176. Winston S. Churchill, The Second World War. Vol.III: The Grand Alliance, London etc., 1950, 43; Douglas-Hamilton, Motive for a Mission, 174ff, quotation 180; Colville, 306–7; John Costello, Ten Days that Saved the West, London, 1991, 417–19; Padfield, Hess, 213–17, quotation 217; James Leasor, Rudolf Hess: the Uninvited Envoy, London, 1962, ch.1–2, 7; J. Bernard Hutton, Hess: the Man and his Mission, London, 1970, 1ff., 49–52.
177. Padfield, Hess, 218–19, 225; Diaries of Sir Alexander Cadogan, 377. Cadogan was hugely irritated by what he saw as an unwelcome distraction caused by Heß. ‘Heß is the bane of my life and all my time is wasted,’ he noted on 14 May (Diaries, 378). ‘If only the parachute had failed to open, he would be a happier and more efficient man,’ he told close colleagues; ‘the handling of the whole business is difficult but very important psychologically’ (Colville, 388 (14 May 1941).
178. According to some versions, Hitler was still in bed when Pintsch arrived, though he dressed remarkably quickly (Heinz Linge, ‘Kronzeuge Linge. Der Kammerdiener des “Führers”’, Revue, Munich, November 1955-March 1956, 60; Below, 273). Linge later, however, contradicted his first account, indicating that, though not wanting to be wakened before midday, Hitler was already dressed when Pintsch arrived (Heinz Linge, Bis zum Untergang. Als Chef des persönlichen Dienstes bei Hitler, hrsg. von W. Maser, Munich/Berlin, 1980, 141–2). According to Engel, he was present — something disputed by Linge, Bis zum Untergang, 142 n. — while the Führer was discussing military matters when Pintsch was ushered into the Berghof. Angry at being disturbed, Hitler initially refused to see Pintsch, but eventually, with a bad grace, agreed to do so (Engel, 103 (11 May 1941)). General Karl Bodenschatz, Göring’s representative, claimed after the war to have been alone with Hitler when Pintsch handed over the missive from Heß around 11a.m. (lfZ, ZS 10, Karl Bodenschatz, Fol.32 (Interview with David Irving, 3oNovember 1970)); Irving, HW, 244; Schmidt, ‘Der Heß-Flug’, 5 n.20. Hitler himself apparently recalled, mistakenly, in April 1942 that he had received the news from Heinz Lorenz, Press Chief Dietrich’s representative at Führer HQ, while taking tea by the fireside (Picker, 282 (19–20 April 1942)).
179. Engel, 103 (11 May 1941). Linge, ‘Kronzeuge’, 60, in a scene he claimed he would never forget, has Hitler apparently calm as he read the letter, and only on Bormann’s arrival falling into a rage and thumping his fist on the table.
180. Speer, 189. Speer’s details are, however, not always accurate. He has Pietsch instead of Pintsch for Hess’s adjutant, and Leitgen also being present, which he was not. He has Goebbels and Himmler being summoned, and Bormann doing the telephoning. Neither Himmler nor Goebbels were there in the first round. Goebbels was not informed until the following day.
181. A package from Heß had, in fact, so Hitler told his military chiefs a few days later, been delivered to the Berghof the previous evening, but, presuming it was no more than routine Party administrative material from the Deputy Führer, he had simply not bothered to open it (Halder KTB, ii.414 (15 May 1941)). See also Irving, HW, 144. There is no obvious reason why Hitler would have made this up. But, since the letters have not survived, the precise content and how the Saturday evening package (left unopened until the Sunday) and the Sunday letter which came via Pintsch related to each other is unclear. The longer letter, which Hitler had not bothered to open, appears to have been a fourteen-page memorandum with the suggestions for peace that he intended to put to the British. The shorter letter, which so appalled Hitler when he read it, apparently began by saying that by the time the letter was received, its author would be in England. (According to Bodenschatz, who claimed to have read it, this letter was only about two pages long. — IfZ, ZS 10, Fol.32.) Heß handed this letter over to Pintsch immediately before taking off from the airfield at Haunstetten (David Irving, Rudolf Heß — ein gescheiterter Friedensbote? Die Wahrheit über die unbekannten Jahre 1941–1945, Graz/Stuttgart, 1987, 89–90, 100). Heß told the Duke of Hamilton that he had made three previous attempts, but bad weather had intervened. It was, however, also the case that he needed far greater navigational detail than he had initially thought (Irving, Heß, 91–2).
