Hermann Göring, page 4
This photograph was taken in March 1941. In the presence of Göring, Hitler is greeting Hanna Reitsch and awarding her with the Iron Cross 2nd Class. Reitsch flight tested many of Germany’s new aircraft and received several honours for her accolades. In fact, she was among the very last people to meet Hitler during his final days in the Führerbunker in April 1945. After the war, Reitsch recalled a conversation she had with Göring. She said, ‘I asked Göring one day, ‘‘What is this I am hearing that Germany is killing Jews?’’ Göring responded angrily, ‘‘A totally outrageous lie made up by the British and American press. It will be used as a rope to hang us someday if we lose the war.’’’
Göring makes a speech in front of Hitler’s special train, Sonderzug Amerika, on his fifty-second birthday, 20 April 1941.
Another photograph taken on Hitler’s birthday, standing on the platform at his temporary headquarters called Fuhrerlingssturm (Spring Storm) in Mönichkirchen. Pictured is Hitler, Göring, Erich Raeder and Otto Dietrich.
Göring, Keitel and Himmler, gathered near the Sonderzug Amerika at Fuhrerlingssturm for Hitler’s fifty-second birthday. This heavily guarded area was to be Hitler’s headquarters for the next two weeks. Amerika was parked, with the locomotive constantly under steam so that it could at a moment’s notice pull into the nearby tunnel. The OKW command train, Atlas, had halted on the far side of the 3,000-yard long tunnel. From Amerika and the OKW Sonderzug Atlas, Hitler and his headquarters staff guided the Yugoslav and then the Greek campaigns to their victorious conclusions. By 12 April, Belgrade had already been captured, and five days later, Yugoslavia surrendered.
Photograph taken on 21 July 1941, showing Göring with Lieutenant Colonel Mölders, who had been decorated with the highest German distinction for air victories.
Göring and Walther von Brauchitsch taking a stroll in Security Zone 1 of the Wolfsschanze headquarters in the summer of 1941.
This photograph was taken on 25 July 1941 at Hitler’s new Eastern Front headquarters, Wolfsschanze. Hitler is in conversation with Werner Mölders, Wilhelm Keitel and Göring.
A photograph showing Göring with Hitler during a meeting with General Karl-Heinrich Bodenschatz, liaison officer between the two leaders of the Nazi Party, in the grounds of Wolfsschanze.
Another photograph showing Göring with Hitler during the same meeting with General Karl-Heinrich Bodenschatz.
Hitler greets Göring prior to a military conference at Wolfsschanze in the summer of 1941.
Göring converses with Ernst Udet, holding a piece of paper, and other Nazi military officials. By August 1941, the pressures from the Soviet campaign were exacerbating the conflicts between Udet and State Secretary Erhard Milch. Göring put ever-increasing pressure on his Luftwaffe general, almost blaming him and his staff for the mounting failures in Russia. The pressures were so much that on 17 November 1941, Udet shot himself in the head while he was on the phone with his girlfriend, Inge Bleyle.
Göring studies a map with his Luftwaffe staff. Pressure was mounting for the Reichsmarschall to overcome the increasing problems of supporting the German ground forces in Russia and destroying the Soviet air force. Already there had been a number of staff sacked over Göring’s own misjudgement and calculation of the air war.
Hitler and Göring in front of the honour company before the funeral ceremony of General Ernst Udet on 21 November 1941. Udet’s suicide was concealed from the public, and at his funeral, he was portrayed as a hero who had died in flight while he was testing a new weapon.
Göring inspects new Luftwaffe ground troops in order to bolster the high losses of Wehrmacht troops lost on the Eastern Front. Once again, the Feldmarschall promised that these new field Luftwaffe truppen would be the answer to plugging the large gaps left by the losses. These new Luftwaffe field divisions initially remained under Luftwaffe command, but late in 1943, those that had not already been disbanded were handed over to the army and were reorganised as standard infantry divisions. In fact, by 1944, the size of its land-based combat elements far surpassed that of the aerial. It boasted to have a huge flak branch and a massive ground presence of Luftwaffe troops fighting alongside the army, including the elite Hermann Göring Division. It eventually included twenty-one field divisions plus countless smaller regiments, many of which fought in a number of large battles.
A conference held at Schloss Klessheim, not far from Hitler’s Berghof residence. Hitler is with Mussolini, Keitel, Göring, Dönitz and other high-ranking commanders, including some of Göring’s Luftwaffe personnel. The photograph was taken in the spring of 1942.
Göring greets Reinhardt Heydrich. Heydrich was a high-ranking SS and police official and a main architect of the Holocaust. He was chief of the Reich Main Security Office and became deputy and acting Reich-Protector of Bohemia and Moravia. An attempted assassination in Prague on 27 May 1942 saw him later die of his injuries.
