During World War II, Hermann Wilhelm Göring was a political and military leader in Nazi Germany, with a close relationship with the "Führer" Adolf Hitler, and had considerable influence in the Nazi Party. He served as Commander-in-Chief of the Luftwaffe, Head of the Gestapo, Head of the Four-Year Plan, Speaker of the Congress, Commander-in-Chief of the SA, Minister of Economy, Prime Minister of prussia, and many other important positions across the three branches of the Party, Government, and Army, and was designated by Hitler as his successor.
Göring was born on 12 January 1893 to a family of diplomats in Bavaria, Germany. At the age of 12 he was sent to the military academy in Karlsruch, and at the age of 16 he entered the Großlichtfeld Senior Military Academy near Berlin. He was very satisfied with his study and life at the military academy. After graduating from military school in 1912, Goering served in the infantry regiment in Millhouse.
When World War I broke out in 1914, Goering moved from infantry regiments in the Army to the Air Force and became an excellent observer of reconnaissance aircraft. The following year, Goering made his first appearance as a fighter pilot. Whether it is the record or the fighting spirit, Goering is recognized, and the ace pilot of the air force has become the star of the all-German army. In 1918, Kaiser Wilhelm II personally awarded goering the Medal of Merit, the highest honor for ordinary soldiers, in honor of his efforts to shoot down 18 enemy aircraft.
In July of the same year, Goering was appointed captain of the 1st Fighter Wing, known as the "Richthofen Wing". The first captain of the squadron was a legend with a record of 80 down enemy aircraft. With excellent leadership skills, Goering focused on working with other aces to shoot down enemy aircraft, rather than pursuing personal cumulative records, and gradually gained the trust of the whole United.
After the war, Goering traveled to Denmark and Sweden.
After the amnesty in 1927, Goering returned to Germany and worked as a consultant to several aircraft companies and to Lufthansa. In the reichstag elections the following year, Goering became one of the 12 members of the Nazi Party. In 1932, Goering was elected Speaker of parliament and became a first-rate politician.
In 1933, Hitler's cabinet was formed, and in May Goering was appointed Minister of State Aviation. At the same time, he began to plan to circumvent the restrictions of the Treaty of Versailles, which prohibited Germany from developing an air force, and focused on the discovery of talent. In 1935, the Luftwaffe was rebuilt, and Goering was officially appointed commander of the Luftwaffe and promoted to field marshal in 1938. In fact, Goering's greatest role in the development of the Air Force at that time was to win the budget.
From January 1933 to August 1939, Germany spent a total of 64 billion marks on armaments, of which 40% was spent on the Air Force. Goering didn't put much effort into building the Luftwaffe, and was faced with the question: "Do you have two choices: do you want to produce 1,000 four-engine bombers, or thousands of twin bombers?" ”
Goering said: "The Fuehrer will only ask me how many bombers there are, not which ones." In this way, the two Ulasan bomber prototypes, which were ready for testing, became scrap iron, and Germany did not develop a real strategic bomber during World War II.
In short, Goering was beneficial to the rapid development of the Luftwaffe in the early days, but disastrous in the long run
In February 1938, after Hitler took over command of the entire armed forces, he awarded him the rank of field marshal. In July 1940, Hitler awarded him the rank of Reichsmarker of the Greater German Reich, which ranked above the other marshals. He was also awarded the grand cross, a unique one.
On September 1, 1939, the German fascists brazenly launched a war of aggression against Poland, and Hitler declared in his speech that if something unexpected happened to him during the war, Goering would be his heir. In this way, Goering was granted the status of Hitler's legal heir. During the war, Goering dispatched his fleet of aircraft to make a surprise attack on the Polish Air Force, destroying many Polish aircraft on the ground.
On 24 May 1940, German panzers had reached the Agra Canal area, 20 miles from Dunkirk, ready to annihilate the more than 300,000 British and French troops in the encirclement. But Hitler abruptly ordered the Army to stop advancing and leave the task of eliminating the enemy to the Air Force. An important reason for this was that Goering suggested to Hitler that his air force should be used to eliminate the encircled enemy alone in order to reduce the loss of valuable armored units.
In fact, Goering wanted to give the Air Force the opportunity to win the final decisive battle, and to reap the honor of the "low-hanging fruit" of victory.
