British code-breakers heard Kesselring issue the order precisely
as Göring had specified, but nothing could halt the great Allied
invasion (Operation Torch). On November , the British and
American forces landed in French North Africa (precisely where
Göring had not expected them). Reacting swiftly, Hitler or-
dered a new bridgehead established in Tunis. Meeting their
Italian allies in Munich the next day, Göring silently accompa-
nied Hitler to the Führer building, then told Count Ciano can-
didly that this invasion of North Africa was the first real point
the Allies had scored in this war.
With the final collapse of List’s Caucasus offensive the Stalingrad
catastrophe began. Hitler was faced with doleful decisions. On
October , British code-breakers had already heard Göring in-
structing Richthofen’s Luftflotte to destroy the coveted oil in-
stallations at Groznyy. A week later he ordered Baku bombed as
well.
As the focus of military events shifted back to Stalingrad,
the Nazi leaders were widely dispersed. Hitler was in Bavaria, the
air-force and army staffs were in East Prussia, and Göring in
Berlin. The Reichsmarschall was fulfilling mundane duties there
appointing professors in his capacity as prime minister of
Prussia, recruiting experts to the new Reich Research Council,
supervising guided-missile developments, and selecting Nazi
“commissioners” (Beauftragte) for high-frequency physics and
nuclear-physics research. And he refused to accept that the
Four-Year Plan was dead. “For the sake of historical truth,” he
admonished Albert Speer in a letter on November , “I should
like to make it absolutely plain that I have not relaxed my grip
on the essentials of the Four-Year Plan for one instant. A glance
at the dates of the conferences and sessions, at their minutes, at
the decrees, laws, and ordinances that I have issued throughout