State funeral of Reinhard Heydrich being held at the Reich Chancellery. Hitler is seen entering the hall saluting to his party leaders and dignitaries. Göring and Goebbels are present. Emil Hácha also attended the funeral. (National Archives)
Göring converses with General Bruno Loerzer. Loerzer’s II Air Corps participated in the invasion of Russia in the summer of 1941, as a section of Kesselring’s 2nd Air Fleet, in support of Field Marshal von Bock. His unit was transferred to Messina, Sicily, in October 1941, and he remained there until the middle of 1943.
Hitler with Robert Ley, Ferdinand Porsche, and Göring.
Hitler and Göring with Albert Speer in April 1942. Following his appointment as Minister of Armaments, Speer was in control of armaments production solely for the Wehrmacht. He was also given control of the production of armaments for the Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine.
Göring pictured during one of his briefings near Hitler’s new headquarters, Wehrwolf (Werewolf), near Vinnytsia, Ukraine, in July 1942. Göring came to Hitler’s new headquarters when he was already under pressure about the lack of success by the Luftwaffe on the Eastern Front.
A photograph of Göring jovially conversing with one of the headquarters personnel.
Göring, seen here with Himmler, looking through a book.
Göring speaks with Pierre Laval, the head of the Vichy regime, during an official visit to Wolfsschanze.
Göring converses with Hitler, walking along a path at his Eastern Front headquarters in the summer of 1942. By this stage of the war, the spring-summer offensive, Operation Blue, had been launched and General von Paulus’s 6th Army was sending reports to the headquarters that advanced units were arriving on the western banks of the Don River before its push onto the city of Stalingrad.
Göring arrives at Carinhall in a VW Kübelwagen. He has been escorted to his house by what appears to be Hitler’s personal security truppen, the SS-Begleitkommando, which was tasked with protecting his life.
Hitler meets Italian foreign affairs minister Galeazzo Ciano at the Wolfsschanze on 18 December 1942. Göring is on the right of the photograph. To the left of Hitler is Joachim von Ribbentrop and his interpreter in the German Foreign Ministry, Paul Otto Schmidt.
Two photographs taken in sequence at OKH Mauerwald headquarters during a conference, showing Göring, Hitler and Mussolini together with Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe personnel and generals. Mauerwald was the German Army headquarters, named after the lake nearby, the Mauersee.
Three photographs showing new Luftwaffe Flak field divisions operating on the Eastern Front in late 1942. In early 1942, Göring had put forward plans to raise his own infantry formations under the command of Luftwaffe officers. Hitler approved the plan, and the divisions were raised from 200,000 to 250,000 Luftwaffe ground support and other excess personnel. They were initially organised with two Jäger regiments of three battalions each, along with an artillery battalion and other support units. These units, however, were substantially smaller than equivalent standard Wehrmacht divisions, but Göring had stipulated that the intended plan was to restrict the Luftwaffe to defensive duties in quieter sectors. For the next several months, the Luftwaffe field divisions were directly under Luftwaffe command, but continued supporting the Wehrmacht’s drive east, mainly in a defensive rather than an offensive role. Other Luftwaffe Flak units supported the main drive and were regarded as of decisive importance for the preparation and successful conduct of an infantry or panzer attack.
Chapter Four
Decline 1943–45
After the disaster at Stalingrad, Göring’s popularity at the Wolf’s Lair deteriorated. In front of some of his staff, he judged Hitler’s headquarters very harshly. He only had negative words about Hitler and found a number of his staff officers arrogant. He criticised the working methods of staff, and thought it ludicrous that the stenographers were always present during staff conferences. Because of the loss of Stalingrad, Göring tried his best to visit the Wolf’s Lair only rarely. Sometimes, though, he was summoned to the headquarters for important war conferences, and had to listen to Hitler broadcasting speeches to the nation over the radio. However, following Stalingrad, and every military setback since, including the heavy Allied air bombing campaign over Germany, Hitler had lost trust in him, and consequently, Göring began spending more time at his various residences.
