“In the future I shall not have any War Minister; neither will I have in the future a Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces to stand between me, as the Supreme Commander, and the other commanders-in-chief within the Armed Forces.
“In accordance with this instruction the decree was formulated, by which the High Command of the Armed Forces was established as an Army Staff directly subordinate to the command of the Führer. The Führer did not want any independent office in this function, inserted between himself and the commanders-in-chief of the Armed Forces branches. In consequence, General Keitel, now appointed Chief of the High Command of the Armed Forces, had no independent commanding authority over the different branches of the Armed Forces. Such authority would not have been considered for other reasons as well.”
Field Marshal Von Blomberg declares in the affidavit I have submitted: To Question 24:
“At our last discussion Hitler pointed out that he presumably would not fill my position again, and that he would thereby become himself the real Supreme Commander of the German Army...
“He asked for a suggestion for the assignment of a Chef du Bureau who would direct and carry out current tasks under him and thus under Hitler’s responsibility.
“I named Keitel, who, under me, had administered this office very capably.”
In answer to Question 27:
“I proposed Keitel as Chef du Bureau, believing that I had put him in the right job.”
In such a position he would not be a military adviser to Hitler. Whether and in how far Hitler ever asked for his advice, I do not know. Even so, Keitel’s responsibility, in my opinion, would not thereby be established.
Question 29: