Until then, Göring spent most of January 1916 flying the Albatros C.I (C 486/15) previously assigned to him. FFA 25 records show he divided his time flying Leutnants Walter Kaehler and Otto Schmidt on routine reconnaissance missions along the periphery of Verdun. During a flight with Kaehler on 29 January, French ground fire hit the aeroplane ten times but did not impede its mission.⁶

On Tuesday, 8 February 1916, the big AEG was approved for frontline service. Göring flew familiarisation missions on several occasions, preparing, as were the two Kampfgschwaders [combat wings] also assigned AEG G.II aircraft, for the battle that soldiers on both sides of the lines knew was coming. There was one slight hitch in plans for the Verdun offensive, but they were soon resolved as FFA 25’s leader, Hauptmann Leo Leonhardy, wrote later:

‘To conceal our advance against Verdun, the supreme high command transferred … Kampfgeschwader 1 and 2 to the 5th Army Sector, where they would be used mainly for the previously mentioned “barrier flights” [aimed at blocking allied flights over German territory]. Actually, we succeeded in keeping secret from the enemy all of our … preparations for German troops until, on 10 February 1916, the date for the beginning of the attack, an [officer] of non-German descent deserted to the enemy with a copy of the attack order.

‘Then, due to heavy rain soaking the ground, the attack could not begin until 21 February and, as a result of this …delay, the French gained time to make counter preparations. Despite those efforts, the breakthrough succeeded as planned …

‘Once the attack became known, the flying gangs in the skies increased greatly and there was an air battle during every flight.’⁷

The Battle Begins

The German artillery bombardment of the Verdun fortifications, as well as villages and other positions on both banks of the Meuse river, began at 7:15 a.m. on a cold, dry Monday, 21 February 1916. Some 1,250 guns of varying calibres caused nearly complete devastation along a fifteen-mile frontline.⁸ Hauptmann Leonhardy, one of the first aerial observers of the onslaught on that day, reported:

‘… Over Caures Wood, I saw the breakthrough site. Entire French concrete bombproof command bunkers were raised out of the ground and hurled forward. Where a dud forty-two-centimetre shell lay one could see just how the impact threw up a fountain of dirt.’⁹

The AEG G.II bomber in which Göring flew with his new crew of the past few days, Oberleutnant von Schaesberg-Thannheim and Vizefeldwebel Boje, was also in the air that morning.¹⁰ From 10:00 a.m. until 1:30 p.m., they also observed the horrifying effects of the big shells hitting and causing the earth to vomit huge chunks of every form of material on the ground. They were back at their airfield when, at 4:45 p.m.,¹¹ swarms of German infantrymen advanced in a methodical battle formation four and a half miles wide, marking a stunning first day’s operation.

The following morning, Göring and Schaesberg-Thannheim (generally referred to as Schaesberg) went back up over the battle area, this time with two aerial gunners, Leutnant Parisius and Unteroffizier Röder. With the aeroplane at its full crew capacity – one gunner in the forward station and one in the aft cockpit – the AEG G.II crew was ready for action when a French aeroplane tried to interrupt the observer’s aerial photography work. The intruder was warded off, but not shot down.¹²