Kesselring, Field Marshal Albert (1885–1960),German Luftwaffe officer who, from December 1941 to November 1943, was C-in-C South, then C-in-C South-West, before being appointed C-in-C West Europe in March 1945.
Born in Marktsheft, Bavaria, Kesselring served on the army General Staff during the
First World War and by 1932 was a colonel. The following year he was appointed chief of the Reich aviation ministry's administrative office and was, therefore, among those who founded the Luftwaffe. In June 1936 he was appointed the Luftwaffe's Chief of Staff with the rank of maj-general and was promoted lt-general in 1937. In 1938 he was appointed C-in-C of the First Air Fleet which he commanded during the
Polish campaign. He then became C-in-C of the Second Air Fleet during the fighting which led to the
fall of France in May 1940 and its success led to his promotion to field marshal that July. Almost as successful was his decision to direct his bombers against British airfields during the
battle of Britain, a tactic that very nearly brought the Germans victory. After his air fleet had supported Army Group Centre during the German invasion of the USSR in June 1941 (see
BARBAROSSA) he was appointed C-in-C South with the task of establishing Axis air and sea superiority in the Mediterranean. This ostensibly gave him control over all axis forces, including
Rommel's Panzer Army Africa fighting in the
Western Desert campaigns. As all Axis forces there already came under the Italian High Command (see
Comando Supremo), his position called for a good deal of tact and persuasion, but he was more thwarted by Hitler and Rommel than he was by the Italians.
After the surrender of all Axis troops in Tunisia in May 1943, which ended the
North African campaign, Kesselring became C-in-C South-West. At the start of the
Sicilian campaign in July 1943 he moved swiftly to bolster the Italian forces on the island by moving 14th Panzer Corps there; and then, without authority, arranged the extrication of German forces across the strait of Messina, a superbly executed withdrawal. But his brilliance and versatility in a post where politics confused so many issues were really best displayed when the overthrow of Mussolini in July 1943 was followed by Italy's surrender that September. He not only occupied central and southern Italy with exemplary speed, but ruthlessly disarmed the Italian forces and contained the Allied landing at
Salerno.
On 21 November 1943 he was appointed C-in-C of Army Group C and with it organized an outstanding campaign of attrition and delay that badly hampered the Allied
Italian campaign. In October 1944 he was severely injured in a road accident and returned only briefly to his command before succeeding
Rundstedt in north-west Europe in March 1945.
A man of immense authority and cheerful disposition—he was known to his troops as ‘smiling Albert’—Kesselring was one of Hitler's outstanding generals whose image has been darkened by his harsh and brutal orders concerning the fate of Italian soldiers after the Italian surrender. His military achievements were all the more remarkable for the fact that he had risen to such a high position without the command experience or specialized training normally associated with such an appointment. In May 1947 he was sentenced to death by a British military court in Venice for ordering the execution of hostages. Churchill, among many, thought this too severe and he appealed to the then British prime minister,
Clement Attlee, to intervene. The sentence was commuted to life imprisonment and in 1952 Kesselring was released because of poor health.
Bibliography
Kesselring, A. , The Memoirs of Field Marshal Kesselring (London, 1953).
Macksey, K. , Kesselring: the Making of the Luftwaffe (London, 1978).
