The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Kesselring, Albert

Born Nov. 20, 1885, in Markstedt; died July 16, 1960, in Bad Nauheim. Fascist German field marshal (1940).

In 1936—37, Kesselring was air force chief of staff. Beginning in February 1938 he was in command of the First Air Fleet, directing it in the aggression against Poland in 1939. In 1940 he took over command of the Second Air Fleet during the French Campaign of 1940, the air raids on Britain during 1940–41, and the attacks against the USSR. Beginning in December 1941, Kesselring was commander in chief of the German troops in the southwest (the Mediterranean area, including Italy), and from March through May of 1945 he served as commander in chief of the German troops in western Germany. In October 1947 he was sentenced to death as a war criminal by a British military tribunal, but the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. In October 1952, Kesselring was freed. He was an honorary member of revanchist societies in the Federal Republic of Germany.

References in periodicals archive

Luftflotte 2, commanded by Generalfeldmarschall Albert Kesselring ('Smiling Albert'), was to be responsible for the bombing of south-east England and the London area.

Death comes to Alnmouth - but why did it happen?

With the arrival of the 661-mile (1,065km) range He 111, on April 29, 1937 Generalleutnant Albert Kesselring (Wever's replacement) decided that Germany could not afford to spend twice the resources--twice as many engines, double the fuel consumption, and 2.5 times the aluminum --for roughly the same bombload, so he accepted the shorter range medium bomber, which he concluded could perform both strategic and tactical bombing, to a maximum of 500km (300 miles) beyond Germany's borders or the battlefront.

The air battle for England: the truth behind the failure of the Luftwaffe's counter-air campaign in 1941

Despite initial shock, Generalfeldmarschall Albert Kesselring had concentrated 24,000 troops around the beachhead within 48 hours.

First special service force: on the defensive in the Anzio Beachhead, Part 3

According to the documents, Britain freed Oskar Groening, known as the "Bookkeeper of Auschwitz," Erich von Manstein, Gerd von Rundstedt and Albert Kesselring, the Jewish Chronicle reported.

British Historian Reveals the U.K. Freed Hundreds of Nazi War Criminals After World War II

Pier Paolo Battistelli's ALBERT KESSELRING (9781849087353, $18.95) provides a fine biography of field marshal Albert Kesselring, a key figure during the Italian campaign of 1943-45.

The Military Shelf

To do this, 1,576 bombers and 1.089 fighters under the command of Feldmarschalls Hugo von Sperrle and Albert Kesselring attempted to destroy the RAF.

Make and sell vs. sense and respond

Although the initial resistance was light, the German commander in Italy Field Marshal Albert Kesselring quickly organised a counter attack with 100,000 troops.

Hero twins of Anzio who fell on same day; Kids' tribute to John and Thomas

Indeed, Clark wonders who was pinning down whom in Italy, for the German defense engineered by Field Marshal Albert Kesselring demanded a far greater Allied investment than initially anticipated.

The Anzio campaign

For instance, by October, Field Marshal Albert Kesselring, Axis commander in the Mediterranean, predicted that Allied forces would likely land somewhere in North Africa but he was much distracted by the stalwart British outpost of Malta; repeated bombing and invasion attempts had failed to dislodge its entrenched garrison, and Royal Air Force sorties from Malta were consistently interdicting his seaborne logistics train.

Intelligence and deception in operation Torch

Anatomy of perjury; Field Marshal Albert Kesselring, Via Rasella, and the GINNY mission.

Anatomy of perjury; Field Marshal Albert Kesselring, Via Rasella, and the GINNY mission