“On the 30th of April the Führer nominated Grossadmiral Dönitz to be his successor. The Grossadmiral and Führer’s successor will speak to the German nation.”
And then, the first paragraph of the speech:
“German men and women, soldiers of the German Armed Forces. Our Führer Adolf Hitler is dead. The German people bow in deepest sorrow and respect. Early he had recognized the terrible danger of Bolshevism and had dedicated his life to the fight against it. His fight having ended, he died a hero’s death in the capital of the German Reich, after having led an unmistakably straight and steady life.”
Then, that document also contains an order of the day issued by the defendant, which is very much to the same effect.
Apart from his services in building up the U-boat arm, there is ample evidence that the defendant as officer commanding U-boats took part in the planning and execution of aggressive war against Poland, Norway, and Denmark. The next document in the document book, C-126(c), has already been put in as Exhibit GB-45. It is a memorandum by the Defendant Raeder, dated the 16th of May 1939, and I will call the attention of the Tribunal to the distribution. The sixth copy went to the Führer der Unterseeboote, that is to say, to the Defendant Dönitz. The document is a directive for the invasion of Poland, Fall Weiss, and I won’t read it. It has already been read.
The next document, C-126(e), on the second page of that same document, has also been put in as Exhibit GB-45. It again is a memorandum from the Defendant Raeder’s headquarters, dated the 2d of August 1939. It is addressed to the fleet, and then Flag Officer U-boats—that is, of course, the defendant . . . and it is merely a covering letter for operational directions for the employment of U-boats which are to be sent out into the Atlantic by way of precaution in the event the intention of carrying out Fall Weiss should remain unchanged. The second sentence is important:
“Flag Officer U-boats is handing in his operation orders to SKL”—that is the Seekriegsleitung, the German Admiralty—“by 12 August. A decision on the sailings of U-boats for the Atlantic will probably be made in the middle of August.”
The next document, C-172, I put in as Exhibit GB-189. It consists of the defendant’s own operational instructions to his U-boats for the operation Fall Weiss. It is signed by him. It is not dated, but it is clear from the subject matter that its date must be before the 16th of July 1939. I don’t think the substance of the document adds. It is purely an operational instruction, giving effect to the document already put in, C-126(c), the directive by Raeder.
My Lord, the next document, C-122, has already been put in as Exhibit GB-82. It is an extract from the War Diary of the naval war staff of the German Admiralty, dated the 3rd of October 1939, and records the fact that the chief of the naval war staff has called for views on the possibility of taking operational bases in Norway. It has already been read and I would merely call the Tribunal’s attention to the passage in brackets, in the paragraph marked “d”:
“Flag Officer U-boats already considers such harbors extremely useful as equipment and supply bases for Atlantic U-boats to call at temporarily.”