Eagles of the Third Reich: Men of the Luftwaffe in WWII (Stackpole Military History Series) (72 page)

49
. Vincent J. Esposito, ed.,
A Concise History of World War II
(New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1964), p. 80.

50
. Ellis I, p. 111.

51
. Ibid.

52
. Musciano, p. 62.

53
. Ellis I, pp. 245, 478, and 488–91.

54
. Musciano, p. 62.

55
. Paul Carell,
Invasion: They’re Coming!
(New York: E. P. Dutton, 1963; reprint ed., New York: Bantam Books, 1964), p. 179 (hereafter cited as “Carell
Invasion
”).

56
. Ibid.

57
. Galland, p. 233.

58
. Martin Blumenson,
Breakout and Pursuit
,
Office of the Chief of Military History, United States Army in World War II, The European Theater of Operations (Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, 1961), p. 234.

59
. Joseph Schmid, “The Employment of the German Luftwaffe against the Allies in the West, 1943–45,”
United States Air Force Historical Studies Numbers 158–160
,
Volume X, “Command Structure in the West, 1 Jan 43-22 Sep 44,” United States Air Force Historical Division, Aerospace Studies Institute (Maxwell Air Force Base, Montgomery, Alabama: Air University, 1955).

60
. Speidel,
Invasion
,
p. 46; Milch Interrogation. Also see Brett-Smith, p. 127.

61
. David Irving,
The Trail of the Fox
(New York: Thomas Congdon Books, E. P. Dutton, 1977).

62
. Irving,
Milch
,
p. 336.

63
. Suchenwirth MS “Command.”

64
. Ellis I, p. 490.

65
. Interrogation of Milch and Sperrle, Air University Archives.

66
. Brett-Smith, p. 127.

67
. Otto E. Moll,
Die deutsche Generalfeldmarschaelle, 1939–1945
(Rastatt-Baden: Erich Pabel Verlag, 1961), p. 245.

68
. Wistrich, p. 294.

69
. James Forman,
Code Name Valkyrie
(New York: S. G. Phillips, 1973; reprint ed., New York: Dell Publishing Company, 1975), pp. 181 and 197.

70
. Peter Hoffmann,
The History of the German Resistance, 1933–1945
(Cambridge, Massachusetts: The M.I.T. Press, 1977), pp. 402–5.

71
. Korten Personnel Extract.

72
. Eckhardt Christian was only thirty-seven years old in 1944. He entered the service as a naval cadet in 1926 and served as a signal and flak artillery officer. He joined the Luftwaffe in 1933 and trained as an aerial observer and bomber pilot before attending the Air War Academy for General Staff training in 1938. He commanded II and III Groups, KG 26, during the Battle of Britain and was continuously occupied in various staff posts with OKW and OKL thereafter. He was promoted to major general on September 1, 1944, and named chief of the Operations Branch of the Luftwaffe three days later. He held the post until the end of the war (Christian Personnel Extract).

73
. Kreipe Personnel Extract, Air University Archives.

74
. Irving,
Milch
,
p. 289.

75
. Cooper, p. 368.

76
. Kreipe Personnel Extract.

77
. Suchenwirth MS “Command”; Plocher MS 1943.

78
. Koller Personnel Extract, Air University Archives.

79
. Frankland, p. 119.

80
. Beck, p. 131.

81
. Frankland, p. 119.

82
. Beck, p. 130.

83
. Frankland, pp. 122–24.

84
. Irving 1977, p. 703.

85
. Suchenwirth MS “Command.”

86
. Ibid.

87
. Beck, p. 151.

88
. Musciano, pp. 95–99; Galland Personnel Extract.

89
. Galland Personnel Extract.

90
. Bekker, p. 556; Galland, p. 13.

91
. Galland, p. 249.

92
. Ibid, pp. 259–61.

93
. Johannes Steinhoff,
The Final Hours
(Baltimore, Maryland: The Nautical and Aviation Publishing Company of America, 1985), p. 58 (hereafter cited as “Steinhoff”).

94
. Ibid, p. 59.

95
. Gollob Personnel Extract; Musciano, p. 64; Bekker, p. 561.

96
. Musciano, pp. 95–99.

97
. Suchenwirth MS “Command.”

98
. Frankland, pp. 127–28, 134, and 136; Irving 1977, p. 734.

99
. Ziemke, p. 477.

100
. See David Irving,
The Destruction of Dresden
(New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1964), for the full story of the firebombing of Dresden.

101
. Musciano, pp. 64–65, 78–79, 81–82, 99–100, 106, and 119; Bekker, p. 562; Steinhoff, pp. 159–164.

102
. Speer, p. 427.

103
. Mosley, p. 375.

104
. Suchenwirth MS “Command.”

105
. Ibid.

106
. Speer, p. 482.

107
. Mosley, p. 384.

108
. Goralski, p. 406; Mosley, pp. 387–89; Suchenwirth MS “Command.”

109
. Manvill and Fraenkel, pp. 10–11.

110
. G. M. Gilbert,
Nuremberg Diary
(New York: Farrar, Straus and Cudahy, 1947; reprint ed., New York: Signet Books, 1961), pp. 172–99.

111
. Snyder, p. 124.

112
. Mosley, pp. 429–30.

CHAPTER 14: RITTER VON GREIM: THE LAST FIELD MARSHAL

  
1
. Gen. Off.s, GAF.

  
2
. Ibid.

  
3
. Ibid.

  
4
. Ibid; Plocher MS 1941.

  
5
. John Toland,
Adolf Hitler
(New York: Random House, 1976; reprint ed., New York: Ballantine Books, 1977), p. 133.

  
6
. Gen. Off.s, GAF.

  
7
. Ibid.

  
8
. Ibid; Cooper, p. 4.

  
9
. Gen. Off. s, GAF.

10
. Ibid.

11
. Ibid; Bekker, pp. 152 and 159.

12
. Bekker, p. 545.

13
. Ibid, p. 551.

14
. Plocher MS 1941.

15
. Ibid.

16
. Ibid.

17
. Ibid.

18
. Ibid.

19
. Goralski, p. 182.

20
. Plocher MS 1941.

21
. Ibid.

22
. Ibid.

23
. Manstein, pp. 217-31, and Carell 1966, pp. 319-21.

24
. Plocher MS 1942.

25
. Ibid.

26
. Ibid.

27
. Plocher MS 1941 and 1942.

28
. Plocher MS 1942.

29
. Steinhoff, p. 84.

30
. Ibid.

31
. Plocher MS 1942.

32
. Ibid.

33
. Ibid; Paul Carell,
Scorched Earth: The Russian-German War, 1943–44
(Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1966; reprint ed., New York: Ballantine Books, 1971), pp. 316–34 (hereafter cited as “Carell 1971”).

34
. Plocher MS 1942.

35
. Gen. Off. s, GAF.

36
. Plocher MS 1943.

37
. “General Ritter von Greim,” document on file at the Air University Archives, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama.

38
. Plocher MS 1941.

39
. Carell 1971, p. 567.

40
. T. N. Dupuy and Paul Martell,
Great Battles of the Eastern Front
(Indianapolis/New York: Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc., 1982), p. 157.

41
. Murray, pp. 285–86.

42
. Carell 1971, p. 596. Some of these men later made their way back to German lines in Poland, but not many.

43
. Murray, p. 286.

44
. Gen. Off. s, GAF.

45
. Irving,
Milch
,
pp. 288 and 335.

46
. Irving 1977, p. 708.