7 Dec.
45
If I might read the second letter:
"Mr. Prime Minister:
"With reference to the conversations
that occurred in connection with the entry of Yugoslavia into the
Tri-Partite Pact, I have the honor to confirm to Your Excellency
herewith in the name of the Reich Cabinet" — Reichsregierung
— " that in the agreement between the Axis Powers and the
Royal Yugoslavian Government the Governments of the Axis Powers during
this war will not direct a demand to Yugoslavia to permit the march or
transportation of troops through Yugoslavian national territory."
The position at this stage, the 25th of March 1941, was therefore, that
German troops were already in Bulgaria moving towards the Greek
frontier, while Yugoslavia had, to use Hitler's own term in his letter
to Mussolini, "become disinterested" in the cleaning-up of the
Greek question.
The importance of the adherence of Yugoslavia to the Three Power Pact
appears very clearly from the next document in the bundle, 2765-PS,
which I put in as GB-124. It is an extract from the minutes of a meeting
between Hitler and Ciano, and if I might just read the first paragraph:
"The Führer first expressed his
satisfaction with Yugoslavia's joining the Tri-Partite Pact and the
resulting definition of her position. This is of special importance in
view of the proposed military action against Greece, for if one
considers that for 350 to 400 kilometers the important line of
communication through Bulgaria runs within 20 kilometers of the
Yugoslav border, one can judge that with a dubious attitude of
Yugoslavia an undertaking against Greece would have been militarily an
extremely foolhardy venture."
Again it is a matter of history that on the night of the 26th of March,
when the two Yugoslav Ministers returned to Belgrade, General Simovic
and his colleagues effected their removal by a coup d'etat; and
Yugoslavia emerged on the morning of the 27th of March ready to defend,
if need be, her independence. The Yugoslav people had found themselves.
The Nazis reacted to this altered situation with lightning rapidity,
and the immediate liquidation of Yugoslavia was decided on.
I ask the Tribunal to turn back to 1746-PS, which I put in as GB-120,
to the second part on Page 3 of the document consisting of a record of a
conference of Hitler and the German High Command on the situation in
Yugoslavia dated 27th of March 1941.
It shows that those present included the Führer the Reich Marshal,
that is of course, the Defendant Göring Chief, OKW, that is