Hitler's Final Days in the Bunker

The German WWII test pilot who has been called "The Century’s Greatest Pilot"

While the "Right Stuff" men were still sitting behind conventional engines and looking through the arcs of their propellers, a pilot in Germany was routinely setting records in exotic jet- and rocket-powered aircraft and helping draft the first blueprints for a trip to Mars.

While the Allied air forces were pounding Germany's industrial infrastructure to dust during World War II, Germany turned in desperation to its best test pilot--arguably the most professional and courageous who ever lived--to push aviation technology far beyond anything the Allies ever dreamed of in a last-ditch effort to defeat them.

These are but a few of the incredible exploits of Hanna Reitsch.

Had Hanna Reitsch never lived, a hypothetical screenplay of her adventures would probably be dismissed as being "too far-fetched to be believable".

In the very last days of The Third Reich, when a powerful Russian army was only scant yards from Hitler's Bunker, she landed a bullet-riddled plane [with a freshly wounded comrade, Generaloberst Robert Ritter von Greim,  writhing in the cockpit] on a shell-cratered Berlin street. She spent three days in the "Führerbunker," leaving not long before the suicide of the Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun, successfully taking off from the same street through a hailstorm of heavy Russian gunfire, again swerving around the shell craters. 

 

She surrendered to the Americans in Kitzbühl on 9 May 1945, and later gave testimony to Captain Robert F. Work, Chief Interrogator, regarding the 'Last Days of Hitler'.

Throughout the remainder of her life, Hanna Reitsch remained a controversial figure, tainted by her ties -- both real and suppositious -- to the dead Führer and his henchmen. The circumstances surrounding her 1945 sojourn in Hitler's Berlin Bunker especially haunted her.

In a postscript to a new edition of her memoirs, published shortly before her death from a heart attack in 1979, she wrote that "so-called eyewitness reports ignore the fact that I had been picked for this mission because I was a pilot and trusted friend [of Greim's], and instead call me 'Hitler's girl-friend'....I can only assume that the inventor of these accounts did not realize what the consequences would be for my life. Ever since then I have been accused of many things in connection with the Third Reich".

Hanna Reitsch was interviewed and photographed several times in the early 1970's in Germany by US investigative photo journalist Ron Laytner. At the end of her last interview she told Laytner:

"When I was released by the Americans I read historian Trevor Roper’s book, 'The Last Days of Hitler'. Throughout the book like a red line, runs an eyewitness report by Hanna Reitsch about the Final Days in the Bunker. I never said it. I never wrote it. I never signed it. It was something they invented. Hitler died with total dignity.

"And what have we now in Germany? A land of bankers and car-makers. Even our great army has gone soft. Soldiers wear beards and question orders. I am not ashamed to say I believed in National Socialism. I still wear the Iron Cross with Diamonds Hitler gave me. But today in all Germany you can't find a single person who voted Adolf Hitler into power".

Then she uttered the words that for so long kept her out of the history books:

"Many Germans feel guilty about the war. But they don't explain the real guilt we share - that we lost".

 

Hanna Reitsch came to flying by an indirect route. Born in Hirschberg, Germany in 1912, she originally pursued a career in medicine, and dreamed of becoming a flying missionary doctor in Africa. Her father was an ophthalmologist and wanted her to be a doctor. Her mother taught her a simple faith in God.

From early on, Hanna Reitsch was an intense, determined and intelligent individual. She became fascinated with flying at a young age, reportedly attempting to jump off the balcony of her home at age 4 in her eagerness to experience flight. Looking back on her childhood, she wrote in her 1955 autobiography "The Sky My Kingdom":

"The longing grew in me, grew with every bird I saw go flying across the azure summer sky, with every cloud that sailed past me on the wind, till it turned to a deep, insistent homesickness, a yearning that went with me everywhere and could never be stilled".

Hanna started with gliders, Her passion for the air soon overtook her interest in medicine, and she left medical school to become a full-time glider pilot,. [Germany had been forbidden to build "war planes" after WWI, which meant that most of the planes constructed in Germany were built without engines]. She went on to become an instructor in gliding at the Horngerb in Swabia and also worked as a stunt pilot in films, but she really distinguished herself in competition.

1937 seems to have been a very crowded year -- she test flew the Junkers Ju-87 and Dornier Do-17, both on dive brake trials. That same year she visited the Focke-Wulf facility at Bremento to see the Focke-Achgelis Fa-61, arguably the world's first practical helicopter, the brainchild of Professor Focke, it behaved as a helicopter should. Based on the Fw-44 fuselage the aircraft was fitted with a 160hp [119W] Siemens-Halske Sh 14A tractor engine driving, via a series of gears, two large rotors mounted on outriggers. Karl Franke flew the Fa-61 first and then Hanna was invited to fly it. Franke had some trouble in keeping the helicopter steady, but Hanna got the hang of the rotorcraft almost at once and was soon flying quite steadily.

Impressed by her ability, she was encouraged to make several more flights and soon established initial records for helicopters including altitude, speed, endurance and range. Hitler was keen to show off the proficiency of German technology and plans for something special were made for the 1938 Berlin Motor Show. This was held in the vast Berlin Deutschlandhalle and would most certainly attract the world's press. So it was decided to fly the Fa-61 inside the auditorium.

Hanna Reitsch flew the helicopter nightly for three weeks inside the hall during February 1938 in a variety of maneuvers, from normal take-off and hover to sideways flying and then ascending to the ceiling and slowly descending. At the end of this she would hold the helicopter in the hover and slowly turn through 360 degree ending the performance with the Nazi salute from the cockpit. Certainly, it was an impressive, but foolhardy, circus stunt. The slightest miscalculation or malfunction would result in a crash and in a crowded hall would have claimed several lives, but it gave the Nazis considerable publicity. Once she demonstrated this revolutionary aircraft for Charles Lindbergh. The Luftwaffe gave her the Military Flying Medal for this and accomplishments with other aircraft. She was the first woman to receive it.

In 1939 Reitsch suffered through a three-month bout with scarlet fever, followed by muscular rheumatism. On recovering, she went right back to work, becoming involved in the development of large cargo-, troop- and fuel-carrying gliders. The work was largely abandoned after the 180-foot wingspan Messerschmitt Me-321 'Gigant'  crashed and killed the pilots of its three Me-110 tow planes, the Gigant's six-man crew and 110 troops in the glider.

When Germany went to war, she became a test pilot for the Fatherland. She flew missions, as well. In 1940, she brought German troops to the Maginot Line via glider transport.

The British Balloon Barrage in 1940 had notched up a series of fatalities on the German pilots. The barrage balloon was deadly in that it could be flow at heights of 10,000 feet and the cable on which it was attached was very hard to spot when flying. The barrage balloon was a brilliantly simple idea and it was thought that there might be a way to use a simple technology to cut through the cables.

Hans Jacobs designed a cutting device to be fitted to the wind tips of bombers using an arrow shaped fender that it was hoped would cause the cable to slide along the fender in front of the wing and then come up against the wing tip where a special cutting edge had been placed. The fender would act as a deflector and also a protector of the pilot, cockpit, wings and engines. Hanna started with a cable of 2.7 mm in diameter and slowly worked up to 8.9 mm thick cables.

