WAGNER: No, in my opinion only the Operations officers had knowledge of this document, which by its very form shows that it is not a well-thought-out study made by order of Grossadmiral Raeder but an ad hoc jotting-down of thoughts which occurred to Admiral Fricke at the moment.
DR. SIEMERS: Was this study or this document passed on to any outsiders at all?
WAGNER: I think I can remember that this document was not sent to any outside office but remained in the Operations Department. The Grossadmiral, too, in my opinion did not have knowledge of it, particularly since this document shows that he did not initial it.
DR. SIEMERS: You have a photostat copy of that document?
WAGNER: Yes.
DR. SIEMERS: Are there any other initials on it which might show that it was put before Admiral Raeder? How was this sort of thing generally handled in the Naval Operations Staff?
WAGNER: Every document that was to be put before the Admiral had on its first page in the left margin a note: “v.A.v.,” which means “to be submitted before dispatch,” or “n.E.v.,” “to be submitted after receipt,” or else “to be reported during situation reports.” And then at that place the Admiral would initial it with a green pencil, or the officers of his personal staff would make a note indicating that it had been submitted to him.
DR. SIEMERS: And there are no such marks on this document?
WAGNER: No.
DR. SIEMERS: I should like to show you Document C-38, which is a document of the Prosecution bearing the number Exhibit GB-223. It is contained in the Prosecution’s document book on Raeder, Page 11.