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way of thinking. I reserve further directions and determination of the date. "4. Tasks of the Armed Forces. "Armed Forces Preparations are to be made on the following basis: "a. The mass of all forces must be employed against Czechoslovakia. "b. For the West, a minimum of forces are to be provided as rear cover which m... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 55,800 | 56,300 |
using to the full the first successes of the assault columns and the effects of the Air Force operations. The rear cover provided for the West must be limited in numbers and quality to the extent which suits the present state of fortifications. Whether the units assigned this will be transported to the Western frontier... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 56,250 | 56,750 |
a solution of the Czech problem by my own, free decision; this stands in the foreground of my political intentions. I am determined to use to the full every favorable political opportunity to realize this aim." "However, I will decide to take action against Czechoslovakia only if I am firmly convinced as in the case of... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 56,700 | 57,200 |
soon and thereby initiates military preparation all along the line. The previous intentions of the Army must be changed considerably in the direction of an immediate break-through into Czechoslovakia right on D-Day (X-Tag), combined with aerial penetration by the Air Force. Further details are derived from directive fo... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 57,150 | 57,650 |
the region Freudenthal/Freihermersdorf for landing possibilities. "For this purpose I obtained private lodgings in Freudenthal with the manufacturer Macholdt, through one of my trusted men in Prague. "I had specifically ordered this man to give no details about me to M, particularly about my official position. "I used ... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 57,600 | 58,100 |
against Czechoslovakia from the German government. "In case the Czechs should again cause a provocation against Germany, Germany would march. This would be tomorrow, in six months or perhaps in a year. However, I could promise him, that the German government, in case of an increasing gravity of the situation or as soon... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 58,050 | 58,550 |
well." (2796-PS) Von Weizsacker's memorandum reads as follows: "Von Ribbentrop inquired what Hungary's attitude would be if the Fuehrer would carry out his decision to answer a new Czech provocation by force. The reply of the Hungarians presented two kinds of obstacles: The Yugoslavian neutrality must be assured if Hun... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 58,500 | 59,000 |
adequately the armed strength of Hungary. During today's conversation von Kanya corrected this remark and said that Hungary's military situation was much better. His country would be ready, as far as armaments were concerned, to take part in the conflict by October 1st of this year." (2797-PS) The signature to this doc... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 58,950 | 59,450 |
trap is indicated by the events of the weeks just preceding the Munich agreement. With a 1 October target date set for Case Green, there was a noticeable increase in the tempo of the military preparations in late August and September. Actual preparations for the attack on Czechoslovakia were well under way. The agenda ... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 59,400 | 59,900 |
maneuvers and exercises. "Also, the question raised by the Foreign Office as to whether all Germans should be called back in time from prospective enemy territories must in no way lead to the conspicuous departure from Czechoslovakia of any German subjects before the incident. "Even a warning of the diplomatic represen... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 59,850 | 60,350 |
(1600 artillery pieces.)" (388-PS, Item 18) Five days later General Stulpnagel asked Jodl for written assurance that the OKH would be informed five days in advance about the pending action. In the evening Jodl conferred with Luftwaffe generals about the coordination of ground and air operations at the start of the atta... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 60,300 | 60,800 |
2d, 10th, 12th, and 14th. With his characteristic enthusiasm for military planning, Hitler then delivered a soliloquy on strategic considerations which should be taken into account as the attack developed. The discussions proceeded as follows: "General Oberst v. Brauchitsch: Employment of motorized divisions was based ... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 60,750 | 61,250 |
listed in column b of the table are as follows: "1a. In an air-raid on Prague the British Embassy is destroyed. "2. Englishmen or Frenchmen are injured or killed. "3. The hradschin is destroyed in an air raid on Prague. "4. On account of a report that the Czechs have used gas, the firing of gas projectiles in ordered. ... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 61,200 | 61,700 |
September: "General Keitel returns from the Berghof at 1700 hours. He graphically describes the results of the conference between Chamberlain and the Fuehrer. The next conference will take place on the 21st or 22nd in Godesberg. "With consent of the Fuehrer, the order is given in the evening by the Armed Forces High Co... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 61,650 | 62,150 |
