At the evening war conference thirty-five men crowded
around the map table. Göring was silent, and it was Rommel
who urged caution. Far better, he argued, to lay the plans with
care. “As soon as we act,” Göring agreed, “our opponents will
scream for help and protection!”
“But it will still take them a finite time to get ready to in-
vade,” replied Hitler, referring to the Allies. “First of all they’ll
be caught completely flatfooted as usual!”
He prevailed upon Göring to send his paratroop com-
mander Student down to Richthofen carrying a pouch of secret
directives for the seizure of Rome. Richthofen was horrified. He
recorded that Student was an “absolute idiot” with no notion of
the likely consequences. He told Student not to bother with
Göring’s orders, as he was flying straight up to get them re-
scinded.
Saw Reichsmarschall at once [Richthofen wrote, after
arriving in East Prussia]. He’s staying at the Führer’s.
Sketched out situation in Rome to him. The people
up here have a completely different view, can’t believe
that Fascism has vanished without trace and maintain
that the new regime is on the point of doing a peace
deal. I hold out against this view.Göring took him into Hitler’s nine o’clock conference that eve-
ning. Rommel was now thirsting for action against the hated
Italians. Richthofen stuck doggedly to his guns. They must plan
meticulously first. Leaving at eleven-thirty, he subjected Göring
to an hour’s badgering. “The same thing over and over,” wrote
the field marshal later. “Did what I could to make him less cer-
tain that there are any Fascists extant whatever.”
That night a fresh disaster befell Hamburg that had few
parallels in history. The British bombers struck again, and