Her Majesty the Queen of the Netherlands, on the same day, the 26th August 1939. Subject to the Tribunal's direction, I don't think I need read it. It is a public document in the German document book, and it has exactly the same features. Luxembourg. That is dated the 26th August, the same day. I'm not certain; it has two dates. I think the 26th of August in Europe. Milords, that is in the same terms, a complete guarantee with the sting in the tail as in the other two documents. Perhaps I needn't read it. lightning victory, and in October German aimed forces were free for other tasks. The first step that was taken, so far as the Netherlands and Belgium are concerned, is shown by the next document, which, I think, is in as GB 80, but the true, essential portions refer to Belgium and the Netherlands. It is the next document in your Lordships' bundle,
THE PRESIDENT: TC-32?
MR. ROBERTS: Yes. It begins with TC 32, and then if you go to the next one, TC 37 on the same page - and then TC 41, but 37 and 41 refer to this matter. Now, this is a German assurance on the 6th of October, 1939:
"Belgium.
"Immediately after I had taken over the affairs of the state I tried to create friendly relations with Belgium. I renounced any revision or any desire for revision. The Reich has not made any demands which would in any way be likely to be considered in Belgium as a threat." part of the document:
(Reading)
"The new Reich has endeavored to continue the traditional friendship with Holland. It has not taken over any existing differences between the two countries and has not created any new ones."
assurances of Germany's good faith. which is the very next day, the 7th of October. Those two guarantees were the 6th of October. Now we come to 2329 PS, dated the 7th of October. It is from the Commander in Chief of the Army, Von Brauchitsch, and it is addressed to various Army Group, He said; 'third paragraph:
"The Dutch Border between Ems and Rhine is to be observed only.
"At the same time, Army Group B has to make all preparations according to special orders, for immediate invasion of Dutch and Belgian territory, if the political situation so demands."
"If the political situation so demands"--the day after the guarantee, and it is quite clear from the next document--I put in the last documents. That is an original typewritten signature of Von Brauchitsch, and it will be GB 105.
Milords, the next document is in two parts. Both are number C 62. The first part is dated 9th of October, two days after the document I have read. Milord, that was all read by the Attorney General in opening. It was read down to the end of paragraph (c). Therefore, I won't read it again. May I remind, the Tribunal of just one sentence.
(Reading)
"Preparations should be made for offensive action on the northern flank of the Western Front crossing the area of Luxembourg, Belgium and Holland. This attack must be carried out as soon and as forcefully as possible."
In the next paragraph, may I just read six words:
"The object of this attack is to acquire as great an area of Holland, Belgium and Northern France as possible."
That document is signed by Hitler himself. It is addressed to the three accused, the Supreme Commander of the Army, Keitel; Navy, Raeder; and Air Minister, Commander in Chief of the Air Force, Goering. That is the distribution.
I'll hold that document and I'll put that other one in with it.
Milord, the next document is the 15th of October 1939. It is from the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces. It is signed by Keitel in what is to some of us his familiar red pencil signature, and it is again addressed to Raeder and Goering and to the General Staff of the Army. I just remind the Tribunal that at the bottom of the page there is:
"It must be the object of the Army's preparations, therefore, to occupy -- on receipt of a special order -- the territory of Holland, in the first instance as far as the Grebbe-Maas line." West Frisian islands. that moment, the decision to violate the neutrality of these three countries had been made. All that remained was to work out the details, to wait until the weather became favorable, and in the meantime, to give no hint that Germany's word was about to be broken again. Otherwise, these small countries might have had some chance of combining with themselves and their neighbors.
Well, the next document is a Keitel directive. It is Number 440 PS. It is again sent to the Supreme Commander of the Army, Navy and Air Forces, and it gives details of how the attack is to be carried out. I want to read only a very few selected passages.
Paragraph (2) on the first page: "Contrary to previously issued instructions, all action intended against Holland may be carried out without a special order which the general attack will start.
"The attitude of the Dutch armed forces cannot be anticipated ahead of time." that this is a German concession:
"Wherever there is no resistance, the entry should carry the character of a peaceful occupation."
Then paragraph (b) of the next paragraph:
"At first the Dutch area, including the West-Frisian islands situated just off the coast, for the present without Texel, is to be occupied up to the Grebbe-Haas line."
The next two paragraphs I needn't read. They deal with action against the Belgians, however, and in paragraph (5):
"The 7th Airborne Division--" They were parachutists -will be committed for the airborne operation only after the possession of bridges across the Albert Canal--" which is in Belgium, as the Court knows-- "has been assured."
