4 Jan. 46
this report such facts as appeared relevant to the
issues before the Tribunal were extracted and a statement embodying them
was prepared. This statement was then presented to the German officer at
a later interview in the form of a draft, and the German officer was
asked whether it truly reproduced what he had said and was invited to
alter it in any way he saw fit. The object was to procure the most
accurate testimony on organizational matters that we could.
I will take up these affidavits one by one, and I think the members of
the Tribunal will see that they fully support the Prosecution's
description of the group and conclusively establish that this group of
officers was, in fact, the group which had the major responsibility for
planning and for directing the operations of the German Armed Forces.
The Soviet and French Judges have copies in French and Russian, and the
Defense has copies in German.
The first of these affidavits is that of Franz Halder, who held the
rank of "Generaloberst" or colonel general — the
equivalent of a four-star general in the American Army. His affidavit
will be Exhibit Number USA-531 (Document 3702-PS). Halder was Chief of
the General Staff of OKH. That would be the box second from the bottom
on the left-hand side. He was Chief of the General Staff of the OKH from
September 1938 to September 1942. He is, accordingly, a member of the
group and well qualified by his position to testify as to the
organization. His statement is short, and I will read it in full:
"Ultimate authority and
responsibility for military affairs in Germany was vested in the head
of the State, who prior to the 2d of August 1934, was Field Marshal
Von Hindenburg and thereafter, until 1945, was Adolf Hitler.
"Specialized military matters were the responsibility of the
three branches of the Armed Forces subordinate to the
Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces (at the same time head of the
State), that is to say, the Army, Navy, and the Air Force. In
practice, supervision within this field was exercised by a relatively
small group of high-ranking officers. These officers exercised such
supervision on the basis of their official instructions and by virtue
of their training, their positions, and their mutual contacts. Plans
for military operations of the German Armed Forces were prepared by
members of this group, according to the instructions of the OKW, in
the name of their respective commanding officers and were presented to
the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces (at the same time the head
of the State).
"The members of this group were charged with the responsibility
of preparing for military operations within their