7 Jan. 46
a teletype received from the Supreme Command in the
West, inquiring what should be done about applying the Hitler Order to
airborne troops and commandos.
I would like to read a small part of the teletype, beginning at the
beginning:
"Supreme Command West; teletype
message Number 1750/44; top secret; 23 June 1944.
"The treatment of enemy commando groups has so far been carried
out according to the order referred to."
If I may interpolate here, the order referred to is shown in the
cross-reference to the Führer Order of 18 October 1942.
"With the large-scale landing
achieved, a new situation has arisen. The order referred to directs,
in Paragraph 5, that enemy soldiers who are taken prisoner in open
combat or surrender within the limits of normal combat operations
(such as large-scale landing operations and undertakings) are not to
be treated according to Paragraphs 3 and 4. It must be established in
a form easily understood by the troops how far the concept 'within the
limits of normal combat operations, et cetera' is to
be extended."
Then I pass
down to Subparagraph D and read the first sentence of that subparagraph.
THE PRESIDENT: I think you ought to read the latter part of "C"
COL. TAYLOR: Your Honor, I think it is all summarized in the one
sentence.
THE PRESIDENT: The last sentence is the one that I mean.
COL. TAYLOR:
"Considerable reprisals against our
own prisoners must be expected if its contents become known."
Then, continuing with "D":
"The application of Number 5 for all
enemy soldiers in uniform penetrating from the outside into the
occupied western territories is held by the Supreme Command West to be
the most correct and clearest solution."
Accordingly, as it is there shown, the Supreme Command in the West
directed that Paragraph 5, which is the paragraph under which the orders
for execution are not to be applied, should be utilized in the West.
At the foot of the page is the position taken by the Armed Forces
Operational Staff, the recommendation they were making:
"l. The Commando Order remains
basically in effect, even after the enemy landing in the West.