This will be offered as Felmy Exhibit 69. It is an affidavit executed by Heinrich Schmittdiel. The next document is Felmy No. 10 and this is on page 18. It will be offered as Felmy Exhibit 70. This is an affidavit executed by Rudolf Loytved Hardegg. The next affidavit is Document 11 which will become Exhibit 71. This is executed by one Walter Komorowski. The following document, Document No. 12, is an affidavit executed by Willy Fisch, and this will become Felmy Exhibit 72. Document No. 13 is an affidavit executed by Hans Buetow, and this will receive Exhibit No. 73. Document No. 74 is an affidavit by Knox and this will become Felmy Exhibit No. 74. Document No. 15 is an affidavit by Dr. Wilhelm Rohrbach, and this will be given Exhibit No. 75. Document No. 16 is an affidavit executed by Johannes Blaskowitz, and this will be given Exhibit No. 76. Document No. 17 is an affidavit by Dr. Rolf Fleiner, and this will be offered as Exhibit No. 77. Document No. 18 is an affidavit by Richard Ruoff, and this will be given Exhibit No. 78.
THE PRESIDENT: Can you give us the page numbers as you go along also?
DR. MUELLER-TORGOW: This particular one is on page 29. Document No. 19 on page 30 will be given Exhibit No. 79, and this is an affidavit by Dr. Heinrich Kalk. Document No. 20 on page 31 will become Exhibit No. 80. This is an affidavit executed by Walter Griesshaber. Document 21 on page 33 is an affidavit executed by Kurt Schroeder, and this will become Felmy Exhibit 81.
The next document, Document No. 22 on page 35, has already been offered as Exhibit No. 1. Document No. 23 on page 37 is an affidavit executed by Horst Bielitz, and this will be given Exhibit No, 82. Document No. 24 on page 39 is an affidavit executed by Dr. Paul Rauscher, and this will receive Exhibit No. 83.
I would like to read a few passages from this document. In the second paragraph, it is stated: "I met General (Air Force) Hellmut Felmy soon after he came to Braunschweig, when his wife came to me for treatment. Thereafter, my wife and I often were together with the Felmys."
In the third paragraph it is said, in approximately the 8th line: The officers praised his objectivity, his absolute justice and the understanding which he had for all of his subordinates. The enlisted men adored him like a father and praised his great human qualities. Later, during the war, I was with Herr Felmy several times, when he was here on leave from Greece. At this time he repeatedly told me about the extremely bad food situation of the civilian population and their other needs; it was apparent from the way he talked that he was sorry about the pitiful condition of the people and made every effort to help them." Felmy Document Number 25 on page 41 is an affidavit of Dr. Reichard Isenburg, and this document will be offered as Felmy Exhibit Number 84.
Felmy Document Number 26 on page 42 is an affidavit executed by Richard Moser von Filseck, and this will be offered as Felmy Exhibit 85. I'd like to read just one paragraph on page 43, and that will be the second paragraph:
"The striking modesty free from all bitterness with which Hellmuth Felmy devoted himself in 1940/41 after he gave up active service, to a professional activity in a purely economical sphere was for me a special proof of his lack of vanity and ambition. As far as I remember, these qualities, even before the war, had led to his being passed in his official position by others who knew how to push themselves forward. If Hellmuth Felmy allowed himself to be used later on again for active missions as an officer that was doubtless because he felt that as an officer he was bound by duty to such service."
Document Number 27 on page 44 is an affidavit executed by Dr. Heinrich Giffhorn, and this will be offered as Felmy Exhibit 86. Document Number 28 on page 45 is an affidavit by Dieter Wege, and this will be offered as Felmy Exhibit 87. I would like to read this affidavit.
"As a good friend of the Air Force General Felmy -- I have known him for about thirteen years --- I went in an out of his house almost every day. In this way I had an opportunity of ascertaining that the General took no active art in party politics, on the contrary his remarks gave one to understand that he was not always in favour of the action and measures of the Party.
