The Nuremberg Trials (Vol.9). International Military Tribunal

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      MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: And this was all becoming very embarrassing to Hitler and to the Reich Marshal, was it not, to explain to the German people why this was going on?

      BODENSCHATZ: That did not have to be explained, because the German people felt it. No explanation was given. It was only said that all possible measures would be taken to master this peril.

      MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: And you knew at that time, and the Reich Marshal knew, that no measures could be taken that would prevent it?

      BODENSCHATZ: No, no, no. I emphasized before that it was a radio-technical war, and there were moments when, in the defense, we could counter the measures of the enemy while constantly discovering a new means to hit him.

      MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: When you made the announcement to the German people that all means would be taken, you had then no means at your disposal, that you knew of, to use, did you, to prevent the bombing of the German cities?

      BODENSCHATZ: Oh yes, indeed.

      MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: What were they, and why were they not used?

      BODENSCHATZ: There were, for example, the following means: The most important areas were protected by anti-aircraft guns. Then there were radio-technical means, jamming transmitters, which would have made it possible, and which partly did make it possible, to jam the radio sets in the enemy aircraft.

      MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: The movement to satisfy the German people under the bombing attacks was a matter of great concern to the Reich Marshal, was it not?

      BODENSCHATZ: The Reich Marshal was very anxious that the population should be informed.

      MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: And see that the population was satisfied, was he not?

      BODENSCHATZ: It is easy to say “satisfied.” He could only assure the German people that he would do everything in his power to master these attacks.

      MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: Now, have you seen the Reich Marshal and Hitler when the reports came in of the bombing of Warsaw and Rotterdam and of Coventry?

      BODENSCHATZ: I cannot remember whether I was present when the reports came.

      MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: You never saw any such reactions on their part on those bombings, I take it?

      BODENSCHATZ: I only know that Warsaw was a fortress which was held by the Polish Army in very great strength, provided with excellent pieces of artillery, that the forts were manned, and that two or three times Adolf Hitler announced that civilians should be evacuated from the city. That was rejected. Only the foreign embassies were evacuated, while an officer with a flag of truce entered. The Polish Army was in the city defending it stubbornly in a very dense circle of forts. The outer forts were very strongly manned, and from the inner town heavy artillery was firing towards the outskirts. The fortress of Warsaw was therefore attacked, and also by the Luftwaffe, but only after Hitler’s ultimatum had been rejected.

      MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: Was Coventry a fortified city?

      BODENSCHATZ: Coventry was no fortress. Coventry, however, was a city which housed the key industry of the enemy air force, in which the aircraft engines were built, a city in which, as far as I know, many factories were situated and many parts of these aircraft engines were manufactured. In any case, the Luftwaffe had at that time received orders to bomb only the industrial targets. If the city also suffered, it is understandable, considering the means of navigation at that time.

      MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: You were interrogated in November of 1945, were you not, by Colonel Williams?

      BODENSCHATZ: Yes, I was interrogated.

      MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: And Colonel Williams asked you about certain fictitious incidents along the German-Polish border late in August of 1939, did he not?

      BODENSCHATZ: Yes, he asked me about that.

      MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: And would you care to tell the Tribunal what you know about the fictitious incidents along the Polish border?

      BODENSCHATZ: I do not know anything positive. I was asked by Colonel Williams whether I knew in advance about the incident of the Gleiwitz broadcasting section. I told him I knew nothing about it. It was only that the incidents on the Polish border were very similar to those which happened on the Czech border. It may have been presumed—that was only my opinion—that they were perhaps deliberate. But I had no positive proof that anything had been staged on our part.

      MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: Did you tell him on the 6th of November 1945, as follows:

      “I heard about it, but I personally at that time had the feeling that all these provocations that had taken place had originated from our side, from the German side. As I said, I had no real proofs of that, but I always had that feeling.”

      Did you not say that?

      BODENSCHATZ: Yes, I said that.

      MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: And that you had talked with people about this, from whom you got that feeling. Is that right?

      BODENSCHATZ: I cannot remember that very well now. I only know that the reports in the press gave me that suspicion.

      MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: You were asked, were you not, this question and gave this answer:

      “Question: But you are of the opinion that what appeared in the press and these incidents that were reported were not true, but done merely to cause an incident as an excuse for an invasion?”

      And did you not make this answer:

      “I had that feeling. I cannot prove it, but I definitely know I had a feeling that the whole thing was being engineered by us.”

      Did you not make that answer to that question?

      BODENSCHATZ: The minutes will show it. If it is in the minutes, I said it. At the moment I cannot remember the exact words.

      MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: You do not deny the fact, however?

      BODENSCHATZ: I had that feeling, but it was a purely subjective opinion.

      MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: But it was your opinion?

      BODENSCHATZ: Yes.

      MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: Now then, I ask you whether you were not interrogated about the Führer’s desire to make war on Poland, and whether you did not give this answer:

      “Gentlemen, this question is very hard to answer, but I can state under my oath that the Führer actually wanted the war against Poland. I can prove that he actually wanted a war of aggression against Poland by the circle surrounding the Führer and the remarks that were made. I was present during the night when Hitler gave Henderson his conditions that he wanted Danzig, and I concluded from all the conferences that the Führer had with the Ambassador—I had the impression that the Führer did not really want the Poles to accept those conditions.”

      And I ask you if you made those answers to Colonel Williams?

      BODENSCHATZ: I can make the following answer to that:

      I was not present at the conference. If I said that, I did not express myself correctly. I was not at the conference СКАЧАТЬ