FLOTTENRICHTER KRANZBÜHLER: I present you now with an entry from the War Diary of the Naval Operations Staff, which I will submit to the Tribunal as Dönitz Exhibit Number 6. It is on Page 8 of Document Book 1.
“5 March 1940: The Flag Officer of U-boats participates in a conference with the Chief of Staff of the Naval Operations Staff in Berlin.
“Object of the conference: Preparation of the occupation of Norway and Denmark by the German Wehrmacht.”
Is that the meeting which you have mentioned?
DÖNITZ: Yes.
FLOTTENRICHTER KRANZBÜHLER: In the case of Norway, or in the previous case of the outbreak of war with Poland, did you have the opportunity to examine whether the tactical instructions which you had to give to your U-boats led or were to lead to the waging of an aggressive war?
DÖNITZ: No, I had neither the opportunity nor indeed the authority to do that. I should like to ask what soldier of what nation, who receives any military task whatsoever, has the right to approach his general staff and ask for examination or justification as to whether an aggressive war can evolve from this task. That would mean that the soldiers...
THE PRESIDENT: Dr. Kranzbühler, the Tribunal has itself to decide as a matter of law whether the war was an aggressive war. It does not want to hear from this witness, who is a professional sailor, what his view is on the question of law.
FLOTTENRICHTER KRANZBÜHLER: Mr. President, I believe my question has been misunderstood. I did not ask Admiral Dönitz whether he considered the war an aggressive war or not; but I asked him whether he had the opportunity or the task, as a soldier, of examining whether his orders could become the means for an aggressive war. He, therefore, should state his conception of the task which he had as a soldier, and not of the question of whether it was or was not an aggressive war.
THE PRESIDENT: He can tell us what his task was as a matter of fact, but he is not here to argue the case to us. He can state the facts—what he did.