"In 1940 I was recruited into the Air Force and after a time of training went into the Corps Headquarters Unit for special tasks and into the Liaison Squadron of General Felmy. I was attached to this Unit until October 1944. During the whole of this time I had the opportunity -- especially as I often came into contact with him in the performance of my service tasks --- of ascertaining that he was more a father to his subordinates than a superior.
"When bands were used in Peloponnesus he never issued an order for the terrorizing of the bands and prisoners. No rumour to this effect even was current. The issuing of such an order would never have been entrusted to him as he always showed himself to be a kind and understanding superior -- more man than officer. It was regretted rather that all officers did not possess the same humane attitude."
The next document, Felmy Number 29, has already been offered as Exhibit 4. Felmy Document Number 30, both are affidavits by Herbert Rieckhoff, has been offered as Exhibit 5. The latter one is on page 48.
The next document to offer, therefore, will be Felmy Document Number 32. This is on page 33 of the document book. It will be offered as Exhibit 88. This is an affidavit by Walter Schoeneich. In the Second paragraph, the following is said:
"Herr General Felmy has been known to me by name and from his reputation for about 30 years. I entered into closest official and personal contact with him, when during 1935 -36 I had been his adjutant as a major. I recall this time as having been the most satisfying part of my soldier career professionally and the most valuable humanly."
Then on the same page the affiant goes on to say last but third line:
"As a special referee for questions of honor and disciplinary jurisdiction I had particular opportunity to observe his high sense of justice coupled nonetheless with understand for human weaknesses.
For talks of partisan political nature between General Felmy and me there was then neither an occasion nor the opportunity. To my knowledge General Felmy also has never taken occasion to influence comrades or subordinates politically, much less did he have any interest in their political views and attitudes, for his thinking and acting was determined only by soldierly -- objective view-points.
The next document is Felmy Document Number 33 on page 55, and this is an affidavit by Dr. Emil Voigt, and this will be exhibit number 89. There it is said in the second paragraph: "General Felmy came to Braunschweig in the year 1936. Since I was at that time in the Braunschweig Public Service an administrative official dealing with army matters, I very soon came into contact with him and from then on met him frequently at social occasions and official affairs."
And in the next but one paragraph toward the middle of this paragraph it is said: "As much as he on one side acknowledged and rewarded special efforts and merits, just as much he knew on the other hand to punish negligence and offences while on duty. At that he never went beyond the limits of the law and especially did he always consider benevolently all points in favor and disfavor of the accused and accounted for it in his decision on the extent of punishment."
The next document to be offered will be Felmy Document 34 on page 57, and this is an affidavit executed by Hans Hueckel. This will be offered as Felmy Exhibit 90.
Felmy Document Number 33 on page 58 will be offered as Exhibit 91, and this is an affidavit by Richard Plagemann. Felmy Document Number 36 on page 39 is an affidavit by Fritz Arppe, and this will be Felmy Exhibit Number 92. Felmy Document Number 37 on page 60 is an affidavit by Erich Mandke, and this will be offered as Felmy Exhibit Number 93.
Felmy Document Number 38 on page 62 is an affidavit by Hanns Polonius, and this will become Felmy Exhibit Number 94. In this affidavit it is stated in the second paragraph: "I know General Felmy since October 1936, and I worked under him until he was dismissed in January 1940, at first as junior administrator (accessor) and later as senior administrator (Regierungsrat) in the administration."
I shall go on to read from the last paragraph on page 62. 'When he was first dismissed in January 1940 his staff commented that this was mainly due to his manful and energetic opposition against to the then Supreme Commander of the Air Force, Goering, and that an apology or repudiation of his views was refused by him."
Document Number 39 on page 64 is an affidavit by Ludwig Drinkut, and this will be offered as Felmy Exhibit Number 95. I'd like to read the main parts of this affidavit:
"I know General of the Air Force Felmy since 1937, the time at which I was transferred as a corporal and flight engineer to the staff of the Commanding General of Air District Command VII, which post was held by General Felmy at the time.
"My comrades at the new command showed the greatest regard when discussing their highest superior officer; therefore, I was rather curious to meet him. The first meeting took place soon after that, and I often think back on it, It was before a flight with the Ju. 52 airplane.
