German leaders remain unsettled by Winston Churchill's refusal to yield. Even after another heavy attack on Southampton and more Allied shipping losses, Britain does not seek peace. Instead, the RAF mounts raids on Italy and Germany, including a large retaliatory strike on Mannheim after Coventry and further bombing of Berlin, which convinces Joseph Goebbels that Britain still has both confidence and operational strength.

On December 18, Adolf Hitler raises the stakes by issuing Directive No. 21, the formal order for Case Barbarossa, the planned invasion of the Soviet Union. The directive assumes that Germany may attack Russia before the war with Britain is finished, but it also insists on secrecy and speed, with forces to be ready by May 15, 1941. Because delay would give both Russia and Britain more time to recover, Hitler orders preparations to proceed while the Luftwaffe continues unrestricted attacks on Britain.

Meanwhile, Goebbels turns his attention to culture and morale. He cracks down on strip shows, political jokes, and erotic comedy, and he warns his staff against allowing Christmas to become too sentimental or unmilitary. Yet his diary shows a contradiction between ideology and domestic life: at home he and Magda Goebbels prepare gifts for their children and for Berlin's soldiers and flak gunners, while coping with illness in the family.

As Christmas approaches, the war enters Goebbels's own household more directly. RAF raids on December 22 drive the family into a shelter until morning, and on the next day another raid kills forty-five Berliners. Even amid fatigue and damage, Goebbels notes the spread of anti-Jewish policy in Bulgaria and authorizes Christmas bonuses for his staff, revealing how routine bureaucracy, propaganda, and private life continue alongside bombing.

At the same time, Rudolf Hess grows more determined to achieve a settlement with Britain, which he believes Hitler wants. Still hoping the Duke of Hamilton can provide a channel, Hess secretly prepares a modified Messerschmitt Me 110 for long-range flight, studies a map of Scotland, and gathers British weather reports. On December 21 he makes a trial flight from Augsburg, but returns after an emergency flare pistol jams the aircraft's control cables, a dangerous failure that nevertheless proves his skill and shows how far his covert plan has advanced.