This is the story of the evolution of organization, operations, weapons and tactics to meet the relentless Allied day bomber offensive that continually presented the Luftwaffe fighter force with an increasingly powerful and capable enemy and – in the form of the P-51 over Berlin – the instrument of its ultimate defeat. The vast majority of the fighter force was thrown into these losing battles, and they are the reason why it is estimated that the overall wartime mortality of Luftwaffe fighter pilots was over 90 per cent. (Postwar, Galland invited Douglas Bader, the legless RAF ace, to a German fighter pilot’s reunion. Bader, upon entering, was obviously disappointed. ‘I didn’t think we left this many of you bastards alive.’ Galland replied, ‘Oh, you didn’t. Most of these bastards were on the Eastern Front. Come, I’ll introduce you.’)
In this chapter, in addition to the postwar interrogations, are included three wartime documents, two written by Galland himself and one by the GAF Operational Staff from drafts by Galland and his staff. These show how Galland’s responsibility to direct tactical and operational evolution was carried out and how the anti-bomber focus evolved from the initial battles (focusing on a few formations of fighters over France in 1942) to the massive climactic battles of 1944 (focusing on massed formations of fighters assembled from throughout Germany).