Reporting for duty to him the General asked me about my military career, my activities as an airplane pilot etc., and then went on to inquire about personal and family matters. I was surprised about this kind of interest; this was not the usual type of inquiry, but --- and that I found confirmed time and again at later occasions -- the desire to get above all acquainted with the man, apart from the soldier. I was genuinely impressed by him and convinced that in this man I had met a superior who was my comrade, a first impression which I never was forced to change afterwards.
"Until General Felmy was dismissed at the beginning of January 1940 I accompanied him at all flights, I believe, and I was always pleasantly impressed by his decency, kindness and his urgent desire to help his subordinates. When, coming from Berlin and landing at Muenster the General informedus about his dismissal, we were shocked, for like us, the soldiers in his entourage could not grasp that such a grand, fair man, both in efficiency, viewpoints and attitude, should be allowed to retire. We could only partly sense his disappointment and disillusion. Even in those exciting days he thought of me, and ordered his adjutant to propose me as a candidate for an officer's commission. "In 1942 I was again assigned to General Felmy, this time as airplane pilot and technical officer, who meanwhile had resumed his duties, but who had at that time reliquished his post as Commanding Officer for Southern Greece. The comrades there were also full of praise about such a general. This was best shown by the fact that he was generally referred to as "our Hellmuth". Among other things a frequent topic was his decent, humane treatment of the Greek people, for whose rights he stood up. As an example the construction of the airodrome Kalamacki, South East of Athens, was, mentioned.
There, a runway was to be built, respectively extended, right into the gardens and residential sections of a town. General Falmy very engergetically insisted that as little as possible of Greek property was to be touched.
"The General displayed the same attitude concerning the use of rooms for army purposes, whether this was in South Russia, or later on, again in Greece. He frequently convinced himself that his orders were executed, and at staff talks he emphasized that the population should be treated decently. He loathed senseless destruction, as he was of opinion that the war in itself was already cruel enough. He told me that, among other things, when I had to report to him for receiving my orders regarding the retreat at the turn of 1942/1943."
The next document is Felmy Document Document Number 40 on page 66. This is an affidavit executed by Holm Scheilmann, and it will be given Exhibit Humber 96. Felmy Document number 41 on page 69 of Felmy Document Book 1 is an affidavit executed by Hermann Mette, and this will be offered as Felmy Exhibit Number 97.
Document number 42 on page 70 of Felmy Document Book 1 is an affidavit by Ulrich von Tippelskirch, and this will be offered as Exhibit Number 98. Felmy Document Number 43 on page 72 of Felmy Document Book 1 is an affidavit by the former general of the air force, Joseph Kammhuber. This will be offered as Exhibit Number 99. I would like to read this affidavit from the third paragraph onward.
"I have known General Felmy since 1930. As Chief of General Staff of Air-Fleet 2, whose Commander in Chief General Felmy was at the time, I became especially well acquainted with him during the time between the 19 August 1939 and the 27 December 1939. Especially well pronounced were two of his qualities of character: First of all his staunch and upright character as a soldier in the best sense of the word, not afraid to voice his opinion at highest quarters without reserve, - for which reason he was not especially well liked there. Very often his opinion was at sharp variance with that of highest quarters, so at the beginning of the war when he warned against rash attacks on England. In all questions of warfare, organization, training and administration Felmy represented straight military point of view. The second basic characteristic is a tender-hearted altruistic minded soul; deeply abhoring violence which is not necessitated by overpowering circumstances, valid in the whole world.
"Felmy had an especially warm spot in his heart for his subordinates. I have never seen Felmy severe, not to say unjust, towards the men subordinate to him, or towards enemy prisoners. This missing severity was in him so pronounced, that he was considered to be too soft for the rank of an Air-Fleet Chief by the leaders then in power. The charges leveled against General Felmy are therefore, in as far as I am acquainted with them, in absolute contrast to the trait of character described.