Because the harsh climate affected the effectiveness of the Luftwaffe attack, and the Luftwaffe was also effectively resisted by the new British Spitfire aircraft, although Goering's air force destroyed the port of Dunkirk and sank 243 British transport ships, Goering's praise to Hitler to annihilate the British Expeditionary Force's haikou did not cash in. The anglo-French retreat from the dunkirk beaches day and night under the tip of the German nose created a miracle of history.
After the Germans swept through Western Europe, in August 1940, Hitler issued an order to eliminate the British Navy and Air Force from the air and sea to clear the way for landing on the British Isles. Goering believed that a single army could bring Britain to its knees, and the navy believed that only by gaining air supremacy could it cross the sea.
Goering organized and launched a massive air offensive against the British, code-named "Eagle". Goering was convinced that he could destroy the British fighters' defenses in the south of England in 4 days, and completely destroy the RAF in 2-4 weeks.
Goering believed that a single army could bring Britain to its knees, and the navy believed that only by gaining air supremacy could it cross the sea. Goering organized and launched a massive air offensive against the British, code-named "Eagle". Goering was convinced that he could destroy the British fighters' defenses in the south of England in 4 days, and completely destroy the RAF in 2-4 weeks.
On 15 August, Goering threw most of the aircraft of his three air forces into the Battle of England, with 1149 fighters and 801 bombers. As a result of the German-British air combat, the Germans lost 75 aircraft and the RAF lost 34. At this ratio, it would be difficult for Germany to defeat the British Air Force. This proved to be Goering's second major blunder. This change saved the dizzy Raff, provided a respite for the RAF to recover, and became an unprecedented turning point in the British air war.
On September 17, Hitler began to postpone the implementation of the Sea Lion program indefinitely. Goering's failure to achieve the astonishing victories hitler expected in the Battle of England and the astonishing victories he had won on other battlefields shattered the myth of the german invincibility for the first time, and he began to fall out of favor in the face of Hitler. After that, Goering delegated the command of the actual operations of the Air Force to others and retired to the second line himself.
In the winter of 1942, the Soviets launched a winter offensive, encircling the German 6th Army and a section of the 4th Tank Army at Stalingrad. At the end of the discussion about the siege or the breakthrough, Goering appeared in the conference room with a spring in his face and solemnly assured Hitler that the besieged troops could be received by air.
Goering's big words made Hitler firm in his decision not to break through. After that, Goering was constantly called by Hitler to report, and he always used the excuse that the weather was bad and he could not send the plane as planned. Make sure that once the weather improves, the supplies will be transported. However, until the end of January 1943, when the encircled German 6th Army was completely destroyed, Goering's assurances were not fulfilled.
For this reason, Goering was constantly criticized by Hitler for his ineffective leadership of the Air Force. In a fit of rage, Goering threw up his hands and took a long vacation. Since then, Goering has become a scapegoat for the defeats of the Air Force and even the German Army.
On April 30, 1945, Hitler committed suicide by shooting himself in the face of the imminent defeat of the Reich, and in his political will the day before his suicide, he reiterated Goering's removal from all positions and his expulsion from the party. After Hitler's death, Goering regained his freedom.
After Germany's surrender, the Allies occupied Germany, and Goering was arrested on 21 May and escorted to the U.S. prisoner-of-war camp in Mondorf on the Luxembourg border, and in September to the Nuremberg prison. At the Nuremberg trials, Goering stubbornly adhered to the fascist position and repeatedly denied his crimes.
On October 1, 1946, Judge Lord Lawrence read out the verdict against Goering on behalf of the International Military Tribunal in the United States, confirming that Goering had committed war crimes, crimes of peace, war crimes and crimes against humanity, and sentenced him to hanging, because Hitler, Himmler and others were dead, so Goering became the most criminal war criminal in the Nuremberg Trials and the first senior Nazi leader to be pronounced dead.
After that, Goering proposed that he should be shot as a soldier, but was refused, so he decided to commit suicide. On the evening of October 15, 1946, Goering, the fascist culprit, committed suicide by poisoning himself two hours before his execution, ending his ugly life.
During World War II, Goering was instrumental in the development of the German Air Force, but his vanity and arrogance also destroyed the Luftwaffe. It can be said that the German Air Force in World War II also lost Xiao He!