Next to Hitler himself, the biggest jerks in Germany were Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering and Reichsfuehrer SS Heinrich Himmler.

CNN: Private Ryan was a hero, but there were bums, too

In 1940, Hermann Goering assured Adolf Hitler that invading England was unnecessary: the Luftwaffe would bomb Britain into submission.

ECONOMIST: Letters

Lord Justice GEOFFREY LAWRENCE (Nuremberg trial): Defendant Hermann Wilhelm Goering, the International Military Tribunal sentences you to death by hanging.

NPR: Listening In On the Nuremberg Trials

During a visit by the Lindberghs to Germany in 1938, Charles had received a medal from Hermann Goering, Hitler's air minister.

ECONOMIST: Anne Lindbergh

In 1935, Hermann Goering officially created the German Air Force, the Luftwaffe.

CNN: Wednesday,

What may have been most shocking though, were the cynical pleas of ignorance I watched from top Nazi leaders such as Hermann Goering.

NPR: Listening In On the Nuremberg Trials

Mr. HERMAN GOERING (Convicted Nazi Leader): (Through translator) As far as Hitler is concerned, I have stated that I do not think that he was aware of it.

NPR: Listening In On the Nuremberg Trials

In 1946, Hermann Goering, the Nazi leader and one of Hitler's most loyal supporters, committed suicide in his prison cell just before he was due to be executed.

CNN: Tuesday,

Telford Taylor was made chief prosecutor in subsequent war crimes trials, replacing Robert Jackson, who was under a cloud for having been outwitted in his questioning of Hermann Goering.

ECONOMIST: Telford Taylor

Events proved Goering wrong, and in fact only a single territory was ever brought to surrender by air power alone the Italian island of Pantelleria, halfway between Sicily and Libya, in 1943.

ECONOMIST: Letters