The Rise and Fall of the Luftwaffe

"The Luftwaffe - the German Air Force - will no longer have a decisive influence on the outcome of World War II, no matter how long it takes to beat Hitler. No doubt, we will hear of the Luftwaffe before the war is over. We will hear a lot. But don't let us be deceived. No matter what happens, the Luftwaffe can never be used as a strategic first-line weapon within the Nazi plan. It can play no role but that of a tactical and auxiliary weapon." Can it really be true that in 1941 insiders knew the Luftwaffe was a spent force and a failed organization? This remarkable, but little-known book, first published in 1943, argues how pure incompetence in planning and strategy left the Luftwaffe hopelessly stretched and exposed. The Nazi regime designed its airforce for Blitzkrieg, and Blitzkrieg alone. During the invasion of Poland, 2,500 aircraft were lost on account of a failure to produce any spare parts. When long campaigns set in in Russia, North Africa and Western Europe, the collapse of the Luftwaffe became inevitable. Crammed full of fascinating detail, this prescient book shows how German efficiency was fatally paralyzed by the dead-hand of the corrupt Nazi Party. Hermann Göring, the head of the Luftwaffe, was chiefly responsible; his wholesale thefts to fund a lavish lifestyle add particular color to this picture of woeful neglect.

Hauptmann Hermann was a pseudonym, the exact authorship remains unknown, but he was clearly well-connected; and an influential insider in the aviation industry who left Nazi German for the United States before the beginning of the war. Curt Reiss, (1902-1993) escaped to the United States in 1933 and led a distinguished life as a journalist. He wrote a biography of Joseph Goebbels in 1948.