During this period, Goering's contribution to the development of the Luftwaffe was to win a large budget, and it once told The Chief of Staff, Wevor, who "presided over the day-to-day work": "The Fuehrer is very satisfied with us, in short, remember that money is never a problem." "In 1935-1939, the Air Force accounted for up to 40 percent of Germany's 64 billion marks of armaments expenditure.
After the outbreak of World War II, the Luftwaffe played a vital role in the fighting on the Western Front, especially after the Battle of France, and Goering's prestige reached its peak. In July 1940, Hitler was so excited that he set goering a highest rank, "National Marshal", to distinguish him from other marshals.
During the Battle of Britain, in retaliation for the British bombing of Berlin, Hitler ordered Goering to bomb the city of London and civilians, and Goering was puzzled by this and tried to persuade Hitler to target the bombing of military facilities around London, but "the Fuehrer was unmoved" by this.
After months of fierce air combat, Goering's air force not only consumed a lot of strength, but also killed his nephew during the period. After operation Barbarossa began, in the expanding Soviet occupation zone, Goering's air force was busy for a while plundering resources while escorting ground forces.
Later in the Battle of Stalingrad, Goering blew a bull on the Führer on the air supply of Paulus's 6th Army, which indirectly led to the survival of only more than 90,000 of the nearly 300,000 besieged German troops, and Goering no longer had the arrogance of "letting my air force cover the sky" two years ago.
In the North African battlefield, Rommel's Afrika Korps were plagued by insufficient supplies, and Goering once again promised to replenish resources and "reneged on his word". On the Western Front, the U.S.-British coalition "doubled down" to bomb German cities, and Goering's air force was not only powerless to stop it, but also repeatedly lost irreplaceable and difficult to replenish the crew.
As the German war machine continued to weaken, Goering's air force plummeted. Losing Hitler's trust, Goering was gradually marginalized militarily, and from then on he became unmotivated and did nothing. The "Marshal of the Nation" began to spend all day in his large number of luxurious villas to "enjoy life", and did not forget to order the troops to loot a large number of rare works of art for him after the battle.
On April 20, 1945, Goering left after attending Hitler's birthday party at the Berlin Bunker, and the first and second in command of Nazi Germany never left. On the 23rd, upon learning that Hitler was preparing to commit suicide, Goering sent a telegram asking the Fuehrer, "Do you agree that I shall immediately take over all the command of the country under your order of 29 June 1941?" ”
Receiving the telegram of "forcing the palace", Hitler was furious and ordered Goering's arrest and expulsion from the party. On 30 April, Hitler committed suicide, and in his will he renamed Dönitz as his "successor", relieved Goering of all his duties and again denounced that "the failure of the Luftwaffe is entirely Goering's responsibility".
After Goering's arrest, under Dönitz's "care", Kesselring released his imprisonment and handed him over to the Luftwaffe. On May 6, Goering sent a telegram to Dönitz: I heard you were sending Jodel to negotiate with Eisenhower? I am better qualified for "marshal-to-marshal" negotiations than he is.
At first, the U.S. military gave Goering VIP-like special treatment, a champagne feast. Unexpectedly, Eisenhower was furious when he learned of this, and ordered Goering to be converted into an "ordinary prisoner of war". Soon, the German "National Marshal" was confiscated the marshal's staff, all medals and even diamond rings, and then thrown into the Mondolph prisoner-of-war camp known as the "dumpster" by the U.S. military.
On November 20, 1945, the Nuremberg Trial began, and Goering was placed in the "Number One" seat on the far left of the first row. This was followed by months of prosecutorial statements, which were presented by the witnesses. In his defense, Goering, who refused to admit guilt, was "tongue-in-cheek", and in the face of the aggressive interrogation of the prosecutors of the four countries who took turns, Goering responded freely and occasionally contradicted each other, and the court was once booed by this Nazi number two figure.
On 30 September 1946, the Court pronounced its verdict: there was no room for discretion in the Goering case ... This man's guilt is so great that no one compares... All four counts indicted were convicted..." Hearing the hanging, Goering was expressionless and did not say a word. Three days after the verdict was pronounced, Goering filed a petition calling for a shooting, stating that "this was by no means an unreasonable request", which the court ignored.
On October 7, Goering met for the last time with his wife, Amy, who said: Herman, you have done your best for your comrades and country in Nuremberg, and I have always thought that you fought for Germany to the last moment. Goering replied: "It really lifted me up." Finally said: "You only have to believe one thing, they will not hang me." ”
On the night of October 15, Goering committed suicide by poisoning himself in a heavily guarded single cell, leaving behind four suicide notes detailing how to carry and hide three potassium cyanide capsules. In a letter to the Allied Control Commission, he said: "I have no moral obligation to obey the judgment of the enemy, so I have chosen the way of the great General Hannibal, because it is impossible to hang a German field marshal!" ”
The matter was not trivial, and the members of the four countries of the United States, Britain, France, and the Soviet Union rushed to the scene one after another, and the angry Soviet representatives even slapped Goering's body hard to "determine whether it was pretending to be dead." The four countries formed a suicide investigation committee to urgently discuss countermeasures, and at one point wanted to conceal the fact and get "Goering" to the hanging table for execution, but after thinking about it, they still did not dare to do so.
Goering's suicide was undoubtedly a blow to the Allies, and public opinion in various countries was also boiling, and the New York Times at the time reported that Goering had deceived the victors, justice had not triumphed, and the weapons that should have been in the hands of the victorious powers had reached the Hands of the Germans. In addition, Goering's anti-Soviet stance is also well known, and he repeatedly stated during his lifetime that the union of the Soviet Union and the Western countries was nothing more than a forced combination of interests in wartime, and that this union was doomed to failure."