A Higher Call

by Adam Makos

Franz looked at his nervous pilots around him and saw the rawest form of bravery. They were to go up against impossible odds. His enemies saw the same bravery. A B-17 pilot, Joseph Deichl, remembered, “When we did see the German fighters queuing up and start making their passes at us, we always thought they must have been on drugs or something because they were absolutely fearless, coming through the formation.”2 Goering, however, attributed his pilots’ inability to stop the bombing raids as “cowardice.” Their grievous losses did not matter to him. He accused his own pilots of sabotaging fuel depots so they wouldn’t have fuel to fly. He told the general of fighters, Galland, that his wing and group commanders would rather “play with themselves on the ground” than fight. Goering told JG-77’s leader, Steinhoff, “The fighter force is going to give battle to the last man. If it does not, it can go and join the infantry.”3 Goering even transmitted a message to group commanders authorizing them to court-martial pilots who had been seen to “run from a fight.” If any pilots were found guilty, Goering wanted them shot in front of their comrades.