“The steamer Deptford was sunk by a German U-boat on 13 December, as it was recognized as an armed enemy ship. According to the report of the U-boat commander, the sinking did not take place within territorial waters but immediately outside. The German Naval Forces have strict instructions not to undertake any war operations within neutral territorial waters. Should the U-boat commander have miscalculated his position, as appears to be borne out by the findings of the Norwegian authorities, and should Norwegian territorial waters have been violated in consequence, the German Government regrets this most sincerely. As a result of this incident, the German Naval Forces have once again been instructed unconditionally to respect neutral territorial waters. If a violation of Norwegian territorial waters has indeed occurred, there will be no repetition of it.
“As far as the sinking of the steamships Thomas Walton and Garoufalia is concerned, this cannot be traced to operations by German U-boats, as at the time of the sinking none of them were in the naval area indicated.”
And then there is a draft reply put forward which is on very much the same lines.
And you say in the face of that document that the German Navy never misled the neutrals?
WAGNER: The neutrals had been advised that in these areas dangers of war might be encountered. We were of the opinion that we were not obliged to tell them through which war measures these areas were dangerous, or through which war measures their ships were lost.
COL. PHILLIMORE: Is that really your answer to this document? This is a complete lie, is it not? You admit the one sinking that you cannot get away from. And you deny the others. You deny that there was a German U-boat anywhere near, and you are telling this Tribunal that you were justified in order to conceal the weapons you were using. Is that the best answer you can give?
WAGNER: Yes, certainly. We had no interest at all in letting the enemy know what methods we were using in this area.
COL. PHILLIMORE: You are admitting that one of them was sunk by a U-boat. Why not admit the other two as well? Why not say it was the same U-boat?
WAGNER: I assume that we were concerned with another area in which the situation was different.
COL. PHILLIMORE: What was the difference? Why did you not say, “One of our U-boats has made a mistake or disobeyed orders, and is responsible for all these three sinkings?” Or, alternatively, why did you not say, “We have given you fair warning, we are going to sink at sight anyone in this area. And what is your complaint?”