Background
Albert Kesselring was born on November 30, 1885, in Marktsteft, Bavaria, to Carl Adolf Kesselring and his wife Rosina.
( One the great military autobiographies of World War II...)
One the great military autobiographies of World War II. Field Marshal Albert Kesselring was one of Germanys most capable military strategists. Originally a Bavarian army officer, he transferred to the Luftwaffe in 1935 and became Görings deputy, commanding air fleets during the invasion of France and the Battle of Britain. In 1941, he was appointed Commander-in-Chief South, sharing the direction of the North African campaign with Rommel. As Commander-in-Chief in Italy in 1943?44, his brilliant defense of the peninsula became legendary. In 1945, after the Ardennes offensive failed, Kesselring replaced von Rundstedt as Commander-in-Chief West. In his memoirs, Kesselring describes his military training, his service in World War I, his work in the Reichswehr, his role in the founding of the Luftwaffe, and all aspects of his command in World War II. Conducing with Kesselrings account of his trial and imprisonment for war crimes, these memoirs give a full picture of the whole military experience of one of Germanys great commanders. Skyhorse Publishing, along with our Arcade, Good Books, Sports Publishing, and Yucca imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of biographies, autobiographies, and memoirs. Our list includes biographies on well-known historical figures like Benjamin Franklin, Nelson Mandela, and Alexander Graham Bell, as well as villains from history, such as Heinrich Himmler, John Wayne Gacy, and O. J. Simpson. We have also published survivor stories of World War II, memoirs about overcoming adversity, first-hand tales of adventure, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.
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Albert Kesselring was born on November 30, 1885, in Marktsteft, Bavaria, to Carl Adolf Kesselring and his wife Rosina.
Kesselring studied at the Christian Ernestinum Secondary School in Bayreuth.
Upon completion of a traditional classical education, he joined the Bavarian foot artillery in 1904 and was commissioned officer in 1906. During World War I and most of the postwar years he served as an army staff officer at the disguised general staff or "Troops Office" and later at the War Ministry. After the Nazi take-over in 1933, he was formally discharged from the army and put in charge of the administration office of the incipient and still undercover air force under the command of his old comradein-arms Hermann Göring.
In June 1936 Kesselring became Göring's chief of staff; one year later he commanded Air Region III (southeastern Germany) and finally, from the spring of 1938 on, commanded Air Fleet I in Berlin. After the outbreak of World War II he first directed the air attacks of Air Fleet I over Poland, then in the summer and fall of 1940 led the operations of Air Fleet II over France, in the air support over Dunkirk, and finally in the Battle of Britain. On June 30, 1940, he was promoted to the rank of field marshal. During Operation Barbarossa of June 1941 he again commanded Air Fleet II on the central Russian front.
In September 1941 Kesselring was transferred to Rome as commander in chief south, with the task of coordinating the Italo-German war effort in the Mediterranean area. From there he shared in the direction of the campaign of Rommel in North Africa and oversaw the defensive battles in Tunis, Sicily, and then on the Italian peninsula. With the defection of Italy in September 1943, he was supreme commander in Italy and the Mediterranean and from 1943 to 1945 directed the steady retreat of the German armies under the onslaught of the Allied troops and Italian partisans. From March 10, 1945, he headed Hitler's last stand on the Rhine. On May 7 he surrendered the southern half of the German forces to the Americans.
Kesselring was tried by a British military court in Venice in May 1947 and was sentenced to death for the shooting of 320 Italian hostages (Ardeatine Caves massacre) in March 1944. In October 1947 the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment; in October 1952 he was released for reasons of ill health.
Albert Kesselring died on July 16, 1960, in Bad Nauheim, Bavaria.
( One the great military autobiographies of World War II...)
Quotations:
"War is possible only if you have a lot of enemies. If all the enemies get together and form one front - if you cut down the number of enemies - there would be no war. "
"Allied air power was the greatest single reason for the German defeat. "
"A military leader often faces a situation he has to deal with, but because it is his duty, no court can try him. "
In 1910 Albert Kesselring married Luise Anna Pauline (Liny) Keyssler. Their marriage was childless, but in 1913 they adopted Rainer, the son of Albert's second cousin.
Field Marshal