Acquitting all defendants, the military tribunal drew a distinction between using enemy uniforms during combat and for other purposes including deception; it could not be shown that Skorzeny had actually given any orders to fight in U.S. uniforms.[4] Skorzeny said that he was told by German legal experts that as long he doesn't order his men to fight in combat while wearing U.S. uniforms, such a tactic was a legitimate ruse of war.[5] A surprise defense witness was F. F. E. Yeo-Thomas, a former Allied SOE agent, who testified that he and his operatives wore German uniforms behind enemy lines.