GODT: It is understandable in the light of previous events—namely, those very things which it forbids. It is largely contained in the sentence beginning: “Rescue is against the most elementary demands” and it is also implied by the harshness, whereby the commander is reproached with being softhearted.
FLOTTENRICHTER KRANZBÜHLER: Does this mean that the commanders were accused of having endangered their boats too much in connection with the rescue action of the Laconia and of acting in a manner which was not in accordance with the dictates of war?
GODT: Yes, and that after having been repeatedly reminded during the action of the necessity for acting in a manner in accordance with the dictates of war.
FLOTTENRICHTER KRANZBÜHLER: You were interrogated on this order after the capitulation, as you told me; but you could not at the moment remember its exact wording. How was it possible for you not to remember this order?
GODT: There were certain orders which had to be kept in collective files and which one therefore saw very frequently. This order was not one of them, but was filed separately after being dealt with. After it had been issued I never saw it again until the end of the war.
FLOTTENRICHTER KRANZBÜHLER: What did an order intended for inclusion in such a collection look like on the outside?
GODT: It had to be a “Current Order” or an “Admonition Message.”
FLOTTENRICHTER KRANZBÜHLER: Did that occur in the text of the order concerned?
GODT: It would be in the heading of the order concerned. That is not the case here.
FLOTTENRICHTER KRANZBÜHLER: So we may conclude from the fact that this wireless message is not headed either “Admonition Message” or “Current Order” that it did not belong to a collection of orders?