In spite of Hitler’s pessimism towards Göring, he was still welcomed at the Wolf’s Lair. In fact, in July 1944, the headquarters had been rebuilt and instead of small, low bunkers, there were now huge concrete and iron structures. Many buildings were reinforced, and new ones constructed using thousands of cubic yards of concrete. Göring had an enormous bunker built east of his house, overlooking the main railway line. Although he was rarely seen in the bunker, he did visit the headquarters, mainly to try to restore Hitler’s trust and infuse optimism into the war conferences. This was more apparent following the assassination attempt on Hitler on 20 July 1944. In fact, on 23 July, at the noon conference, Göring delivered a short speech to the Führer and proposed that the entire Wehrmacht, as a form of allegiance after the assassination attempt, should adopt the Hitler salute. The next day, the Hitler salute was made compulsory in place of the old military salute. Göring did what he could to instil seeds of National Socialism into his staff members and try to bring about some kind of accord between them and the party. As a sign of unwavering loyalty to their Führer, Göring assured Hitler of the Luftwaffe’s everlasting devotion and determination in ultimate victory. However, Hitler could see behind Göring’s motives of loyalty following the assassination attempt. Although he was not implicated in any way, for hours on end at the war conferences, officers had to bear the brunt of Hitler’s attacks about Göring and what he saw as a corrupt air staff. Göring’s advisors were also blamed for making too many hollow promises. As a result of their incompetence, he remarked, the skies over Normandy had been virtually defenceless.
Weeks later, Goring was again criticised by Hitler and his anger intensified when he received reports about Allied paratroopers landing in Holland. In front of his war staff he threw himself into a tirade about the Luftwaffe. He was so angry that, on 19 September, Göring was called back to the Wolfsschanze and the Reichsmarschall had to reluctantly listen to his Führer’s biting criticism about the way the Luftwaffe was run. After the discussion, Hitler felt ill, but seriously considered replacing Göring by a frontline commander like General von Greim. Instead, he sacked the acting Chief of Air Staff, General Werner Kreipe, whom he denounced as a typical self-centred Luftwaffe staff officer – a defeatist who was constantly full of objections. Shortly after midnight, Hermann Fegelein told Kreipe that he was to pack his belongings and was forbidden to set foot in the headquarters again.
During the second half of 1944, Göring’s problems intensified. The Luftwaffe began to suffer massive casualties in aircrews while trying desperately to support with-drawing frontline ground forces on the Eastern and Western fronts and in Italy. At home, too, across the Reich, the Luftwaffe tried to defend its skies against the relentless Allied bombing campaign. Losses for the Luftwaffe were so high that aircraft could no longer be sufficiently replaced. American and British bombers had targeted German factories, oil refineries and rail communications, which were consequently crippling the German war effort. German civilians blamed Göring for his failure to protect the homeland. In September 1939, after Britain and France had declared war on Germany, in a speech to his Luftwaffe staff, Göring had spoken boastfully. ‘No enemy bomber can reach the Ruhr,’ he assured them. ‘If one reaches the Ruhr, my name is not Göring. You can call me Meyer.’ He later went on to assure the German people that ‘if one enemy bomb falls on Berlin, you can call me Meyer.’ In fact, the Ruhr was heavily bombed, including the Reich capital. German civilians started calling air raid sirens ‘Meyer’s trumpets’, and ridiculing the Reichsmarschall. With Göring’s popularity waning both at home and at Hitler’s headquarters, he was seldom seen in public in late 1944. Hitler even began excluding him from receiving information on the war situation. At conferences he would chair them with his air staff and would heap abuse and blame them, knowing that they would not dare to defend themselves. In spite of Göring’s position at the head of the Luftwaffe and as plenipotentiary of the Four Year Plan, all trust in him had been lost.
In early 1945, out on the Eastern Front the Russians launched their long-awaited Vistula-Oder offensive, the first in a series of massive battles that saw Red Army forces advance on Berlin. Hitler made it quite clear that all remaining Wehrmacht, Waffen-SS volunteer units, and Luftwaffe personnel were not to withdraw from their positions, but to stand and fight, and wage an unprecedented battle of attrition.
On 27 January, Göring was summoned to Berlin, where he was to meet Hitler and his war staff at the Reich Chancellery, which was now the Führer’s new headquarters. The meeting was an important conference to report on the defence of the east. When Göring arrived at the Chancellery he could see that the building had suffered unmistakable bombing. Many of the windows were boarded up and walls had sustained large holes. The gardens too were pitted with sizeable craters. Inside the building, much of the rich furnishings had been removed, except in Hitler’s quarters, where he had decided to sleep. Once inside the building, Göring took a long detour to Hitler’s office because the direct entrance had been boarded up. Once he reached the anteroom, he was met by guards armed with machine guns. An SS officer politely requested him to hand over his sidearms and carefully examined his briefcase. He was then led into the room, and before he was summoned for the conference, he found sandwiches and drinks laid out on a sideboard.
By four o’clock, the room was filled with high-ranking officers, including Generals Keitel and Jodl. Moments later, the doors to the Führer’s office were opened, revealing a sparsely decorated room. In the middle of one wall was a large desk, behind it a black-upholstered chair facing the garden. The group seated themselves in heavy leather chairs while their aides and lesser dignitaries either remained standing or found straight chairs.
