hundred years to prevent it.” There remained only to apportion
responsibility for these conquered eastern territories between the
Four-Year Plan (Göring), the party (Bormann), and the police
executive (Himmler). “Toward : ..,” continued Bräu-
tigam’s diary, “they took a coffee break. During this the
Reichsmarschall thanked the Führer for the high honor he had
accorded to fighter-ace Lieutenant Colonel [Werner] Mölders
(the Diamonds to the Oak Leaves of the Knight’s Cross). The
Reichsmarschall was accordingly in high spirits. The Führer
heaped scorn on the Swedes for their meager contribution to
the struggle against Bolshevism. The Reichsmarschall also
termed the Swedes ‘decadent.’ ”
“As you know,” continued Hitler, turning to Göring, “I
had serious misgivings about this campaign... I don’t know if I
would have made the same decision, if I had been aware of the
overall strength of the Soviet Army and particularly of its gi-
gantic tank forces. Then again, it’s become clear that it was high
time to attack the problem. Next year might already have been
too late.”
They reached a final settlement on the division of territo-
ries. At : .. Rosenberg took his aide, Bräutigam, aside and
told him the details:
We have reached compromises [wrote the aide] with
the Reichsmarschall, who is to control the economy of
the occupied territories with his Economic Operations
Staff East, and with the Reichsführer SS [Himmler],
who fully intends to direct the operations of his SS
police units from Berlin.To exploit the Caucasus oil fields Göring had set up a commer-
cial monopoly, but the retreating Russian troops had destroyed
the wells and removed all the rigs and drilling machinery. Tho-