Thus, it is incontestable that the Hitlerite Government at this time had already secured the assent of the Romanian and Finnish Governments for the participation of these countries, together with Germany, in the aggression against the U.S.S.R.
This situation is apparent not only from the text of the directive, Case Barbarossa, but also from the other facts at our disposal. For example, in a statement by the German General of the Infantry Buschenhagen which we shall present to the Tribunal, the following appears:
“At the end of December 1940 (approximately on the 20th), I, as the Chief of Staff of the German Forces in Norway, with the rank of colonel, was invited to take part in a conference of the chiefs of staff of the Armies at the OKH (High Command of the Army) at Zossen (near Berlin), which lasted several days. At this meeting the Chief of the General Staff, General Halder, expounded the Barbarossa plan of attack on the Soviet Union. Present at Zossen at the time of the meeting was the Chief of the General Staff of the Finnish Army, General Heinrichs, who was conferring with General Halder. . . .”
Buschenhagen further tells us how in February 1941 he left for Helsinki, where, together with a representative of the Finnish Army, he worked out a definite plan for the attack on the U.S.S.R. On 2 or 3 March 1941, upon his return to Oslo, he compiled and submitted to the OKW a report on his mission.
“On the basis of these documents”—states Buschenhagen—“the operational plan ‘Blue Fox’ was drawn up, envisaging an attack on the Murmansk railroad from the area of Kuusamo, Rovaniemi, and Petsamo. The plan of operations in the area of Kirkenes-Petsamo was called ‘Reindeer’; that in the area of Rovaniemi, ‘Silver Fox.’ ”
Further, as narrated by Buschenhagen, towards the end of April or the beginning of May 1941 he flew again to Helsinki where:
“. . . at the Finnish General Staff negotiations took place with Generals Heinrichs and Airo and Colonel Tapola, in the course of which we ascertained that the Finnish General Staff was fully prepared to participate in the coming war against the Soviet Union.”
In his personal written testimony given to the investigating authorities of the Soviet Union, which will be presented to the Tribunal, Marshal Ion Antonescu gives an account of his meetings with Hitler in November 1940, January 1941, and May 1941, at which were discussed the questions with regard to the preparation of war against the Soviet Union.
During the first conference between Antonescu and Hitler, in which Ribbentrop and Hitler’s personal interpreter, Schmidt, took part, problems directly concerning the preparation of the German aggression against the U.S.S.R. and the Romanian participation therein were discussed.
In reply to the question put by the Soviet investigating authorities to Antonescu, whether his first conference with Hitler should be considered as his initial step towards an understanding with the Germans for the preparation of aggressive war against the Soviet Union, he stated, “I reply in the affirmative. Hitler undoubtedly had this in mind when working out the plans for attacking the Soviet Union.”