And then in paragraph (6) (b), Luxembourg is mentioned. It is mentioned in paragraph (5) as well. The signature is "Keitel", but that is typed. It is authenticated by a staff officer.
Then the next document is C No.10 and it is dated the 28 November 1939. That has the signature of Keitel, in his red pencil, and it is addressed to the Army, Navy and Airforce. It deals with the fact that if a quick breakthrough should fail north of Liege, other machinery for carrying out the attack will be used. It speaks of "The occupation of Walcheren Island and thereby Flushing harbour, or of some other southern Dutch island especially valuable for our sea and air warfare," and "b) Taking of one or more Maas crossings between Namur and Dinant..."
1940 the High Command and the Fuehrer were waiting for favorable weather before A-Day, as they called it.
That was the attack on Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands. which range in date from 7 November until 9 May 1940. They are certified photostats I put in and they are all signed either by Keitel or by Jodl personally, and I don't think it is necessary for me to read them. The defense, I think, have all had copies of them, but they show that successively A-Day is being postponed for about a week, having regard to the weather reports, and so forth. That will be GB 109. the Tribunal, a German airplane made a forced landing in Belgium. The occupants endeavored to burn the orders of which they were in possession, but they were only partially successful. The next document I offer is TC 58, I think it is called, GB 110. The original is a photostat certified by the Belgian Government who, of course, came into possession of the original.
My Lord, 1 can summarize it. It consists of orders to the Commander of the Second Army Group, Air Force Group -- Luftflotte -the Second Air Force Fleet, clearly for offensive action against France, Holland and Belgium. One looks at the bottom of the first page. It deals with the disposition of the Belgian Army. The Belgian Army covers the Liege-Antwerp Line. Then it deals with the disposition of the Dutch Army; and then if you turn over the page, No.3, you see that the German Western Army directs its attack between the North Sea and the Moselle, with the strongest possible air-force support, through the Belgo-Luxembourg region.
My Lord, I think I need read no more. The rest are operational details as to the bombing of the various targets in Belgium and in Holland.
My Lord, as to the neat document, my learned friend Mr. Elwyn Jones put in Jodl's diary, which is GB 88, and I desire to refer very, very briefly to some extracts which are printed first in Bundle No.4.
If one looks at the entry for 1 February 1940 and then some
THE PRESIDENT: 1809 PS?
MR. ROBERTS: Yes.
THE PRESIDENT: We haven't got the GB numbers on the documents.
MR. ROBERTS: I am sorry, My Lord.
If your Lordship will look eight lines down it says: "1700 hours General Jeschonnek" and then:
"1) Behaviour of parachute units. In front of The Hague they have to be strong enough to break in if necessary by sheer brute force. The 7th Division intends to drop units near the town.
"2) Political mission contrasts to some extent with violent action against the Dutch air force."
My Lord, I think the rest I need not read; it is operational detail.
"2nd February." I refer again to Jodl's entry under "a" as to "landings can be made in the centre of The Hague."
THE PRESIDENT: Which date?
MR. ROBERTS: That was the 2 February, My Lord, the bottom of the same page, under "a". I was endeavouring not to read more than a word or two.
THE PRESIDENT: Quite right.
MR. ROBERTS: If Your Lordship will turn over the page--I omit February 5--you come to "26th February. Fuehrer raises the question whether it is better to undertake the Weser Exercise before or after case 'Yellow.'" And then on the 3 March, the last sentence:
"Fuehrer decides to carry out Weser Exercise before case 'Yellow', with a few days' interval." Lordship's attention to on May 8, that is, two days before the invasion, the top of the page:
"Alarming news from Holland, cancelling of furloughs, evacuations, road-blocks, other mobilization measures; according to reports of the intelligence service the British have asked for permission to march in, but the Dutch have refused."
My Lord, may I make two short comments on that? The first is that the Germans are rather objecting because the Dutch are actually making some preparation to resist their endeavor. "Alarming news" they say.
The second point is that Jodl is there recording that the Dutch armies, according to their intelligence reports, are still adhering properly to their neutrality. But I need not read any more diary extracts. presented to Holland and to Belgium and to Luxemburg after the invasion was a fait accompli, because, as history now knows, at 4:30 a.m. on the 10 May these three small countries were violently invaded with all the fury of modern warfare. No warning was given by Germany and no complaint was made by Germany of any breaches of any neutrality before this action was taken.
THE PRESIDENT: perhaps this will be a convenient place to break off until two o'clock.
MR. ROBERTS: Yes. My Lord.
(Whereupon at 1245 hours the hearing of the Tribunal adjourned to reconvene at 1400 hours.)
