I knew that he did not want to hear this. However, I wished that he would hear me in spite of that. He could do with me whatever he wanted to afterwards. I remembered, however, that he himself before the war had used strong words against the bad advisers of Wilhelm II, who out of cowardice, had not told him the truth. In no case did I wish to stand before my own conscience with such a reproach on myself. He told me then, “Yes, you can say today whatever you wish to say.”
I told him then that he was no more in a position to attack in the East. That those attacks which had already been developed, he should stop. That he could only defend himself, and I was of the direct opinion that instead of building great fortification works in France and Norway, that during the whole of the spring, summer, and autumn, he should concentrate on fortifying the Dnieper position, which lay about 800 kilometers behind the Russian front, with all the means at his disposal, with fortifications of concrete, etc., in a great width, between two-hundred and three-hundred kilometers depth, and in that way there would be strong fortifications and good shelter for soldiers, with good equipment and food and ammunition, and that then he should take the troops back to that position for the winter, and that he should give up the whole territory in front of that fortification, out of which he would not get anything at all, neither oil, coal, nor ore. By doing that he would shorten the length of the Russian front, and in such a way that the maintenance of those soldiers on the line would be much easier. Apart from that he should take more care of the eastern forces, and I am quite sure that on the whole eastern front of two-thousand kilometers, of about ten million German soldiers, not one million of them were fighting and he should take measures to change that. That was the only point he carried out later on, and unfortunately only towards the end of November of that year and the result was that the fighting infantry units on the whole eastern front amounts to 265,000 men of the army. It was impossible to hold that front with such a small number.
I furthermore suggested to him that a great personnel change should be made, namely, he himself should give up command over the army, that he should place a simple general in that position. As it was, he held before the German people a responsibility, which he could not bear. He was no soldier in that sense, since he was not trained for that. I suggested to him to dissolve my own branch as an independent Wehrmacht unit and to put the Luftwaffe entirely under the Wehrmacht, since there was no strategic air force any longer.
Now what I had to say was special for the army, and this was certainly of a personal nature, namely, to remove Reich Marshal Goering from the Luftwaffe, and give him a different task. I said also that it was now the opportune moment for the Reich Foreign Minister also to be removed from his position.
Q. Would you give the name?
A. Von Ribbentrop. I suggested to him that the Field Marshal be put in charge of the units at the front, and I gave as a reason that Keitel was too lenient in reference to Hitler, and did not know how to get his ideas across to Hitler; that he should have somebody who would force him to observe correct military measures. I told him then that the most important task in my opinion was the home defense of Germany; the air home defense of Germany, and to consider as having the highest priority; and also the fighter production should be placed in the first place, and armaments. I showed him the figures of the English, the American and the Russian armaments explicitly, and I showed him how these armaments would have their effect over Germany, and also at what point, or at what time this would happen. I reported to him that many false reports were made to him, and I gave him an exact instance. I told him that he overestimated himself, and his allies, and that he also underestimated the Russians, and the attitude of Stalin personally, and that that had led to the Stalingrad collapse, and he should be quite clear as to the facts if the attack was continued in the East; that he could hold the Dnieper position, and that if he held that position, the air defense would be able to prepare a military preparation for peace if the enemy would see that this crushing of Germany from the air was no longer possible and if the Russians would see that they would not be able to cross the Dnieper without being crushed; that I am sure with that preparedness which should be started at once, we ought to be coming to a peace. It might be possible to get away with bearable peace terms if they would act immediately.
Then I also discussed the peace question, and I told him he might make a real peace with France without taking territory, and I was sure that France would still consider that. The same applied to Belgium, and also Holland, as well as Norway. A peace with these countries would then induce the greater powers of the Western countries to be able to conclude peace with Germany which would be endurable.
Those were the main points of my opinion. I do not wish to recite details. He listened to and interrupted me only once, and that was on the question whether he could or could not attack in 1943, and I remember exactly that I said to him more than twenty times, “You cannot attack” and first he said in a quiet way, then got more excited and more excited until he was very cross, and knocked on the table, “I must attack.” I told him at the end, “I know I am very impolite, I don’t want to discuss this question of attacking anymore. But be convinced I shall not change my opinion.”
Then he waited for a short while, and I began to speak of something else, and then suddenly he said, “What would you say, Milch, if I would only make a short attack in order to be able to push through the Russian preparations before they can start developing.” I answered, “Wait a minute, it is a defensive measure, because a soldier carries out his defense by attacking in turn,” and he said, “Then we agree on that point.” I said, “No, I don’t think we do. If you are successful you will continue. I would say all the troops should go back after forty-eight hours that no matter what. Think of Verdun in 1916 when the same mistake was made; when they did not succeed in getting through on a surprise attempt, they went doggedly on.”