
THE WITNESS: I was a purely nominal member of the Party and regarded as such.
DR. LATERNSER: On whose order, on whose instigation is it that you don't receive your pension?
THE PRESIDENT: That is not particularly material, Dr. Laternser, I don't believe that it will be helpful to the Tribunal in its final decision.
DR. LATERNSER: Then I have no further questions to put to this witness.
MR. RAPP: I have no further questions, Your Honor.
THE PRESIDENT: The witness will be excused. Pardon me, is there any questioning on behalf of any of the other defense counsel? Judge Carter? Judge Burk?
JUDGE BURKE: I have no questions.
THE PRESIDENT: You may be excused, sir.
(The witness is excused.)
DR. LATERNSER: If the Tribunal please, I am just being informed by my colleague, Dr. Tipp, that he learned that his document book yet to be presented has already been translated although we don't know whether the document books which have been translated have already been distributed. If that is not the case there is another possibility for the presentation of the defense. I myself have an eighth document book to present, as I have already informed the Tribunal and, as I am just being told, through the excellent support by Captain Rice it was possible to mimeograph this document book during the luncheon recess. It is supposed to have already been mimeographed and I believe it has already been distributed.
If the Court would make a brief recess now, I am certain that after the recess I would be in a position to present the balance of the documents.
THE PRESIDENT: We will take our afternoon recess at this time.
THE MARSHAL: The Tribunal will be in recess until fifteen hundred.
(A recess was taken)
THE MARSHAL: The Tribunal is again in session.
THE PRESIDENT: Dr. Laternser?
DR. LATERNSER: I would like to continue with my presentation of documents from Document Book VIII. As Exhibit No. 140 I submit List Document No. 625. This is an excerpt from the proceedings against Field Marshal Kesselring before a military court. I want to read from page 1 of the document at the bottom, the last third:
"Proceedings of a Military Court for the Trial of War Criminals held at Tribunale Di Giustizia, Venice on Thursday, 1st May 1947 upon the trial of" -- page 2 -- "Albert Kesselring, German National, in charge of 317 Transit Camp, pursuant to Regulation 4 of the Regulations for the trial of War Criminals.
"Orders by: Lieutenant-General Sir John Harding, Commanding General Mediterranean Forces.
"President; Major General E. Hakewill-Smith.
"Members: Lieutenant Colonel" --
And then follows other names. I think it very important and I would like to draw the attention of the Tribunal to the Judge Advocate, "C.L. Stirling, Deputy Judge Advocate General of the Forces."
MR. FULKERSON: Your Honors, the purpose of this document seems to be -- I withdraw the objection.
DR. LATERNSER: I submit this document for the purpose of showing the Tribunal the members of the Tribunal. It was composed of officers and I also would like to show that the Judge Advocate was C. L. Stirling, Esquire, Deputy Judge Advocate General of the Forces, and I am informed that this is the second highest military judge of Great Britain.
The next document I would like to submit is List Document No. 630. This becomes Exhibit No. 141.
MR. FULKERSON: I would like to object to the introduction of this document. It is an extract apparently from the closing argument of the Judge Advocate General in which he makes some conclusions of law of his own which I don't believe, in the first place, are binding on this Tribunal or even persuasive and, even if they are, it more properly finds itself in a brief as it is, after all, a citation rather than a piece of evidence.
DR. LATERNSER: No, your Honors, I am submitting it for the following reason. In my presentation of documents, I have already stated that I still had an authoritative opinion, a British official one, to submit regarding the question of whether hostages can be shot as reprisals or not. This is not an ordinary opinion but this is the opinion of the Judge Advocate General who did not have the position of a prosecutor in this trial but he sat on the Tribunal and he was the proper advisor and he compiled all the material for the judges.
I would like to quote this excerpt of his statements and I think that it is a statement of the facts of the case. The fact is that he as the second highest army judge of the British Empire made this summing up.
THE PRESIDENT: The objection Till be sustained. It could very well and properly be a part of a legal argument or closing argument butt it is not permissible, in the opinion of the Tribunal, as an Exhibit.
