6
Dec. 45
decision
of the Führer, and German reaction
would follow in a moment. The second
condition required certain decisions as
to time. Ciano therefore asked what was
the date by which Poland must have
satisfied Germany about her political
condition. He realized that this date
depended upon climatic conditions.
"The
Führer answered that the decision
of Poland must be made clear at the
latest by the end of August. Since,
however, the decisive part of military
operations against Poland could be
carried out within a period of 14 days,
and the final liquidation would need
another . . . . 4 weeks, it could be
finished at the end of September or the
beginning of October. These could be
regarded as the dates. It followed,
therefore, that the last date on which
he could begin to take action was the
end of August.
"Finally,
the Führer reassured Ciano that
since his youth he had favored
German-Italian co-operation, and that no
other view was expressed in his
publications. He had always thought that
Germany and Italy were naturally suited
for collaboration, since there were no
conflicts of interest between them. He
was personally fortunate to live at a
time in which, apart from himself, there
was one other statesman who would stand
out great and unique in history; that he
could be this man's friend was for him a
matter of great personal satisfaction,
and if the hour of common battle struck,
he would always be found on the side of
the Duce for better or for worse."
THE
PRESIDENT: We might adjourn now for 10 minutes.
[A
recess was taken.]
LT.
COL. GRIFFITH-JONES: If the Tribunal please, I
never actually put that last document that I was
referring to in as an exhibit. It is Document
TC-77, which becomes GB-48.
Having
referred the Tribunal to those documents showing
that the military preparations were throughout
the whole period in hand and nearing their
completion, I would refer to one letter from the
Defendant Funk, showing that at the same time
the economists had not been idle. It is a letter
dated the 26th of August 1939, in which Funk is
writing to his Führer. He says:
"My
Führer! I thank you sincerely and
heartily for your most friendly and kind
wishes on the occasion of my birthday.
How happy and how grateful to you we
ought to be for being granted the favor
of experiencing these overwhelmingly
great