7 Jan. 46
German Navy, the naval war staff in Berlin transmitted
its copy of the basic order of 18 October to the lower naval commands.
The copy distributed by the Navy and the covering memorandum from the
naval war staff show clearly the secrecy which surrounded the
dissemination of this order; and I read the first sheet of this document
only, the cover sheet:
"Enclosed please find an order of the
Führer regarding annihilation of terror and sabotage units. This
order must not be distributed in writing by flotilla leaders, section
commanders, or officers of this rank. After verbal notification to
subordinate sections, the above officers must hand this order over to
the next higher section, which is responsible for its withdrawal and
destruction."
Passing over
to Page 3 of this document, at the very end we find a similar admonition
in the notice for distribution, at the very end of the document; I read:
"These instructions are not to be
distributed over and above the battalions and the corresponding staffs
of the other services. After notification, those copies distributed
over and above the regimental and corresponding staffs of the other
services must be withdrawn and destroyed."
The next document, Your Lordship, is C-178, which becomes Exhibit
USA-544. This document is dated 11 February 1943, which was 12 days
after the Defendant Dönitz had become Commander-in-Chief of the
German Navy. On that day, this memorandum was circulated within the
naval war staff in order to clear up certain misunderstandings as to the
scope of the basic order of 18 October 1942. This document, of which I
will read the first four paragraphs, indicates why the earlier order had
been treated as such a secret matter and also directs that all naval
commanders and officers who failed to carry out the order, or to
instruct their units concerning the order, would run the risk of serious
court-martial penalties. I'll read the first four paragraphs only:
"From the notice given by the 3rd
Section of the Naval Operations Staff on 1 February 1943 it has been
discovered that the competent departments of the General Staff of the
Army, as well as those of the Air Force Operations Staff, have a wrong
conception regarding the treatment of saboteurs. A telephone inquiry
at the 3rd Section of the Operations Staff proved that this naval
authority was not correctly informed either.
"In view of this situation, reference is made to Paragraph 6 of
the Führer Order of 18 October 1942" — and then a
cross-reference — "according to which all commanders and
officers who have neglected their duty in instructing their units
about