The Germans had none even worth manufacturing now. Gen-
eral Korten warned that if Saur cut production of the remaining
bomber types to per month, the air force could not main-
tain more than twenty-four bomber squadrons. Göring paused,
agonized, and left the crucial decision to the afternoon’s session
with Hitler himself.
It began at : .. As usual, Hitler’s famous villa was
outlandishly cold. He gazed absently across the valley while
Milch began reading out the future aircraft-production figures
until the field marshal reached the , listed under fighters. “I
thought that was coming as a bomber!” Hitler barked, inter-
rupting sharply.
The others exchanged uncomfortable glances. Milch had
made the decision to build them only as jet fighters, it turned
out. “Is there anybody at all,” snapped Hitler, “who obeys my
orders?” He reminded them that at the Insterburg display he
had ordered the built only as a high-speed bomber with
its one ton of armorplate and armament replaced by bomb gear
instead.
Milch could not remain silent. “Mein Führer,” he ex-
claimed. “The smallest infant can see that this is a fighter, not a
bomber aircraft!”
The next morning Göring confronted his generals
Korten, Koller, and Galland with this new situation. They all
agreed glumly that there was one obvious design problem: the
one ton of armorplate was all forward of the jet’s center of grav-
ity, while any bomb gear would necessarily be on it. It was a ma-
jor redesign that Hitler now called for.
“You gentlemen all seem to be deaf,” said Göring. “I have
kept repeating the Führer’s perfectly clear order, again and
again. He doesn’t give a hoot for the Me as a fighter. He just
wants it initially as a fighter-bomber, a Jagdbomber.”