DR. LATERNSER: Up until now I have not yet proved the order maintained by the defense which General Leclerc gave after the capture of Strassbourg. As proof that he did give this order I would now like to submit document List No. 600 which becomes Exhibit No. 141. This is an affidavit by General of the Army, Dwight D. Eisenhower part of which I would like to read. I would like to start at the top:
"I, Dwight D. Eisenhower, being duly sworn, upon my oath depose and say that:
"My full name is DWIGHT DAVID EISENHOWER. I am 57 years of age. I am in the Military Service of the United States. My rank is General of the Army, and my Army Serial number is 03822.
"On 30 November 1944, and for some time before and after that date I was supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force. To the best of my knowledge and belief, on 25 November 1944, the Securite Militaire of the Second French Armored Division in the name of General Le Clerc issued an order substantially as follows:
"Decree of 25 Nov. 44.
"By order of General LECLERC, provisional military governor of the City of Strasbourg, it is decided to suppress all activities of snipers in Strasbourg.
"The following measures will be applied:
"1. For every French soldier killed in the city five German hostages will be shot, taken from those designated by the General.
"2. Every sniper will be immediately shot.
"3. Any person who gives shelter to snipers or aids them in any way will be shot.
"4. The carrying of arms is subject to the provisions of a special decree of this date. All possessors of army without permit will be arrested and court-martialled.
"By the Securite Militaire of the 2 D.B."
And then I continue:
"I do not know what individual signed this order."
I will not read the rest of the document and I would further like to submit as Exhibit 142 Document List No. 610. I would like to draw the attention of the Tribunal to this affidavit by General Barr to the first part. I will not read it since that is almost the same text as the affidavit by General Eisenhower.
My next exhibit is Document 615. This becomes Exhibit 143. This is to be found on page 9 of my document book 8. It is an affidavit by the Chief of Staff of General Eisenhower, Walter B. Smith, which he gave in London.
The questions which are found in the findings of the Tribunal he answered in the following manner. I would like the interpreter to read the last paragraph until "E", inclusively.
THE INTERPRETER: "In compliance" -- shall I begin with, "In compliance"?
"In compliance with the order of Military Tribunal No. 5, contained in message to the War Department from the Secretary General, Military Tribunals, Nurnberg, forwarded to me by W A R X 91325 of 29 November, I was Chief of Staff to General Eisenhower, Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force, at the time of the incident in question and the following are the answers to the questions in the cable above referred to: A. No; B. (blank); C. No; D. (Blank)."
DR. LATERNSER: I would ask that the rest be read up as far as "G".
THE INTERPRETER: "E. I recall being informed by Major General Barker, Assistant Chief of Staff, G-1, SHAEF, that one of the French Division Commanders had issued reprisal orders and that he (General Barker) had immediately disapproved them and had taken the necessary action to have them rescinded. I directed him to be sure that the Army Group Commander was alert to prevent any recurrence of such orders.
"F. No; G. (blank)."
The next exhibit I would like to submit is Exhibit 144, and this number is given to 620, and I would ask the Tribunal to take judicial notice of this affidavit. As Exhibit 145 I would like to submit Document List No. 480. This is an affidavit by General Devers which is on Page 13 of Document look VIII. I would like to ask the interpreter to read this affidavit beginning from, "I, Jacob L. Devers," until the word "Order" at the bottom of the page.
THE INTERPRETER: "I, Jacob L. Devers, being duly sworn, upon my oath, depose and say that:
"My full name is Jacob L. Devers, I am 60 years of age, and I am in the military service of the United States. My rank is General, and my Army Serial Number is 02599.
"On 30 November, 1944, and for some time before and after that date, I was Commanding General of the Sixth Army Group. To the best of my knowledge and belief on 25 November 1944, General LeClerc, Commanding the 2nd French Armored Division, issued an order substantially as follows: "Decree of 25 November 44.
"By order of General LeClerc--"
DR. FULKERSON: If your Honor please, I don't get the point of reading this order the second time. It has already been read once.
THE PRESIDENT: I believe that is correct. It has already been repeated in the record.
DR. LATERNSER: Yes, I am in agreement with that. This brings me to the end of my presentation from Document Book VIII.
