During his enforced inactivity, the twenty-two-year-old Göring whiled away some of his time writing to Fräulein Alwine, a girlfriend back in Germany. He countered his frustration by penning some stirring lines that surely were meant to impress the young woman, while unintentionally revealing an inner drive that defined his life in 1915 and for decades in the future: ‘I do not want to be an ordinary person. Struggle is and remains essential for [my] life, whether in nature or among people. I want to tower over the human herd, not that I will follow them; rather, that everyone will follow me.’³⁹

Once Loerzer was satisfied with the airworthiness of the more powerful 150-hp Benz-engined Albatros,⁴⁰ Göring got his wish in a way. With his camera ready, he soared high above everyone else while on a series of photographic reconnaissance missions focusing on a new development in the extended Verdun fortification system. Verdun already boasted several cannon-equipped armoured rotating artillery turrets and, from 24 February through 3 March 1915, Göring tracked a special armoured turret construction at the Côte de Talon, near Douaumont. As Sommerfeldt wrote:

‘According to ground troop reports, extensive preparations were in progress to install a high-calibre cannon, which the [5th Army] staff felt was a serious threat. Göring had to determine the exact situation of this so-called “armoured tower”. During the first flight he succeeded in finding the site and making very good photographs of it. Then thorough preliminary discussions of ranging fire against the “armoured tower” were held.

‘On the day of the ranging operation [3 March], Loerzer and Göring circled some kilometres behind the enemy lines. From directly above Göring observed the batteries’ bomb craters and directed their fire with a complicated system of flare pistol shots. At the same time he made an exact sketch of the location of the shell hits.

‘With this sketch done, they glided back over the position of the firing batteries and from 600 metres’ altitude Göring dropped it in a report pouch so auspiciously that it fell right onto the batteries’ observation post. In only an hour he had directed the devastating fire and the “tower” was completely destroyed.

‘The reward followed quickly. The leader of the [5th] Army, the Crown Prince, personally presented both comrades with the Iron Cross 1st Class. In addition they received a few days’ leave.’⁴¹

The award ceremony did not occur that ‘quickly’; rather, it took place almost three weeks later, on 23 March, to allow time for the recommendation paperwork to proceed through proper channels. Göring’s award for the honour was approved on 22 March⁴² and Loerzer’s a day later⁴³ – likely reflecting normal military bureaucratic processes. On the bright side, however, such presentations were usually very public events, in which the awardees were roundly congratulated by their immediate superiors and peers. Being honoured at a ceremony presided over by the Crown Prince would have reinforced Hermann Göring’s sense of self-importance. In this case, the presentation was certainly consistent with Crown Prince Wilhelm’s high regard for the two airmen and their unit. In his post-war memoir he wrote:

‘With much anticipation, the General Staff officers maintained the closest verbal [telephone] communication with all reconnaissance units, and the splendidly vigorous flyers of … [Feldflieger-] Abteilung 25 – always ready to take-off – speedily earned [my] appreciation and deepest affection … Through their special zeal and daring the aviation Leutnants Göhring [sic] and Loerzer, among others, distinguished themselves.’⁴⁴

The Crown Prince’s compliment to the FFA 25 crew is all the more meaningful in that, of all the many notable aviators the heir to the German throne encountered during World War I, he singled out only four for such praise in his memoir. In addition to Göring and Loerzer, he also mentioned the forty-victory fighter ace Hauptmann Oswald Boelcke and the staff air officer for the 5th Army, Major Wilhelm Haehnelt.⁴⁵

Between the time of the successful destruction of the armoured tower at the Côte de Talon and the medals award ceremony, however, Loerzer and Göring had a most unpleasant experience. Ignoring bad weather on the morning of Friday, 19 March 1915, the crew took off for a photo-reconnaissance and artillery-ranging mission and seemed to disappear into the mist. Their comrades became worried when the pair did not return within a normal sequence of time. Just after lunch, however, FFA 25 was notified that the missing crew of Albatros B.I 990/14 had been forced to land after the aeroplane’s propeller broke. Consequently, they were stranded near the town of Mersch in the German-occupied Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. Abteilungsführer Blum sent an officer and a mechanic to drive to the site to dismantle the aeroplane and haul it to the nearest aviation facility, at Montmédy. The following day, Loerzer and Göring, apparently unaffected by the experience, resumed their normal activities in the aircraft.⁴⁶