7 Dec.
45
only personalities who necessarily must be
notified know anything about them. These measures will completely lose
their value should they become known . . . . "
Then he goes on to emphasize further the importance of secrecy.
I pass to R-95; the next document in the bundle, which I put in as
Exhibit GB-127. It was referred to by my learned friend, the Attorney
General. It is an operational order signed by General Von Brauchitsch
which is merely passing to the armies the orders contained in Directive
Number 25, which was the Document C-127, an extract of which I put in as
Exhibit GB-125. I won't trouble the Tribunal with reading it.
I pass to TC-93, which has already been put in with TC-92 as GB-114.
The invasion of Greece and Yugoslavia took place on this morning, the
6th of April, on which Hitler issued the proclamation from which this
passage is an extract:
"From the beginning of the struggle
it has been England's steadfast endeavor to make the Balkans a theater
of war. British diplomacy did, in fact, using the model of the World
War, succeed in first ensnaring Greece by a guarantee offered to her
and then finally in misusing her for Britain's purposes.
"The documents published today afford" — that refers
to the German White Book which they published of all the
documents leading up to the invasion — "The documents
published today afford a glimpse of a practice which in accordance
with very old British recipes is a constant attempt to induce others
to fight and bleed for British interests.
"In the face of this I have always emphasized that: (1) The
German people have no antagonism to the Greek people but that (2) we
shall never as in the World War tolerate a power establishing itself
on Greek territory with the object, at a given time, of being able to
advance thence from the southeast into German living space. We have
swept the northern flank free of the English; we are resolved not to
tolerate such a threat in the south."
Then the paragraph to which I would draw the Tribunal's particular
attention:
"In the interests of a genuine
consolidation of Europe it has been my endeavor since the day of my
assumption of power above all to establish a friendly relationship
with Yugoslavia. I have consciously put out of mind everything that
once took place between Germany and Serbia. I have not only offered
the Serbian people the hand of the German people, but in addition have
made efforts as an honest broker