On her first trial she flew straight into the glinting cable and instruments on board the aircraft recorded the impact, allowing adjustments to be made so that each thicker cable type could be dealt with effectively. She suddenly developed scarlet fever and was hospitalized for 3 months. On her recovery the preliminary trials had been completed. The fender was abandoned as the extra weight was sufficient to make the aircraft unsafe if it lost an engine as then it would not have enough power to lift the aircraft correctly. The final tests were an expensive drain. Each one needed a new balloon and when balloons were free floating they quickly became a hazard to pilots and electricity power lines.

Ernst Udet arrived at the airfield with Hitler just as Hanna was about to attack a balloon cable from a genuine British Balloon captured by the Germans after it had drifted from it base.

She had to fly very low into the 5.6 mm cable in her twin-engined Dornier. She hit the cable and the strands exploded shaving off the lower edge of two propeller blades the result was the engine tore loose and she began to lose height rapidly from the unbalanced power of the aircraft.

She landed safely and in March 1941 was awarded the Iron Cross, Second Class and a military gold medal in recognition of her aviation services in wartime. the first such award to a woman and a civilian.

She became the twenty-fifth pilot and first woman to earn the Silver Soaring Medal [for a cross-country flight of fifty kilometers], setting the women's world record for non-stop gliding in 1931, [a record she more than doubled in 1933], the women's world record for point-to-point gliding in 1939, the women's record for non-stop distance flight in 1936, and the women's altitude record in 1934, and was invited by professor Walter Georgi to give up medical studies and become a test pilot at the Darmstadt Gliding Insititute. The Deutsche Forschungsanstalt fur Segelflug [DFS] was considered the top research establishment for motorless flight not just in Germany but throughout the world.

In 1935 she carried out tests on Kranich and See Adler gliders designed by Hans Jacobs. It was at this time that Germany began to produce 200 aircraft per month notably the Messerschmitt fighters, Junkers, Dornier and Heinkel bombers.

The infamous Stuka dive-bombers were being rapidly developed. In 1936 she was doing dive-brake tests in gliders and took part in the famous Berlin Olympics. 1937 saw her seconded to Rechlin where she tested dive brakes on Stukas.

She was the first person to cross the Alps in a glider in 1937. In 1938, she won the German long-distance gliding championships. and set the Women's World Record for distance and the Women's World Altitude record for gliders.

Holders of the Combined
Pilot-Observer Badge in Gold with Diamonds

Marschall Ion Antonnescu [Romania]
Luftmarschall Italo Balbo [Italy]
Oberstleutnant Werner Baumbach
General Oberst von Brauchitsch
General der Flieger Friedrich Christian Christiansen Großadmiral Karl Dönitz
Generalissimo Francisco Franco [Spain]
Generalleutnant Adolf Galland
Generalfeldmarschall Robert Ritter von Greim
Generalmajor Martin Harlinghausen
Hauptmann Erich Hartmann
RFSS Heinrich Himmler
General der Flieger Günther Korten
Generaloberst Alexander Löhr
Feldmarschall Carl Gustav Emil Mannerheim [Finland]Hauptmann Hans-Joachim Marseille
Generalfeldmarschall Erhard Milch
Oberst Werner Mölders
Benito Mussolini [Italy]
Generalmajor Dietrich Peltz
Flugkapitän Hanna Reitsch
Generalfeldmarschall Wolfram von Richthofen
Oberst Hans-Ulrich Rudel
SS-Sturmbannführer Otto Skorzeny
Generalfeldmarschall Hugo Sperrle
Generaloberst Kurt Student
 

When Germany went to war, she became a test pilot for the Fatherland. She flew missions, as well. In 1940, she brought German troops to the Maginot Line via glider transport.

The British Balloon Barrage in 1940 had notched up a series of fatalities on the German pilots. The barrage balloon was deadly in that it could be flow at heights of 10,000 feet and the cable on which it was attached was very hard to spot when flying. The barrage balloon was a brilliantly simple idea and it was thought that there might be a way to use a simple technology to cut through the cables.

Hans Jacobs designed a cutting device to be fitted to the wind tips of bombers using an arrow shaped fender that it was hoped would cause the cable to slide along the fender in front of the wing and then come up against the wing tip where a special cutting edge had been placed. The fender would act as a deflector and also a protector of the pilot, cockpit, wings and engines. Hanna started with a cable of 2.7 mm in diameter and slowly worked up to 8.9 mm thick cables.

On her first trial she flew straight into the glinting cable and instruments on board the aircraft recorded the impact, allowing adjustments to be made so that each thicker cable type could be dealt with effectively. She suddenly developed scarlet fever and was hospitalised for 3 months. On her recovery the preliminary trials had been completed. The fender was abandoned as the extra weight was sufficient to make the aircraft unsafe if it lost an engine as then it would not have enough power to lift the aircraft correctly. The final tests were an expensive drain. Each one needed a new balloon and when balloons were free floating they quickly became a hazard to pilots and electricity power lines.

Ernst Udet arrived at the airfield with Hitler just as Hanna was about to attack a balloon cable from a genuine British Balloon captured by the Germans after it had drifted from it base.

She had to fly very low into the 5.6 mm cable in her twin-engined Dornier. She hit the cable and the strands exploded shaving off the lower edge of two propeller blades the result was the engine tore loose and she began to lose height rapidly from the unbalanced power of the aircraft.

She landed safely and in March 1941 was awarded the Iron Cross, Second Class and a military gold medal in recognition of her aviation services in wartime. the first such award to a woman and a civilian.

As a consequence Himmler refuted the accusation, posting inserts in various large newspapers in neutral countries.

In Nazi Germany Hanna Reitsch was a role-model, her earlier fame had by then spread beyond national boundaries, and in 1937, General Ernst Udet appointed her as a civilian flight captain and test pilot at the Luftwaffe. the Luftwaffe test center at Rechlin. This was not an officially published appointment, but a private gesture from Udet. It meant that she could fly only under the direction of Karl Franke, the chief test pilot at Rechlin, largely because her background experience did not justify her appointment. She had been, after all, promoted to the role by Nazi Propaganda and it has to be admitted that she reveled in the "star"' treatment afforded her. She was thrilled; to her, the Luftwaffe were "guardians of the portals of peace". Her skill and dedication made her a powerful symbol for the Reich. The Luftwaffe made full use of her talents.

The Me 163B 'Komet'

Wolfgang Späte was a respected and decorated fighter pilot, commander of V/JG54, pulled out of the front line fighting on the Russian front in 1941, and selected by no lesser person than Adolf Galland as the first commander of Operational Test Unit 16, and tasked with transforming the Me-163 from little more than a prototype concept aircraft that few believed in, into the worlds first rocket propelled fighter.

This highly dangerous machine was a cross between a sheer rocket powered adrenaline rush and a glider. The prime requisite established very early on in the test programme was that the test pilots all had to have glider experience. This small cadre featured several well known glider champions from the immediate pre-war period.

