Two days later, with his aeroplane repaired and test flown, Göring was back in the air, charging after French aeroplanes but having no luck in shooting down any of them.³⁵ Essentially, the German offensive at Verdun ended on 11 July and further actions in this area only tied down French forces that otherwise would have gone to the new battleground in the Somme Sector.³⁶

At this time, the German Fliegertruppe reorganisation was still in progress. That development did not yet affect Göring and Loerzer, who continued to fly with FFA 25’s Kampfstaffel [combat detachment], even as the Abteilung eliminated its Fokkerstaffel [Fokker detachment], which was redundant, on 14 August.³⁷

To refine and strengthen the role of single-seat combat aircraft for offensive operations, Feldflugchef Thomsen ordered the establishment of Jagdstaffeln [literally hunting units, but equal to Allied fighter squadrons], abbreviated as Jastas. Hauptmann Oswald Boelcke was charged with establishing the first such unit. In a peculiar sequence driven by immediate need rather than numerical order, on 10 August 1916 Boelcke was appointed commanding officer of Jasta 2, while Jasta 3 came under Hauptmann Hermann Kohze; and, on 22 August Jasta 1 was led by Hauptmann Martin Zander.³⁸

As those developments were taking place during a slow and uncertain period, Göring flew a battlefield ‘tour’ of part of the Verdun area that had once been so hotly contested. Kulenkampff wrote home that, on 21 August, he, Leutnant Winand Grafe and Leutnant Konstantin von Kleist-Retzow accompanied Göring – most likely in the old AEG G.II. Kulenkampff wrote that the four flyers:

‘… made a review of our troops in the forward-most trenches … It was a relatively calm day. We came up to Côte de Froide Terre [Cold Earth Ridge], saw Douaumont off to the left, the French trenches at Thiaumont, Souville and the entire Marre Ridge. One just could not believe the devastation and destruction. Each particle of earth was disturbed not just once by a big shell; on the contrary, it was churned up day in and day out! As I said, it was a quiet day and, in spite of that, there was such a racket and uproar … Fort Douaumont is a big, high trash heap from which isolated fragments of armoured towers and stonework protrude. The village of Douaumont is, unfortunately, no longer to be found and its earlier position can be determined only in old maps …’³⁹

Kulenkampff further described a panorama of destruction within the small area over which he and his comrades flew; he was stunned by the enormity of the wasteland created by General von Falkenhayn’s failed plan to ’bleed’ the French army at this battle site. The German lack of success at Verdun also reflected poorly on the nominal area commander, Crown Prince Wilhelm. Hence, on 23 August, General Konstantin Schmidt von Knobelsdorf, the 5th Army chief of staff and the officer generally responsible for the overall Verdun campaign, was quietly reassigned to a less important post as commander of the 10th Army Corps in Alsace. Six days later, General Erich von Falkenhayn was relieved as chief of the general staff of the German army. He was appointed commander of the 9th Army in Transylvania and was succeeded in the German army’s top position by Generalfeldmarschal [Field Marshal] Paul von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg, the hero of the Battle of Tannenberg in 1914. Popularly known as Hindenburg, he and his deputy, General Erich Ludendorff, directed the German army for the remainder of World War I.

On 6 September, Göring and Loerzer were again posted to Jametz airfield, northwest of Metz, where FFA 71 still maintained an air defence Kampfstaffel. In an odd nuance of the Fliegertruppe reorganisation, the Metz Kampfstaffel was declared an independent entity on 9 September.⁴⁰ The unit was placed under the command of the pre-war aviation veteran Hauptmann Kurt Schmickaly,⁴¹ who was aided by Oberleutnant Stefan Kirmaier, who had scored three “kills” while flying with FAA 203⁴² and who brought with him Halberstadt D.II D 109/16. Göring and Loerzer arrived next along with their newer Halberstadt D.IIIs (serial numbered D 392 and D 393).⁴³ The only air action recorded for the pair’s brief stay occurred on 14 September, when Göring fought with two ‘latticefuselage’ aircraft in the vicinity of Nancy,⁴⁴ some fifty kilometres south of Metz.

Due to reduced French air activity near Metz at that time, on 28 September, Göring and Loerzer were transferred to Jagdstaffel 7.⁴⁵ The newly-formed unit was based at Martincourt-sur-Meuse, north of Stenay, still in the 5th Army Sector,⁴⁶ with which they were so familiar. But this assignment was during another quiet period, which only frustrated experienced and aggressive members such as Göring and Loerzer. Ultimately, however, they would benefit from the air units’ reorganisation, which was finalised on 8 October. On that day, Generalleutnant Ernst von Hoeppner, a long-time cavalry officer,⁴⁷ became Kommandierende General der Luftstreitkräfte [commanding general of the air force]. The old Fliegertruppe’s loose command structure was replaced by a unified command, comprising ‘what had been under the Feldflugchef [Thomsen] for aviation: captive balloons, army airships and the army weather service, as well as the anti-aircraft and home defence units.’⁴⁸ The Kogenluft, as the office was known in its abbreviated form, expanded some units and reassigned or consolidated others. The Jagdstaffeln, which had grown to fifteen at this point, were to be expanded to thirty-seven for the spring 1917 offensive.⁴⁹ While German fighter pilots would continue to fly lone aircraft patrols, seeking targets of opportunity, there was increased emphasis on developing strategies and tactics for massed air strength.