High Command Case (NMT)

Case No. 12 of the Nuremberg Military Tribunals was the High Command Case (NMT), United States against Wilhelm von Leeb, et al.'' In the four-power International Military Tribunal (Nuremberg), the High Command itself was not determined to be a criminal conspiracy.

Defendants

 * Wilhelm von Leeb— Generalfeldmarschall (General of the Army); October 1935 to February 1938 Commander in Chief Army Group Command (Heeresgruppenkommando) 2; October 1938 to November 1938, Commander in Chief 12th Army; September 1938 to May 1941, Commander in Chief Army Group C; June 1941 to January 1942, Commander in Chief Army Group North.
 * Hugo Sperrle Generalfeldmarschall (General of the Army); November 1936 to October 1937, Commander of the “Condor Legion” in Spain; February 1938 to January 1939, Commanding General of Air Group (Luftgruppe) 3; February 1939 to August 1944, Commander in Chief Air Fleet (Luftflotte) 3.
 * Georg von KuechlerGEORG KARL FRIEDRICH-WILHELM von KUECHLER — Generalfeldmarschall (General of the Army); September, Commander in Chief 3d Army; October 1939 and November 1939, Commander of East Prussian Defense Zone; November 1939 to January 1942, Commander in Chief 18th Army; January1942 to January 1944, Commander in Chief Army Group North.
 * Johannes Blaskowitz Generaloberst (General); November 1938 to August 1939, Commander in Chief Army Group Command (Heeresgruppenkommando) 3; September 1939 to October 1939, Commander in Chief 8th Army; October 1939, Commander in Chief 2d Army; October 1939 to May1940, Commander in Chief East (Oberbefehlshaber Ost); May 1940, Commander in Chief 9th Army; June 1940, Military Commander (Militarbefehlshaber) Northern France; October 1940 to May 1944, Commander in Chief 1st Army; May 1944 to September 1944, Acting Commander in Chief Army Group G; December 1944 to January 1945, Commander in Chief Army Group G; January 1945 to April 1945, Commander in Chief Army Group H; April 1945, Commander in Chief Netherlands and 25th Army.

HERMANN HOTH — Generaloberst ( General ); November 1938 to November 1940, Commanding General XV Corps; November 1940 to October 1941, Commander Panzer Group 3; October 1941 to April 1942, Commander in Chief 17th Army; May 1942 to December 1943, Commander in Chief 4th Panzer Army.

HANS Reinhardt — Generaloberst (General); October 1938 to February 1940, Commander 4th Panzer Division; February 1940

Charges
The issue of hostage taking was also addressed in the "High Command Case", where the tribunal concluded that:

If so inhumane a measure as the killing of innocent persons for offences of others, even when drastically safeguarded and limited, is ever permissible under any theory of International Law, killing without full compliance with all requirements would be murder. If killing is not permissible under any circumstances, then a killing with the full compliance with all the mentioned prerequisites still would be murder.[Source: United Nations War Crimes Commission. The German High Command Trial. New York: Howard Fertig, 1994, pp. 84-85]

The charges laid against the defendants were:(1) crimes against the peace, (2)war crimes and crimes against humanity: crimes against enemy belligerents and prisoners of war (3) war crimes and crimes against humanity: crimes against civilians, and (4)common plan or conspiracy. The latter charge was dismissed on the grounds "as tendering no issue not contained in the preceding Counts." The war crimes and crimes against humanity indictments included criminal responsibility in connection with the implementation of the Commissar Order, the Barbarossa Jurisdiction Order, the Night and Fog (Nacht und Nebel) Decree, the Hostages and Reprisals Order, murder and ill-treatment of prisoners of war and of the civilian population in occupied territories and their employment as slave laborers, cooperation between the Wehrmacht and the SS in connection with the persecution and execution of Jews and other segments of the population, and plunder and spoliation.

The fourteen defendants were all senior officers in the army and navy, or in the German High Command, OKW. Defendant Blaskowitz committed suicide in prison before the conclusion of the trial.

Some of the acts that were included under (2) above were described as follows:

Unlawful orders initiated, drafted, distributed and executed by the defendants directed that certain enemy troops be refused quarter and be denied the status and rights of prisoners of war, and that certain captured members of the military forces of nations at war with Germany be summarily executed. ...  prisoners of war were denied rights to which they were entitled under conventions and the laws and customs of war. Soldiers were branded, denied adequate food, shelter, clothing and care, subjected to all types of cruelties and unlawful reprisals, tortured and murdered. Special screening and extermination units....operating with the support and under the jurisdiction of the Wehrmacht, selected and killed prisoners of war for religious, political and racial reasons. Many recaptured prisoners were ordered executed.

Acts under (3) above included participation in atrocities and offenses that included:

...       murder, extermination, ill-treatment, torture, conscription to forced labour, deportation to slave labour or for other purposes, imprisonment without cause, killing of hostages, persecutions on political, racial and religious grounds, plunder of public and private property, wanton destruction of cities, towns and villages, devastation not justified by military necessity, and other inhumane and criminal acts against German nationals and members of the civilian populations of countries and territories under the belligerent occupation of, or otherwise controlled by Germany. The defendants committed War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity, in that they were principals in, accessories to, ordered, abetted, took a consenting part in, were connected with plans and enterprises involving, and were members of organizations and groups which were connected with, the commission of War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity. [Source:United Nations War Crimes Commission, pp.3-4]

As noted earlier, the Conspiracy charge was dismissed by the tribunal. On the charge of waging aggressive war the Tribunal returned a finding of not guilty, on the grounds that "The acts of Commanders and Staff Officers below the policy level, in planning campaigns, preparing means for carrying them out, moving against a country on orders and fighting a war after it has been instituted, do not constitute the planning, preparation, initiation and waging of a war or the initiation of invasion that International Law denounces as criminal. Under the record we find the defendants were not on the policy level, and are not guilty under Count I of the Indictment." (United Nations War Crimes Commission, p.70)

Two of the defendants were acquitted of all charges. The remaining eleven were all found guilty on charges (2) and (3) above, war crimes and crimes against humanity, and sentenced to terms of imprisonment ranging from life to three years.