In this connection I must mention the order of 18 July 1941, according to which United States vessels within the operational area were placed on an equal basis with all other neutrals, that is to say, could be attacked without warning. The Prosecution have seen in this special proof that the submarine warfare against neutrals was waged in a “cynical and opportunist” way. If this is meant to convey that it was influenced also by political considerations, then I am ready to admit it. But I do not consider this a reproach; since war itself is a political instrument, it is in keeping with its essence if individual parts of it are placed under the leadership of politics. In particular, no reproach should be seen in the orders of the German Command as regards the utilization of submarines against the United States, because they precisely furnish proof of the efforts to avoid any conflict with the United States.

As the Tribunal knows from documents and the testimonies of witnesses, the ships of the United States during the first years of the war were exempt from all measures of naval warfare, and this applied even when contrary to the original American legislation they sailed into the U.S.A. combat zone and thus into the German operational area in order to carry war matériel to England.

This policy was not changed until, in addition to the many unneutral acts of the past, the active employment of the American Navy had been ordered for the protection of British supply lines.

Everybody is familiar with the statements of President Roosevelt, which he made at that time, about the “bridge of boats over the Atlantic” and the support which should be given to England “by every means short of war.” It may be considered a matter of doubt whether the “realistic attitude”[[21]] which the U.S. naval and air forces were ordered to take at that time did not already constitute an illegal war, as has been claimed just now on the part of the Americans.[[22]]

At least the United States had abandoned her neutrality and claimed the status of a “nonbelligerent,” which also presented a new aspect of international law in this war. If in this connection one wishes to raise the charge of cynicism, it should hardly be directed against the orders which were issued as a justified reaction to the American attitude.

I have endeavored to present to the Tribunal a survey of the essential orders issued, and to say a few things with respect to their legality. No doubt there were instances of attacks on ships which according to the orders mentioned should not have been attacked. There are just a few such cases, and some of them have been brought up at this Trial. The best known concerns the sinking of the British passenger vessel Athenia on 3 September 1939 by U-30 under the command of Kapitänleutnant Lemp. The sinking of this ship was due to the fact that the commander mistook it for an armed merchant cruiser.

If the Tribunal should still hesitate to believe the concurring statements of all the witnesses heard here on this critical instance, which was used especially for propaganda purposes, these doubts ought to be removed by the behavior of the same commander in the days and weeks following the sinking. Kapitänleutnant Lemp, as the log of U-30 at that time shows, adhered strictly to the Prize Ordinance, and from this log I was able to submit several examples of the fair and gentlemanly conduct of German commanders even when by such conduct they greatly endangered their submarines.

Only on the return of U-30 from the operations at the end of September 1939 were the Commander of U-boats and the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy fully informed of the whole affair of the sinking of the Athenia. Upon his return the commander immediately reported to the Commander of U-boats the mistake which he himself meanwhile recognized as such, and was sent to Berlin to report in person.

Dr. Siemers will deal with the political aspect of this matter. I only mention the military occurrences. Admiral Dönitz received the following communication from the Naval Operations Staff:

(1) The affair was further to be dealt with politically in Berlin.