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 

Victory in the West

Placing Göring briefly in command in Berlin, Adolf Hitler de-
parted for the new western front on May , . As the next
dawn’s clear spring sun lifted on the eastern horizon, nearly
, Nazi warplanes  including , bombers and  twin-
engined and , single-engined fighter planes  scythed un-
announced into France and across the neutral Low Countries,
hammering the enemy’s air defenses and providing close bat-
tlefield support for the advancing tanks and infantry.
Dressed in summer whites and sporting some of his most
optimistic rings, Field Marshal Hermann Göring set out in his
special train from Carinhall to join his generals at Kurfürst, the
air staff’s permanent headquarters just outside Berlin. Waiting
with the other exuberant Luftwaffe generals there, Milch wrote
in his pocket diary, “Afternoon, the field marshal arrives in
train. Huge victories, great [enemy] losses! Eben Emael [the
most important Belgian fortress] captured by air force.”