6
Dec. 45
"Master
of British steamer High Commissioner
Wood, while he was roving Königsberg
from the 28th of June to 30th of June,
observed considerable military activity,
including extensive shipment of
camouflaged covered lorries and similar
material, by small coasting vessels. On
the 28th of June four medium-sized
steamers, loaded with troops, lorries,
field kitchens, and so forth, left Königsberg
ostensibly returning to Hamburg after
maneuvers, but actually proceeding to
Stettin. Names of steamers . . . . "
And
again, as another example, the report Number 11,
on the next page of the exhibit, dated the 10th
of July, states:
"The
same informant, whom I believe to be
reliable, advises me that on the 8th of
July, he personally saw about 30
military lorries with East Prussian
license numbers on the Bischofsberg,
where numerous field kitchens had been
placed along the hedges. There were also
eight large antiaircraft guns in
position, which he estimated as being of
over 3-inch caliber, and three
six-barreled light antiaircraft machine
guns. There were about 500 men, drilling
with rifles, and the whole place is
extensively fortified with barbed wire."
I
do not think it is-necessary to occupy the
Tribunal's time in reading more. Those, as I
say, are two reports only, of a number of others
that can be found in the British Blue Book,
which sets out the arming and preparation of the
Free City of Danzig.
On the 12th of
August and the 13th of August, when preparations
were practically complete — and it will be
remembered that they had to be complete for an
invasion of Poland on the lst of September —
we find Hitler and the Defendant Ribbentrop at
last disclosing their intentions to their
allies, the Italians.
One of the
passages in Hitler's speech of the 23rd of May,
it will be remembered-I will not quote it now
because the document has been read before.
However, in a passage in that speech Hitler, in
regard to his proposed attack on Poland, had
said, "Our object must be kept secret even
from the Italians and the Japanese."
Now,
when his preparations are complete, he discloses
his intentions to his Italian comrades, and does
so in hope that they will join him.
The
minutes of that meeting are long, and it is not
proposed to read more than a few passages. The
meeting can be summarized generally by saying,
as I have, that Hitler is trying to persuade the
Italians to come into the war with him. The
Italians, or Ciano, rather, is most surprised.
He had no idea, as he says, of the urgency of
the matter; and they are not prepared. He,
therefore, is trying to dissuade Hitler from
starting off so soon until the Duce can have had
a little more time to prepare himself.