Evidence of the SA's participation in the conspiracy is found in the care which was taken at all times to coordinate the military training program of the SA with the requirements of the Wehrmacht. As early as 1934, an SA memorandum provided that the SA chief of training and his subordinates should remain --

"*** in direct touch with the respective offices and sections of the Reich Defense Ministry." (2823-PS)

The same memorandum recites that a Lieutenant-Colonel of the Wehrmacht was assigned to the SA with the duty of participating --

"*** in all questions regarding training and organization ***." (2823-PS)

Another SA memorandum declared that:

"***permanent liaison between the Reich Defense Ministry and the Supreme Commander of the SA *** has been assured." (2821-PS)

Hitler's words regarding cooperation between Wehrmacht and SA were as follows:

[Page 163]

"The requirements of the Wehrmacht are to be taken into consideration in organization and training.

"The Chief of Staff of the SA releases the required executionary directives in agreement with the Commander in-Chief of the Wehrmacht units. He alone is responsible for the fulfillment." (2383-PS)

A speech by the Chief of Staff of the SA relating to the technical and specialized branches of the SA revealed that this opportunity for collaboration with the Wehrmacht in specialized military was utilized to the utmost:

"In the course of this development also special missions for military betterment (program) were placed on the SA. The Fuehrer gave the SA the cavalry and motor training and called SA Obergruppenfuehrer Littmann as Reich Inspector with the mission to secure the *** recruits and requirements for the German Wehrmacht through the SA. In -close cooperation with parts of the Wehrmacht special certificates were created for the communication, engineer and medical units which, like the cavalry certificate of the SA, are valued as statement of preference for employment in said units." (3215-PS)

The specialized training given SA members, in accordance with the requirements of technical branches of the Wehrmacht, is described by SA Sturmfuehrer Bayer as follows (2168-PS):

"*** On one side the young SA man who enters the armed forces (Wehrmacht) from his branch, comes prepared with a multitude of prerequisites which facilitate and speed up training in technical respects; while on the other side those very soldiers, having served, who return out of the armed forces into the SA keep themselves, by constant practice, in a trained condition physically and mentally and impart their knowledge to their fellows.

"Thus they contribute a considerable portion to the enhancement of armed strength (Wehrkraft) and armed spirit (Wehrgeist) of the German people." (2168-PS)

And, with respect to the mounted or cavalry SA --

*** the SA each year is able to furnish many thousands of young trained cavalrymen to our Wehrmacht *** At present the SA cavalry has at its disposal 101 cavalry units in whose schools, year in and year out, young Germans who are obligated for military service receive the training which fits him for entrance into a section of troops which is of their own choosing." (2168-PS)

The close relationship between the SA and the Wehrmacht is

[Page 164]

shown throughout the issues of "Der SA-Mann", which contain a number of articles on military training written by Wehrmacht Officers. The same relationship is shown in many photographs. For example, in the issue of 1 May 1937, at page 4, there is a picture of a Wehrmacht formation drawn up in front of an SA building with SA officers and men in the background. The picture is entitled --

"Day after day the closed formations of the Wehrmacht march in Wurzburg to the subscription places of the SA for thanksgiving to the nation in order to announce its close relation with the SA, and to express thanks to the Fuehrer for making the Reich capable of defense."

Page 2 of the issue of 27 January 1939, contains a photograph of the SA Chief of Staff, Lutze, addressing a group of SA men. The photograph bears the caption, "We will be the bridge between the Party and the Wehrmacht." Page 3 of the issue of 3 February 1939, reproduces a photograph of General von Brauchitsch and Chief of Staff Lutze reviewing an SA unit.

The close cooperation between the Wehrmacht and the SA, and the significance of the SA military training program is shown by the fact that service in the SA was considered as military service under the Conscription Law of 1935. The Organization Book of the Party declared that --

"Equally significant is a suitable education and training which the SA has accomplished within the yearly classes, and which have satisfied their arms obligation." (3220-PS)

And an article in "Das Archiv" declared --

"It was announced that conscripted SA men and Hitler Youths can fulfill their military conscription in the SA Regiment Feldherrnhalle whose Commander is General Field Marshall SA Obergruppenfuehrer Goering. The Regiment for the first time was employed as Regiment of the Luftwaffe in the occupation of the Sudetenland under its Fuehrer and Regimental Commander SA Gruppenfuehrer Reimann." (3214-PS)

There was never any misunderstanding among SA men as to the reasons which lay behind their military training program. They were preparing for war and knew it. The purpose of the so-called "Sports Program" was announced time after time in articles in "Der SA-Mann." For example, the introduction to an article entitled, "The War of Tomorrow," which appeared in the issue of 6 July 1937, at page 12, declared:

[Page 165]

"By decree of the Fuehrer of 18 March 1937, the SA Sport Badge was declared as a means for the aggressive training of the body, for the fostering of a military spirit, for the retaining of military efficiency and thereby as a basis for German military-power.***

"*** In the following article an attempt is made to occupy every SA Fuehrer, who does not have the opportunity due to their profession or many-sided SA services, with questions concerning military policy and modern war direction, to give him an overall view of facts, teachings, opinions and beliefs which today are not without decisive influence upon the military policy, upon the character of the coming war and upon the modern national defense."

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