THE PRESIDENT: Now, Dr. Kranzbühler.
FLOTTENRICHTER OTTO KRANZBÜHLER (Counsel for Defendant Dönitz): Mr. President, first I should like to ask the permission to have a secretary, in addition to my assistant, in the courtroom, in order to facilitate the submission of documents.
With the permission of the Tribunal, I shall first submit a number of documents; and I shall use the document book of the Prosecution and the document books which I have submitted. These document books consist of four volumes. The table of contents is in Volume I and in Volume III.
In the first document of the document book of the Prosecution, Exhibit USA-12 (Document Number 2887-PS), I should like to correct an error in translation which may be of significance. It says there, in the German text, under “1939,” “Konteradmiral, Befehlshaber der Unterseeboote,” and that in the English text has been translated by “Commander-in-Chief.” The correct translation should be “Flag Officer of Submarines.” That point is of importance in regard to the fact that Admiral Dönitz, until his appointment as Commander-in-Chief of the Navy in 1943, was not a member of the group which the Prosecution terms criminal.
I should like to call the attention of the Tribunal back to Exhibit GB-190 (Document Number D-652 (a-b)). That is a sea-chart which the Prosecution has submitted. This chart shows the position of the German submarines to the west of England on 3 September 1939, and the Prosecution uses that chart as evidence for the question of aggressive war.
The Prosecution says, rightly, that these U-boats must have left their home bases at an earlier date. The first document, which I offer as Dönitz-1, is to prove, first, that this belongs in the category of measures resorted to in times of crisis such as were taken by every nation in Europe at this time, and that they were in no way preparatory measures for an aggressive war against England, because such a war was not planned.
I shall read from this document—document book, Page 1. It is an excerpt from the War Diary of the Naval Operations Staff of September 1939, and I read the entry of 15 August:
“Prepared (for Case White) the following measures:”
THE PRESIDENT: What page?
FLOTTENRICHTER KRANZBÜHLER: Page 1 of the document book, Volume I.