DR. SIEMERS: Admiral Wagner, you have already briefly sketched the positions you have held. In supplementing I should like to make quite sure who held a leading position in the Naval Operations Staff under Grossadmiral Raeder in the decisive years before and after the outbreak of the war. Who was the Chief of Staff during the two years before the war, and at the beginning of the war?
WAGNER: The Chief of Staff of the Naval Operations Staff from 1938 until 1941 was Admiral Schniewind. From 1941 until after Raeder’s retirement it was Admiral Fricke.
DR. SIEMERS: Those, therefore, were the two officers who worked in the highest posts under Admiral Raeder in the Naval Operations Staff?
WAGNER: They were the immediate advisers of the Admiral.
DR. SIEMERS: And the Naval Operations Staff had several departments?
WAGNER: Yes, it consisted of several departments, which were given consecutive numbers.
DR. SIEMERS: And which was the most important department?
WAGNER: The most important department of the Naval Operations Staff was the Operations Department, which was known as Number 1.
DR. SIEMERS: And the other departments, 2, 3—what did they do?
WAGNER: They were the Signals and Communications Department and the Information Department.