A third point of view has to be added: His pronounced and to me well known religious and ethic conception of life; which might also be the key to his tender mindedness. I also had the opportunity to visit and speak to General Felmy again several times after his insulting dismissal, This absolutely unjustified dismissal, of which I was a witness, occurring on the 12 January 1940, hit him, as well as myself, exceedingly hard at the time. After every attempt to justify himself had been flatly rejected by highest quarters whose wrath knew no bounds, he bore his truly undeserved military fate with dignity and admirable composure, trusting in the just God in whom he believed. This trust, strongly rooted in an exemplary harmonious family life, is the fundamental principle of his life. For this reason I consider a subjective guilt of General Felmy in acts against humanity as impossible. They fit in no way into the picture I have made to myself of him as a soldier and man during the long time I was able to observe him."
The next document is Felmy Document Number 44 on page 74, and it will be Exhibit 100. It is an affidavit executed by Wilhelm Friedrich Karl Ohms. Felmy Document Number 45 on page 75 is an affidavit executed by Karl Kettembeil, and this will be offered as Felmy Exhibit Number 101. Felmy Document Number 46 on page 76 is an affidavit by Otto Scholl-Latour, and this will be offered as Felmy Exhibit Number 102. And finally, Felmy Document Number 47, on page 79, and this will become Felmy Document Number 103. This is an affidavit executed by Hermann Barchet.
If your Honors please, this brings me to the end of the documents in Felmy Document Book I. In Felmy Document Book 2 which I'd like Your Honors to take up now, all documents have already been submitted with the exception of Felmy Document Number 56 on page 21. This is an affidavit executed by August Wuestefeld which I don't want to read here. This document will be offered as Felmy Exhibit Number 104.
Now, I'd like to turn to Felmy Document Book 3 where there are still a number of documents left to be offered. The first one to offer will be Felmy Document Number 68 on page 9. This is an affidavit executed by Friedrich Peschlack. It will be offered as Felmy Exhibit 105. Peschlack was from about the middle of the year 1943 army postmaster in the Staff of the LXVIII Corps. I'd like to read from last but one paragraph, on page 9.
"Though the increase of Partisan activity toward the end of the war, the life of the German soldiers, the Greek units, as well as that of the Greek Police in Greece was constantly in grave danger. When in 1943, sometime in July, I rode from Solonica via Kozani to Athens with a motorized column of the LXVIII Army Corps under the command of the then Major Froesch (now probably in Vienna), we found at Servia the remains of the column which had proceded us. The greater part of these German soldiers of the column had been cut down in the most brutal manner, and in part sprayed with gasoline and burned. This surprise attack had been carried out in accordance with a mode of warfare contrary to International Law.
"When, in March 1945, I visited a cemetery in Athens toward 1900 o'clock in the company of Herr Hans Barnickel, now residing in Roth near Nuernberg, then member of Army Postal Unit 468 in the capacity of army field clerk, we were subjected to rifle fire by unidentified Greeks as we were leaving the cemetery. Only by sheer luck did we escape this treacherous ambush which was contrary to International Law, and which violated the rules of warfare in every respect.
"It was worse yet on the Peleponnesus, in the country, on the islands, (Crete etc.) and above all on the isolated mountain roads. Many localities could be reached only by escort. It was known to every German soldier from the accounts of fellow-soldiers in what brutal manner many persons who fell into the hands of the Partisans were tortured to death.
"The furlough-trains on the Athens-Salonica-Belgrade line in particular, were often attacked and fired on. The Army Postal Service also suffered deaths and injuries because of this. As was to be expected the excitement among the soldiers was very great when fellow-soldiers reported what they had seen and experienced themselves."
The next document which is Felmy Document 69 on page 12 of Felmy Document Book 3 is an affidavit of Bruno Voss. This will be offered as Felmy Exhibit 106. Voss was a member of the first Panzer Division and in the staff of which he served as an auxilliary officer. I would like to read from the past paragraph on page 12.
