HITLER THE CULPRIT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26228, 12 August 1946, Page 5

HITLER THE CULPRIT

EASTERN FRONT ATROCITIES DRIVEN BY FANATICISM NUREMBERG, (Rec. 10.30 p.m.) Aug. 10. Von Manstein, defending the General Staff at the War Crimes Trial, said that they as soldiers were responsible solely for the military conduct of the war, while Hitler and his collaborators conducted an ideological war. Von Manstein blamed the Russian decision to fight to the last man and the scorched earth policy for the destruction of Russian towns and property. In a historical comment on the Russian campaign, von Manstein said he knew the war was lost if they could not hold the Russians on the Dnieper. Hitler refused to fortify the Dnieper

line, and the Germans had insufficient troops to hold the Red Army’s advance. Von Manstein accused Hitler of sending to their deaths millions of Germany’s youth. Hitler was the sort of man whose fanaticism and belief in a higher mission were likely to drive him beyond the limits of human law. The prosecution introduced a document marked “ Most Secret,” directing commanders on the Eastern Front to employ terror methods to crush resistance. The document was signed by Keitel. Another document produced by the prosecution bore von Manstein’s signature and directly linked him with the ideological conceptions of warfare. The document instructed troops that the Jewish and Bolshevist system must be exterminated once and for all.