depends on weather conditions. These could change the time of attack and also limit the area of operations. The weather of the last few days, for instance, would have delayed the start until between 0800 and 1100 due to low ceiling in Bavaria." (388-PS, Item 54) A satisfactory solution appears to have been arrived at. ... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 62,100 | 62,600 |
at the disposal of the Reich Ministry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda for interference with possible Czech propaganda transmissions. "Question by Foreign office whether Czechs are to be allowed to leave and cross Germany. Decision from Chief of the Armed Forces High Command: yes. "1515 hours: The Chief of the A... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 62,550 | 63,050 |
in the Sudetenland, a mountainous area bounding Bohemia and Moravia on the north, west, and south. The Czechoslovak government's official report for the prosecution and trial of German major war criminals, entitled "German Crimes Against Czechoslovakia," shows the background of the subsequent Nazi intrigue. (998-PS; 30... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 63,000 | 63,500 |
summer of 1938 wore on, the Heinleinists used every technique of the Nazi Fifth Column. As summarized in the Czech official report, these included: (1) Espionage. Military espionage was conducted by the SDP, the FS, and by other members of the German minority on behalf of Germany. Czech defenses were mapped, and inform... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 63,450 | 63,950 |
anti-Nazis who had escaped from Germany after Hitler came to power and had sought refuge in Czechoslovakia. (998-PS; 3061-PS) Some time afterwards, when there was no longer need for pretense and deception, Konrad Heinlein made a clear and frank statement of the mission assigned to him by the Nazi conspirators. This sta... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 63,900 | 64,400 |
conspirators in the Sudetenland agitation. A telegram sent from the German Legation in Prague on 16 March 1938 to the Foreign Office in Berlin, presumably written by the German Minister, Eisenlohr, proves conclusively that the Heinlein movement was an instrument of the Nazi conspirators (3060-PS). The Heinlein party, i... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 64,350 | 64,850 |
you, most honored Minister, to accept accordingly the sincere thanks of the Sudeten Germans herewith. "We shall show our appreciation to the Fuehrer by doubled efforts in the service of the Greater German policy. "The new situation requires a reexamination of the Sudeten German policy. For this purpose I beg to ask you... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 64,800 | 65,300 |
and approved in principle. For further cooperation, Konrad Heinlein was instructed to keep in the closest possible touch with the Reichminister and the Head of the Central Office for Racial Germans (mit dem leiter der Volksdeutschen Mittelstelle), as well as the German Minister in Prague, as the local representative of... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 65,250 | 65,750 |
has been subsidized by the Foreign Office regularly since 1935 with certain amounts, consisting of a monthly payment of 15,000 Marks; 12,000 Marks of this are transmitted to the Prague Legation for disbursement, and 3000 Marks are paid out to the Berlin representation of the party (Bureau Buerger). In the course of the... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 65,700 | 66,200 |
who I was. "At my request, with which he complied without any question, M. travelled with me over the country in question. We used M.'s private car for the trip. "As M. did not know the country around Beneschau sufficiently well, he took with him the local leader of the FS, a Czech reservist of the Sudeten German Racia... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 66,150 | 66,650 |
"(a) Immediately as many Czech subjects of Czech descent, Czech-speaking Jews included, will be arrested in Germany as Sudeten Germans have been in Czechoslovakia since the beginning of the week. "(b) If any Sudeten Germans should be executed pursuant to a death sentence on the basis of martial law, an equal number of ... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 66,600 | 67,100 |
Sudeten Germans and maintenance of disturbances and clashes. The Free Corps will be established in Germany. Armament only with Austrian weapons. Activities of Free Corps to begin as soon as possible." (388-PS, Item 25) General Jodl's diary gives a further insight into the position of the Heinlein Free Corps. At this ti... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 67,050 | 67,550 |
for all liaison between the Reichsfuehrer SS Himmler and Heinlein and, in particular, I was delegated to select from the Sudeten Germans those who appeared to be eligible for membership in the SS or Vt (Verfuegungs Truppe). In addition to myself, Liaison Officers stationed with Heinlein included an Obergruppenfuehrer f... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 67,500 | 68,000 |
Berlin, Hof and Munich. "2. While in Hof, which is on the Czech border, I paid repeated visits to the SD Service Department, that is, Intelligence Office, which has been established there. This Service Department had the task of collecting all political intelligence emanating from the Czechoslovak border districts and ... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 67,950 | 68,450 |
when the Army crosses the German-Czech frontier." (388-PS, Item 36) According to the 25 September entry in General Jodl's diary these SS Totenkopf battalions were operating in this area on direct orders from Hitler. (1780-PS) As the time for X-day approached, the disposition of the Free Corps became a matter of dispute... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 68,400 | 68,900 |