"I am giving a description of the incident with the two Greek parachutists: One morning a first lieutenant of the Panzer regiment No. I captured a former Greek first lieutenant in the vicinity of Argos. The latter had parachuted from an English aircraft at dawn, and had the order to establish contact with a partisan leader. Take-off base was North Africa. He was accompanied by a radio mechanic who, as far as I know escaped. This Greek first lieutenant when captured, carried with him or had already hidden under ground: one radio set, one power source, food, English airmaps of the entire Balkan peninsula etc. On that morning this first lieutenant sat in my office in Xylokastron, from 9 o'clock in the morning until about noon. Members of the armed forces were forbidden to interrogate such people, so I discussed with him only privately from where he came and where he wanted to go. On the order of the LXVIII Army Corps this man was fetched by a local command post in Athens at noon of the same day or was brought there by the divisional Military Police. I do no longer know that exactly. While this first lieutenant was on the Peloponnesus, nothing happened to him.
"The food supplies which the German armed forces placed at the disposal of the Greek population during the fall of 1943 was rather large. It was probably a result of the efforts of the German armed forces that ample supplies of fruit arrived in Athens in the fall of 1943. Most of the supply vehicles going to Athens or the Piraeus without freight were placed at the disposal of Greek fruit wholesalers."
The next document which I would like to offer is Felmy Document 71 on page 16. This is an affidavit executed by Erhard Glitz where he comments on cruelties and atrocities committed by the partisans. I don't want to read this rather voluminous affidavit. It will be given Exhibit No. 107.
The next document to offer will be Felmy Document No. 75. This is on page 31 of Felmy Document Book III and it is an affidavit executed by Franz Borstorff. This document will be offered as Felmy Exhibit No. 108. I would like to read the first, second and third paragraphs. First of all, I would like to anticipate that Borstorff was an interpreter on the staff of the 68th Corps.
"The Dulag (transient camp) 135, in which all members of the allied forces and merchant marine captured by German troops in the area of the LXVIII Army Corps were collected before they were sent on to a prisoner of war or internment camp, was in Athens.
"As English interpreter, I had the order, given by General FELMY, to look specially after each one of the prisoners brought in and to register them with the Swiss Red Cross for further care. The care and aid given to the prisoners, in the execution of this order, was especially urgent and extensive, since most of the prisoners were shipwrecked and had saved nothing but their life.
They were supplied with all essentials as fast as possible.
"These measures corresponded entirely with the basic attitude of General FELMY, who, as a soldier of the old school, always fought chivalrously and, just as chivalrously, granted every possible aid to his beaten enemy" The next document to offer is Felmy Document No. 77 on page 36.
This is an affidavit by Solfgang Busse. This document will be offered as Felmy Exhibit No. 109.
The next document which I shall offer is Felmy Document 79 on page 41. This is an affidavit by Albert Kistner and it will be given Felmy exhibit number 110.
The last document to be offered from this document book will be Felmy Document 83 on page 51 and this is an affidavit of Karl-Heinz Freimuth. This affidavit will be given exhibit number 111.
If your Honors please, this finishes all document in Felmy Document Book III.
Felmy Document Book No. IV has been presented as a whole. This is the war diary of the 68th Corps for the first six months of 1944.
From Felmy Document Book V there arc only two documents which I would like to present. There is, first of all, Felmy Document 105 on page 75. This document has been taken from the last dispatch of photostats of documents from Washington. This is an agreement between the Communist Parties of Greece and Bulgaria, the aim of which was a Union of Socialist Soviet Republics in the Balkans.
MR. FENSTERMACHER: Your Honor, I submit that this is completely irrelevant and immaterial to any of the issues raised in this trial.
PRESIDING JUDGE CARTER: What do you expect to show by this affidavit?
DR. MUELLER-TORGOW: If your Honors please, I would like to show the aim of the Communist parties of both Greece and Bulgaria; namely, as I indicated now, that they aimed at a Union of Socialist Soviet Republic in the Balkans. This is expressed in an agreement dated 12 July 1943. At that time, already, the endeavor existed to bolschevize the Balkans.
PRESIDING JUDGE CARTER: We will receive the information for what it is worth.
DR. MUELLER-TORTOW: This document will be given Felmy Exhibit No. 112.
The last document to be offered from Felmy Document Book V is Felmy Document No. 116 on page 86. This is a supplement to the prosecution document NOKW-934 which is contained in Document Book XXI of the prosecution.
PRESIDING JUDGE CARTER: Do you know the exhibit number?
