Evening star., 1945-06-17
Goering Says Hitler Failures
And Allied Air Power Won War
BY GEORGE TUCKER,

ana AuIe0 Arr
BY GEORGE TUCKER,
Associated Press War Correspondent.
18th ARMY GROUP HEAD
QUARTERS, Germany, June 16.
American interrogation off,
GERS said today Reichsmarshal
Hermann Goering had told them
that:
Hitler gave the japanese the Ger
man blueprints for = jet fighter,
and these plans were taken to ia
pan by submarine;
Germany once planned to occupy
Iceland and the Azores;
He himself unsuccessfully had
urged Hitler to seize Gibraltar;
Allied air power assured the sue
cess Of the invasion, and he was
stunned" by the performance of
United States 1ong-range fighters;
Hitler ordered the perfect" Ger
man jet fighter converted into a
bomber and I'm your aerial warfare
you had great ALLYN the
Fuehrer" because OF Hitler's deci-
sions.
In the interrogations, which pro-
duced more opinions than solid
facts from Goering. expressed dis
belief that Russian could afford to
enter the war against Japan with
out endangering her postwar eco
nomic position. the officers said.
As for the Jet fighter whose blue
prints were given to the Japanese,
Goering said there is . big differ
ence between looking at a blue
print and being able to do any
thing with it,"
Goering was quoted as saving
these factors led to Germanys de.
feAt: Hltler's ignorance Of the uses
OF air power; the unreliability of the
Italians in the Mediterranean; the
destructive force Of United States
long-range heavy bombers, and the
overall supremacy in European wa
tiers Of the British Home Fleet.
Goering said the Germans failed
to invade Britain after the fan of
France because Of the German
Nays inadequate shipping space,
an insufficient number of landing
craft and fear Of the British Home
Fleet, but expressed belief that an
invasion would have succeeded once
a bridsehead had been secured be-
cause the British did not have
enough bombers at that time.
Goering said that early in the war
he saw the need Of taking Gibraltar
by slipping down through Spain and
assaulting that British bastion from
the rear. The Spaniards, he said,
were friendly to the Germans be-
cause the Germans had saved
them from Communism.
Hitler Unconvinced.
Declaring that the Spaniards were
weak and would have made no OBJ
lection to the passage of German
troops through Spanish territory,
Goering said that for the same
reason Generalissimo Francisco
Franco would have granted the
Nazis Spanish ports for their sub
marines.
Many Allied officers consider that
the failure Of the Germans to take
Gibraltar constituted . blunder Sec
ond In scope only to the failure to
invade Britain.
Goering said he saw and used all
his persuasive powers on Hitler, but
Hitler could not see it and in his
madness turned from Gibraltar and
plunged into Russia.
After the United States entered
the war, success for the Allies be-
came certain because Of the irresist-
able numerical superiority of the
Allied air forces, Goering added, de-
claring: "The Allies owe the success
of the invasion to the air forces.
They prepared the invasion, they
made it possible. they carried it
through"
The Allied air force, he said, made
1t impossible to bring German
ground forces forward fast enough
for suitable counterattack, and Ger
man armor never was able to func-
tion well under Allied aerial harass-
ment.
without the American Air Force
the war would still be going on else
where, but certainly not on German
soil" he declared.
Goodness developed between Goer-
ing and Hitler after the invasion of
Russia, the former Luftwaffe chief
tain said, and from then on, Hitlers
enthusiasm for Goering's ideas
waned.
Hitler Sarcastic.
At one time, Goering said, Hitler
turned to him and sarcastically
asked: IT'S there q single pilot in the
German air force with enough CUTS
to fly over Moscow"
After this the Germans did some
bombing In the Moscow area, but no
all-out air assault was ever ordered,
Goering said.
Discussing V-weapons, Goering
laughed as he told interrogation Of
f1cers: "You were extremely lucky
the war did not last another year,
or that we were unable to start the
use OF our weapons one year earlier"
Research on the va. the "Eying
Telegraph Pole" began long before
the war, Goering said, with the
original idea of developing an ex-
press mail service between Germany
and the United States.
In 1914, he said, Adolf Hitler's
madness" became 50 absolute that
production schedules for Jet fighters
were wrecked and the Luftwaffe