The Generals Read Online Free PDF Page B

Monday. Thank you, gentlemen.

Third Day
    Lieutenant Brown
: Present: Colonel Orbal, Major von Peters, Colonel Pigafetta, Commander Kampenmann. And Lieutenant Brown presenting the case.
    Colonel Orbal
: Isn’t Haller here?
    Lieutenant Brown
: Justice Haller has been prevented from appearing. He’s at a meeting of the government.
    Colonel Orbal
: You seem to have got some life into the central heating, anyhow.
    Colonel Pigafetta
: I’m afraid that’s due to the weather rather than the heating system. It’s considerably warmer out today.
    Colonel Orbal
: Spring’s coming.
    Commander Kampenmann
: Didn’t Haller’s behaviour seem a bit peculiar on Saturday? Why didn’t he want to testify until later?
    Colonel Orbal
: Are you asking me? How would I know?
    Major von Peters
: Who is Prosecuting Officer today?
    Lieutenant Brown
: Captain Schmidt.
    Major von Peters
: Alone?
    Lieutenant Brown
: Yes.
    Major von Peters
: It’s getting tiresome having to repeat it, Brown, but it should be ‘Yes, sir’. Is Schmidt in uniform?
    Lieutenant Brown
: Yes, sir.
    Major von Peters
: Well, that’s something.
    Colonel Orbal
: Then let’s start, shall we? Summon the parties.
    Captain Schmidt
: At Saturday’s session matters prior to national liberation were dealt with. Does the presidium consider that that part of the commission calls for further study?
    Colonel Orbal
: No, no.
    Captain Schmidt
: We come then to the time of the formation ofthe militia before the liberation; this moment—perhaps I needn’t point this out especially—has considerable judicial significance, as this extra-ordinary court martial is not bound to pronounce sentence in cases which arose prior to it.
    Major von Peters
: You needn’t point out so bloody much, Captain Schmidt. It’d be better if you kept to points of prosecution.
    Colonel Orbal
: Yes, so that we get somewhere.
    Captain Schmidt
: I shall proceed with the case for the prosecution itself in a moment. At first I should just like to be rid of one more formality. I hereby submit that the militia began to function as a military unit the moment the independent State was proclaimed and that Velder from that moment in time, that is 0530 hours on Independence Day, was subject to military law.
    Major von Peters
: That seems absolutely obvious. Get to the point.
    Captain Schmidt
: The first section of the case for the prosecution covers the period of the first thirteen months of Velder’s service in the militia. During this period he committed offences on thirty-two occasions. All these fall within the framework of military penal regulations, and they must be judged all the more seriously in consideration of the fact that the tense and critical situation during the nation’s first year made the position comparable to a state of emergency. In all these thirty-two cases, the main evidence consists of Velder’s own confessions. To avoid any unnecessary waste of time, I do not intend to call upon the accused for each separate charge.
    Major von Peters
: Why not?
    Captain Schmidt
: Mostly because in that case the session would probably go on for years.
    Colonel Pigafetta
: That would undoubtedly be highly undesirable.
    Captain Schmidt
: There are also some practical reasons. The preliminary investigations have not taken over three years for nothing. Concerning each and every one of these thirty-two charges, Velder has confessed and rendered full accounts of them. These he has sworn on oath, they are witnessed by interrogators from the General Staff Judicial Department and have been perused by experienced psychologists. The completeness and truthfulness of these confessions are beyond doubt.
    Commander Kampenmann
: I seem to remember that the accused pleaded not guilty to the first charge.
    Captain Schmidt
: That did not concern this part of the case. Of the separate offences in this series of crimes, some are more or less of the same kind. They concern various kinds of insubordination and more serious