DR. MUELLER-TORGOW: I am afraid I don't know the exhibit number, your Honor.
PRESIDING JUDGE CARTER: The page number of the document book?
DR. MUELLER-TORGOW: I only know the German page and that is 112 in Document Book XXI but I am afraid that is in the German Book. I don't have the English page number available at the moment.
As mentioned, this is a supplementary excerpt to Document NOKW-964 and from this supplement it can be seen that General Felmy had no connection whatsoever with the incidents with which he is charged here because under the heading, "Internal Situation," it is stated:
"Internal Position: Garrison Headquarters East Aegaeis, garrison headquarters fortified Position Creta and 68th Army Corps: reports not yet on hand."
This sentence is not contained in the document submitted by the Prosecution.
This brings me to Felmy Document Book VI, which again contains a number of affidavits which speak for General Felmy. The first document to offer will be Felmy Document 118 on page 1. This will be given Felmy exhibit number 114. It is an affidavit by Dr. Claus Aschenbrenner which was originally worded in the English language. Aschenbrenner at the moment resides in the United States. I would like to read a few passages from this affidavit, the third passage on page 1:
"I have known General Felmy since 117 when I was an officer in the reserve of the German Signal Corps and delegated with a radio station to a reconnaissance squadron on the Palestine theater, then under the command of General Felmy.
I should exphasize that I was neither at that time nor later when I was an engineer in the Reich Air Ministry, under the command of jurisdiction of General Felmy and, therefore, am not prejudiced in any direction by the fact of former military subordination."
On page 2 I would like to read from the last but one paragraph:
"In peace time when talking with me about his profession as an officer, Mr. Felmy expressed but the same thoughts about military planning being a necessary tool to maintain the balance of power, secure peace and prevent war as I have expressed by a number of high ranking officers of other nations I met during my commercial and scientific activities in the field of aerial photogrammetry and as can be found frequently in the postwar discussion and literature of members of the United Nations.
"He never made any remark to me permitting the impression that he was wishing for the outbreak of a war as a possible means to improve Germany's political situation, not to think of him having in mind to gain any personal advantages by a war. I have never heard anybody else reporting differently on Mr. Felmy's attitude.
"Politically he let me understand that he followed the line long established in the German Armed Forces, namely that the army should stay away from politics, devoted entirely to the service of the nation as such, represented by the legally established Government, be it composed as it may. Thus for him it was out of the question to quit because of disagreement with any political line followed or decision made by the actual Government, This would have been against the responsibility he felt to be entrusted with and had decided to take upon himself.
"This abstention of Mr. Felmy's from the political life, according to the general line set up for the armed forces, did not mean that he advocated militarism. I know from several remarks he made to me that he was convinced the armed forces should only be an instrument for the nations protection in the hand of the government but never attempt to take over political power for their own.
"He sometimes also expressed his deep concern over the increasing merger between Government and Party agencies, which rendered more and more difficult following the neutral political line mentioned above and was to bring higher ranking officers in more or less open opposition to the political hierarchy. From some sparse remarks he made on this subject - he used to be rather taciturn - I have always suspected that this was at the roots of the differences lending to his dismissal."
THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal will take its afternoon recess at this time.
THE MARSHAL: The Court will be in recess for 15 minutes.
THE MARSHAL: The Tribunal is again in session.
THE PRESIDENT: Proceed.
MR. FULKERSON: Since there seems to be some confusion between the Prosecution and the Defense as to the disposition of the affidavits of General Eisenhower and other affidavits that were obtained pursuant to the Court's order, and since the Secretary General says that he only has a copy of one of these documents, and doesn't even know that the others exist, I would like to request on behalf of the Prosecution that these documents be filed with the Court and that then, if the Defense Counsel decide later that they don't want to use them, the Prosecution can make its decision as to whether it wants to use them, but in any event, the documents will be filed in court and there will be no danger of their being lost. At the same time, the Prosecution would like to have access to them so as to be able to read them.
JUDGE CARTER: The Tribunal will reserve its ruling and make it later.
