|
| Volume |
I |
| Subdivision |
The Case Against the Nazi Secret Police, Security and Intelligence System and Ernst Kaltenbrunner |
| Part |
Not applicable |
| Section |
Not applicable |
| Title |
"Interrogation of Reich Marshal Hermann Goering" / TOP SECRET |
| Pages |
10 |
| Pages Supplemental |
|
| Date |
10 May 1945 |
| Language |
English |
| Author |
The interrogators are General Spaatz, CG, USSTAF; Lt. General Patch CG, 7th Army; Lt. General Vandenberg, CG, Ninth Air Force; Brigadier General E. P. Curtis, C/S, USSTAF; Major Alexander de Seversky, Special Consultant to Secretary of War. |
| Witness |
Hermann Goering |
| Other Names |
Brigadier General Paul Barcus; Dr. Bruce Hopper, Historian, USSTAF; Hilter; Mussolini; Rommel |
| Other Dates |
1 January 1945 |
| Abstract |
This document is a transcript of an interrogation of Hermann Goering. The primary subject is the air war and the strategic use of air power, which Goering asserts could not have defeated Germany by itself: "German industry was going underground, and our counter measures could have kept pace with your bombing" (p.3). Conversely, Goering insists that the Luftwaffe, despite its low-power bombers, could have defeated England without a land invasion: "Only the diversion of the Luftwaffe to the Russian front saved England. She was unable to defend herself and unable to bomb Germany" (p.4). Similarly, Goering believes that Germany could have won the war "if we had only four to five months more time" in order to produce jet airplanes (fighters and bombers) in underground factory installations (p.3). Arguing against that scenario was the effectiveness of Allied precision bombing against Germany's industrial and military targets, particularly oil production, and orders from Hitler that tended in many instances to hamper air operations. Goering also points out, "You have no idea what a bad time we had in Italy. If they had only been our enemies instead of our Allies we might have won the war" (p.6). The balance of the interrogation addresses strategic decisions that determined the use of air power and the development of new airplanes. The document is a typewritten carbon copy of good quality. The paper is thin and slightly brown, but stable overall. NOTE: This document is bound into Volume CII of the Donovan Archive between pages 7 and 8 of the previous document, "Preliminary Trial Brief" (against the Nazi secret police, security and intelligence system, and Ernst Kaltenbrunner). This reason for this interrogation's having been interpolated into the foregoing brief is not evident. |
| Keywords |
Luftwaffe; Battle of Britain; JU 88; HE 111; HE 177; ME 262; ME 264; Air war; American bombing campaigns; Strategic bombing; U-boats; Panzers; Waffen SS; Jet airplanes; Spain; Bolsheviks; Gibraltar; Poltava; Italy; Proximity fuse; Japan; V-1; V-2; Russia; Conduct of war; German war economy; German industry |