Evening star., 1945-05-12

freely as he is processed as I
camp at Augsburg, Germany.
BY HOWARD COWAN,
Associated Press War Correspondent.
AUGSBURG, Germany, May H.
Shifty-eyed and perspiring, Her
mann Goering, who faces the pros
pect of answering war crimes
charges, declared yesterday that for
the Germans there will be no third
war in this century-everyone wants
peace"
His puffy cheeks reddening under
a hot sun, Goering uneasily faced a
battery of war correspondents and
gave his version, at least, of what
had occurred in the Nazi hierarchy
during the war years.
The Japanese attack on the
American fleet at Pearl Harbor
came as complete surprise to the
German high command, the cap
tured Reichsmarshal said.
Declaring he was satisfied that
Adolf Hitler was dead, Goering
claimed that Martin Bormann, de-
putty Nazi party leader, named
Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz as Hit
ler's successor and added: Hitler
did not leave thing in writing
saying that Doenitz was to take
his place!"
Jealous of Bormann.
The man who for years had been
the No. 2 Nazi blamed all the dis
sension in the party on Bormann.
With note of jealousy, Goering
said Bormann had every chance to
influence Hitler since ''he was with
him night and day"
Concerning the German attack on
the Soviet Union, Goering said:
when Hitler decided to attack
Russia, myself referred him to his
Mein Kampf, where he said that to
fight war on two fronts was dam
gerous. was convinced that Russia
was not going to attack-maybe
Finland but not Germany"
Hitler ordered the attack on
Russia, he said, because he thought
he could knock her out quickly and
leave only a small force to finish
her off.
Goering answered with a powerful
affirmative when asked if Hitler per-
sonally was responsible for the con-
duct of the SIS and the Gestapo and
the manner in which German con-
centration camps were run.
Ordered Coventry Bombed.
With a defiant "yes" Goering ad-
mitted he had ordered the bombing
of the English city of Coventry and
defended the saturation raid as
legitimate because of the concen-
tration of aircraft and war indus
tries there. THE order to bomb
Canterbury" he said, came from
higher headquarters as revenge for
the British bombing of a German
cathedral city. I don't remember
which German city"
In his discussion of the war in the
air Goering, former commander of
the German Air Force, volunteered
that "the American Air Force made
the Allied offensive successful"
Asserting that Hitler had tried his
best to keep America out of the
war, Goering said: Il myself point
ed out to him after the Polish Incl
dent that never again must the
United States enter the war. Hitler
believed that the bad experiences of
America after the last war-that
alone would keep America out of
this war"
Tried to Cooperate.
He continued: Hitler tried to CO.
operate with England but took the
wrong manner and the wrong
means. If he had any regret over
his actions in the light of the
Munich pact with prime Minister)
Chamberlain, don't know about it"
Goering denied that he gave the
order "up to England" in Paris in
1910, and declared that he would
not have made such a statement be-
cause Germany did not have the
planes nor the ships for such an
adventure. The invasion of Britain
was in preparation but the order
never was given and no false starts
were made, he added.
In explaining that the flight of
Rudolf Hess to England was a COM
plete surprise in Nazi circles, Goer-
ing said: "Only three people know
why he did it. They are close mem
bers of his family, and I cannot
name them"
Goering repeated that Hitler was
dead, but his ideas on the Fuehrer's
end varied greatly from, those ex-
pressed by Field Marshals Won Rund-
stedt and Kesselring, also Allied
captives.
When I saw him QIitler) last
April 20 in Berlin, he was very sick
something wrong with his brain"
Goering said, motioning with his
hands and making an obvious effort
to be convincing. "I've heard he
killed himself"
The two marshals had asserted
that Hitler died leading his troops.
Standing in the back yard Of the
two-story house where he was quar-
tered, Goering's pale blue eyes swept
over the crowd of newsmen as he
said:
Hitler has been dead longer than
it is believed. The body has been
disposed of so it wouldn't fall into
the hands of the Russians" (Hit-
ler's death was announced May by
DoenitZ, who said he died that after
noon.)
Goering said that on April a Hit
Ter was convinced for the first time
that the war was lost and 1t was
useless to continue the fight in the
redoubt area The ReichSmarShal