Twenty-minutes later, Hitler finally shuffled in, shoulders stooped, left arm hanging loose. He then began the conference, with General Guderian making the first report on the situation on the Eastern Front. Göring sat in silence and listened as grim reports were read out. He let the Luftwaffe’s chief of staff, General Karl Koller, report on the situation in the air, hoping that the development of the new jet, the Messerschmitt Me 262, would be the saviour of the skies and give him back some of the credence he had not enjoyed for two years. Although Koller supported Göring against Hitler’s war staff, he admitted that even during the last months of the war, the Reichsmarschall did not help himself and did not co-operate properly with the Führer.
By early April 1945, on both the Western and Eastern fronts, the last agonising moments of the war were played out. While the British and American troops were poised to cross the Rhine River, in the east, the terrifying advance of the Red Army was bearing down on the Oder River, pushing back the last remnants of Hitler’s exhausted units. Hitler was now entombed 50 feet below the Reich Chancellery in his bunker, and from here, he gave his orders. On 20 April, Hitler’s birthday, Göring made his way through the blitzed capital to congratulate him. Late that afternoon, wrapped in a field grey coat with its collar turned up, Hitler climbed the spiral staircase of the bunker to the Chancellery garden, followed by Goebbels, Himmler, Göring, aides and staff officers, flanked by well-armed SS guards with machine guns. The Berlin air was still choked with dust and debris from the earlier raid. In the cratered garden, protected by dugouts and piles of German Panzerfaust at the ready, he received a small delegation of fresh-faced Hitlerjugend (Hitler Youth) awaiting decoration for bravery. At 4.00pm, Hitler withdrew once more into the bunker, having seen the sky for the last time. After he had received a flurry of visitors bringing their formal congratulations on his birthday, the main war conference began, with Göring and Koller in attendance. The great question to be answered was the imminent threat of Berlin being completely surrounded and cut off. Koller pointed out that the many truckloads of OKW equipment and important documents would have to leave Berlin immediately for the south. Jodl suggested to Keitel that if the Führer did not plan to stay in Berlin, it would be impossible to command from the Reich Chancellery bunker, as they would thereby lose all contact with the various fronts. On this basis, Keitel authorised Jodl to make the necessary plans for the movement of the OKW and War Office Command, and to quickly transfer all the remaining units still in Wünsdorf (the Red Army’s headquarters in Germany) under the command of the deputy chief, OKW Operations Staff, Lieutenant General Winter, to Berchtesgaden, in order to protect the operational command in the south. In addition, the northern command staff should be assembled that same evening at Krampnitz barracks, near Potsdam, to where both Jodl and Keitel would also transfer with their lieutenants. For the time being, it was decided that overall command should remain with Hitler, keeping contact with the Reich Chancellery at all times, and with the usual daily war conferences unaltered. Keitel put this to Hitler and he agreed, authorising an immediate splitting of the OKW command. Admiral Dönitz and part of the OKW staff were to leave for northern Germany, whilst another part would leave for the south. Hitler, however, had still made no appointment of where he would set up his main headquarters. He did give the impression that he was thinking of moving it to the south in due course. Göring, Keitel, Himmler, Martin Bormann, Goebbels, Wilhelm Burgdorf and Hans Krebs all appealed for him to leave the doomed capital. After the conference, Bormann organised sufficient armoured transport for the convoy of lorries that was to lead the exodus from Berlin to the south. Among those to leave that evening were various Luftwaffe commanders, including Göring. The Reichsmarschall left behind two of his senior officers, Koller, his chief of staff, and General Christian. Göring then journeyed south to Berchtesgaden. When he arrived, Koller flew south, notifying the Reichsmarchall that Hitler had admitted that the war was lost and he intended to remain in Berlin to the end, and then commit suicide. He also stated that Göring was in a better position to negotiate a peace settlement with the Allies. Now believing that his Führer had lost his freedom of action, he enacted on the decree Hitler had given him in June 1941 giving Göring full authority to act as his deputy. The decree had named Göring as Hitler’s successor in the event of his death. Göring feared being labelled a conspirator if he tried to take power, or accused of dereliction of duty if he did nothing. After conferring with Koller and Hans Lammers, the state secretary of the Reich Chancellery, Göring said that because Hitler had Hitler had decided to face certain death in Berlin, the Führer was no longer able to govern and he would take power. A telegram outlining this decree was sent to Berlin and Göring was immediately branded a traitor. Angry and bitter, Hitler sent a reply to Göring, rescinding the 1941 decree and threatening him with execution for high treason unless he resigned from all of his offices. Göring resigned immediately.
