THE PRESIDENT: Yes, Dr. Kranzbühler.
FLOTTENRICHTER KRANZBÜHLER: I now turn to the documents.
THE PRESIDENT: If you are departing from Admiral Nimitz I should like to ask a question of Sir David.
SIR DAVID MAXWELL-FYFE: If Your Lordship pleases.
THE PRESIDENT: Sir David, I understood you to submit that these questions to Admiral Nimitz were entirely irrelevant?
SIR DAVID MAXWELL-FYFE: Yes.
THE PRESIDENT: Would it make any difference to your submission whether the German Navy had attacked merchant ships without warning in the first instance in the beginning of their war against England?
SIR DAVID MAXWELL-FYFE: Well, that of course would be a clearer breach of the treaty, as, at that time, there was no question of armament, so far as I am aware; and there was certainly no question that the German submarines thought that they were attacking armed vessels which were really ships of war. Then, of course, one comes to the position which the Prosecution developed in evidence, that, the German Navy having indulged in the beginning in that form of submarine warfare, the position changed, and armament had to be installed in British ships. In my submission it would make a difference even if one takes the argument as Dr. Kranzbühler has put it now; he is saying that he is not alleging breaches of the laws and usages of war, but is relying on his interpretation of the London Agreement, that merchant ships that were armed could be attacked. It really becomes a very difficult matter if one is to construe these treaties by a sort of general investigation of the interpretation by various commanders. Within the point that Your Lordship put to me there is that very clear point which appears in our documents that the arming of merchant ships was the result of the attacks without warning which took place in the first months of the war.
THE PRESIDENT: But would you say that these questions to Admiral Nimitz are irrelevant because the United States came into the war in December 1941 when the sea warfare between Germany and England had developed to that stage, when attacks were being made without warning?
SIR DAVID MAXWELL-FYFE: That is so, My Lord. That is what I was saying. I am very grateful to Your Lordship for clarifying the argument that I wanted to make.