4
Dec. 45
On the
10th of May Hitler issued an order for the
capture of economic installations in Poland. On
the 16th of May the Defendant Raeder as
Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, issued a
memorandum setting out the Führer's
instructions to prepare for the operation Fail
Weiss at any time from the 1st of September.
But the decisive document is the
record of the conference held by Hitler on the
23rd of May 1939, in conference with many
high-ranking officers, including the Defendants
Göring, Raeder, and Keitel. The details of
the whole document will have to be read to the
Tribunal later and I am merely summarizing the
substantial effect of this part of it now.
Hitler stated that the solution of the economic
problems with which Germany was beset at first,
could not be found without invasion of foreign
states and attacks on foreign property. "Danzig"
— and I am quoting:
"Danzig
is not the subject of the dispute at
all. It is a question of expanding our
living space in the East. There is,
therefore, no question of sparing
Poland, and we are left with the
decision to attack Poland at the
earliest opportunity. We cannot expect a
repetition of the Czech affair. There
will be fighting. Our task is to isolate
Poland. The success of this isolation
will be decisive. The isolation of
Poland is a matter of skillful politics."
So he explained to his confederates. He
anticipated the possibility that war with
England and France might result, but a two-front
war was to be avoided if possible. Yet England
was recognized — and I say it with pride —
as the most dangerous enemy which Germany had. "England",
he said, I quote, "England is the driving
force against Germany . . . the aim will always
be to force England to her knees." More
than once he repeated that the war with England
and France would be a life and death struggle. "But
all the same," he concluded, "Germany
will not be forced into war but she would not be
able to avoid it."
On the 14th of
June 1939 General Blaskowitz, then
Commander-in-Chief of the 3rd Army group, issued
a detailed battle plan for the Fall Weiss. The
following day Von Brauchitsch issued a
memorandum in which it was stated that the
object of the impending operation was to destroy
the Polish Armed Forces. "High policy
demands,' he said, "High policy demands
that the war should be begun by heavy surprise
blows in order to achieve quick results."
The preparations proceeded apace. On the 22d of
June the Defendant Keitel submitted a
preliminary timetable for the operation, which
Hitler seems to have approved, and suggested
that the scheduled maneuver must be camouflaged,
"in order not to disquiet the population."
On the 3rd of July, Brauchitsch wrote to the
Defendant Raeder urging that certain preliminary
naval moves