Späte and his little band of pioneers, worked closely with other names such as Walter Horten and Alexander Lippisch -the Me-163B's designer- from delivery problems with the Walter rocket engines to interference from higher authorities, keen to kill the project and use the resources on better things like "ordinary" fighter production.

Even Hanna Reitsch came and flew the DFS-194, but later came up against Späte who forbade her from flying the Me-163B as very few complete aircraft were available; he did not want her wrecking one of his highly precious development airframes and causing further setbacks with the programme.

Reitsch, whom Späte regarded as a "prima-donna" went and whined to those in very high authority in an attempt to have Späte thrown out on his ear, and to get her a joyride in this new machine. Späte won the day.

The turns of war meant that the programme was moved to Peenemünde, where the development work was already being done on the V1 and V2, but which at that time was unknown to the Allies and therefore development work could continue unaffected by air raids, a situation which did not last.

The OTU16 team took a raw design and moulded it into a formidable fighting machine – fighting all the time against bureaucracy, political enemies and the Allies, as well as interference from the SS. As their immense effort and sacrifice was finally beginning to pay dividends and the Me-163B was finally entering service as an operational machine with KG 400, they saw the programme virtually rolled up overnight, despite their pleas and protestations, in favour of the admittedly superior Me-262, which was the favoured child of Messerschmitt right from the very beginning.

When Späte watched the landing of the US Space Shuttle, a glider of tailless configuration, he felt a deep sense of satisfaction and fulfilment that all the hard work and effort he and his team put into the Me-163B  had finally made a lasting contribution to aviation. Here was a combat veteran with some 72 confirmed and as many as another 20 unconfirmed aerial kills to his credit, who did his duty as an officer and a gentleman for his country in war, yet the developments they pioneered have had a lasting effect even now sixty years later in peace.

The fastest and most dangerous plane, Reitsch tested was the top secret German rocket plane, after three male pilots had died in their attempts. First she flew the prototype without the motor, the Me 163A. Then she flew the militarized version, the Me 163B, Komet. [This experimental interceptor, in a minute and a half after takeoff climbed at a 65-degree angle to 30,000 feet. It traveled 500 mph -- the fastest any human had ever gone]. Reitsch launched behind a tow plane at Regensburg, and the takeoff gear failed to drop away from her aircraft. The little fighter was supposed to land on a tough skid in its belly, but now the heavy axle with outsized wheels hung canted to one side beneath the fuselage. The plane vibrated alarmingly and was very heavy on the controls. Flares from the airfield alerted Reitsch that she indeed had an emergency. Radios of the time were heavy, unreliable devices, and Reitsch couldn't get hers to work. She had no way of contacting either the ground or the towplane. With no communications, the despairing tow plane pilot grimly pulled her up to 3,000 meters altitude, and Reitsch cut loose.

Built with swept wings for a rocket-blast climb to altitude and a near-sonic glide attack on Allied bomber formations, the Komet was fast. With its heavy landing gear still attached, it was even faster. It dropped like an anvil with wings. "Bale out?" Unthinkable. The Me-163B was too new, too advanced for such a waste. So at great risk and without the foggiest guess about how the landing gear had configured itself in the airstream, Reitsch attempted a landing. Hanna managed to land it in a plowed field, but the plane flipped. In the sliding, smashing, grinding mass of twisting, tearing metal and breaking glass, Reitsch's face catapulted into the instrument panel.

Finally, everything stopped. 

There was no fuel aboard, or the little Komet surely would have burned and exploded. Astounded to be alive and upright in the wreckage, Reitsch tried to get out. The canopy was jammed, so all she could do now would be wait for the rescue crew to arrive. She killed time until the ambulance and fire truck could get to her by sketching and labeling the details of her accident. Shifting the clipboard to avoid more blood splashes from her face, she noticed a rubbery object in her lap and picked it up. It was her nose. At the hospital, doctors discovered that Reitsch had fractured her skull in six places. She'd smashed the bones of her detached nose irretrievably and displaced her upper jawbone. She'd broken several vertebrae and bruised her brain severely. She nearly died. It took Regensburg Surgeon Doctor Bodewig five months of plastic surgery and neurosurgery to repair the Führer's most valuable aviator. It took Reitsch's own iron will five more months to rip her free of physical weakness and mental despair.

As he awarded Reitsch the Iron Cross of the Knight's Cross, First Class, the only woman to receive this medal, Adolf Hitler himself forbade her ever again to attempt such a foolhardy feat.

She tested the prototypes of the V-1, in 1944.

The first powered flight only went a kilometer, and the early prototypes showed a distressing tendency to crash.

To resolve these problems, a piloted flying bomb was developed, with the warhead replaced by a cockpit in which a test pilot could fly the machine while lying prone.

Test flights were performed with the tiny and daring female test pilot Hanna Reitsch at the controls, and helped resolve the problems.

Soon her faith began to shift from God to the Fatherland. Her faith changed from humble acceptance of God's blessings to a perverted patriotism in support of the Nazi cause. This shift of allegiance led Hanna, in the waning days of the Third Reich, to call for suicide missions against the Allies.

Reitsch had been dreaming of a suicide force attack on the Allied invasion fleet, "piloted by healthy young men who believe that through their deaths, thousands of soldiers and civilians can be saved". She was thinking in terms of one thousand volunteers. Hanna Reitsch was able to fulfill this dream [at least in part] due to the ranking status of her lover, General von Greim, commander of Luftflotte 6. Von Greim was the first man to ever take the Führer up in a plane, and the oldest living fighter pilot.

The Führer secretly wanted to make von Greim head of the Reich's air force. This would have replaced Göring and quite possible saved Germany from defeat.

The Führer, fatefully, felt too close to Göring from the early years of the struggle, so von Greim was promoted to "Deputy Commander in Chief" on 21 September 1944 and warned by the Führer of Göring's manifold "sins".

On 28 February 1944, Reitsch took the project to Herr Hitler at the Berghof. Hitler was skeptical of the idea, believing that such a squadron would not be an effective use of Germany's limited resources. "It is not in keeping with German character," he told her, but the delicate blonde's enthusiasm finally won him over; he agreed to investigate the possibility. Reitsch promptly formed a Suicide Group, and was herself the first person to take the pledge:

"I hereby...voluntarily apply to be enrolled in the suicide group as a pilot of a human glider-bomb. I fully understand that employment in this capacity will entail my own death".

Hanna test-flew the most likely candidate, a piloted V-1 bomb.

 

Himmler wanted to use condemned criminals for the project, although this was never done. An aviator doctor at Rechlin was asked to investigate how close to a suicide a man could go and still function properly. At the top Luftwaffe level, Hanna Reitsch found little support, but General Günther Korten did instruct Colonel Heigl of KG 200 [Special Weapons Squadron] to take the project up. Reichsmarschall Göring, however, showed no enthusiasm.

Criticizing the spirit with which the Reichsmarschall had imbued the Luftwaffe, Reitsch later said: "We needed strong leadership. Leadership, tempered with an idealism to match our own".

Göring chose such people to fill positions around him as mirrored his own personality; men who were self-centered, incompetent and accommodating. It was men like these who influenced the spirit and manner of the Luftwaffe. Often they possessed not the slightest knowledge of technical understanding of their jobs and held them only because they were friendly, congenial or hero-worshippers of Göring.

