The rise and fall of the Luftwaffe

267 Pages·2012·4.69 MB·English

by  Hermann

Hermann Wilhelm Göring, (1893-1946).

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This edition published in the United Kingdom 2012.
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Copyright © In new introduction Fonthill Media 2012.
ISBN 978-1-78155-006-9 (PRINT)
ISBN 978-1-78155-146-2 (e-BOOK)
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Contents
Preface to the 2012 Edition
Introduction by Curt Riess
Part I: The So-Called Peace
1. The Dream of Flying
2. The Grand Old Man
3. The Other Pioneers
4. Collapse and Rebirth of an Industry
5. The Fifth Columnist
Part II: The Luftwaffe is Born
6. Göring in the Limelight
7. Business Not As Usual
8. Secrecy and Bluff
9. Air Strategy
10. Toward War
11. Dress Rehearsal
Part III: Another Kind of War
12. Big Business
13. Victory — Through Air Power?
14. Trouble In the Air
15. Ersatz Invasion of an Island
16. The Russians Don’t Play Ball
17. The Receiving End
18. Tomorrow
Picture Section
Bibliography
Erhard Milch, (1892-1972).
Preface to the 2012 Edition
This remarkable book was written in 1942 and published in 1943 — two years
before the end of the War — and yet its main predictions were correct.
Thankfully the author’s final prediction did not come true:
When the last desperate moment has come, the Luftwaffe can and
probably will be used for the purpose of demolishing a good part of
Europe. It will come at a time when the entire Nazi war effort is
collapsing, and when the United Nations decline to make peace with Hitler
or with one of Hitler’s men. The Nazis then, I am afraid, will resort to
actions and deeds compared to which everything they have done so far
will seem humane. They will try to murder the four to six million
prisoners of war who are today working in Germany, and who are more or
less at their mercy. (The wholesale murder of Jews that is going on today
is only a demonstration of what the Nazis are capable of doing.) There is
no doubt in my mind that the Nazis will try to do away with as many
inhabitants of the occupied countries as possible.
Perhaps the most striking part of this statement is the knowledge of the death
camps; something that the Allies found difficult to believe to be true in 1942.
The book is a little-known work, and the anonymity raises questions. The
reason for the author to hide behind a pseudonym is stated by Curt Reiss to be
due to him having family in Germany. This may have been the case, but the
author gives away so many clues, it would have been a dim-witted Nazi Party if
they could not quickly and correctly deduce the true father of the piece. Books
such as this would have got back to Germany via Spain, Switzerland or Sweden.
The Nazi Party did not trade on niceties and would not have held back on
arresting family members merely because the authorship was not explicit. It may
therefore be assumed that this was not the true reason for the pseudonym.
Unfortunately Curt Reiss died in 1993, and unless any other evidence is
discovered, he will have taken the secret of the authorship to the grave. One
possibility is that there was no Hauptmann Hermann, and that Curt Reiss was
himself the true author, drawing on numerous sources from his circle of friends.
Whatever the truth of the matter, it remains that this is a valuable text full of
fascinating information relating to the Luftwaffe. The author — whoever he was
— was prescient, but also well-informed, and correctly highlighted the numerous
failings of the Luftwaffe. The following extract is a sample of his interesting
comments:
The Nazi flyer is very different from the German soldier, the German
sailor, or the German man of the merchant marine. Most of these latter
were either grown up or at least in their late teens when Hitler came to
power. The flyers, on the other hand, are entirely a product of Nazi
educa¬tion. They believe much more strongly in Nazi ideas and in the
Führer, and it is difficult, if not impossible, to influence them in any other
direction. Men in charge of prisoners of war in Allied countries can testify
eloquently as to the difficulties of dealing with these young Nazi flyers.
These young flyers are also very different from us, the generation of
young pilots during World War I. The only thing we had in common was
the hunger for adventure and the willingness to sacrifice ourselves entirely
for the task.
When the generation of World War I started flying, it did so because
here was something that could be built up. When after the war everything
broke down, many of us started rebuilding again, in the face of great
difficulties. These were idealists — at least, most of them.
Perhaps the Nazi flyers are idealists of a kind, too. But they were early
corrupted by Hitler and his Nazi ideas. They learned early that there was
no particular reason to be decent, there were no moral ideals, there was
only the idea of making Germany big and strong and of doing away with
Germanys enemies, no matter what the cost — to others. The Nazi flyers
were seduced. Seduced so completely that it will be difficult, if not
impossible, ever to win them back to any kind of normal life again. Those
Germans who went over to Hitler because they thought that Hitler would
be good for Germany may be saved from Hitler once they find out that the
Führer was definitely not good for Germany. Those Nazi flyers, however,
who went over to Hitler, seduced and hypnotized and in an indivisible
religious, romantic, and mystic belief in the Führer and in Nazism, a belief
that withstands any kind of rational argument — they will never admit that
they were wrong.
The author — Hauptmann Hermann — highlighted some profound and
interesting points. 1) The Luftwaffe was not designed for a prolonged war; 2)
The Luftwaffe did not believe in building spares or repair facilities; 3) The
Luftwaffe made a serious mistake in not developing a heavy bomber. These