Ernst Udet place of burial Invalids' Cemetery
Death
By August 1941, the pressures from the Soviet campaign were exacerbating the conflicts between Udet and State Secretary Erhard Milch. In order to attain a mandated quadrupling of production, Milch was pressing Udet for a major reorganisation of his department. Udet resisted, but by September, Göring sided with Milch and several members of Udet's staff were removed, as Milch began to assert increasing control over procurement and supply. Udet was losing his freedom of action and was clearly being eclipsed.On 17 November 1941, Udet shot himself in the head while he was on the phone with his girlfriend, Inge Bleyle. Udet's suicide was concealed from the public, and at his funeral, he was lauded as a hero who had died in flight while he was testing a new weapon. On their way to attend Udet's funeral, the World War II fighter ace Werner Mölders died in a plane crash in Breslau, and the high Luftwaffe executive General der Flieger Helmuth Wilberg died in another plane crash near Dresden. Udet was buried next to Manfred von Richthofen in the Invalidenfriedhof Cemetery in Berlin. Mölders was buried next to Udet.According to Udet's biography, The Fall of an Eagle, he wrote a suicide note in red pencil that included: "Ingelein, why have you left me?" and "Iron One, you are responsible for my death". "Ingelein" referred to his girlfriend, Inge Bleyle, and "Iron One" to Hermann Göring. The book The Luftwaffe War Diaries similarly states that Udet wrote "Reichsmarschall, why have you deserted me?" in red on the headboard of his bed. Evidence indicates that Udet's unhappy relationship with Göring, Erhard Milch and the Nazi Party in general was the cause of a mental breakdown.
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