278. In discussion with Goebbels, one of the Reich Marshal’s main detractors, Hitler defended Göring and pointed to his earlier services in building up the Luftwaffe (TBJG, II/13, 213 (3 August 1944)). Sentimentality is, however, unlikely to have been the real reason for holding on to Göring. Issues of public image were more weighty.
279. Below, 394; Irving, HW, 708, 714, 728; Mitcham, 76.
280. TBJG II/13, 582 (28 September 1944); Irving, HW 728. See also Irving, Goring, 438–45.
281. TBJG, II/14, 330 (2 December 1944).
282. Speer, 578. n.21; Irving, Goring, 442, 444. Hitler cut Below short when the latter advocated the exclusive use of the Me262s as fighters (Below, 393). Despite his insistence on their production as bombers, the first fifty fighters began operations in mid-October (Irving, Goring, 442).
283. See his comments in his military briefing on 28 December 1944 (LB Darmstadt, 314); also his hints in this direction in the briefing on 12 December (LB Darmstadt, 294). He told Goebbels at the beginning of December that German arms were superior to those of the Allies in all areas except that of the Luftwaffe, and that there was no prospect of overcoming this inferiority in the near future (TBJG, II/14, 330 (2 December 1944)).
284. TBJG, II/13, 503–4 (17 September 1944), 510 (18 September 1944).
285. TBJG, II/14, 193 (10 November 1944), 210 (13 November 1944).
286. Domarus, 2162. The words ‘Ausrottung’ (‘eradication’) and ‘Vernichtung’ (‘annihilation’) were used on numerous occasions during the proclamation.
287. Domarus, 2163.
288. Domarus, 2165–6.
289. Domarus, 2165.
290. Domarus, 2167.
291. Below, 395. For further indications of despondency, see Irving, HW, 893, note to 726, and 894, note to 739.
292. TBJG, II/14, 210 (13 November 1944), 217 (16 November 1944). For Hitler’s general ill-health, throat problems, nervous tension about the coming offensive, and irritability in November 1944, see Schenk, 256–62; Irving, Doctor, 187–97 (from Morell’s diary).
293. Below, 395; Schenck, 320–23; Irving, Doctor, 194–7; Irving, HW, 734. The operation was carried out on 22 November. For a week, he could speak only in a whisper (Below, 396).
294. TBJG II/14, 316 (2 December 1944).
295. TBJG, II/14, 317 (2 December 1944).
296. TBJG, II/14, 318–19 (2 December 1944).
297. TBJG, II/14, 322 (2 December 1944).
298. TBJG, II/14, 323–4 (2 December 1944).
299. TBJG, II/14, 321 (2 December 1944). Linge recalled Hitler’s short-lived revitalization at the beginning of the offensive (Linge, Bis zum Untergang, 250).
300. For Dietrich, see Charles Messenger, Hitler’s Gladiator. The Life and Times of Oberstgruppenführer der Waffen-SS Sepp Dietrich, London, 1988; James T. Weingartner, ‘Josef “Sepp” Dietrich — Hitlers Volksgeneral’, in Smelser and Syring, Die Militärelite des Dritten Reiches, 113–28; William T. Allbritton and Samuel W. Mitcham, Jr, ‘SS-Oberstgruppenführer und Generaloberst der Waffen-SS Joseph (Sepp) Dietrich’, in Ueberschär, Hitlers militärische Elite, ii.37–44. I am grateful to Dr Chris Clarke for letting me see a sketch of Dietrich’s character and career, ‘Josef “Sepp” Dietrich: Landsknecht im Dienste Hitlers’, forthcoming in Ronald Smelser and Enrico Syring (eds.), Die SS: Elite unter dem Totenkopf. 30 Lebensläufe, Paderborn etc., 2000, 119–33. Both Dietrich and Manteuffel are the subjects of a brief pen-picture by Franz Kurowski, ‘Dietrich and Manteufel’, in Barnett, Hitler’s Generals, 411–37.
301. Warlimont, 480–83 (quotations, 482, 482–3; code-names of the operation, 480, 490); KTB OKW, iv/1, 439.
302. Warlimont, 485.
303. Below, 396; Domarus, 2171, n.377.
304. LB Darmstadt, 290–91 (12 December 1944).
305. LB Darmstadt 291.
306. LB Darmstadt 277 (31 August 1944).
307. LB Darmstadt 292.
308. Weinberg III, 766.
309. Stephen B. Patrick, ‘The Ardennes Offensive: An Analysis of the Battle of the Bulge, December 1944’, in Nofi, 206–24, here 217; Oxford Companion, 114.
310. Guderian, 380–81; Warlimont, 490–91; Gruchmann, Der Zweite Weltkrieg, 310–12; Weinberg III, 766–8; Heifermann, 232–4.
311. LB Darmstadt, 302–3; Gruchmann, Der Zweite Weltkrieg, 313.
312. LB Darmstadt, 295–6 (28 December 1944).
313. LB Darmstadt, 297.
314. LB Darmstadt, 315.
315. LB Darmstadt, 305.
316. Gruchmann, Der Zweite Weltkrieg, 313–14; LB Darmstadt, 316 n.428
317. Gruchmann, Der Zweite Weltkrieg, 312; Weinberg III. 769.
