3
Dec. 45
"3. For the time being this order
is to be made known only to the
departments and personnel immediately
concerned. "Signed, Adolf Hitler."
Four days later, on 14 September, Defendant
Keitel issued detailed instructions for the
employment of specific RAD units. This order is
Item 21 in the Schmundt file, at Page 45 in the
English translation. I do not think I need read
the order. There is another order issued by the
Defendant Jodl on 16 September, Item 24, at Page
48 in the Schmundt file. I think I need only
read the heading or title of that:
"Subject:
Employment of Reich Labor Service for
maneuvers with Wehrmacht. Effective 15
September the following units will be
trained militarily under direction of
the Commander-in-Chief of the Army."
Two further entries in the Defendant Jodl's
diary give further indications of the problems
of the OKW in this period of mid-September, just
2 weeks before the anticipated X-Day.
I
now read the answers for the 15th and 16th
September, at Pages 5 and 6 of the English
translation of the Jodl diary.
"15
September: In the morning, conference
with Chief of Army High Command and
Chief of General Staffs of Army and Air
Force, the question was discussed as to
what could be done if the Führer
insists on advancement of the date, due
to the rapid development of the
situation.
"16 September:
General Keitel returns from the Berghof
at 1700 hours. He graphically describes
the results of the conference between
Chamberlain and the Führer. The
next conference will take place on the
20th or 21st in Godesberg.
"With
consent of the Führer, the order is
given in the evening by the Armed Forces
High Command, to the Army High Command,
and to the Ministry of Finance, to line
up the v.G.a.D. along the Czech border."
— That I understand to have
reference to the reinforced border
guard.
"In the same way,
an order is issued to the railways to
have empty rolling stock kept in
readiness, clandestinely, for the
strategic concentrations of the Army, so
that it can be transported starting 28
September."
The
order to the railroads to make rolling stock
available, to which General Jodl referred,
appears as Item 22, at Page 47 of the Schmundt
file. In this order the Defendant Keitel told
the railroads to be ready by 28 September but to
continue work on the Western fortifications even
after 20 September in the interest of
camouflage I quote the first four paragraphs of
this order: