You could calculate from that the number, the quantity of bombs which could be brought to Germany, and regarding the function and size of the bombs, of course we knew about that too. This was, of course, the reason that previously as Inspector General I demanded that the entire force should be built to defend our home country, this being the fundamental principle of warfare, since without armaments and life at home, battles at the front were unthinkable. I shall later have to come to this question in more detail because I am probably the man who remembers this most accurately, and as long as I am still about I would like to state this clearly once again, because this is one of the most important questions which probably existed in every war. This was the biggest struggle that went on, and as I look back on it today I am surprised that I did not despair over that struggle myself.
Q. Witness, those measures which you planned, were they dictated by the thought that with the campaign against Russia the situation of Germany would become desperate?
A. As I said earlier, the war on two fronts was the stab in the back of this war as far as I was concerned, that I thought excluded victory once and for all, and the only remaining question now was just how badly fleeced we might escape from this whole affair. It was no longer possible in my opinion to end this war by force of arms. It was only possible by means of arms to attain a somewhat satisfactory final position on the strength of which political and diplomatic steps would have to take place. In order to achieve such a final position it was necessary in the first place that Germany should be protected against destruction, because once the war potential was destroyed it was immaterial whether the fronts collapsed a little earlier or a little later. They could not be held any longer. This thought, unfortunately, was not understood by our leaders, or rather they did not agree with it and turned it down and just did not come to it. The end did not come until there was hardly one stone left intact.
Q. Witness, in this connection I should like to ask you to show the correctness of your present report and to prove that from the very start you had these thoughts, and to submit to the Tribunal the remark you had made in your diary when the Russian campaign started.
A. I wrote in it, “The attack against Russia: the first day 1,800 aircraft destroyed, mostly on the ground. The Russians left them there. They didn’t expect that we would attack. They overestimated our intelligence.”
Q. What did you want to say by these words, “They overestimated our intelligence?”
A. Well, the Russians might have thought that no opponent would be so foolish and so stupid to attack them now and create a war on two fronts.
[March 13]
Q. Witness, do you know at what point the Central Planning Board was ordered and how did the creation of this institute come about?