acquiesce. (TC-23) On 1 October 1938 German troops began the occupation of the Sudetenland. During the conclusion of the Munich Pact the Wehrmacht had been fully deployed for attack, awaiting only the word of Hitler to begin the assault. With the cession of the Sudetenland new orders were issued. On 30 September Keitel... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 68,850 | 69,350 |
men who had fled to Hitler's protection in mid-September, Heinlein and Karl Hermann Frank, were appointed Gauleiter and Deputy Gauleiter, respectively, of the Sudetengau. In the parts of the Czechoslovak Republic that were still free the Sudetendeutsche Partei constituted itself as the National-Sozialistische Deutsche ... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 69,300 | 69,800 |
2: How much time is required for the regrouping or moving up of new forces? "Question 3: How much time will be required for the same purpose if it is executed after the intended demobilization and return measures? "Question 4: How much time would be required to achieve the state of readiness of October 1st?" (388-PS, I... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 69,750 | 70,250 |
the frontiers or sent after the attack army. "b. Air Force "The quick advance of the German Army is to be assured by an early elimination of the Czech Air Force. "For this purpose the commitment in a surprise attack from peace-time bases has to be prepared. Whether for this purpose still stronger forces may be required... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 70,200 | 70,700 |
War Staff, of Schniewind, Chief of Staff of the Naval War Staff, and of Raeder. As the Wehrmacht moved forward with plans for what it clearly considered would be an easy victory, the Foreign Office played its part. In a discussion of means of improving German-Czech relations with the Czechoslovak Foreign Minister, Chva... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 70,650 | 71,150 |
paid agents among the higher staff of Father Hlinka's party. These agents undertook to render impossible any understanding between the Slovak autonomists and the Slovak parties in the government at Prague. Franz Karmasin, later to become Volksgruppenfuehrer, had been appointed Nazi leader in Slovakia and professed to b... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 71,100 | 71,600 |
Foreign Office, are jotted down in somewhat telegraphic style: "To begin with DURKANSKY (Deputy Prime Minister) reads out declaration. Contents: Friendship for the Fuehrer; gratitude, that through the Fuehrer autonomy has become possible for the SLOVAKS. The SLOVAKS never want to belong to HUNGARY. The SLOVAKS want ful... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 71,550 | 72,050 |
this meeting the Nazi conspirators apparently were successful in planting the idea of insurrection with the Slovak delegation. The final sentence of this document, spoken by Tuca, is conclusive: "I entrust the fate of my people to your care." (2790-PS) It is apparent from these documents that in mid-February 1939 the N... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 72,000 | 72,500 |
short. This troop was trained essentially in accordance with the principles of the SS, so far as these could be used in this region at that time. That troop was likewise assigned here the special task of protecting the homeland; actively, if necessary. It stood up well in its first test in this connection, wherever in ... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 72,450 | 72,950 |
to continue negotiations with Prague, among them Prime Minister Tiso and Durcansky. Within 24 hours the Nazis seized upon this act of the Czech government as an excuse for intervention. On the following day, 11 March, a strange scene was enacted in Bratislava, the Slovak capital. It is related in the report of the Brit... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 72,900 | 73,400 |
Slovak government. I was informed that the explosives were to be turned over to the Hlinka Guards across the border in Slovakia and were to be used in incidents designed to create the proper atmosphere for a revolution. "3. I stayed in Engerau for a day and a half and then returned to Berlin. "4. One or two weeks later... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 73,350 | 73,850 |
my unshakeable gratitude at all times. "Your devoted friend. "(Signed) HORTHY" "Budapest. 13.3.1939." (2816-PS) From this letter it may be inferred that the Nazi conspirators had already informed the Hungarian government of their plans for military action against Czechoslovakia. As it turned out, the timetable was adva... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 73,800 | 74,300 |
it, and he had for that reason permitted Tiso to come in order to hear his decision. it was not a question of days, but of hours. he had stated at that time that if Slovakia wished to make herself independent he would support this endeavor and even guarantee it. he would stand by his word so long as Slovakia would make... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 74,250 | 74,750 |
1:15 in the morning, Hacha and Chvalkovsky were ushered into the Reichs Chancellery. They found there Hitler, von Ribbentrop, Goering, Keitel, and other high Nazi officials. The captured German Foreign Office account of this meeting furnishes a revealing picture of Nazi behaviour and tactics. It must be remembered that... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 74,700 | 75,200 |