Among these were Oberst Ulrich Diesling, Generalmajor Dietrich Peltz, Generalmajor Walter Storp.

Come 6 June 1944, and the Allied invasion of Normandy. Göring recalled Hanna Reitsch and her suicide squadron. Colonel Heinz Heigl of KG 200 proposed using souped up FW 190 fighter bombers: each could carry as much as a 1,800 or 1,400 - kilo armor-piercing bomb, since no fuel for return was needed, to crash into the hulls of aircraft carriers.

Heigl's squadron had at that time thirty-nine volunteers to carry out what was referred to as "total operation". Himmler and Göring, however, intervened to ask the Führer to forbid the mission.

Shortly after Lieutenant Colonel Werner Baumbach replaced Heigl at KG 200, and the FW 190 plan was quietly shelved.

Adolf Galland eventually told his men:

"If you're going close enough to ram [a bomber] anyway, you can shoot them down and have a fifty-fifty chance of coming down alive".

By late 1944 a spirit of self-sacrifice was being imbued in the German pilots. On November 8 Colonel Galland was heard issuing order 2159 to his squadron commanders, creating an elite shock of troops within the fighter force: "The Reichsmarschall has ordered the setting up for a Sturm Staffel [Storm Unit]. It is to scatter the enemy bombers using heavily armored fighters in level, close formation attack, pressed home to point blank range".

Galland continued, quoting Göring's order: "Once initiated, the attack by storm units will be carried right to the heart of the enemy without regard to losses".

Galland asked for volunteers: "Pilots who are absolutely determined to take their opponent down with them rather than land without a victory".

By April 1945, the Luftwaffe was under pressure from every side. Göring then made the decision to authorize suicide missions.

The Luftwaffe formed an ‘Elbe Special Commando’ air unit, Volunteer pilots would ram the remaining ME 109's into Allied bombers. Göring's orders read out secretly to all pilots who had completed fighter training:

The first mission was code named "Werwolf" and the Führer gave the go ahead. Several hundred volunteers were given ten days of ideological training at Stendal, and on 4 April 1945, General Pelz, whose IV Air Corps would control the mission, reported all ready for "Werewolf". For psychological reasons, Pelz told the Luftwaffe high command: "We should not delay too long with the actual operation".

Three days later, "Werewolf" was executed. 183 fighters, the bulk of them Me Bf 109G, challenged some 1,300 American bombers, accompanied by about 850 fighters. They were headed for Desau along the Elbe River. The German suicide unit engaged the Allied formations at 11.45 a.m. over Steinhude, near Hannover and the aerial duel lasted 45 minutes. Astonished Allied radio monitors heard patriotic marches flooding the fighter-control wavelengths and a female choir singing the German national anthem, while anonymous voices exhorted these 180 pilots to die now for the Führer and for Germany. Seventy of them did. Only 15 ‘Elbe Special Commando’ planes survived. Only a few smashed into the enemy bombers but most were shot down. The suicide unit was moved to a base near Passau in southern Germany but all planes were later destroyed by the Allied bombings.

Göbbels, Hitler’s Propaganda Minister, makes several diary entries about the suicide pilots. On 4 April 1945 he mentions the attempted use of "suicide fighters" but suggests that inclement weather apparently worked against a favourable outcome.

Four days later Göbbels wrote:

"Yesterday . . . our fighters conducted crash attacks on enemy bombers. Results are yet to be confirmed but it seems that the attack did not meet our expectation. However . . . we should not give up".

Göbbels it seems was adopting a wait-and-see attitude regarding the idea of suicide units. In his diary entry he notes with dismay the lack of success of Germany’s suicide volunteers in their contact with American heavy bombers and fighters and explains the failure, saying that the US planes did not fly in a tight formation, making the German pilots engage the enemy individually. Moreover, the resulting heavy counter-fire was so devastating to the German attackers that only in a few cases were they able to ram the US bombers.

At 5:00 am. 16 April 1945, the final Soviet push across the Oder began. Sixty more suicide pilots crash-bombed their planes into the Oder bridges in a desperate attempt to save Berlin.

There is no way of telling if Colonel Heigl's "total operation" would have stopped the Allied invasion, had it not been shelved, Germany may have had the time to have completed their "jet" and "laser" projects. Projects that, if completed, would have won the war for Germany.

Hanna ended up undertaking a dangerous flight to Hitler's Bunker in Berlin. Since November 1943, Reitsch had been stationed along the Eastern front in Russia, with General Robert Ritter von Greim. On 26 April 1945 they flew to Berlin, where Greim was supposed to take command of the Luftwaffe. Their plane was hit by Soviet anti-aircraft fire. Greim was badly wounded and Hanna landed the plane. They stayed in Berlin for 3 days, as Hitler's guests.

During her internment by the American Army, Reitsch testified to the "disintegration" of Hitler's personality in the last days of the war. Hitler in the presence of Reitsch was heard denouncing the treachery of Hermann Göring, the Luftwaffe Commander-in-Chief. This concerned a message received from Göring about taking over the Reich leadership from Hitler. Reitsch recorded Hitler’s remarks when she was interrogated by the US Army, on 8 October 1945. According to her testimony Hitler said at the time: "Now nothing remains. Nothing is spared to me. No allegiances are kept, no honour lived up to, no disappointments that I have not had, no betrayals that I have not experienced – and now this above all else. Nothing remains. Every wrong has already been done me".

That same night Hitler summoned Hanna Reitsch and handed her a vial of poison. According to her interrogation, Hitler said: 'Hanna, you belong to those who will die with me. Each of us has a vial of poison such as this. I do not wish that one of us falls into the hands of the Russians alive, nor do I wish our bodies to be found by them". [Earlier Hitler had told his top generals and Albert Speer, his Armaments Minister, that he intended to shoot himself in his Bunker to avoid falling into enemy hands]. At another Hitler–Reitsch encounter, Hitler said reassuringly, if her report is to be believed: "But, my Hanna, I still have hope". Hitler’s hope rested with the future success of his forces to the south and east of Berlin. Reitsch describes Hitler waving a road map that was fast coming to pieces from the sweat of his hands.

Meanwhile, on the field of battle Hitler’s forces were denied any success by swiftly advancing Allied armies. On 29 April Hitler ordered Reitsch to fly out of Berlin immediately with Greim and arrest Heinrich Himmler whom he accused of treachery. In addition, Reitsch was to carry Hitler’s orders to organize new bombing raids against the Allies. Reitsch protested, at first. She wanted to be allowed to die with her Führer. In the end, though, she and Greim did as they were told, escaping Berlin just as the Russian noose tightened around it. They made it to Admiral Karl Dönitz's headquarters, but both of them were eventually captured by the Allied forces.

Hanna survived the war, but she found herself somewhat alone. Greim had committed suicide, the swallowing poison on 25 May 1945, obviously preferring an early death, rather than submit to the victors torture tactics for information, and possible death at their hands. Her father had killed her mother, her sister, and her sister's children. Then he turned the rifle on himself. She happened to meet the famous film maker, Leni Riefenstahl, in a cemetery soon after the war, but the two never met again. Hanna was doggedly unrepentant.

