Reichsmarschall had used “distinctly pejorative” language about
him and had warned his staff, “We’ve got to make damn sure
that the Führer never gets to hear of Richthofen’s views!”
Jeschonnek phoned Seidel that same day. “It’s all off,” he
said gloomily. “I’ve got to stay put.”
At the Wolf’s Lair the jostling for position began, with Göring
reduced to the role of occasional onlooker. He hung around
East Prussia until mid-August , observing the comings and
goings of the new strongmen. The balance of power there was
tilting against him. To Göring it was clear that Hitler was opting
for the proponents of brute force. Bormann regularly attended
Hitler’s main conferences. So did Himmler, who now became
minister of the interior. “From now on,” Göring would recall,
“Bormann had Himmler to contend with as well: because as far
as the succession was concerned, Himmler came right after me.”
Hitler promised Rommel that he would soon be marching
into Italy to restore the Fascist regime. Down in Rome, Rich-
thofen wrote uneasily: “[I] definitely hope I can superimpose
my appreciation of the situation here upon any decisions they
take up there” meaning at the Wolf’s Lair.
All that summer, in the shimmering heat of Central
Europe, the Allied bombers continued to blast away at the Reich.
On the thirteenth, American bombers flew all the way up from
North Africa to wreck the Messerschmitt works at Wiener
Neustadt. Hitler heaped calumnies on the wilting chief of air
staff for four hours afterward. “Why doesn’t the Führer say all
that to the Reichsmarschall?” whined Jeschonnek. “Why me?”
The answer was that Göring had traveled down to the
Obersalzberg to escape the glare of his fellow ministers and the
lash of Hitler’s sarcastic tongue. Holing up in Bavaria, he sought
solace in his old interests. He phoned Professor Ludwig Peiner