What Göring Said When 800 American Fighters Reached Berlin

In March 1944, the Eighth Air Force did the one thing Hermann Göring had sworn was impossible. Hundreds of American fighters crossed deep into Germany and appeared over Berlin, escorting the heavy bombers all the way to the capital the Luftwaffe had promised would never be touched. Göring had built that air force and staked his name on its defense. The bombers paid a savage price on the worst day the Eighth Air Force ever flew. But the real damage was being done to the Luftwaffe itself. A year later, questioned by the American officers who had beaten him, Göring was asked when he knew the air war was lost, and his answer is not the famous line about Mustangs that still gets quoted today. This is the full story of how the Allies broke the Luftwaffe over Berlin, and what Göring actually said when it was finished.