Military Tribunal, in the matter of: The
MR. G. D. ROBERTS, K.C.: May it please the Tribunal, when the Court adjourned, I had just come to the point at four-thirty a.m. on the 10th of May, 1940, when the Germans invaded those three small countries without any warning - a violation which the Prosecution submits, it is clear from the Documents, had been planned and decided upon months before. three documents in conclusion. My Lord, the invasion having taken place at four-thirty in the morning, in each of the throe countries, the German Ambassador called upon representatives of the three Governments some hours later and handed in a document which was similar in each case and which is described as a memorandum or an ultimatum, My Lord, an account of what happened in Belgium. It is set our in Document TC-58, which is about five documents from the end of the bundle. It is headed "EXTRACT FROM BELGIUM - THE OFFICIAL ACCOUNT OF WHAT HAPPENED 1939-1940", and I hand in an original copy, certified by the Belgium Government, which is GB-111.
My Lord, might I read short extracts. I read the third paragraph:
"From 4:30 information was received which left no shadow of doubt: the hour had struck. Aircraft were first reported in the east. At five o'clock came news of the bombing of two Netherlands aerodromes, the violation of the Belgian frontier, the landing of German soldiers at the Eben-Emael Fort, the bombing of the Jemelle station."
My Lord, then I think I can go to two paragraphs lower down:
"At 8:30 the German Ambassador came to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. When he entered the Minister's room, he began to take a paper from his pocket. M. Spaak" - that is the Belgium Minister - "stopped him:
'I beg your pardon, Mr. Ambassador. I will speak first.' And in an indignant voice, he read the Belgian Government's protest: 'Mr. Ambassador, the German Army has just attacked our country. This is the second time in twenty-five years that Germany has committed a criminal aggression against a neutral and loyal Belgium. What has just happened is perhaps even more odious than the aggression of 1914. No ultimatum, no note, no protest of any kind has ever been placed before the Belgian Government. It is through the attack itself that Belgium has learned that Germany has violated the undertakings given by her on October 13th, 1937, and renewed spontaneously at the beginning of the war. The act of aggression committed by Germany, for which there is no justification whatever, will deeply shock the conscience of the world. The German Reich will be held responsible by history. Belgium is resolved to defend herself. Her cause, which is the cause of Right, cannot be vanquished'."
And in the last paragraph, "In the middle of this communication, Mr. Spaak, who had by his side the Secretary-General of the Department, interrupted the Ambassador: 'Hand me the document', he said. 'I should like to spare you so painful a task After studying the note, M. Spaak confined himself to pointing out that he had already replied by the protest he had just made."
THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal would like you to read what the Ambassador read.
MR. ROBERTS: I am sorry. I was thinking of the next document I was going to read. I read the last paragraph on the first page:
"The Ambassador was then able to read the note he had brought: 'I am instructed by the Government of the Reich, ' he said, 'to make the following declaration: In order to forestall the invasion of Belgium, Holland, and Luxemburg, for which Great Britain and France have been making preparations clearly aimed at Germany, the Government of the Reich is compelled to ensure the neutrality of the three countries mentioned by means of arms. For this purpose, the Government of the Reich will bring up an armed force of the greatest size, so that resistance of any kind will be useless.
The Government of the Reich guarantees Belgium's European and colonial territory, as well as her dynasty, on condition that no resistance is offered. Should there be any resistance, Belgium will risk the destruction of her country and loss of her independence. It is therefore, in the interests of Belgium that the population be called upon to cease all resistance and that the authorities be given the necessary instructions to make contact with the German Military Commend." invasion had started, is Document TC-57, which is the last document of three in the bundle. It is the document I handed in and it becomes GB-112. My Lord, it is a long document and I will read to the Tribunal such parts at the Tribunal thinks advisable:
"The Reich Government" - it begins - "has for a long time had no doubts as to what was the chief aim of the British and French war policy. It consists of the spreading of the war to other countries, and of the misuse of their peoples as auxiliary and mercenary troops for England and France.
"The last attempt of this sort was the plan to occupy Scandinavia with the help of Norway, in order to set up a now front against Germany in this region. It was only Germany's last minute action which upset the projects. Germany has furnished documentary evidence of this before the eyes of the world.
"Immediately after the British-French action in Scandinavia miscarried, England and France took up their policy of war expansion in another direction. In this respect, while the retreat in flight of the British troops from Norway was still going on, the English Prime Minister announced that, as a result of the altered situation in Scandinavia, England was once more in a position to go ahead with the transfer of the full weight of her navy to the Mediterranean, and that English and French units were already on the way to Alexandria. The Mediterranean now became the centre of English-French war propaganda. This was partly to gloss over the Scandinavian defeat and the big loss of prestige before their own people and before the world, and partly to make it appear that the Balkans had been chosen for the next theatre of war against Germany.