She wore her Iron Crosses proudly and wrote her memoirs, "Fliegen, mein Leben" [1951], which were translated in 1954 as "Flying is My Life". In this book she presents herself as a patriot, and makes no moral judgments about Hitler and Nazi Germany. Some call it "an exercise in selective memory, rationalization, and denial".

Was she a Nazi to the end, or just a proud woman? We don't know.

In later writings Reitsch sought to explain her activities as a loyal member of the Nazi regime. She has described in a memoir what she calls "my offence":

"I was a German, well known as an aviator and as one who cherished an ardent love of her country and had done her duty to the last.

"Legends formed about my last flight into Berlin. Might I not perhaps have hidden Hitler away somewhere?"

Because Hitler’s body was never seen by the allies it was widely believed for years that Hanna Reitsch flew out of Berlin with Hitler or his secretary Martin Bormann.

Although she may ultimately have been disillusioned by Nazism, Reitsch never lost her love of the skies. She continued to fly and was generous in helping other women pilots from other countries. She set dozens of world records, and participated in a number of competitions. She was often the only woman competin

 In 1953 Hanna won the bronze medal in the International Gliding Championships in Madrid, Spain. In 1957 she set two women's altitude records for gliders. She also continued to work as a research pilot. In 1959, she traveled to India, where she became friends with Indira Ghandi and Prime Minister Nehrum, whom she took on a glider flight over New Delhi. In 1962, she founded the National School of Gliding in Ghana, where she stayed until 1966. Always drawn to people in power, she was friends with Ghana's president, Kwame Nkrumah and flew for him until he was deposed in 1966. She reported these experiences in a 1968 book, "Ich Flog für Kwame Nkrumah".

She was accepted as a member of the American Test Pilots’ Association and was received by President John Kennedy in the White House in 1961.

A photo shows her standing near Kennedy, not wearing her self-designed uniform but a dress and carrying a woman's handbag.

She spent her last years quietly. The darling of Nazi Germany was a post-war outcast. Germans who adored her later shunned her.

She never married, saying her man died in the war.

"But there are millions in Germany who love me. It is only the German press which has been told to hate me. It is Propaganda helped by the government. Germans have not been allowed to write about me since 1945. They are afraid I might say something good about Adolf Hitler.

"But why not? Because of Hitler we Germans were the pioneers of space travel, ahead of our time, ahead of the world. The first space rockets were copies of our V2 bombs which climbed 50 miles up. After the war my dear friend Wernher von Braun helped the Americans. He was brilliant with the V2 rocket and the father of all space travel and satellites.

 "I am surprised I am still alive. So many of my friends were killed. Ten of us test flew the VI rocket. Five were killed and three severely injured.am surprised I am still alive. So many of my friends were killed. Ten of us test flew the VI rocket. Five were killed and three severely injured.

"The V1 was built to fly as a robot controlled by an early auto-pilot – something else we designed. It was almost impossible to fly with fins or wings just three feet long. But I flew it ten times.

"Catapulted from a sled, it produced more than 24 G’s acceleration force, enough to burst body organs as we learned from experiments and dead pilots.

"In 1965 they made a movie in England called "Operation Crossbow" with Sophia Loren playing me. They pictured me flying off a catapult in the film.

It was all technically wrong and made without my permission.

"For our tests the bomb was attached under the left wing of a Heinkel 111 bomber and we were dropped at high altitudes. The Americans copied us years after with their X15 Rocket Plane, even tracking me to Africa and asking for technical advice.

"The bomb was complex to fly and had just so much time available in the air. We used an early on-board computer, another German invention, plotting the power of the pulse jet engine, weight of explosive cargo, wind factor and remaining fuel.

"The VI handled like a piano. It wasn’t designed to be landed, but to fall as a bomb. Only my training as a glider pilot kept me alive.

"We landed at a military test base north of Berlin on Germany’s longest runway at over 100 miles an hour just a few feet off the ground on a tiny metal skid.

"Later when the Americans invaded Germany we fled our launch pads at Peenemünde and began dropping VI’s from bombers, just as I had tested them".

At the age of 65, the year before she died, she set a new women's distance record in a glider. Hanna died of a massive heart attack in 1979 at age 67. As she wished, she was buried near her family in Salzburg, Austria. So ends the sad story of a heroine of the Third Reich.

Her 67-year-old body bore faded scars of long-ago plane crashes. Her mind held memories of Adolf Hitler and her heart still carried Nazi pride which kept her out of history.

If this tiny woman had died 40 years earlier hundreds of Londoners killed by Nazi buzz bombs might still be alive. Scores of dead Allied airmen shot down by well-designed German fighter planes could be playing with their great grand-children. The jet age would have taken longer to arrive. And man might still be striving to walk on the moon.

She began by wanting to be a flying missionary but laws kept her from flying airplanes and she began in gliders, winning dozens of competitions and attracting the attention of Hitler.

She soon became Nazi Germany’s ideal woman, young and vivacious, daring and highly publicized by the Nazi propaganda machine.

If she hadn’t been on the losing side and if she had been later willing to admit the horrors of the Nazi regime, Hanna Reitsch would be honored in history books as the greatest woman pilot.

She was probably the mother of Women’s Liberation, having bested men in every flying competition. She was photographed rarely after the war and she is mentioned more than 60,000 times on the Internet.

At a time when women were expected to stay in the kitchen, she was one of the world’s top glider pilots. She held 40 world aviation records; was the first to cross the Alps in a glider, first to fly a helicopter and first to fly a jet plane. She was the first woman awarded the Iron Cross and was the world’s first woman test pilot.

History records she flew into a burning Berlin at night in the last days of the war and landed a small plane safely on a street full of firing Russian tanks. A direct hit on her plane mangled the foot of the pilot, Ritter von Greim, who had been summoned by Adolf Hitler.

Hanna stayed three days in the Hitler underground Bunker then flew the last plane out of Berlin before it fell to the Russians. Her eye-witness account of the last days of Hitler are an important part of history and her flights in the VI rocket are a first chapter in space travel.

Air Interrogation Unit [USBIC]APO 777 US ARMY
INTERROGATION SUMMARY
16 November 1945
CONDEMNATION OF HERMANN GÖRING BY HANNA REITSCH 

Introduction

This report concerns itself with the condemnation of Hermann Göring as lender of the German Luftwaffe as expressed by Hanna Reitsch, the prominent German lest-pilot and aeronautical research expert. Ii is felt that her close contacts and constant movement through the top brackets of the Luftwaffe ranks her opinions of value in determining the collapse of the GAF to the extent that it is contributable to Göring. Inasmuch as Reitsch is closely familiar with the orders, ideas, and mannerisms of Göring it is believed that her opinions may be illuminating and accurate. Her complete cooperation and sincere effort to tell the truth should also be considered, in properly evaluating the following material. This account was prepared partly from a paper written by Reitsoh and partly through interrogation. It is important to note that remarks Reitsch has made on the subject to civilians and to non-interrogating American officers have been checked and found to completely confirm her own written report as well as her statements during interrogation.

a. The report is written to conform to her own paper and to the remarks she made, both under direct and indirect interrogation. It is a composite account of her opinions as obtained through these methods. 

b. It is felt that the material may be of value to help clarify various phases of Göring's guilt at the coming trial and also to assist in more clearly evaluating Göring'a role in the disintegration of the Luftwaffe. 

