“Submitted respectfully to the Secretary of State”—that would be Baron von Weizsäcker—“with the enclosed memorandum.
“The Chief of the Operational Department of the Naval High Command, Captain Fricke, informed me by telephone that the Führer was already dealing with this matter. The impression had, however, arisen here that the political connections had again to be gone into and brought to the Führer’s notice anew. Captain Fricke had therefore sent Korvettenkapitän Neubauer to the Foreign Office in order to discuss the matter further.”
That’s signed by Albrecht on 3 September 1939. Then there is the memorandum:
“The question of an unlimited U-boat war against England is discussed in the enclosed data submitted by the Naval High Command.
“The Navy has arrived at the conclusion that the maximum damage to England, which can be achieved with the forces available, can only be attained if the U-boats are permitted an unrestricted use of arms without warning against enemy and neutral shipping in the prohibited area indicated in the enclosed map.
“The Navy does not fail to realize that (a) Germany would thereby publicly disregard the agreement of 1936 regarding the prosecution of economic warfare, and (b) a military operation of this kind could not be justified on the basis of the hitherto generally accepted principles of international law.”
And then it goes on to deal with it.
Are you telling the Tribunal that the Defendant Raeder never consulted or informed you before these data were submitted to the Foreign Office?
DÖNITZ: No, he did not do so, and that is shown by the fact that it is a memorandum from the Chief of the Operations Department to the Secretary of State, that is to say, a negotiation between Berlin and the Foreign Office; and the front-line commander, whose station was on the coast and who, for all practical purposes, was in charge of the U-boats, had nothing to do with it.
I do not know this letter.