symptom convinced him that the army would be a severe political burden in the future. Added to this were the inevitable development of economic necessities and, further, the protests from national groups which could no longer endure life as it was. "Last Sunday, therefore, for me the die was cast. I summoned the Hungar... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 75,150 | 75,650 |
alleviations. Within two days the Czech army would not exist any more. Of course, Germans would also be killed and this would result in a hatred which would force him because of his instinct of self-preservation not to grant autonomy any more. The world would not move a muscle. He felt pity for the Czech people when he... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 75,600 | 76,100 |
meeting are set forth (2861-PS). Dispatch No. 77 in the French Yellow Book from M. Coulondre, the French Ambassador, gives another well-informed version of this same midnight meeting (2943-PS). The following account of the remainder of this meeting is drawn from these two sources, as well as from the captured German mi... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 76,050 | 76,550 |
(particularly reconnaissance planes and antiaircraft artillery) as well as parts of the SS Verfuegungstruppen were placed at the disposal of the two army groups. "On the evening of March 14, the march order was received by the troops. On March 15 at 6 A. M. the columns moved past the border and then moved on with utmos... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 76,500 | 77,000 |
installations and to keep them garrisoned in the strength they deem necessary, in an area delimited on its western side by the frontiers of the State of Slovakia, and on its eastern side by a line formed by the eastern rims of the Lower Carpathians, the White Carpathians and the Javornik Mountains. "The Government of S... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 76,950 | 77,450 |
requested via Foreign Office to deliver to us against payment any arms we want and which are still kept in Slovakia. This request is to be based upon agreement these millions should be used which we will pour anyhow into Slovakia. "Czech Protectorate. "H. Gr. [translator's note: probably Army groups] shall be asked aga... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 77,400 | 77,900 |
Slovakia would become German dominions. Everything possible must be taken out. The Oder-Danube Canal has to be speeded up. Searches for oil and ore have to be conducted in Slovakia, notably by State Secretary Keppler." (1301-PS, Item 10) In the summer of 1939, after the incorporation of Bohemia and Moravia into the Rei... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 77,850 | 78,350 |
the great production capacity (armament potential) of Czechoslovakia. That contributes toward a considerable strengthening of the axis against the Western powers. Furthermore, Germany now need not keep ready a single division for protection against that country in case of a bigger conflict. This, too, is an advantage b... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 78,300 | 78,800 |
conflict in the autumn of 1938 and spring of 1939 and the annexation of Slovakia rounded off the territory of Greater Germany in such a way that it now became possible to consider the Polish problem on the basis of more or less favourable strategic premises." (L-172) In the speech to his military commanders on 23 Novem... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 78,750 | 79,250 |
rearmament. (USA 123)....... III 868 *1439-PS Treaty of Protection between Slovakia and the Reich, signed in Vienna 18 March 1939. 1939 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p. 606. (GB 135)...... IV 18 *1536-PS Report of Luftwaffe General Staff, Intelligence Division, 12 August 1938, on reconnaissance by German Air Attaché at P... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 79,200 | 79,700 |
of Slovakia. (USA 117)........ V 443 *2815-PS Telegram from Ribbentrop to the German Minister in Prague, 13 March 1939. (USA 116).......... V 451 *2816-PS Letter from Horthy, the Hungarian Regent, to Hitler, dated Budapest, 13 March 1939. (USA 115)....... V 451 *2826-PS The SS on March 15, 1939, an article by SS-Gruppe... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 79,650 | 80,150 |
advisers in Reichs Chancellery on 28 May 1938......... V 743 *3054-PS "The Nazi Plan", script of a motion picture composed of captured German film. (USA 167)......... V 801 *3059-PS German Foreign Office memorandum, 19 August 1938, on payments to HeinleinÂs Sudeten German Party between 1935 and 1938. (USA 96)........ ... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 80,100 | 80,600 |
Treaty between Germany and Czechoslovakia, signed at Locarno, 16 October 1925. (GB 14)......... VIII 325 *TC-23 Agreement between Germany, the United Kingdom, France and Italy, 29 September 1938. (GB 23)......... VIII 370 *TC-27 German assurances to Czechoslovakia, 11 and 12 March 1938, as reported by M. Masaryk, the C... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 80,550 | 81,050 |
trial by "executive action"; that their personal power for evil broken, they should be swept aside into oblivion without this elaborate and careful investigation as to the part they played in plunging the world in war. Vae Victis. Let them pay the penalty of defeat. But that is not the view of the British Empire or of ... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 81,000 | 81,500 |
