Quote:
Originally Posted by tcolvin
And surely Galland was mis-remembering.
Hitler famously said he had a reactionary Army, a Christian Navy but a National Socialist Air Force, and Galland was for years one of Hitler's favourites.
|
That wasn't an original thought.
In modern german history:
The Army was Prussian first and foremost and loyal to the King of Prussia
The Navy was Imperial and loyal to the Kaiser and the Empire.
The Air Force as in independent arm was "National Socialist" and it is hard to argue that it was not, both in birth and generation of men.
Of course with the other arms this distinction became less clear with the junior cadre of officers, but the senior generation was still embedded in these traditions.
One of Hitlers biggest coups in his career was winning support of the army, he had tamed his most powerful and influential of adversaries, it ranks there with bluffing the Anglo-French into inaction during the Czech and later Polish adventures.