Speaking of the difficulties that resulted from the hoarding of spare parts by the various foremen, he said—
“Now it is your task to teach these people some sense and to put the entire system of hoarding on a sensible basis. I therefore ask you, as the senior authorities in the field: teach that to these people by force. There is no sense in writing letters. Such letters are not read. They would not understand them anyhow.”
The wish of a field marshal is as an order, and he advocated the use of force on his own people. The extent to which he urged that they go was expressed a few lines further on when he stated—
“Whoever hoards supplies must be punished immediately. By punishment I also mean shooting. For if these people are told what is at issue here, and they still try to hide parts of their supplies or to cover them up, that is dirty dealing and a crime against Germany. I want to say that very clearly and I want to say it in very sincere words, so that you yourselves will realize that we are dealing here with a question which is of decisive importance for Germany’s well-being, that we are not dealing with an ordinary point of discussion but with a question which decides about the life and death of Germany.”
He advocated killing Germans, not slackers but hoarders. He consciously used strong language, yet he would have it believed that he never spoke harshly except in a rage and that nothing ever came from his outbursts. He indicated knowledge of the overall figures on the breakdown of working hours.
“In considering the figures one has to know that 52 percent of the total man-hours are spent in equipping a plane and only 48 percent in building the aircraft frame and engine.”
He has said that he was powerless to do anything about requests from industry, yet he stated—
“If I want something from industry, then industry comes and says, ‘Yes, I have those and those requests.’ Only then can I do what you want.”
He again speaks of the death penalty when he says—
“Gentlemen, in this connection I may call your attention to another important point. If I visit an office and find out that something is being hidden there, then I ask for the death penalty for such a crime today. That is fraud. That is sabotage of the German armament industry.”