A. In October 1937. I went to Italy and then to England. The visit had been arranged by the Royal Air Force as a reply to the visit paid to us by the Royal Air Force in January 1937. At that time figures were exchanged between us on planned armaments, that is to say the figures concerning bombers, fighters, and so forth, by agreement with Goering and Hitler. Here again the intention existed to know exactly what the other was doing. The other point was the intention to come to terms on all these questions.
The visit to England lasted until 25 October. England had quite a lot to show. The air force was very well organized and had first-rate personnel. The visits were very cordial. Political conversations of an official nature were not held; but unofficially we spent an evening in a club, in a very small circle of ten people, perhaps less than ten. Lord Swinton, who was then Minister of Aviation, took part, as well as the leader of the opposition, Mr. Churchill, and Lord [Rt. Hon.] Amery, Secretary of State for India, and from the British Air Force, Lord Trenchard.
We had brought General Stumpff and of course General Udet. This was more in the nature of a personal contact and political questions were not touched upon. The other hosts had told me before, “Today you meet your first and second best enemy. Don’t be confused by this; but if there is an attack, hit back.” That is what happened; but it was a very jolly evening.
Before we took off again, that is to say on 24 October, Mr. Eden, the Foreign Secretary, rang me up. He said that he had been busy all the time before, but could I see him now. I said that I should be delighted but that a program had been arranged for us by the RAF to visit an airfield tomorrow. I asked that if the program could be changed, would he please contact the RAF. He told me that perhaps that would be a bit too complicated and asked if perhaps I could see him later on. I could be with him in two hours and thirty minutes since that was how long my aircraft took from Berlin to London at that time. Unfortunately I never saw Mr. Eden.
I reported about that trip to England on 2 November. The report took over two hours. Hitler was much more accessible than when I talked to him about France. I reported particularly my talk with Mr. Churchill and drew his attention to the seriousness which was expressed. Hitler immediately interrupted me. He said, “Please do not worry at all; never in my life will I do anything against Britain. The basis of my whole policy is collaboration with Britain.” These words calmed me considerably. I immediately explained to him once more that the way to come to terms with England would be by Brussels and Paris, and I explained why.
I saw von Neurath on 11 October on the trip to France; and on 28 October I reported to him on my trip to England in great detail. All I could tell him at the time was what Hitler had said or had failed to say about France. Neurath again was very impressed with me for having worked for him in this sense. I was in agreement with him that without any further invitations by him or Hitler I must not take any further steps.
Then on 1 November 1937 I went and saw Field Marshal von Blomberg who at that time was Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, that is to say, Goering’s military superior. I reported to him. Blomberg in all things entirely agreed with me, as had Neurath. Goering at that time did not have enough time to see me. I asked on several occasions to be allowed to report to him on these very important matters; but this did not happen because he simply declined.
Q. Witness, I think we can leave this field now. Will you only explain briefly to the Tribunal whether you received foreign delegations, and of which nations, and what happened at those occasions?
A. I said before that the British had visited us in January 1937. After that I had perhaps five or six visits from Englishmen. The French paid a return visit in 1938. On that occasion again we returned the very cordial welcome which the French had given to us. We showed the French our troops and factories. Yesterday, reference was made by the witness Vorwald[[140]] to this, who said that we only showed what the troops had at their disposal at the time and what expressly had been permitted to be shown by Goering, after a request had been made by the competent department of the General Staff. I know that somebody has alleged that Hitler at the end of the war said I had shown secret methods to foreign visitors and damaged Germany thereby. That is a slanderous statement. It was alleged that I had shown radar instruments, and at that time we didn’t have any radar at all.