TRIAL OF NAZI LEADERS

Press, Volume LXXXI, Issue 24745, 10 December 1945, Page 5

TRIAL OF NAZI LEADERS

GERMANY’S PLANS TO SEIZE GIBRALTAR REPORTS OF HITLER’S SPEECHES IN.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 7 p.m.) NUREMBERG, Dec. 7. The British case dealing with Jugoslavia and Greece was opened, at the war crimes trial in Nuremberg to-day, by Colonel Harry Phillimore. He quoted a directive by Hitler on November 12, 1940, stating: “Spain must enter the war. Action for the seizure of Gibraltar will be undertaken by German troops. Support will be given by the Spanish in closing the straits after the seizure of the Rock. Units intended for Gibraltar must be of sufficient strength to seize the Rock, even without Spanish assistance.” The directive added: “Owing to a change in the general situation, it, may not yet be possible dr necessary to start Operation Sealion (a landing in Britain) in the spring of 1941.” -

The prosecutor introduced a report of a speech made by Hitler at a conference with Mussolini in January, 1941. Hitler said: ‘ ‘Our ultimate aim is to attack the British Isles. Here we are in the position of a man with only one round left in his rifle. If we miss, the situation will be much worse than before. As long as an attack has’ not taken place, the British must dispose forces to reckon with the possibility of an attack.”

Hitler did not see any great danger doming from America, even if America entered the war. Hitler added that so long as Stalin lived, there would probably be no danger from Russia. Stalin was “intelligent and careful.” Invasion of Greece ■

“Marite” was the code name for the Nazis’ plans for the invasion of Greece. Hitler issued a directive covering the Balkan and Mediterranean theatres on December 12, 1940. The Greek main- ‘ land was to be occupied during March ‘‘for use in the new undertaking.” Simultaneously, Hitler issued orders intended to bolster up the Italians, Reassigned a Wehrmacht “blocking unit” to assist and advise the Italians in keeping the British from Tripolitanla, and sent an air corps to Sicily and an army corps to Albania, where he said the dangers of a collapse must be removed.

Hitler told a conference of high military and diplomatic leaders on April 27, 1941, that he was, determined to destroy Jugoslavia as a-military ’ nation, and that an attack must be carried out with merciless severity in order to frighten Turkey into submlssiveness.

Colonel Phillimore then quoted Ribbentrop’s letters to ;■ the - Jugoslavia Premier (Mr Cvethkovic), in which he asserted that Germany would not exploit Jugoslavia’s newly signed adherence to the Axis, to demand the passage of German troops. The prosecutor said that Germany had consistently used the. technique of aggression, based on securing the maximum advantage of surprise, even if only for the sake of a few hours of unopposed military advance into the country of an unsuspecting, victim.

War In Scandinavia The German navy was instructed to disguise its ships as British and* to answer challenges by giving the names of warships when embarking on the invasion of Norway, according to one of the many secret Nazi’documents introduced to-day at. the trial. 1 Lieutenant-Colonel Elwyn Jones, dealing with that part of the British case concerning the planning of the war agamst Norway and Denmark, described the converging of'the interests of Rosenberg and Raeder. concerning' Norway, and how, through Quisling was ’ eventually brought to■: Berlin to see Hitler. .

The Nazi Government preferred reports from this traitor to those from their regular diplomatic representatives,” said the prosecutor.v Raeder laughted in the dock when Lieutenant-Colonel Elwyn Jones readan extract from Jodi’s diary which" stated that Goering was in’a rage because he had not been consulted over the invasion of Norway and Denmark. The prosecutor submitted a German naval study of strategic' bases which was - signed by Fricke.' It advised against _ permanent bases being established in North and. South America, Asia, or Australia, but urged the ’ acquisition of bases in Central Africa, the islands off Africa and Iceland, and concluded with the somewhat wistful words: “Time .will show how. far: the outcome of thef war with England wiU make an extension of these demands possible.” Lieutenant-Colonel Elwyn- ~ .Jones quoted extracts from Jodi’s diary stating that Goering wanted “more' energetic measures taken against the civilian population in Norway,” He said the documents produced revealed a menace behind the goodwill of Goer* ing and rendered sordid the professional status of Keitel and Raeder.

The case .of Nazi' aggression in* Scandinavia ended with the «übmission of a naval memorandum in which the incorporation of Norway and Denmark in the was urged. Presenting the case on Nazi aggression against Belgium, Holland, and Luxemburg, another member of the British prosecuting team, Mr C. D. ‘ Roberts, K.C., listed the treaties between the three countries and Ger- _ many and then described how they had been violated. The 20 accused fidgeted and averted their eyes when Mr Roberts said:. “I submit, on the ordinary laws of inference and justice, that all these men must be held active participators in that disgraceful breach of faith which brought mtery and death to so many millions.’' > - Mr Roberts disclosed that a German aeroplane forced down in Belgium on January 10, 1940, carried orders to the Luftwaffe which showed the Nazi plan of attack on the Low Countries. The Belgian Government succeeded in obtaining the plan.

A secret list of war criminals of 1000 names has been issued by the War Crimes Commission. The list has been placed in the hands of military agencies in Europe and elsewhere, enabling them to arrest and hold those wanted for future trial.

HESS’S FLIGHT , TO BRITAIN (Rec. 9 p.m.) LONDON, Dec. 8. “Rudolph Hess planned his flight to Britain nearly one year before the-at-tack on Russia, and had actually taken off several times from June, 1940, but was driven back by the weather,” says . the Nuremberg correspondent of the Associated Press. “Hess, making his first direct communication to the press since his flight, declared that he did not fly to Britain to enlist British help for an attack on Russia, but to try to stop fighting between two noble races. “During the campaign in France, he expressed the view to Hitler that on the conclusion of peace with Britain, which he then considered imminent,’ a demand should be made for ■ what had been taken from Germany by the Versai les» Treaty, for instance, the equivalent of the German merchant fleet. Hitler disagreed, saying: ‘You know that ever since ’ our imprisonment in 1925, I have declared again and again 'that my policy on seizing power must be an understanding with Enskmd. Even to-day, I have not given up the hope that this understanding can be achieved.’ “Hess expressed the opinion that reasons of prestige most probably prevented Britain from entertaining the various proposals for an understanding made by Hitler. Hess continued - Considering the military position then prevailing, Britain could have negotiated only if a reason visible to the whole world for entering into parleys with Germany could be provided I therefore decided to supply this reason by going personally to England’”

BELSEN SENTENCES , CONFIRMED (Rec. 8 p.m.i LONDON, Dec. 8. It has been officially announced that Field-Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery has rejected the appeals of all the Belsen jfuards accused of atrocities and has confirmed the sentences imposed upon them.