HERMANN GÖRING
Between his already arthritic knees and the hip wound from his 2 November 1916 air combat, Hermann Göring’s therapeutic exercises and daily walks were very painful. But he knew that he had to improve his mobility in order to return to flying. A fine opportunity to be up and about came when he was formally discharged from convalescence at a military hospital in Munich on 15 January 19172; his godfather, Dr. Hermann Ritter von Epenstein, invited him to Burg Mauterndorf.3 Göring returned to his boyhood fantasy world and he did it as a decorated and honourably wounded war hero. The visit was a dream come true in many respects.
Epenstein’s young wife, Lilli, had settled into her new life and felt quite secure in her position as mistress of the fortress. Indeed, she enjoyed being addressed as ‘Frau Baronin’ [baroness]4 and responded to the honorific title with grace and charm. A source with connections to the Göring family noted:
‘… throughout the castle and beyond it there was evidence of [Lilli’s] lightness of spirit. She had thinned out the heavy Gothic furniture … and brought light, colour and gaiety into dark and musty corners. She had also done much to ease the heavy-handed, feudal manner in which … Epenstein had always controlled the lives of the families on the estate, and [she] moved among the woman and their children no doubt as the lady of the manor, but one wishing to be friendly and helpful.’5
When Göring arrived at Mauterndorf, a pleasant surprise greeted him: his mother had also been also invited to visit her former homestead. Lilli had contacted Fanny Göring ‘and indicated in every way possible that she wished to be friends. It was if she were making amends for the way in which, through her marriage [to Epenstein], the Görings had lost their family home.’6
Unlike her reserved and often pretentious husband, Lilli von Epenstein also opened the old fortress to ‘farmers and landowners in the neighbouring countryside, inviting them to meals and celebrations … and to hunts over the Mauterndorf estate’.7 During a party in his honour, Hermann Göring met and immediately was attracted to Marianne Mauser, the pretty ‘daughter of solid, well-to-do parents … [who was] dazzled by the wounded flyer’.8 By the end of his two-week short stay in Mauterndorf, Hermann and Marianne felt they were in love with each other and Hermann called on her father to ask formally for Marianne’s hand in marriage. Herr Mauser, it was reported, was ‘less impressed by Göring’s record than by his family’s lack of land or money … but because he did not wish to offend … Epenstein by turning down his godson, he temporised, and consented to a secret engagement. He evidently reasoned that life on the Western Front was too short for the arrangement ever to lead to marriage.’9
Herr Mauser might have taken more interest in his daughter’s suitor had he known about the conversation that took place between Hermann and Fanny Göring and Lilli von Epenstein just before the young Leutnant returned to duty. Fanny later told her daughter Olga that, as they surveyed the estate, Lilli said to Hermann: ‘One day all this will be yours again. And so will Mauterndorf.10 And, in fact, following Lilli’s death, Hermann inherited much of his godfather’s wealth.
Assigned to Jagdstaffel 26
With three confirmed aerial victories to his credit, Göring seemed to have emerged from the shadow of his best friend and aviation mentor, Bruno Loerzer, who by the time of their most recent flight had shot down only two enemy aeroplanes. But during Göring’s extended convalescence Loerzer’s career made great strides. By virtue of his rank as a regular army oberleutnant and his varied combat experiences, Loerzer was assigned to command a new fighter unit, Jagdstaffel 26, which had been established on 14 December 1916 at Flieger-Ersatz-Abteilung 9 in Darmstadt.11 It took five weeks to gather the aeroplanes, men and equipment needed to furnish the unit and then, on 18 January 1917, the Staffel was shipped by train to its first airfield, just outside the Alsatian city of Colmar. Operating from that location, some sixty kilometres northeast of an important French airbase at Belfort, Loerzer and his men interdicted French aeroplanes intent on attacking German troops in the area and bombing cities in German-occupied Alsace and sites east of the Rhine.
As a Jagdstaffel commanding officer, Loerzer was able to request capable pilots he knew from previous assignments. If their unit commanders did not object, air force policy was flexible enough that transfers were easily arranged. Hence, it was no surprise that Loerzer requested Göring, who had no lingering ties to Jasta 5 and was now fit for duty; he duly reported to Jasta 26 on 15 February 1917.12 Once again, Göring and Loerzer made a good pair – as long as Göring’s wishes were accommodated. His dominating personality enabled him to influence many people, including Loerzer, from whom he came to expect a certain deference. Of course, Göring saw that influence in a different light and once summed up his relationship with Loerzer: “We are bound together by something stronger than chains, Loerzer and I. I know that in my hour of need he will never let me down.’13 Their close friendship was to last until Göring’s death in 1946.
Jasta 26 was equipped with the new Albatros D.III, a sleek ‘winning fighter with improved performance and hitting power compared to the … Fokker and Halberstadt D-types’14 and built by the company that produced the fine Albatros two-seat aircraft Göring had flown a year earlier. He flew Albatros D.III 2049/16 in combat from the day of his arrival in the Staffel, but with no immediate air combat successes. However, he witnessed the third and fourth victories of Bruno Loerzer on 6 and 10 March 1917,15 as well as the second victory of the Staffelführer’s younger brother, Vizefeldwebel Fritz Loerzer on 16 March.16