Your Honor, this morning I already informed the Tribunal that up to now I unfortunately had no information from the French about the statements from the French Commanders. I think these statements are very important because these were the people who issued the order. I hope to get some information about it, and I hope that the statements will be here by Tuesday. Otherwise, or if the information does not arrive I would like as a defense counsel to draw the corresponding conclusions, i.e., if the statements from the Americans arrived in time, then the French ones could have certainly arrived in time.
This brings me to the final end of my presentation of documents. There only remain the witnesses to examine, the witnesses which have already been announced, and I also have a few motions to make which will certainly be made before Tuesday evening.
As I have found out in the meantime, the document book of my colleague, Dr. Tipp, has already been translated but it has not yet been mimeographed, the English text, so that now the situation has arisen that the defense has nothing more to present, and therefore, I must ask the Tribunal to take a rather premature recess this afternoon and hope that we can continue on Monday morning.
THE PRESIDENT: With the exception of these very few documents that you have mentioned, you will be in the position to rest, or do you rest now at this time subject to those other matters?
DR. LATERNSER: Since there is still something more to be presented, I do not want to state as defense counsel for Field Marshal List I have completely concluded my case. I would like to say that when everything has been presented.
THE PRESIDENT: Under the circumstances the Tribunal will recess now until Monday, January 12th. I want to again repeal and call to the attention of the defense counsel the necessity of having all matters in the hands of the Defense Center and the necessary departments for immediate attention by nine o'clock Monday morning.
The Tribunal will be in recess as previously announced.
(The Tribunal adjourned until 12 January 1948 at 0930 hours.)
Official Transcript of Military Tribunal V, Case VII, in the matter of the United States of America against Wilhelm List et al, defendants, sitting at Nurnberg, Germany, on 12 January 1948, 0930, Justice Burke Presiding.
THE MARSHAL: Persons in the Courtroom will please find their seats.
The Honorable, the Judges of Military Tribunal V.
Military Tribunal V is now in session. God save the United States of America and this Honorable Tribunal.
There will be order in the Court.
THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Marshal, will you ascertain if all the defendants are present in the Courtroom?
THE MARSHAL: May it please your Honor, all the defendants are present in the Courtroom.
THE PRESIDENT: Judge burke will preside at this day's session.
PRESIDING JUDGE BURKE: You will proceed.
DR. WEISGERBER: Dr. Weisgerber for General Speidel. Your Honor, I find out that the translation of the affidavit of President Sandstroem is now available. I would like to offer Speidel Document No. 83 as Speidel Exhibit No. 62. This is an affidavit by Alfred Emil Sandstroem, former member of the Supreme Court of Sweden, resident in Stockholm, with the following contents:
It is correct that Herr SPEIDEL, General of the Air Force and then Military Commander in Greece, at the time of the Italian breakdown, released from detention a great number of Greeks who had been arrested by the Italians -- though I do not know their exact number, I would not be surprised if their number was approximately 2,000.
This fact became known to me in the following manner. I was then President of the Administrative Committee of the Aid to Greece, and immediately after the collapse, paid a visit to the Plenipotentiary Extra-ordinary of the Foreign Office in Greece, Herr ALTENBERG, for reasons related to the Aid to Greece. On this occasion I pointed out to Herr ALTENBERG that the release of the Greeks mentioned, would create a good impression, Herr ALTENBERG followed up the idea and in my presence went to the telephone and called up General SPEIDEL.
He mentioned my proposal and told me after the conversation that he had received a favorable answer. Next morning I read an official announcement of the Military Commander in a German Paper edited in Athens which said that, except for some special cases, the Greeks who had been arrested and detained by the Italians would be released. Here than 800 Greeks were released at once. Announcements about additional releases of Greeks were made in the following days.
I likewise know that General SPEIDEL in some cases ordered sentences passed by Military Tribunals on Greeks to be investigated and that he granted pardons. In particular, I remember one case at which I think --. two persons had been sentenced to death and which was much discussed in Athens. The sentence was checked upon orders of General SPEIDEL and the punishment was mitigated. I can no longer remember the names of the convicted persons, neither do I remember whether they had been sentenced by an Italian or a German Court.
