fighting a war on orders was not a criminal offense under the applicable international law of the time. Defendants and judgements Of the 14 defendants indicted, Otto Schniewind and Hugo Sperrle were acquitted on all counts. Johannes Blaskowitz committed suicide during the trial and the 11 remaining defendants received prison sentences ranging from three years to lifetime imprisonment. All sentences included time already served in custody since 7 April 1945. The table below shows, with respect to each charge, whether the accused were either indicted but not convicted (I) or indicted and found guilty (G) and is listed by defendant, charge and outcome. Aftermath The German public opinion was against the trial. Many denied the facts found by the U.S. judges, extolled the defense of obedience to superior orders, and praised the soldierly qualities of the defendants. Particularly active were the Protestant and Catholic churches. After the emergence of the Federal Republic, German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and the Bundestag weighed in on the side of the defendants. German leverage increased as the urgency of rearming Germany grew. Under these intense pressures, in 1950, U.S. High Commissioner John McCloy established a review panel chaired by Judge David Peck of New York and, on its recommendation, reduced the sentences of three of the six High Command defendants still in prison. After further proceedings by mixed commissions composed of Allied and German members, the last of the High Command defendants returned home in 1954. See also Command responsibility Subsequent Nuremberg Trials Notes References Law Reports of Trials of War Criminals, Vol. XII, 1949 of the United Nations War Crimes Commission. United States Nuremberg Military Tribunals