DR. MUELLER: May it please the Tribunal, the first document is 116, in Volume 5, to which I have to make a supplement. The Prosecution Document NOKW 964, contained in Volume 21 of the Prosecution on Page 139 of the English text, this is Prosecution Exhibit 498. From Document Book Felmy, No. 6, I offer Document No. 119 on Page 5. It is an affidavit by Dr. Hans Engels, and it is offered as Exhibit 115. The next document is Document 120, on Page 6. It is an affidavit by Fritz Bessler. It is offered as Exhibit 116. Fritz Bessler was for some time the pilot of General Felmy. I should like to read the essential parts of this affidavit.
"I have known General FELMY personally since the fall of 1936. I was his constant companion on all his flights prior and during the war. My opinion about the person of General FELMY is therefore based on personal experiences and impressions which I shared with him in the course of 8 years.
As Chief of the Air-Fleet 2 in peace-time, the General was the most popular Chief in Luftwaffe circles.
His quiet conduct -- he was called the great silent man - his calm comradely nature, his prudence and fair thinking and acting gained him the respect and admiration of all officers and men in his sphere of command. At that time already he differed considerably from that type of Luftwaffe Generals which was more popular to Reichsmarschall GOERING. This abyss between GOERING's favorites on the one hand and General FELMY the "officer without fear and reproach" on the other hand, did logically lead to his dismissal on 13 January 1940.
I myself worked with General FELMY for 2 months, and our acquaintance was only in the beginning stages, when I was arrested by the Gestapo in Braunschweig under the suspicion of high treason and was confined for weeks. After the order had already been given to put me in a concentration camp for an indefinite period and my situation was almost hopeless I was again released only as a result of the General's personal initiative, and reinstated in spite of the fact that, according to the then prevailing conception, the resumption of my activity in my old position appeared to be impossible.
At the beginning of June 1941 the General was recalled on orders of HITLER. In conversations I had with him at that time he asserted that the only motive for his return was the fact that he was ordered to do so and his sense of duty to the fatherland, that, however, he would not be in a position of ever shaking hands with the Reichsmarschall again. It was intended to put the general in charge of Military Mission in Iraq, after the failure of the offensive in the Near East, was given the designation Special Staff F.
This staff was stationed with its troops in Southern Attica to be trained for desert warfare. Here, we all regarded the General as the ideal loader. In his addresses and conversations regarding the formation of his future officer's corps, he always appealed to us for fairness in combat, he described the desert operations against the British in the first world war and frequently told us about experiences with regard to the mutual fairness in combat - the British Lieutenant DOUGIAS of that time and probably now the Supreme Commander of the British Zone in Germany was also mentioned in this connection.
Lieutenant DOUGLAS dropped his snapshot from an airplane for the then Captain FELMY with the following attached dedication:
As a token of memory to the brave and fair Captain FELMY, signed: DOUGLAS. I have seen this picture in FELMY's house personally.
Among the soldiers, the General acquired the name "Papa FELMY" in no time, which he also kept for the duration of the war. In addition to the Special Staff F the General was also in charge of the Office of the "Military Commander South Greece". However, the command situation and the sphere of tasks of the last mentioned office were so confused and insignificant that the General devoted himself almost exclusively to the training of the Special Staff F. During this entire period of the first action in Greece the General visited Crete only once. He was in command of the island only in territorial respect and as far as the supply problem was concerned. Following & constant pressure on the Wehrmacht High Command, the General in August 1942 succeeded in freeing himself of the unthankful and undefined post of Military Commander for South Greece to be assigned to the Caucasus as Commander of the LXVIII Army Corps with his now trained troops of the Special Staff F. The Corps, after the retreat from the Caucasus, was transferred to Southern Greece. The relations with the population were good and of mutual trust. It frequently occurred that mayors of Greek towns came to see the General asking his protection from looting Italians.
As far as it was possible - the Italians were the real masters in the country, consequently we had to depend on them -- it was then attempted to shift a German unit to the town in question in order to restore tranquility and security for the population. I was in Argos when the Italians surrendered. The order for disarming of the Italians, received by the Corps, did not contain anything about shootings in certain cases. The Italians then surrendered their arms without any re sistance - the mutual relations were obviously cool but not hostile.