his very next words revealed that he was becoming uneasy. “If
the war lasts much longer,” he told the Duce, “we must assume
that the Axis is going to feel something of the planes being pro-
duced by America.”
As the eastern front began to cave in, several army generals de-
veloped urgent reasons for retreat. Brauchitsch panicked too,
and did nothing to halt the rout. Göring returned from Carin-
hall to Rominten on December , and when Richthofen came to
see him the air corps commander painted a picture that was de-
liberately somber to bring home to him that “this is really
war,” as he explained in his diary that night.
Reichsmarschall [he recorded] keeps trying to in-
ject rosier hues... When I tell him that this is far
better judged from up front than from here, in the
rear, he flies into a rage. Tell him he shouldn’t have
asked if he only wanted to hear what’s sweet and nice.
He gapes, pulls himself together. At subsequent “gala
war conference” I am once more the well-tolerated
visitor from the front.
Drive over to Goldap with Jeschonnek in
Reichsmarschall’s automobile. I am once more at-
tacked for whining... Railcar to Führer’s headquar-
ters. As I am seriously annoyed and remain icily aloof,
[Göring offers] handsome apology after three min-
utes. I then bask in an unusually intensive “gracious
sun.”A pragmatic and useful commander, Richthofen suggested that
Göring should make available spare Luftwaffe troops for infan-
try combat telling them “they must fight, win, or die where
they stand.” He pleaded with Hitler in the same vein the
army must not even think of retreat. Hitler must issue a per-
sonal appeal to each soldier to stand fast. “The Reichsmarschall