for bringing such wars about should answer personally for the course into which they lead their states. Again, individual war crimes have long been regarded by International Law as triable by the Courts of those States whose nationals have been outraged at least so long as a state of war persists. It would indeed be il... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 81,450 | 81,950 |
clear and mandatory law governing the jurisdiction of this Tribunal, we feel that we should not be fully discharging our task in the abiding interest alike of international justice and morality unless we showed the position of that provision of the Charter against the whole perspective of International Law. For just as... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 81,900 | 82,400 |
on the consent of nations to stabilize international relations, to avoid war taking place at all and to mitigate the results of such wars as took place. The first such treaty was of course the Hague Convention of 1899 for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes. This was, indeed, of little more than precatory ... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 82,350 | 82,850 |
loyally supported, could so well have resolved those international differences which might otherwise have led, as they did lead, to war. It set up in the Council of the League, in the Assembly and in the Permanent Court of International Justice, a machine not only for the peaceful settlement of international disputes b... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 82,800 | 83,300 |
States of America. Previously, in February 1928, the Sixth Pan-American conference adopted a Resolution declaring that as "war of aggression constitutes a crime against the human species * * * all aggression is illicit and as such is declared prohibited." In September 1927 the Assembly of the League of Nations adopted ... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 83,250 | 83,750 |
renewed, for a period of five years, by the National-Socialist Government in July 1933. (Significantly, that ratification was not renewed on the expiration of its validity in March 1938.) Since 1928 a considerable number of States signed and ratified the General Act for the pacific Settlement of International Disputes ... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 83,700 | 84,200 |
signed and ratified international instrument. It contained no provision for its termination, and was conceived as the corner-stone of any future international order worthy of that name. It is fully part of international law as it stands today, and has in no way been modified or replaced by the Charter of the United Nat... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 84,150 | 84,650 |
of Paris on the Statute Book a war of aggression was contrary to positive International Law. Nor have the repeated violations of the pact of the Axis Powers in any way affected its validity. Let this be firmly and clearly stated. Those very breaches, except to the cynic and the malevolent, have added to its strength; t... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 84,600 | 85,100 |
Court of International Justice jurisdiction with regard to the exercise of belligerent rights in relation to neutral States: "* * * But the whole situation * * * rests, and International Law on the subject has been entirely built up, on the assumption that there is nothing illegitimate in the use of war as an instrumen... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 85,050 | 85,550 |
longer to be the source and subject of rights. It is no longer to be the principle around which the duties, the conduct, and the rights of nations revolve. It is an illegal thing. Hereafter when two nations engage in armed conflict either one or both of them must be wrongdoers-violators of this general treaty law. We n... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 85,500 | 86,000 |
of Paris and of other treaties, become illegal beyond all uncertainty and doubt. It is on that Universal Treaty that count 2 is principally based. The Prosecution has deemed it necessary-indeed imperative-to establish beyond all possibility of doubt, at what may appear to be excessive length, that only superficial lear... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 85,950 | 86,450 |
crimes and crimes against humanity brought about the torture and extermination of countless thousands of innocent civilians; which devastated cities; which destroyed the amenities, nay the most rudimentary necessities of civilization in many countries, which has brought the world to the brink of ruin from which it will... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 86,400 | 86,900 |
behalf. In a case decided nearly one hundred years ago Dr. Lushington, a great English Admiralty judge, refused to admit that a State cannot be a pirate. History, very recent history, does not warrant the view that a State cannot be a criminal. On the contrary, the immeasurable potentialities for evil inherent in the S... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 86,850 | 87,350 |
in the Charter of the United Nations, fundamental human rights, but also, as in the Charter of this Tribunal, fundamental human duties. Of these none is more vital or more fundamental than the duty not to vex the peace of nations in violation of the clearest legal prohibitions and undertakings. If this is an innovation... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 87,300 | 87,800 |
not to have recourse to war or, in cases in which war is not totally renounced, when it is resorted to in disregard of the duty to utilize the procedure of pacific settlement which a State has bound itself to observe. There was indeed, in the period between the two World Wars, a divergence of view among jurists and sta... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 87,750 | 88,250 |
