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27 Nov.
45
"Q. Do you know
whether, before the work was published, a draft of it was circulated
among the officers in the Admiralty for comment?
"A.
No, I don't think so. Not before it was published. I saw it only when
it was published.
"Q. Was it circulated freely after
its publication?
"A. It was a secret object. I think
all upper commands in the Navy had knowledge of it.
"Q.
It was not circulated outside of Navy circles?
"A. No.
"Q. What then is your opinion concerning the comments
contained in the work, regarding the circumventing of the provisions
of Versailles?
"A. I don't remember very exactly what
is in here. I can only remember that the Navy had always the object to
fulfill the word of the Versailles Treaty, but in order to have some
advantages. But the flying men were exercised 1 year before they went
into the Navy. Quite young men. So that the word of the Treaty of
Versailles was filled. They did not belong to the Navy, as long as
they were exercised in flying, and the submarines were developed, but
not in Germany and not in the Navy, but in Holland. There was a civil
bureau, and in Spain there was an industrialist; in Finland, too, and
they were built only much later, when we began to act with the English
Government about the Treaty of 35 to 100, because we could see that
then the Treaty of Versailles would be destroyed by such a treaty
with England, and so, in order to keep the word of Versailles, we
tried to fulfill the word of Versailles, but we tried to have
advantages.
"Q. Would a fair statement be that the Navy
High Command was interested in avoiding the limiting provisions of the
Treaty of Versailles regarding personnel and the limits of armaments'
but would attempt to fulfill the letter of the Treaty, although
actually avoiding it?
"A. That was our endeavor."
MR. ALDERMAN Now the rest of
this is the portion that Counsel for the defendant asked me to read:
"Q. Why was such a
policy adopted?
"A. We were much menaced in the first
years after the first war by the danger that the Poles would attack
East Prussia, and so we tried to strengthen a little our very, very
weak forces in this way; and so all our efforts were directed to
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