As regards the relations between the Administrative Committee of the Aid to Greece and Herr SPEIDEL in his capacity of Military Commander I can say the following. In the course of time we turned more and more to the Military Authorities, and whenever we had to approach General SPEIDEL he not only was very obliging, but he also always endeavored to keep international agreements and always tried to assist us as far as possible. Whenever measures were taken which were incompatable with these agreements, they had obviously been ordered by subordinate agencies. The Military Commander, whenever we remonstrated with him, always endeavored to redress the grievances.
Signed Emil Sandstroem, Stockholm, 26 December 1947, and this is a statement by the President of the Aid for Greece at that time, Emil Sandstroem, who is at the moment in the Palestine Commission.
MR. FULKERSON: Your Honor, I make a comment rather than an objection, but I would like to call it to the attention of this Court that this statement is not sworn and that the signature is not verified.
DR. WEISGERBER: I would like to reply to this in the following way. In itself, that is correct. The defense has unfortunately not the same possibilities as the prosecution. In September of last year, I asked President Sandstroem. to make an affidavit with regard to this question as contained in the affidavit here.
THE PRESIDENT: There is no objection, Doctor, so we might as well proceed without comment. I don't wish to be discourteous but there is no necessity of explanation inasmuch as there is no objection.
DR. WEISGERBER: Your Honor, this brings me to the end of the documents which I would, like to submit. I am just waiting now for the Greek documents, the excerpts from the Greek newspapers and the official proclamations which were contained in these newspapers. These proclamations are not yet translated but I think they will be finished either today or tomorrow morning and when I have presented these documents that will bring me to the end of my case for Speidel.
THE PRESIDENT: May I inquire as to the Exhibit number again?
DR. WEISGERBER: Number 62, your Honor.
DR. TIPP: Dr. Tipp for General von Leyser. Your Honor, with the permission of the Tribunal, I would like to present the documents contained in Leyser Document Book No. III. The Tribunal is in possession of the translation, I think; from this document book, the first document I would like to submit is Leyser Document No. 61, and this becomes Leyser Exhibit No. 58. The document is contained on page 209 and it is an affidavit by the affiant who has already been mentioned several times in this trial, Werner Pfafferott. I would like to say that Mr. Pfafferott has been granted as a witness to me but I prefer to present this affidavit. I would like now to start reading the document. In paragraph one, the affiant describes?
, first of all, his military career, including his assignment in Croatia, and now I start reading from paragraph two.
I was assigned to duty in the theater of war in Croatia at the end of October 1942. As Chief of Staff I built up the staff of the Commander of the German Troops in Croatia. The Commanding General was at that time General Lueters. In the summer of 1943 the staff of the Commander of the German Troops in Croatia was reorganized into the staff of the 15th Mountain Army Corps. I continued in my position as Chief of Staff. I have known the defendant, General von Leyser, since he assumed command on 1.11.1943. I remained his Chief of Staff until about 10 June 1944; on this date I was transferred and left the Balkan area. My successor as Chief of Staff was Eberhard Einbeck. Because of the facts cited above I am in a position to make the following statements:
2. Territorial Powers in Croatia: With the reorganization of the Staff of the Commander of the German Troops in Croatia into the staff of the 15th Mountain Army Corps only operational and tactical tasks were left to the 15th Mountain Army Corps. All territorial tasks were transferred to the German general in SAGREB, who from this time on was called "German Plenipotentiary General in Croatia". In the course of time the Military Administrative Headquarters, Area Headquarters and Town Headquarters were turned over to him for this task. Since Croatia was an independent allied State, all the sovereign rights which the German Armed Forces had in the occupied territories belonged in Croatia to the Croatian authorities. With these the German Plenipotentiary General in Croatia had nothing to do. The duties of the German terri-otiral offices in Croatia were therefore restricted to matters such as caring for men on leave, military police duty, billeting questions in Zagreb and the like.
In accordance with orders, communication with the German Plenipotentiary General in Croatia and the 15th Mountain Army Corps had to be directed through the Army.