. NMT02-T0861
Volume II · Page 861
caused said bill of indictment to be duly served upon the defendant, Erhard Milch, by the Marshal for the United States Military Tribunals according to the provisions of law.
Thereafter said bill of indictment was made returnable and said cause set for trial before United States Military Tribunal No. II. Whereupon, Dr. I. Friedrich Bergold of the Nuernberg, Germany, bar was duly appointed as counsel for the defendant and accepted such appointment.
On 20 December 1946, at 9:30 a.m. in the Palace of Justice, Nuernberg, Germany, the defendant, Erhard Milch, being present in court and represented by his counsel, Dr. I. Friedrich Bergold, and the United States of America being represented by Telford Taylor, Brigadier General, United States Army, Chief of Counsel for War Crimes, and Honorable Clark Denney of counsel, the Tribunal duly arraigned the defendant upon the charges contained in the bill of indictment against him, and the defendant when called upon to plead to the bill of indictment entered a plea of Not Guilty. Whereupon the Tribunal set the date of 2 January 1947, for the trial of said case and adjourned until said time.
On 2 January 1947, United States Military Tribunal No. II met in the Palace of Justice, Nuernberg, Germany, and commenced the trial of this case.
The bill of indictment charging the defendant, Erhard Milch, with certain and specific war crimes and crimes against humanity is summarized as follows:
Count One: War crimes involving murder, slave labor, deportation of civilian populations for slave labor, cruel and inhuman treatment of foreign laborers, and the use of prisoners of war in war operations by force and compulsion.
Count Two: War crimes involving murder, subjecting involuntary victims to low-pressure and freezing experiments, resulting in torture and death.
Count Three: Crimes against humanity, involving murder and the same unlawful acts specified in counts one and two against German nationals and nationals of other countries.
The trial was conducted in two languages in the main, English and German, and in English, German, and French when French witnesses were testifying.
The hearing of evidence and the arguments of counsel concluded on 25 March 1947.
The prosecution offered three witnesses who gave evidence orally and 161 written exhibits, several exhibits containing many documents. The defense offered 27 witnesses who gave evidence orally and the defendant also testified in his own behalf, and in
