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Witch Hunt

By the late summer of  Hermann Göring’s air force was in
worsening disarray. In August , British code-breakers inter-
cepted Luftwaffe orders limiting reconnaissance operations over
Egypt and Cyprus to one flight per month, banning courier
flights over the Reich during morning hours because of Allied
fighter harassment, and forbidding ground crews to leave fuel
in parked planes “to avoid losses.”
As his star sank toward the horizon, Göring’s circle of
friends shrank. He remained loyal to Philipp Bouhler, who was
himself in semi-disgrace, and considered appointing him or
even Bruno Loerzer to replace Milch, whom he had dismissed in
June, as Staatssekretär; but Hitler flatly rejected them both as
unsuitable. Fritz Sauckel was the only gauleiter toward whom
Göring still felt any warmth. Friendship with Göring was no
longer enough to avoid Gestapo arrest. Franz Neuhausen was
arrested for misappropriating labor and transport to build a