be deflected from its purpose by attempts to ventilate in this Court what is an academic and, in the circumstances, an utterly unreal controversy as to what is a war of aggression. There is no definition of aggression, general or particular, which does not cover abundantly and irresistibly and in every material detail ... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 88,200 | 88,700 |
used and violated as circumstances made expedient. These defendants are charged, too, with breaches of the less formal assurances which, in accordance with diplomatic usage Germany gave to neighboring states. To-day with the advance of science the world has been afforded means of communication and intercourse hitherto ... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 88,650 | 89,150 |
an essential prerequisite for the general peace of Europe". The two Governments therefore agreed to base their mutual relations on the principles laid down in the Pact of Paris of 1928. They declared that "In no circumstances * * * will they proceed to the application of force for the purpose of reaching a decision in ... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 89,100 | 89,600 |
but also the Defendant Goering and the Defendant Ribbentrop made statements approbating the Pact. In 1935 Goering was saying that "the pact was not planned for a period of ten years but forever: there need not be the slightest fear that it would not be continued." Even though Germany was steadily building up the greate... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 89,550 | 90,050 |
and if necessary war, should be an instrument of policy-the doctrine explicitly condemned by the Kellogg pact, to which Germany had adhered. The document goes on to set out the general preparations necessary for a possible war in the mobilization period 1937/1938. The document is evidence at least for this-that the lea... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 90,000 | 90,500 |
It was marked by the substitution of Ribbentrop for Neurath as Foreign Minister, and of Keitel for Blomberg as head of OKW. Its first fruits were the bullying of Schuschnigg at Berchtesgaden on February 12, 1938, and the forcible absorption of Austria in March. Thereafter the Green Plan (Fall Gruen) for the destruction... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 90,450 | 90,950 |
that here are two peoples which must live together and neither of which can do away with the other. A people of 33 millions will always strive for an outlet to the sea. A way for understanding, then, had to be found, and it will be ever further extended. Certainly things were hard in this area. * * * But the main fact ... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 90,900 | 91,400 |
of 1937 reveal Hitler and his associates deliberately considering the acquisition of Austria and Czechoslovakia, if necessary by war, but the first of those operations had been carried through in March 1938 and a large part of the second, under threat of war, though without actual need for its initiation, in September ... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 91,350 | 91,850 |
attack upon Poland and her destruction by aggressive war had apparently not as yet been taken by Hitler and his associates. It is to the transition from the intention and preparation of initiating an aggressive war, evident in regard to Czechoslovakia, to the actual initiation and waging of aggressive war against Polan... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 91,800 | 92,300 |
before the consummation by the Nazi Leaders of their aggression against Czechoslovakia, however, they had already begun to make demands upon Poland. On October 25th, 1938, that is to say within less than a month of Hitler's reassuring speech about Poland already quoted and of the Munich Agreement itself, M. Lipski, the... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 92,250 | 92,750 |
designs of aggression were not limited to men of German race and that the spectre of European war resulting from further aggressions by Nazi Germany had not been exorcised by the Munich Agreement. As a result, therefore, of the concern of Poland, England, and France at the events in Czechoslovakia and at the newly appl... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 92,700 | 93,200 |
councils of the Reich from the time of the Munich Agreement. Written some time in September 1938 is an extract from a file on the Reconstruction of the German Navy (C-23). Under the heading "Opinion on the Draft Study of Naval Warfare against England" it is stated: "1. If, according to the Fuehrer's decision Germany is... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 93,150 | 93,650 |
place simultaneously should such necessity arise." (C-137) Thereafter, as the evidence which has already been produced has shown, final preparations for the invasion of Poland were taking place. On the 3d April 1939, three days before the issue of the Anglo-Polish communiqué, Keitel issued to the High Command of the A... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 93,600 | 94,100 |
document that Hitler addressed the Reichstag (April 28th, 1939). In his speech he repeated the German demands already made to Poland and proceeded to denounce the German-Polish Agreement of 1934. Leaving aside for the moment the warlike preparations for aggression, which Hitler had set in train behind the scenes, I wil... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 94,050 | 94,550 |
