"DER STURMER" No. 12, March 1938. Greater Germany. The Jewish domination is broken! Our God makes sure that the power of the Jews does not grow up to heaven itself. What was only a dream up to a few days ago, has now become reality. The sister nation of Austria has returned home to the Reich. The world Jew has lost yet another battle. He still lives in the Reich in the midst of Germans and he still lives in the midst of the German and Austrian people. The power he had has, however, been taken from him-his domination is broken. We are approaching wonderful times-a Greater Germany without Jews. Julius Streicher. The Foreign Office has had a report of the meeting between the Commander in Chief of the German Navy and the American Naval Attache on the 13.9.39 passed on to it by telephone; it is worded as follows: "On the 16.9 at about 1300 hours, the Commander in Chief of the Navy received the American Naval Attache on the advice of the Reich Foreign Minister, and told him more or less the following: He had intended for some days already-as he knewto write him to visit him, in order to tell him clearly his opinion about the sinking of the "Athenia", in view of the continued baiting about it. However he had waited for the return of these of the submarines that had been employed in waging war against merchant ships, at the time in question which might possibly be concerned, in order to receive reports about their activity personally. He repeated most emphatically that the sinking of the "Athenia" was not caused by a German submarine. The ship nearest to the place of the incident was at the time actually situated about 170 sea miles away from the place of the sinking. Besides this, the instructions according to which the commanders had to wage war against merchant shipping had after all been published. Up to date, in no case had these instructions been even slightly disregarded. On the contrary, an American captain reported a short time before about the particularly courteous and chivalrous behavior of the submarine commanders. He authorized him to make official use of his statements through his embassy. It is left to the Naval Attache to report this to the Naval Attache in Washington. 3rd Dept.Naval Operational Staff. 1st Dept.Naval Operational Staff. American Naval Attache Berlin to Washington: Grand Admiral Raeder told me today the 16.9 that he had now received the reports from all submarines, as a result of which it has definitely been ascertained that the steamer "Athenia" was not sunk by a German submarine. He emphatically stressed the marvellous discipline of his submarine commanders; he had nevertheless delayed notifying me until the reports of all submarines which could possibly have been involved in the "Athenia" incident had been received. Grand Admiral Raeder added that the chivalrous conduct over and above the demands of the laws concerning prizes which is so much praised by the neutrals will be difficult to carry out, in view of the arming of merchant ships by the British. 3rd Dept. Naval Operational Staff B. (B-Command) Distribution: Ic 1st Naval Operational Staff, Ia, Iu. Naval Operational Staff 7244 secret. 744400-47-62 Immediate [Extract from Anlagen Skl Ib] By special messenger. Secret Berlin 11/11/1936. 1. Subject: U-Boat Construction Program. On the 27th October 1936 I made my decision on how to make use of the U-boat tonnage that was for the time being still at our disposal in accordance with the London Naval Treaty of 1935, and on orders to be placed for the immediate construction of the new U-boats U 41 to U 51. The military and political situation urgently demands that the extension of our U-boat fleet should be taken in hand immediately and completed with the greatest energy and dispatch, as it is a particularly valuable part of our armament at sea and possesses special striking powers. I therefore impose the obligation on all naval departments concerned to do everything to make sure that the U-boat fleet is entirely completed, taken into commission and prepared for action in the shortest possible space of time, and to remove all obstacles and difficulties in the way of this aim by the strongest pressure on the armament industries participating in the construction and by the employment of all other suitable measures. I order in particular that the requirements of the extension of the U-boat fleet are in every case to be given absolute priority over export orders. [Pencil note]: It is to be reported to me after renewed negotiations with the firms and after exerting the strongest pressure when the seven 500 ton boats and the eight 740 ton boats will be completed.. 2. Send copy of 1 to: C in C of the Navy. Chief of the U-boats Stat O. Dockyard Naval Adjutant at War Office Arsenal E.A. U-boats. Previous Ref:-R.S. 205, 294 and 295. Subject: Sinking of S/S "Deptford," "Thomas Walton," and "Garoufalia". It is proposed in replying to Norwegian notes, to admit only the sinking by a German U-boat of the S/S "Deptford", but to deny the sinking of the two other steamers. According to the data attached to the notes presented by the Norwegian Government, the grounds for suspecting a torpedo to have been the cause of the sinkings do in fact appear to be equally strong in all three cases. According to the Norwegian Foreign Minister's speech of the 19th January, the suspicion in Norway of torpedoing by a German U-boat appears, however, to be strongest in the case of the S/S "Deptford", whereas in the other two cases it is at least pretended that the possibility of striking mines has to be taken into account; this is considered improbable in the case of the S/S "Deptford" anyhow because other vessels had passed the same spot. The assumption that the S/S "Thomas Walton" struck a mine may be supported, since the torpedoing occurred towards evening and nothing was observed and since furthermore several explosions took place in the same area owing to misses by torpedoes. In the case of the S/S "Garoufalia" a denial appears expedient, if only because a neutral steamer is concerned, which was attacked without warning. Since it was attacked by means of an electric torpedo (Eto), no torpedo wake could be observed. II. To the Foreign Office. Berlin W. 8. Previous Reference R.S. 205, 294 and 295 Subject: Sinking of the Steamships "Deptford", "Thomas Walton" and "Garoufalia". It is suggested that the Norwegian notes regarding the sinking of the Steamships "Deptford", "Thomas Walton" and "Garoufalia" be answered somewhat in the following manner: As a result of the communication from the Norwegian Government, the matter of the sinking of the steamships "Deptford", "Thomas Walton" and "Garoufalia" has been thoroughly investigated. The following facts have thus been ascertained: The steamer "Deptford" was sunk by a German U-boat on the 13th December, as it was recognized as an armed enemy ship. According to the report of the U-boat Commander, the sinking did not take place within territorial waters, but immediately outside. The German Naval Forces have strict instructions not to undertake any military operations within neutral territorial waters. Should the U-boat Commander have miscalculated his position, as appears to be borne out by the findings of the Norwegian Authorities, and should Norwegian territorial waters have been violated in consequence, the German Government regrets this most sincerely. 1 As a result of this incident, the German Naval Forces have once again been instructed unconditionally to respect neutral territorial waters. If a violation of Norwegian territorial waters has indeed occurred, there will be no repetition of it. As far as the sinking of the steamships "Thomas Walton" and "Garoufalia” is concerned, this cannot be traced to operations by German Uboats, as none of them were in the naval area indicated at the time of the sinkings. III. Copy of II to OKW Foreign Dept. 1st Naval Operational Staff Ia Iu Ic O.K.W. Foreign Dept. (for information) Previous reference R.S. 1105 of 26.12.1939. Subject: Sinking of the Greek steamship "Garoufalia." It is suggested that a reply be sent to the Greek note to the effect that nothing is known to the German authorities about the sinking of the steamship "Garoufalia" by a German U-Boat. |