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BOOK REVIEW
Two books about
Rudolph Hess
Compared and
Contrasted
By Fred H. Olin, MD
First, the absolute basic information: On May 10, 1941, Rudolf maneuvers that result in the replacement of Winston Churchill as
Hess, the Deputy Führer of the Third Reich flew a Messerschmitt prime minister, Hess’s successful negotiations with the British gov-
BF110 fighter-bomber from Augsburg, Germany to a spot near ernment to become allies, a German general’s plot (that succeeds)
Glasgow, Scotland. He had hopes that he could arrange a peace to kill Hitler, German interactions with Soviet military figures and,
between Germany and Great Britain so that Hitler’s forces could at the end, a truce between Germany and the USSR, negotiated
concentrate on the war against the Soviet Union. He did not have by Stalin, his foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov and Joachim
Hitler’s blessing or permission. von Ribbentrop, the Third Reich’s foreign minister. The putative
reason for the truce is to allow the Russians to attack southward
David P. Green, MD, a local hand surgeon, has written and re- into China and on to Japan. None of this actually happened, but
cently published an “alternative history” book about Rudolf Hess’s a lot of it is witnessed by one of the imaginary British folks, an
flight. He gave me a copy of Rudolf Hess’ Mission: The Flight That Oxford Ph.D. named Roland Cogswell, who has an infallible ei-
Might Have Changed History and I promptly read it. In contrast, detic memory and is articulate in German. He remembers every-
Roy Conyers Nesbit, a Briton, and Georges Van Acker, a Belgian, thing, all the time, and is chosen by the Brits as an
wrote (and published in 1999) a very detailed, factual history of emissary/observer to the Reich after their alliance.
the same event. While I was reading Dr. Green’s book I mentioned
it to a friend, who promptly lent the latter book to me. Its title is Rudolf Hess’ Mission: The Flight That Might Have Changed
The Flight of Rudolf Hess: Myths and Reality. History is novelized alternative history, with all sorts of imagined
conversations between the characters, real and imagined, that carry
In Dr. Green’s book there are two lists of the characters, one for the story forward. There are some fairly accurate sounding descrip-
Part One, “The Flight” and another for Part Two “Barbarossa.” tions of real events tossed in, and a few lessons in British history
Part Three, “Consequences” rides along on the others. He sepa- and the personal and family histories of some of the historical peo-
rates the individuals who actually existed from the imaginary ones ple who appear. It is very readable, keeps one’s interest and pro-
he needed to invent. These are very helpful and aid in keeping the gresses smoothly and rapidly.
story moving along.
Meanwhile, back in what passes for the real world, we have The
If we make the assumption that the Nesbit/Van Acker book is Flight of Rudolf Hess: Myths and Reality. The authors have done
accurate, then so are the confirmable facts in Dr. Green’s story… lots and lots of research in all kinds of archives and, as if to prove
after all, Green cited the other book in his extensive bibliography. their bona fides, include a whole lot more detail than is perhaps nec-
The thoroughly plausible sequence of imaginary events laid out in essary. As an example, do we really, really need to know the exact
Rudolf Hess’ Mission covers a lot more World War II ground than model number and type of the two engines used to power Hess’s
does “The Flight…” It includes sequences about parliamentary
36 San Antonio Medicine • January 2017