Göring - The Gross Incompetent

"I cannot and will not pretend to give a complete picture of Göring," says Reitsch, "I can only tell of Göring as I knew him and of the things he did that must be told in the name and for the sake of the truth. It is difficult after the down-fall of one's country to attack a former great and to expose him before his own countrymen and in the eyes of the world for the gross incompetent that he is. But in spite of these qualifying scruples, anyone in a position to tell the truth to present and future generations must speak up, particularly if it is about a man who had such a high-ranking position, who was generally considered as a shining example of sacrificial loyalty and fulfillment of duty, but who nevertheless caused the greatest of harm and finally descended to the most shameful treachery. Anyone, particularly a German, who possesses knowledge to place Göring in his proper light owes it to himself and to the world to impart it. Therefore, I must make this burning accusation against the man who let the decisive weapon (the GAF) be destroyed through his own fault, and who through, his personal attitude, example, and character betrayed his own people, thus loading upon himself the immeasurable blame for the suffering of a whole nation".

Hitler Removes Göring and calls his Succesor

"On 24 April 1945 Adolf Hitler called General Oberst Ritter von Greim, the Commanding: General of Luftflotte 6, to the Reichschancellory in Berlin in order to appoint him successor to Göring, The radiogram did not state the reason but simply ordered hin to come to Berlin immediately. Although it was known that the Russians already encircled the city, General von Greim believed that it might still be possible for me to fly him in".

Arrival at Hitler's Shelter

Greim and Reitsch arrived in the shelter "between 1800 and 1900 hours on the evening of 26 April. First to meet them was Frau Göbbels, who fell upon Reitsch with tears and kisses, expressing her astonishment that anyone still possessed the courage and loyalty to come to the Führer, in stark contrast to all those who had deserted him. Greim was immediately taken to the operating room where Hitler's physician tended a foot injury, that Greim had received from Russian ground fire as they flew low over Berlin.

a. Hitler came into the operating room, according to Reitsch, with his face showing deep gratitude over Greim's coming. He remarked something to the effect that a soldier has a right to disobey an order when everything indicates that to carry it out would be futile and hopeless. Greim then reported his presence in the official manner and then told Hitler what had happened and how they had managed to get into Berlin and to the shelter.

b. "The Führer quietly listened", says Reitsch, "and at the end of the report tears came into his eyes. He took von Greim by the hand and clasped me around the shoulders and said, 'There is still some loyalty and courage left in the world' and then turning to von Greim, he asked whether he had any idea why he had been called in. Von Greim said that he did not".

Hitler's Denunciation of Göring

"I have called you to me," Hitler said, "because  Göring has betrayed and deserted both me and his Fatherland. Behind my back he has established connections with the enemy. His action was a mark of coward. And against my orders he has gone to save himself at Berchtesgaden. From there he sent me a most disrespectful telegram. He said that I had once named him as my successor and that now, as I was no longer able to rule from Berlin, he prepared to rule from Berchtesgaden my place. He closes the wire by stating that if he had no answer from me by nine-thirty on the date of the wire he would assume my answer to he in the affirmative".

a. "It was an Ultimatum! A crass Ultimatum!! Now nothing remains. Nothing is spared me. Ho allegiances are kept, no honor lived up to, no disappointments that I have not had, no betrayals that I have not experienced, and now this above a ll else. Nothing remains. Every wrong has already been done me".

b. With eyes hard and half closed and in a voice unusually low he went on: "I Immediately had Göring arrested as a traitor to the Reich, took from him all offices, and removed him from all organizations. That is why I have called you to me. I hereby declare you Göring's successor as Oberbefehlshaber der Luftwnffe. In the name of the German people I give you my hand".

"To Die for the Honor of the Luftwaffe"

Greim and Reitsch were deeply.stunned with the news of Göring's betrayal. As with one mind they both grasped Hitler's hands and begged to be allowed to remain in the Bunker and with their own lives atone for the great wrong that Göring had perpetrated against the Führer, against the German people, and against tho Luftwaffe itself. To serve the honor of the flyers who had died, to reestablish the honor of the Luftwaffe that Göring had destroyed, and to guarantee the honor of their land in tho eyes of the world, they begged to remain. Hitler agreed to all this and told then they might stay, and told them too that their decision would long he remembered in the history of the Luftwaffe.

a. "In this manner," says Reitsch, "did Göring's betrayal open the door to von Greim and to me so that suddenly we found ourselves as part of the small circle of people who were now prepared to die with the Führer".

b. "As Hitler asked me to undertake the nursing and caring for the wounded von Greim I spent most of the time in the shelter at his bed-side, until the Führer, one day before his reported death, sent us out again". 

The Blame Belongs to Göring

"The conversations Greim and I had in the Bunker", says Reitsch, "were mainly of the misfortunes that had befallen Germany, and through Germany, had befallen the world. As far hack as we let our thoughts go, even hack the very beginnings of the Third Reich and of the Luftwaffe itself, we could find only a long chain of injustice and evil of which most could be directly traced to the guilt of Göring. I do not write these lines out of indiscretion or without long and painful consideration. I write them solely for the sake of the truth, with the full understanding that we Germans must practically relearn the definition of the word.  Hardly any of us are free from the insidiousness of the phrase 'the end justifies the means'. This is because the honor of our land was slowly and persistently propagandized, that we hardly saw how that. Propaganda actually robbed us of the very honor the Propaganda spoke of and how it garbled the truth into a long series of falsehoods".

For the Sake of the Truth

"It is for the sake of the truth, and to he able to tell the world about it that I remained alive when the terrible things of the last days of the war went on all about me. In fulfilling that purpose I must loudly declaim that Göring is in no way representative of the German people as I know they can one day be, nor is he representative of the greatest part of the Luftwaffe. He is rather an unfortunate apparition who has brought untold misery to humanity. Now that we are at last able, we (the peonle and the Luftwaffe) must divorce ourselves entirely from all his ideas and everything he represented. The Allies must not judge all Germans as counterparts of the Göring pattern. Through Göring and the position he held, the Allies must also recognize that Hitler did not possess the slightest ability of proper character and personality evaluation. And that with eyes closed by idealism and a false conception of honor he would not or could not remove 'old followers' even when he suspected, and,in some cases, knew of their inefficiencies and criminal mishandlings. This false sense of honor led him to believe in and support old comrades even after they had long been of great harm to him and to Germany. This same false sense forced him to keep Göring long after he began to suspect Göring's stupidities and failings".

Göring's Caesar Complex

"Much of the conduct and manner of Göring is in my opinion, governed by his abnormal physical condition, Actual functionial diasturbances could easily be the fundamental cause for his Caesar-complex. No doubt these disturbances are also the cause of his feminine manner which was in such stark contrast to his apparently 'iron commands,' his manner of dress, his use of cosmetics, his personal vanity, his perfume drenched, person and clothing, all created an actually decadent impression".

