radar at all. The enemy bombers were clearly silhouetted against
clouds lit by the fires, flares, flashes, and flak from beneath. His
proposal was to throw hundreds of single-seater fighter planes
at the British, crewed by day-fighter and even bomber pilots.
Again Göring followed closely, as his handwritten notes
show:
Free-lance single-engined night fighting! Major
Herrmann. Combat over target area using search-
lights. New tactics in conjunction with flak. In the
Ruhr often a hundred [bombers are held] in search-
lights forty during the big raid on Berlin.
Our present system does not permit night fighters
to mass at [bomber] point of penetration [of Kam-
mhuber Line]. Use -centimeter [searchlight] with
Mars radar to guide fighters. Enemy will be sighted
even in haze as the is radar-controlled.... Best
thing is to shoot down the Illuminators [RAF Path-
finders] and then send in our own Illuminators.Göring authorized the major to begin trials. Milch backed the
bold scheme, in a letter. “Given the right weather,” he wrote on
June , “we can expect substantial successes.” Major Herrmann
transferred his experimental unit to the Ruhr, and waited for
the next RAF attack.
The Allies were about to invade southern Europe, perhaps Sic-
ily. The Reichsmarschall had summoned Kesselring to Berchtes-
gaden late in May to discuss defense measures. The field marshal
warned that the German Air Force there was exhausted. “We are
not capable of defending Sicily against a determined assault,”
wrote Göring in his diary. “Italian Air Force completely useless.
... Transport network catastrophic, no low-loaders for tanks.”
Göring’s immediate solution was to transfer Richthofen