"In reality, however, this apparent shifting to the Mediterranean of English-French war policy had quite another purpose. It was nothing but a diversion manoeuvre in grand style, to deceive Germany as to the direction of the next English-French attack. For, as the Reich Government has long been aware, the true aim of England and France is the carefully prepared and now immediately imminent attack on Germany in the West, so as to advance through Belgium and Holland to the region of the Ruhr.
"Germany has recognized and respected the inviolability of Belgium and Holland, it being of course understood that these two countries in the event of a war of Germany against England and France would maintain the strictest neutrality.
"Belgium and the Netherlands have not fulfilled this condition."
THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Roberts, do you think it is necessary to read this in full?
MR. ROBERTS: No, I don't. I was going to summarize these charges. If your Lordship would be good enough to look at the bottom of the first Page, you will see the so-called ultimatum complaining of the hostile expressions in the Belgian and Netherlands Press; and then, My Lord, in the second paragraph, over the page, there is an allegation of the attempts of the British Intelligence to bring a revolution into Germany with the assistance of Belgium and the Netherlands. preparation of the two countries; and in paragraph four, it is pointed out that Belgium has fortified the Belgium Frontier. British aircraft have flown over the Netherlands country. these two countries, although no instances are given. I don't think I need refer to anything on page three of the Document. paragraph:
"In this struggle for existence forced upon the German people by England and France, the Reich Government is not disposed to await sub missively the attack by England and France and to allow them to carry the war over Belgium and the Netherlands into German territory."
And, My Lord, I just emphasize this sentence and then I read no further. "It has therefore now issued the command to German troops to ensure the neutrality of these countries by all the military means at the disposal of the Reich." falsity of that statement. The world now knows that for months preparations had been made to violate the neutrality of these three countries. This Document is saying "The orders to do so have now been issued." handed to the representatives of the Netherlands Government; and, My Lord, TC 60, that will be GB 113, which is the last Document but one in the bundle. My Lord, that is a memorandum to the Luxemberg Government, which enclosed with it a copy of the Document handed to the Governments of Belgium and the Netherlands. TC 60: "In defence against the imminent attack, the German troops have now received the order to safeguard the neutrality of these two countries ***". is I am told, BG 111. It is in. against the crime which was committed against her. My Lord, those are the facts supporting the charges of the violation of treaties and assurances against these three countries and supporting the allegation of the making of an aggressive war against them. My Lord, in the respectful submission of the Prosecution here, the story is a very plain, a very simple one, a story of perfidy, dishonor, and shame.
COLONEL PHILLIMORE: May it please the Tribunal, it is my task to present the evidence on the wars of aggression and wars in breach of treaties against Greece and Yugoslavia. The evidence which I shall put in to the Tribunal has been prepared in collaboration with my American colleague, Lt. Colonel Krucker.
place in the early hours of the morning of the 6th of April, 1941, constituted direct breaches of The Hague Convention of 1899, on the pacific settlement of international disputes and of the Kellogg-Briand Pact of 1928. Those breaches are charged, respectively, at paragraphs one and thirteen of Appendage C of the Indictment. Both have already been put in by my learned friend, Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe, who also explained the obligation of the German Government to the Governments of Yugoslavia and Greece under those Pacts. breach of an expressed assurance by the Nazis, which is charged at Paragraph 26 of Appendage C. This assurance was originally given in a German Foreign Office release made in Berlin on the 28th of April, 1938, but was subsequently repeated by Hitler himself on the 6th of October 1939, in a speech he made in the Reichstag, and it is in respect of this last occasion that the assurance is specifically pleaded in the Indictment. the Document Book, which is Book No. 5. The first Document is PS 2719, which has already been put in as GB 58. This is the text of the German Foreign Office release on the 28th of April, 1938, and I would read the beginning and then the last paragraph but one on the page:
"Berlin, 28 April 1938. The State Secretary of the German Foreign Office to the German Diplomatic Representatives.
"As a consequence of the re-union of Austria with the Reich, we have now new frontiers with Italy, Yugoslavia, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and Hungary. These frontiers are regarded by us as final and inviolable. On this point the following special declarations have been made:
And then to the last paragraph:
"3. Yugoslavia.
