Evening star., 1946-09-30

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Berlin with reference to these con-
versations:
Il assured him moreover, and II
repeat it here, that when this prob
lem is solved there will be more
territorial problems for Germany in
Europe"
Very soon after these conferences
Hitler asked the defendant Keitel
for information about the military
force which would be required to
break all Czech resistance in Bo-
hemia and Moravia and the answer
Of Keitel was given on October IL,
1888, and on october 81, 1888, barely
a month after the Pact of Munich,
directive was issued by Hitler and
countersigned by the defendant
Keitel to the armed forces on their
future tasks which stated:
Liquidation of the remainder of
CZechoslovakia; 1t must be possible
to smash up in time the remainder
of Czechoslovakia if her policy
should become hostile toward Ger
many"
On May %, 1899, after Austria
and Czechoslovakia had been tseized,
Hitler announced at @ meeting in
the Reich .Chancellery in Berlin
that he would attack Poland for the
reasons which he then gave.
In view of these declarations, the
tribunal entertains no doubt that
the war against Poland was an ag-
gressive war and therefore a crime
within the meaning of the charter.
WAR AGAINST DENMARK
AND NORWAY.
The invasions of Denmark and
Norway were aggressive wars made
IN violation of existing treaties and
assurances When the plans for
attacking Norway were made the
evidence showed that they were not
made for the purpose of forestall-
ing an imminent Allied landing,
but at the most that they might
prevent an Allied occupation at
some future date
The Allied plans discovered by
the Germans in the course of the
war were not the cause of the Ger
man invasion of Norway. Norway
was occupied by Germany to gain
bases from which more effective
attack on England and France
might be made pursuant to the
plans made long in advance of any
Allied plans. No suggestion was
ever made by the defendants that
there was any plan to occupy Den
mark other than that made by
the Germans.
The invasions of Denmark and
Norway were acts of aggressive war.
The tribunal characterized the in
vasions of Belgium, the Netherlands
and Luxembourg as acts of aggres-
Sive war
Would Liquidate Neutrals.
On the 18th of August. 1889, Hitler
had a conversation with Ciano and
the defendant Ribbentrop. He then
said, Generally speaking, the best
thing to happen would be for the
neutralS to be liquidsted one after
the other. This process could be
carried out more easily if on every
occasion one partner of the Axis
covered the other while it was deal
ing with the uncertain neutral.
Italy might well regard Yugo-
slavia as neutral of this kind"
This observation was made only
two months after Hitler had given
assurances to Yugoslavia that he
would regard her frontier as final
and involate On the 29th of Octo-
Der, 1910, italy invaded Greece but
the military operation met with no
success. In the following month
Hitler wrote to Mussolini and said
that no military operations could
take place in the Balkans before the
following March and therefore
Yugo-slavia must be won over by
other means and in other ways.
Later in the year Hitler issued direc-
tions for occupying the Greek MAIN
land north Of the Aegean Sea and
the sending of task force by way of
Bulgaria if necessary to occupy the
entire Greek mainland. On the 25th
OF March, 1941, Yugoslavia adhered
TO the trlpartite pact and thereupon
the German government confirmed
their determination to respect the
sovereignty and territorial integrity
OF Yugoslavia at all times.
But on the 26th Of March, after a
coup d'etat in Belgrade, the new gov
ernment which was set up repu-
dated the pact. Thereupon Hitler
declared that preparations must be
made to destroy Yugoslavia with
merciful harshness. Accordingly
on the 9th of April the German
forces invaded Greece and Yugo-
slavia without warning and Bel
grade was bombed by the Luftwaffe.
The aggressive war against
Greece and Yugoslavia had long
been in contemplation, certainly as
early as August of 1899.
AGGRESSIVE WAR AGAINST
THE U. S. S. R.
The tribunal then proceeded to deal
with the aggressive war against the
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
A nonaggreSsion pact was signed
on the 23d of August, 1899. AS late
as the 9th of January, 1941, the Ger
iAdIl AIlDdoSdOOT III MOSCOW IN
formed his government that the So
Wet Union would only go to war if
attacked by Germany. Germany
began to make preparations for the
, invasion of the U. S. S. r. as early
as the late summer of 194O
Plans were made beforehand for
the economic exploitation of the
territories of the Soviet Union and
for the destruction of the Soviet
Union as an independent state. After
she had drawn Hungary, Romania
and Finland into the contemplated
+. attack on the 22d of June, 1941,
. Germany invaded Soviet territory
: without any declaration of war. This
. was the fulfllment of what Hitler
had written in ''Mein Kampf."
If new territory were to be ac-
quired in Europe, it must have been
mainly at Russia's cost"
1t had been contended for the
defendants that the attack upon
!. the U. S. S. r. was justified be-
y cause the Soviet Union was con-