Arbitration Treaty signed at Locarno in 1925. The very fact, therefore, that as soon as the Nazi leader cannot get what he wants, but is not entitled to, from Poland by merely asking for it, and that, on his side, he made no further effort to settle the dispute "by peaceful means" in accordance with the terms of the Ag... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 94,500 | 95,000 |
blows in order to achieve quick results (C-126). The preparations proceeded apace. On the 22d June Keitel submitted a preliminary time table for the operation which Hitler seems to have approved and suggested that the scheduled manouevre must be camouflaged "in order not to disquiet the population". On the 3d July Brau... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 94,950 | 95,450 |
the British Government, in the hope that Hitler might still be reluctant to plunge the world into war, and in the belief that a formal treaty would impress him more than the informal assurances which had been given previously, entered into an agreement for mutual assistance with Poland, embodying the previous assurance... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 95,400 | 95,900 |
and in the course of his speech he said this: "One year later Austria came; this step was also considered doubtful. It brought about a tremendous reinforcement of the Reich. The next step was Bohemia, Moravia, and Poland. This step also was not possible to accomplish in one campaign. First of all the Western fortificat... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 95,850 | 96,350 |
with their sovereignty and independence. On the 31st May, 1939, he signed a nonaggression Pact with Denmark. On the 2d September, the day after he had invaded Poland and seized Danzig, he again expressed his determination to observe the inviolability and integrity of Norway in an aide memoire which was handed to the No... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 96,300 | 96,800 |
attack against them which was under active preparation. For some years, Rosenberg, in his capacity of Chief of the Foreign Affairs Bureau (APA) of the NSDAP, had interested himself in the promotion of fifth column activities in Norway, and close relationship was established with the "Nasjonal Samling", a political grou... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 96,750 | 97,250 |
we will do our utmost to make the operation appear as a peaceful occupation the object of which is the military protection of the Scandinavian States * * * it is important that the Scandinavian States as well as the Western opponents should be taken by surprise by our measures. * * * In case the preparations for embark... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 97,200 | 97,700 |
undertakings which the Nazi Rulers themselves gave to the States which lay in the way of their plans against France and England and which they always intended to attack. Not once, not twice, but eleven times the clearest assurances were given to Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. On those assurances solemnly and... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 97,650 | 98,150 |
is stated "Belgium and the Netherlands when in German hands represent an extraordinary advantage in the prosecution of the air war against Great Britain as well as against France." (375-PS) That was in august 1938. Eight months later (on the 28th April 1939) Hitler is declaring again, "I was pleased that a number of Eu... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 98,100 | 98,600 |
victory to wane, and does not help to bring Italy to our aid as brothers-in-arms. "3. I therefore issue the following orders for the further conduct of military operations: "(a) Preparations should be made for offensive action on the Northern flank of the Western front crossing the area of Luxembourg, Belgium and Holla... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 98,550 | 99,050 |
1939 and early 1940, but they carry the matter no further, and they show no more clearly than the evidence to which I have already referred, the plans and intention of the German Governments and its armed forces. On the 10th May 1940 at about 0500 hours in the morning the German invasion of Belgium, Holland, and Luxemb... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 99,000 | 99,500 |
every occasion one partner of the Axis covered the other while it was dealing with an uncertain neutral. Italy might well regard Yugoslavia as a neutral of this kind." (TC-77) Later again on the second day of the conversation, 13th August, he said: "In general, however, from success by one of the Axis partners not only... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 99,450 | 99,950 |
must become disinterested, if possible, however from our point of view interested in cooperating in the liquidation of the Greek question. Without assurances from Yugoslavia, it is useless to risk any successful operation in the Balkans. * * * Unfortunately I must stress the fact that waging war in the Balkans before M... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 99,900 | 100,400 |
another example of the treachery employed by German diplomacy. We have seen already the preparations that had been made. We have seen Hitler's efforts to tempt the Italians into an aggression against Yugoslavia. We have seen in January his orders for his own preparation to invade Yugoslavia and Greece and now on the 25... | Yale Avalon (nca_vol1): Chapter IX - The Plotting of Aggressive War | 100,350 | 100,850 |
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