"The Yugoslav Government have been informed by authoritative German quarters that German policy has no aims beyond Austria, and that the Yugoslav frontier would in any case remain untouched. In his speech made at Graz on 3 April, the Fuehrer and Chancellor stated that, in regard to the re-union of Austria, Yugoslavia and Hungary had adopted the same attitude as Italy. We were happy to have frontiers there which relieved us of all anxiety about providing military protection for them.
offer that as GB 114. This is an extract from a speech made by Hitler on the occasion of the dinner in honor of the Prince Regent of Yugoslovia on June 1, 1939. I may read the extract in full:
"The German friendship for the Yugoslav nation is not only a spontaneous one.
It gained depth and durability in the midst of the tragic confusion of the world, war.
The German soldier I believe that this feeling was reciprocated.
This mutual res economic interests.
We therefore look upon your Royal Highness's "In the presence of your Royal Highness, however, we also per be fruitful to our two peoples and States.
I believe this all nerve-wracked continent.
This peace is the goal of all who are disposed to perform really constructive work."
made at the time when Hitler had already decided upon the European war. I think I am right in saying it was a week after the Reichschancellery conference known as the Schmundt note, to which the Tribunal was referred more than once. The reference to "nerve-wracking continent" might perhaps be contributed to the war of nerve which Hitler had himself been conducting for many months.
graph 26 as the Assurance Breach, the next document in the bundle, TC 43. German Assurance to Yugoslavia of the 6 October 1939, and which has already been put in as GB 80. This is the extract from the document on "Dokumente der deutschen Politik:
"Immediately after the completion of the Anschluss I informed live in peace and friendship with her."
1899, and the Kellogg-Briand Pact, and under the Assurance which I have read, the fate of both Greece and Yugoslavia had, as we now know, been sealed ever since the meeting between Hitler and the defendant Ribbentrop and Ciano at Obersalzburg, the 12th and 13th of August. 1939. which is TC 77. That document has already been put in as GB 48, and the passages to which I would draw Your Honor's attention are and have been already quoted, I think, by my learned friend, the Attorney General; those passages are on page 2 in the last paragraph: "Very generally speaking until neutral discordant," and then again on pages 7 and 8, which is a part quoted by the Attorney General, and particularly by Colonel Jones, the foot of page 7, on the second day of the meeting, the words beginning, "In general, however, success by one of tire Axis partners--" to Italy to - "their backs free for a work against the west."
THE PRESIDENT: Is that not quoted?
COLONEL PHILLIMORE: Yes, sir
THE PRESIDENT: Was not page 7 quoted before?
COLONEL PHILLIMORE: Both of these passages have been quoted before, and if I might sum up the effect of the meeting as revealed by the document as a whole, it shows Hitler and the defendant Ribbentrop only two months after/dinner to the Prince Regent seeking to persuade Italy to make war on Yugoslavia at the same time that Germany commences hostilities against Poland, as Hitler had decided to do in the near future.
Ciano was evidently in an entire agreement with Hitler and Ribbentrop as to the desirability to liquid ting Yugoslavia, and himself anxious to take the Silician State, but that Italy was not yet ready for a general European war. This despite all these persuasions which Hitler and the defendant Ribbentrop exerted at the meeting, it became necessary for the Nazi conspirators to reassure their intended victim, Yugoslavia, and since that time for Italy to maintain its position, and don't enter a war when German invaded Poland, because the Germans were not ready themselves to strike on the Balkans. I state for this reason that on the 6th October through Hitler's speech, they repeated the assurance they had made in April 1938. This matter is shortened up after the defeat of the Allied Army in May and June 1940, the Italian Government declared war on France, and that subsequently at three o'clock in the morning on the 28th October 1940 the Italian Minister presented to the Greek Government with a 3-R ultimatum, upon the expiring of which the Italian troops were all invading the soil of Greece. Minister reported that event. "The president of council has assured himself an outstanding--"
THE PRESIDENT: You have referred, to a document?
COLONEL PHILLIMORE: It is not in any one document. It is merely carrying the story to the next document. "The president of council has assured himself an outstanding place in Greek history, and then the future may bring this foresight and quality in preparing his country for war, and his courage in rejecting without demur the Italian ultimatum when delivered in the small hours of that October morning, will surely obtain an honorable mentioning in the story of European statescraft. That means to fight until Italy is completely defeated, and thus declare the purpose of the whole Greek nation."
a letter from Hitler to Mussolini, which I put in as GB 115. They are not related. I think this is clear from the contents, that it was written shortly after the Italian invasion of Greece. It has been quoted in full by the Attorney General, but I think it would assist the Tribunal if I read just the last two paragraphs of the extract:
"Jugoslavia must become disinterested, but if possible cooperate in cleaning up the Greek question.
Without security * - - - - - - - - - * "I must, however, unfortunately, observe that conducting a war in the Balkans is not possible before March.
Therefore, must be won, if at all possible, by other ways and means."