3
Dec. 45
"The
opinion of Stumpf is also that the
attack of the Army has to proceed. The Führer
has not made any decision as yet about
commitment against Prague.
"2000
hours: The Führer addresses the
people and the world in an important
speech at the Sportpalast." Then
the entry on 27 September:
"1320
hours: The Führer consents to the
first wave of attack being advanced to a
line from where they can arrive in the
assembly area by 30 September."
The
order referred to by General Jodl was also
recorded by the faithful Schmundt, which appears
as Item 33 at Page 57 of the file. I'll read it
in its entirety. It is the order which brought
the Nazi Army to a jumping-off point for the
unprovoked and brutal aggression:
"28.
9. 38.; most secret; memorandum.
"At
1300 hours 27 September the Führer
and Supreme Commander of the Armed
Forces ordered the movement of the
assault units from their exercise areas
to their jumping-off points.
"The
assault units (about 21 reinforced
regiments, or seven divisions) must be
ready to begin the action against Grün
on 30 September, the decision having
been made 1 day previously by 1200 noon.
"This order was conveyed
to General Keitel at 1320 through Major
Schmundt"-pencil note by Schmundt.
At this point, with the Nazi Army poised in a
strategic position around the borders of
Czechoslovakia, we shall turn back for a moment
to examine another phase of the Czech
aggression. The military preparations for action
against Czechoslovakia had not been carried out
in vacuo.
They had been
preceded by a skillfully conceived campaign
designed to promote civil disobedience in the
Czechoslovak State. Using the techniques they
had already developed in other uncontested
ventures underhandedly, the Nazi conspirators
over a period of years used money, propaganda,
and force to undermine Czechoslovakia. In this
program the Nazis focused their attention on the
persons of German descent living in the
Sudetenland, a mountainous area bounding Bohemia
and Moravia on the northwest and south. I now
invite the attention of the Tribunal to Document
Number 998-PS and offer it in evidence as an
exhibit.
This exhibit is entitled, "German
Crimes Against Czechoslovakia" and is the
Czechoslovak Government's official report for
the prosecution and trial of the German major
war criminals. I believe that this report is
clearly included within the provisions of
Article 21,