Morphine as a Contributing Factor

"Much of this abnormality was always attributes, to his constant use of Morphine. Undoubtedly the drug drove him to spasms of ecstasy during which he was known to over-rate and regard as fact such things as were solely the product of his drug-doped wishful thinking. During such spells of elation he certainly presented Hitler with a picture that far over-estimated the strength and potentialities of the Luftwaffe. Hitler therefore possessed an entirely erroneous picture of his air strength and was deluded thereby into a false sense of security that prolonged the war much further than might have' been the case had he known the true situation".

Göring Sells Germany a "Bill of Goods"

"A striking example of, Göring's falsification occurred when he invited Hitler, a group of ministers, Gau leaders, and other government officials to Rechlin to attend a showing of the newest Aircraft types. Göring demonstrated new and capable planes of which not more than a few experimental models existed, and then passed them off as examples of aircraft that were, momentarily to come off the production lines in battle-ready thousands. He then conducted sham airbattles with out-moded Allied fighter craft to show the tremendous superiority of the German air-arm. The assembled officials returned to their respective communities where they quieted the fears of the populace with glowing accounts of the new planes and weapons that would soon cleanse the air of Allied bombers. This bolstered the faith of the people in final victory and through their resultant concentration of effort, certainly prolonged the war".

Göring Dreams Up A/C Production Figures

"Whenever Göring was confronted with aircraft production figures that were less than those he imagined or hoped existed, he would rant and fume and deluge the individual with accusations of sabotage, suspicions of non-support of the war effort. An illustration of this I experienced personally:

a. "In August 1943, after my recovery from a crash with a He-163 I received a luncheon invitation to his home on Obersalzburg, There were three of us at the table; Göring, his wife, and I. As opening remark of the table conversation Göring wanted to acauaint his wife with the plane in which I had been injured".

b. "'Do you know", he said, "the 163 is our newest rocket craft, which climbs with fantastic speed almost straight into the air. Thousands are now ready to sweep the heavens clean and shoot down the bomber formations wherever we can find them".

c. "I was astounded and almost disbelieved my ears. I knew that at that moment we did not have a single 163 ready for combat and at the very best we could not expect a single craft to be ready before the end of the year. Assembly line production would, for a long time, be out of the question. Even if all the factories designated to produce this craft were set in full and immediate production, the figures he was suggesting were fantastic. I wasn't certain if Göring was joking or if, with intentional exaggeration, he was merely attempting to reassure his wife. That he himself believed whpt he had said seemed ridiculous".

d. "With a half-laugh, I said, that would be fine, were it true". 

e. "Göring seemed astounded at my remark and loudly demanded what I meant by the statement. With stupefied amazement I realized from his retort that he actually believed we did have thousands of the Me-163's. As I felt it to be my duty to tell him the truth I explained what I knew about the production figures and what we could hope for in the way of assembly-line production. Thereupon Göring flew into a rage and viciously pounding his fist upon the table he screamed that I didn't have the slightest idea, that I didn't know what I was speaking about, and strode angrily out of the room. With horror I realized why no one dared tell him the truth. I became sick with dread when I realized what a completely false impression he must have of the strength and power of his own weapon. As Göring came back into the room I made another attempt to discuss the matter rationally, but i t was of no avail. I had simply fallen into the poor graces of the Reichsmarschall and was never again called to see him or consulted on aeronautical matters".

Göring Selects his Aides in his Own Image

"Göring chose such people to fill the positions about him as mirrored his own personality ; men who were self-centered, incompetent, and catering. It was men like these who influenced the spirit and of the Luftwaffe. Often they possessed not the slightest knowledge or technical understanding of their jobs and held them only because they were friendly, congenial or hero-worshippers of Göring. Even when one of these dared give Göring information that did not laud or reflect the superiority of the Luftwaffe, they were immediately removed. An example is Udet who was certainly one of Germany's greatest flyers. His appointment by Göring as Chief of the Luftwaffe's Technical Branch was an error that even Udet realized. His inevitable failure in the position, Hitler's evidenced disgust with that failure, and the personal denunciation of Göring drove Udet to suicide".

a. "The one-time Chief of the General Staff, General Jeschonneck, also took his life over despair of Göring's mismanagement. Göring, grief stricken, attended the funeral of both, and with tears in his eyes bewailed the loss of 'beloved airmen'.

b. "Jeschonnek's successor, General Korton, later killed for his participation in the 20 July assassination attempt, and his successor, General Koller, were both driven almost insane through Göring's stupid inefficiencies. I am sure that General Koller can and would be glad to give full information regarding Göring's character and mishandlings. I am also sure that Major Krogmann, General Korton's Chief of Staff, would be able to give further information on the deceased Korton's relations and opinions of Göring". 

c. "That-Feldmarschall Greim took his life on 24 May 1945 as he was being taken to Germany as a prisoner of war was also largely due to Göring. I am sure that Greim was not able to reconcile his honor as a soldier with giving the information he would have had to give regarding the despicable traits and blunderings of Göring, his former Commanding Officer, who in his own mind he damned as the incompetent who bore the greatest guilt for the useless continuation of the war

Göring's Technical Shortcomings

"An air force is a technical weapon and in its development engineers, research men, scientists, and industrialists must be allowed to speak. If this is not understood, as Göring did not understand it, it was inevitable that the Luftwaffe would crumble through leadership that was not short of criminal".

a. "As Research Director of the Luftwaffe, Prof. Dr. Walter' Georgii of Ainring, Germany, can give a full picture of Göring's lack of interest and awareness in research matters". 

b. "Of Göring's relations with Luftwaffe engineers and technicians both Feldmarschall Milch and Dipl. Ing. Otto Fuchs, Berlin-Köpenick, Wendenschlosstrasse, can give complete information".

c. "The fact that Göring made himself into the well known 'Hermann Meier' is only superficial, but indicative evidence of what can be documented by those named above. Goering always heeded the psuedoscientists and engineers who gave him glowing accounts and promised other wonders for the immediate future that would be even mote glowing, in spite of the fact that competent men saw the pitfalls and impossibilities. But as always these uncolored accounts were consistently disregarded and eventually even forbidden entrance".

