19 Dec. 45

in the SA. As this document shows — Document 3214-PS — service in the Feldherrnhalle Regiment of the SA took the place of conscription. This first sentence in Document 3214-PS, which reads, "It was announced that SA men and Hitler Youths liable to military service can fulfill their military conscription in the SA Regiment Feldherrnhalle ... " means, as I understand it, that SA men who are conscripted, that is SA men who are drafted after they have joined the SA, may serve their conscription by remaining in the SA or by transferring to the Feldherrnhalle Regiment of the SA.

The next paragraph of Document Number 3214-PS designates the requirements that must be fulfilled before the SA man can join this Feldherrnhalle Regiment, but if he fulfills those requirements he may join that regiment, and having done so, that serves the purpose or serves the function of conscription in the Wehrmacht.

I hope that answers Your Honor's question.

COL. STOREY: In view of the above we would expect the SA to have been used as a striking force in the first steps of the aggressive war launched by Germany and as a basis for so-called commando groups, and such was the case. SA units were among the first of the Nazi military machine to invade Austria in the spring of 1938, as was proudly announced in an article appearing in the SA-Mann of 19 March 1938, Page 10, the article entitled, "We Were There First."

The SA participation in the occupation of the Sudetenland is also shown by Document Number 3036-PS, Exhibit Number USA-102; and that is an affidavit by Gottlob Berger, a former officeholder in the SS, who was assigned to the Sudeten German Free Corps. I quote Paragraphs 1 and 2 of the affidavit:
"1. In the fall of 1938 1 held the rank and title of Oberführer in the SS. In mid-September I was assigned as SS liaison officer with Konrad Henlein's Sudeten German Free Corps at their headquarters in the castle at Donndorf outside Bayreuth. In this position I was responsible for all liaison between the Reichsführer SS Himmler and Henlein" — Your Honors will recall Henlein was the leader in the Sudetenland — " and in particular, I was delegated to select from the Sudeten Germans those who appeared to be eligible for membership in the SS or VT (Verfügungstruppe). In addition to myself, liaison officers stationed with Henlein included an Obergruppenführer from the NSKK, whose name I have forgotten, and SA Obergruppenführer Max Jüttner from the SA. In addition, Admiral Canaris, who was head of the OKW Abwehr, appeared at Donndorf nearly every 2 days and conferred with Henlein."