Albert Kesselring

German pilot and military Commander in Chief of German troops in Italy, one of the most prominent German air and field commanders in World War II. Considered brutal by his subordinates, he was once quoted in a speech to Nazi pilots, "An enemy of Germany is inhuman…the countries of the enemy must be razed, every resistance must be broken." He surrendered the southern half of the German forces to the Americans in 1945.

His military record was blotted by the massacre in March, 1944 of 335 Italian civilians. In May 1947 a British military court sentenced him to death for war crimes but the sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment, followed by his release for ill health reasons in October 1952.

The son of a government inspector of schools, he completed a traditional classical education, then joined the Bavarian foot artillery in 1904. He was commissioned an officer in 1906, and during World War I and the postwar years, was an army staff officer. After the Nazi take-over in 1933, he was formally discharged from the army and put in charge of the administration office. In June 1936, he became chief of staff to Hermann Goring, and one year later commanded the southeastern Germany air region. From the spring of 1938 on, he commanded Air Fleet I in Berlin.

After the outbreak of World War II, he first directed air attacks over Poland, then led the operations over France in the summer and fall of 1940, over Dunkirk and finally in the Battle of Britain. On 30 June 1940, he was promoted to field marshal, and in June 1941 commanded the air operations on the central Russian front.

In September 1941 he was transferred to Rome to coordinate the Italo-German war effort in the Mediterranean. With the defection of Italy in September 1943, he was supreme commander in Italy and the Mediterranean. From 1943 to 1945, he directed Germany’s retreat under the onslaught of the Allied troops. On 7 May 1945, he surrendered the southern half of the German forces to the Americans.