3
Dec. 45
Halder
at Nuremberg. Dr. Todt, the construction
engineer, later joined this conference, which
lasted from 10 in the evening until 3:30 the
following morning. Schmundt's minutes on this
conference are Item 19 in the large Schmundt
file, on Pages 41 to 43 of Document 388-PS.
In this meeting General Halder
reviewed the missions assigned to four of the
German armies being committed to the attack, the
2d, the 10th, the 12th and the 14th German
Armies. With his characteristic enthusiasm for
military planning, Hitler then delivered a
soliloquy on strategic considerations, which
should be taken into account as the attack
developed. I shall quote only four paragraphs,
beginning with the summary of General Von
Brauchitsch's remarks, on the bottom of Page 42:
"General
Oberst Von Brauchitsch: 'Employment of
motorized divisions was based on the
difficult rail situation in Austria and
the difficulties in getting other dive'
" — that is for divisions —
" 'ready to march into the area at
the right time. In the West vehicles
will have to leave on the 20th of
September, if X-Day remains as planned.
Workers leave on the 23d, by relays.
Specialist workers remain according to
decision by Army Command II.'
"The
Führer: 'Does not see why workers
have to return home as early as X-11.
Other workers and people are also on the
way on mobilization day. Also the
railroad cars will stand around
unnecessarily later on.'
"General
Keitel: 'Workers are not under the
jurisdiction of district commands in the
West. Trains must be assembled.'
"Von
Brauchitsch: '235,000 men RAD (Labor
Service) will be drafted, 96
construction battalions will be
distributed (also in the East). 40,000
trained laborers stay in the West.'"
From
this day forward the Nazi conspirators were
occupied with the intricate planning which is
required before such an attack. On 11 September
Defendant Jodl conferred with a representative
of the Propaganda Ministry about methods of
refuting German violations of international law
and of exploiting those of the Czechs. I read
the 11 September entry in the Jodl diary at Page
5 of the English translation of 1780-PS:
"In
the afternoon conference with Secretary
of State Hahnke, for the Ministry of
Public Enlightenment and Propaganda on
imminent common tasks. These joint
preparations for refutation" —
Widerlegung — "of our own
violations of international law, and the
exploitation of its violations by the
enemy, were considered particularly
important."
This
discussion developed into a detailed study
compiled by Section L, that is, Jodl's section
of the OKW.