case, that is, the section of the case in which Corporal Velder still contests his guilt. I request to be allowed to place before you section forty-six to sixty-four.
Major von Peters
: Excellent. Now things are shaping up.
Lieutenant Bratianu
: Keep your head still, there, Corporal Velder. Pull in your chin. Remember that you’re still a soldier and stand to attention. Corporal Velder, do you agree to your confession to the nineteen charges which will now be laid before this court martial.
Velder
: Yes, sir.
Lieutenant Bratianu
: Do you feel any regret or shame for the way in which you betrayed the General’s trust and your duty as a soldier?
Velder
: Yes, sir.
Lieutenant Bratianu
: Then turn to the presidium of this court martial and explain what you feel.
Velder
: I regret the way in which I betrayed the General’s trust and my duty as a soldier. I feel deeply ashamed.
Commander Kampenmann
: Not frightfully good phraseology, but it was your own, wasn’t it, Lieutenant Bratianu?
Colonel Orbal
: What? I don’t understand a thing.
Lieutenant Bratianu
: This section of the case is now concluded. Charge number sixty-five. Offences against the secrets act, and illicit intelligence activity. At the time of the offence, Corporal Velder hadbelonged to General Oswald’s personal bodyguard for more than two years.
Commander Kampenmann
: Permit me to intervene with one question. Why and by whom was Velder chosen as the General’s bodyguard?
Lieutenant Bratianu
: Corporal Velder was a relatively skilled shot and his physique was good. People around the General had recommended Velder and had also said that he was trustworthy and intelligent. General Oswald relied on these people. To the utmost. He also relied on Corporal Velder.
Colonel Pigafetta
: I would be grateful if you would not repeat that word corporal ten times a minute. It’s extremely irritating. If you don’t mind.
Lieutenant Bratianu
: Naturally, sir.
Commander Kampenmann
: Just one more thing. In charge after charge, it has been maintained that through his in itself unprecedented and inexcusably undisciplined behaviour, Velder offended against militia regulations. Earlier in the session, however, one of the Prosecuting Officer’s own witnesses maintained unchallenged that no such regulations existed.
Major von Peters
: You’re being hellish awkward again, Kampenmann. And just now, too, when we’re at last getting going.
Lieutenant Bratianu
: The witness was lying or mistaken. In a general order, signed four years ago, General Oswald laid down for everyone that military instructions and service regulations which were put into practice when he himself had received his basic military training, were applicable to the militia from half-past five on the morning of the liberation. In that general order, it was also stated that the militia was a military organisation from that time on, equivalent of regular troops. I hold the evidence in my hand. Here you are, sir.
Commander Kampenmann
: Strange that this important confirmation wasn’t signed until five years after the liberation.
Colonel Orbal
: Not at all. I remember that order. I was here then. It came at the beginning of the disturbances, to enable us to clear the place of deserters. It came as a relief.
Commander Kampenmann
: I see. Incidentally, what basic training did the General have before the national liberation?
Tadeusz Haller
: He’d been a national service lance-corporal in a service regiment.
Colonel Orbal
: What?
Major von Peters
: Think about what you’re saying, Mr Haller.
Tadeusz Haller
: It was a joke, of course.
Colonel Orbal
: Singularly out of place.
Major von Peters
: May I remind you, Mr Haller, that this is a military court and not a music-hall act. You may continue now, Bratianu.
Lieutenant Bratianu
: Think about your bearing, Velder. I repeat: Charge number sixty-five. Offences against the secrets act and illicit intelligence activity. I request to be allowed to
Major von Peters
: Excellent. Now things are shaping up.
Lieutenant Bratianu
: Keep your head still, there, Corporal Velder. Pull in your chin. Remember that you’re still a soldier and stand to attention. Corporal Velder, do you agree to your confession to the nineteen charges which will now be laid before this court martial.
Velder
: Yes, sir.
Lieutenant Bratianu
: Do you feel any regret or shame for the way in which you betrayed the General’s trust and your duty as a soldier?
Velder
: Yes, sir.
Lieutenant Bratianu
: Then turn to the presidium of this court martial and explain what you feel.
Velder
: I regret the way in which I betrayed the General’s trust and my duty as a soldier. I feel deeply ashamed.
Commander Kampenmann
: Not frightfully good phraseology, but it was your own, wasn’t it, Lieutenant Bratianu?
Colonel Orbal
: What? I don’t understand a thing.
Lieutenant Bratianu
: This section of the case is now concluded. Charge number sixty-five. Offences against the secrets act, and illicit intelligence activity. At the time of the offence, Corporal Velder hadbelonged to General Oswald’s personal bodyguard for more than two years.
Commander Kampenmann
: Permit me to intervene with one question. Why and by whom was Velder chosen as the General’s bodyguard?
Lieutenant Bratianu
: Corporal Velder was a relatively skilled shot and his physique was good. People around the General had recommended Velder and had also said that he was trustworthy and intelligent. General Oswald relied on these people. To the utmost. He also relied on Corporal Velder.
Colonel Pigafetta
: I would be grateful if you would not repeat that word corporal ten times a minute. It’s extremely irritating. If you don’t mind.
Lieutenant Bratianu
: Naturally, sir.
Commander Kampenmann
: Just one more thing. In charge after charge, it has been maintained that through his in itself unprecedented and inexcusably undisciplined behaviour, Velder offended against militia regulations. Earlier in the session, however, one of the Prosecuting Officer’s own witnesses maintained unchallenged that no such regulations existed.
Major von Peters
: You’re being hellish awkward again, Kampenmann. And just now, too, when we’re at last getting going.
Lieutenant Bratianu
: The witness was lying or mistaken. In a general order, signed four years ago, General Oswald laid down for everyone that military instructions and service regulations which were put into practice when he himself had received his basic military training, were applicable to the militia from half-past five on the morning of the liberation. In that general order, it was also stated that the militia was a military organisation from that time on, equivalent of regular troops. I hold the evidence in my hand. Here you are, sir.
Commander Kampenmann
: Strange that this important confirmation wasn’t signed until five years after the liberation.
Colonel Orbal
: Not at all. I remember that order. I was here then. It came at the beginning of the disturbances, to enable us to clear the place of deserters. It came as a relief.
Commander Kampenmann
: I see. Incidentally, what basic training did the General have before the national liberation?
Tadeusz Haller
: He’d been a national service lance-corporal in a service regiment.
Colonel Orbal
: What?
Major von Peters
: Think about what you’re saying, Mr Haller.
Tadeusz Haller
: It was a joke, of course.
Colonel Orbal
: Singularly out of place.
Major von Peters
: May I remind you, Mr Haller, that this is a military court and not a music-hall act. You may continue now, Bratianu.
Lieutenant Bratianu
: Think about your bearing, Velder. I repeat: Charge number sixty-five. Offences against the secrets act and illicit intelligence activity. I request to be allowed to
Similar Books