The "Volksjäger" Blunder

"A shocking example of Göering's faulty judgment was the matter of-the 'Volksjäger'. It was in favor of this new plane that Göring allowed himself to almost destroy the last hope left to the Luftwaffe in the fall of 1944—namely the hope that-lay in the Me-262. The Me-262 was at this time fully tested and found to possess flight characteristics that were almost flawless and certainly exceeded those of any other German craft and of any known Allied plans. It was then of the gravest importance, in the fall of 1944, to get the Me-262 on an immediate assembly-line production basis. With everything ready, Göring gave ear to the proposed 'Volksjäger' plan, for which only the roughest, first—stage drawings had been accomplished; and from which a plane was to evolve that admittedly possessed poorer flight qualities and more limited potentialities than the Me-262". 

a. "Ambitious construction men, motivated by interests of self-gain, promised Göring than the 'Volksjäger' couid be perfected from the basic drawing-board sketches, in the fall of 1944, to assembly-line production by March 1945 without affecting the Me-262 program. Countless aircraft engineers warned Göring of the plan's impracticability and fell into immediate disfavor as a result. Every designer, test-pilot, and constructor knew how much time would be required to develop an entirely new craft. Only Göring and his momentary favorites did not, or would not, recognize this actuality. Result, of course, was that the 'last-hope' Me-262 did suffer through the 'Volksjäger' program. The main reason, for this was that Generaldirektor Kessler, long connected and acquainted with the Me-262's evolution and in charge of its assembly-line production planning was removed by Göring and put to work on the 'Volksjäger' project". 

b. "The final result was that the Me-262 program was irreparably damaged, and that the 'Volksjäger' an everyone suspected, was  another 'too-late' and a complete failure". [Full information on Göring's role in the "Volksjäger" affair, Reitsch claims, could be obtained, from Dipl. Ing, Voigt of Messerschmitt].

Göring the Collector and Abnormal Egotist

"If is general information," claims Reitsch, "that Göring was the greatest corruptionist of the Third Reich, that he used his position without restraint to collect and cinfiscate treasures of art, castles, villas, and untold sums of money. In his personality and Morphine-sickened egotism, I see the blame for his inefficiencies and despicable characteristics. Through this came his excesses, his blunderings, the loss of the trust of most of his officers, the contempt of research and technical men, and finally even the one-time good humored faith on the part of many of the people changed to outright disgust".

The Anti-Göring Trend

"Complaints against Göring came from all possible sources and usually found their way to Himmler's desk. Through Himmler I became acquainted with many of these. Often they begged Himmler to take control of the Luftwaffe himself or at least to impress Hitler with the stringent need of replacing Göring. These were sent to Himmler because it was known that of the big-four he was the only one who would at least read such complaints; a thing that had long been impossible with the others, least of all with Hitler, as all such information was short-circuited long before it reached his desk".

Hitler Attempts to Remedy the Göring Situation

"Through Himmler's intervention Hitler finally called General Oberst von Greim to him in September 1944. and told him in secrecy of his misgivings regarding some of Göring's  activities. Hitler, then asked Greim to take control of all military air operations in such a manner that he would not have to remove Göring altogether. Greim agreed, but indicated that he could accept only if he were given complete freedom to fill responsible positions as he saw fit and in, addition that he. should have suqh other rights and authority as would, ensure that the operational control would.be exercised in the manner he deemed necessary. He was sent by the Führer to Göring to arrange some sort of a division of duties".

Göring vs. Greim

"In presenting his matter to Göring; Greim was met with a terrific harangue and out-burst of rage. Greim at once saw that any form of co-operation with Göring was impossible, reported this to Hitler, and asked to be sent back to his post as Commanding Officer of Luftflotte VI".

The Last Days

"Through his sickened egotism and selfishness, Göring held to his position to the last, in spite of the fact that he himself was beginning to see that he was gradually slipping in his position, and because of this a people was practically destroyed and a terrible war continued long after it had been fully lost. Until just before the end he fought with the same determination to keep the trust of Hitler, a trust that he knew was fast waning. Then when he saw the end at hand, he deserted. A man who accepts every honor, every title, every decoration, and every position with constant avowals of his faithfulness, must be more than a scoundrel when turns traitor the moment the Führer had nothing more to give him".

Göring's "Pleasant" Personality

"Many people have always enamored by his strange personal charm, by his sense of humor, by his apparent appreciation of tradition and culture. This danger still been exists. These same people have considered him as a picture of faithfulness to Hitler as well as the Führer's greatest protector. These people may not understand his betrayal and his character and may still be of their former opinions. It is true that even the greatest criminal,.. the most dangerous human being, has his acceptable characteristics. The danger is that many people have seen only this 'display-side' and not the proper, odious side of Göring. No doubt his household servants, chauffeurs, and orderlies, who lived practically as well as he did himself, are still firmly convinced of his congeniality and goodliness, as at first the whole nation was convinced. But such opinions should never be allowed to influence a proper judgment of the man. One must never forget the danger that such abnormal vanity, such gross incompetence, and pitiful inefficiency represents against the peoples of any nation and thereby against humanity".

Only Survivor of the "Big-Four"

"In Göring's case the danger is particularly great, as he is the only survivor of the four leaders of the Third Reich. It is possible that the hopes of such people who are still sympathetically inclined to the Nazi regime and its ideology night hope that through Göring some aspects of the Nazi philosophy could be kept alive. Such a thing must never be allowed to occur. The people must know what sort of crininal Göring was, a criminal against Germany and against the world". 

Conclusion

Reitsch draws two sharp conclusions out of her analysis of Göring that she feels condemn him in her eyes, in the. eyes of the Gernan people, and in the eyes of the world. The first is that through his ignorance he misused the Luftwaffe to such an extent that thousands of lives were lost, both through the improper defensive and offensive use of the weapon. The second is that through his vanity and warped ego ho allowed hinself to be informed falsely and in turn informed Hitler falsely as to the strength and capabilities of the air-arm. Reitsch believes that this false picture that Göring carried to the Führer night easily have been drawn from Göring's actual impressions as it was simply forbidden to bring any pessimistic accounts to his attention. If this was the case Göring's guilt is all the greater, in Reitsch's opinion, because she believes that if Hitler had currently known the true status of his airweapon he would have been forced to recognize the inevitable defeat much earlier than he did. She therefore holds Göring responsible for the useless continuation of the war for many months after it was, in the eyes of almost everyone, completely and irretrievably lost.

a. Every life lost  on either side during that time, is in her opinion, to be unquestionably chalked up against Göring.

b. Reitsch draws a third conclusion in which she charged Hitler with the final and overall responsibility of Göring's failures. Hitler's crime was that he did not possess the necessary insight to realize the incompetency of Görlng and that even when he did begin to realize it in the last stages, Hitler was motivated by a false and criminal sense of allegiance to one of his old-guard, long-time supporters to the extent that he could not bring himself to remove Göring while there was still time.

c. In her opinion Hitler's removal of Göring during the early stages of the war would not have vindicated Göring but would substantially have shortened the duration of the war

-- Robert E. WORK
Captain, Air Corps
Chief Interrogator

Hanna Reitsch died in Frankfurt at the age of 67 on 24 August 1979, allegedly after a heart attack. She had never married.

That same month Eric Brown, a British test pilot who had known her before the war, was surprised to receive a letter from Reitsch in which she reminisced about their shared love of flying, the letter ending with the words; "It began in the Bunker and there it shall end". Brown speculated that this may have referred to a suicide pact with von Greim, who may well have been Reitsch's lover: they had both been given cyanide pills by Hitler while in the Bunker and Reitsch was known still to have hers. It is possible that she had made a pact with von Greim to follow him in committing suicide, albeit at a different time in order to dampen any rumours of their affair. Her death was announced shortly after Brown received this letter, which led him to wonder whether she had finally carried out her side of the pact and had used the suicide pill at last: apparently no post-mortem inquest was carried out on her body.