THE PRESIDENT: Would this be a convenient time to break off?
[_A recess was taken._]
M. DELPECH: Besides the economic detachments to which I have just drawn
the attention of the Tribunal, detailed to remove and redistribute
machinery either to factories working in the country on behalf of the
occupying power or to factories in Germany, these operations were
directed by the Machine Pool Office.
Such offices were set up in all the occupied territories of Western
Europe during the last months of 1942, upon the order of the Minister
for Armaments and War Production, for example, the Defendant Speer, and
the Office of the Four Year Plan, for example, the Defendant Göring.
The Machine Pool Office for Belgium and Northern France was set up upon
the decision of the Chief of the Military Economic Section in Brussels
under date of 18 February 1943. Its activity has already been outlined
to the Tribunal in connection with the spoliation of non-ferrous metal
industries. Its activity did not stop there; it is found in all branches
of industry. The Exhibit Number RF-185 (Document ECH-29) can give us
figures on its activity. This activity continued to the very last days
of the occupation. Requisitions of machinery and instruments were not
limited to industry; Documents Numbers ECH-16 and ECH-15 (Exhibits
Numbers RF-193 and 194) show the extent of the requisitioning of
scientific instruments.