wore on the middle finger of his left hand an enormous red
gemstone, which gleamed in the light.” Tamm warned that
Sweden had every intention of defending her frontiers.
“Against the British too?” challenged Göring.
“Against everybody who tries to force their way across
Sweden’s frontiers,” the admiral responded.
As the days passed, there were grave crises in Norway for
the German invaders. The theater commander, General Niko-
laus von Falkenhorst, lost his nerve. Göring despatched relays of
his own trusted observers up to see Milch in Oslo. The crises
passed, however, and by the end of April most of Norway was
under Nazi rule. Hitler directed Göring to have his entire air
force ready for Yellow. On May , Göring sent his private air-
craft up to fetch Milch back to Germany. He intended to leave
Milch in charge of Berlin, while he directed Yellow air opera-
tions from the front line himself.
The Swedish government was still refusing to allow even
nonmilitary German supplies up to General Dietl in embattled
Narvik. Göring telephoned Dahlerus to fly down from Stock-
holm to Berlin on May . Dahlerus offered to negotiate an ar-
mistice at Narvik, placing the region under neutral Swedish su-
pervision until the war was over
Operations in Norway had restored the field marshal’s esteem,
not least in his own eyes. Colonel von Waldau surprised him
practicing Napoleonic gestures in front of a mirror in his train.
But to mock his elephantine vanity would be to overlook his air
force’s contribution to both Norway and .Yellow, the coming
campaign in Western Europe. In a string of secret conferences
since November , Göring had plotted and planned the all-
important surprise air attack against the Dutch and Belgian for-
tifications that would open the offensive. There is no indication