This observation was made only two months after
Hitler had given assurances to Yugoslavia that he would regard her
frontier as final and inviolable. On the occasion of the visit to
Germany of the Prince Regent of Yugoslavia on 1 June 1939, Hitler had
said in a public speech:
"The firmly established reliable
relationship of Germany to Yugoslavia now that owing to historical
events we have become neighbors with common boundaries fixed for all
time, will not only guarantee lasting peace between our two peoples
and countries, but can also represent an element of calm to our
nerve-racked continent. This peace is the goal of all who are
disposed to perform really constructive work."
On 6 October 1939 Germany repeated these assurances
to Yugoslavia, after Hitler and Von Ribbentrop had unsuccessfully
tried to persuade Italy to enter the war on the side of Germany by
attacking Yugoslavia. On 28 October 1940 Italy invaded Greece, but
the military operations met with no success. In November Hitler wrote
to Mussolini with regard to the invasion of Greece, and the extension
of the war in the Balkans, and pointed out that no military
operations could take place in the Balkans before the following
March, and therefore Yugoslavia must if at all possible be won over
by other means, and in other ways. But on 12 November 1940 Hitler
issued a directive for the prosecution of the war, and it included
the words: "The Balkans: The Commander-in-Chief of the Army will
make preparations for occupying the Greek mainland north of the
Aegean Sea, in case of need entering through Bulgaria."
On 13 December he issued a directive concerning
the operation "Marita," the code name for the invasion of
Greece, in which he stated:
"1. The result of the battles in
Albania is not yet decisive. Because of a dangerous situation in
Albania, it is doubly necessary that the British endeavor be foiled
to create air bases under the protection of a Balkan front, which
would be dangerous above all to Italy as to the Rumanian oilfields.
2. My plan therefore is (a) to form a slowly increasing task
force in Southern Rumania within the next month, (b) after the
setting in of favorable weather, probably in March, to vend a task
force for the occupation of the Aegean north coast by way of Bulgaria
and if necessary to occupy the entire Greek mainland."
On 20 January 1941, at a meeting between Hitler and
Mussolini, at which the Defendants Von Ribbentrop, Keitel, Jodl, and
others were present, Hitler stated:
"The massing of troops in
Rumania serves a threefold purpose: