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| In previous chapters we examined the relations between Hitler and eight of his Generals : Arnim, Beck, Blomberg, Brauchitsch, Dietrich, Fritsch, Guderian and Halder. In thIs third chapter, we will be concerned with the case of Generals Jodl, Keitel, Warlimont and Kesselring |
Alfred Jodl was born in 1890 in Würzburg, son of an artillery captain, who married a
woman under his social condition and had five children of whom two sons only survived
infancy, Alfred and Ferdinand. Alfred went to grammar school and entered the 4th Bavarian
Field Artillery Regiment, and became Second Lieutenant in 1912. Unlike his father, he
married up the social ladder and wedded Irma Countess von Bullion, from an old established
Swabian princely family.
In WW1 he served as an artillery officer, was well appreciated and after the war was accepted
in the limited 100,000-men Reichswehr where he trained as a Staff Officer and earned the
reputation to be a "revolutionary officer" because of his socialist views, notably in matter of
relations between the soldiers and their officers. However he always kept his distances from
Hitler National-Socialism.
At the end of the 20s, he was Major in the Operations branch of the General Staff (then
TruppenAmt) and was recognized as "a man with a future." In 1935 he joined the Armed
Forces Office (Wehrmachtamt) as leader of the National Defence branch. In November 1937
Hitler made a long speech to deploy its strategic plans to a bunch of Generals and announced
his intention to crush Czechoslovakia and to annexe Austria. Jodl did not bulge. He was
enthralled by Hitler who did not consult his office when he took the Sudetenland in 1938.
The same year he was promoted Major-General and given a troop command in vienna. In
August 1939, he was ordered to report back to Berlin when the Poles refused to hand over the
city of Dantzig but once more was not consulted by der Führer.
However he met Hitler for the first time in September 1939 and Hitler immediately liked this
rural officer so unlike the monocled Prussian aristocrats with whom he was not at ease. In
1940, Jodl's office was rename OKW Operations (1)(2) but remained a Staff Office without
power command. However there was an exception when Jodl successfully invaded Norway
(operation Weserübung) to throttle the iron-ore supply from Sweden into the Reich via Narvik.
After the Fall of France, Jodl like most German soldiers, thought that Hitler was a military
genius but he did not play an active role in the campaign.
When Hitler confirmed his intention to attack Russia in 1941 Jodl received the news with a
good dose of scepticism. After the failure of the summer campaign of 1941, Hitler took control
of the Army and made the OKH solely responsible for the Eastern Front and the OKW with all
other theatres of war.
woman under his social condition and had five children of whom two sons only survived
infancy, Alfred and Ferdinand. Alfred went to grammar school and entered the 4th Bavarian
Field Artillery Regiment, and became Second Lieutenant in 1912. Unlike his father, he
married up the social ladder and wedded Irma Countess von Bullion, from an old established
Swabian princely family.
In WW1 he served as an artillery officer, was well appreciated and after the war was accepted
in the limited 100,000-men Reichswehr where he trained as a Staff Officer and earned the
reputation to be a "revolutionary officer" because of his socialist views, notably in matter of
relations between the soldiers and their officers. However he always kept his distances from
Hitler National-Socialism.
At the end of the 20s, he was Major in the Operations branch of the General Staff (then
TruppenAmt) and was recognized as "a man with a future." In 1935 he joined the Armed
Forces Office (Wehrmachtamt) as leader of the National Defence branch. In November 1937
Hitler made a long speech to deploy its strategic plans to a bunch of Generals and announced
his intention to crush Czechoslovakia and to annexe Austria. Jodl did not bulge. He was
enthralled by Hitler who did not consult his office when he took the Sudetenland in 1938.
The same year he was promoted Major-General and given a troop command in vienna. In
August 1939, he was ordered to report back to Berlin when the Poles refused to hand over the
city of Dantzig but once more was not consulted by der Führer.
However he met Hitler for the first time in September 1939 and Hitler immediately liked this
rural officer so unlike the monocled Prussian aristocrats with whom he was not at ease. In
1940, Jodl's office was rename OKW Operations (1)(2) but remained a Staff Office without
power command. However there was an exception when Jodl successfully invaded Norway
(operation Weserübung) to throttle the iron-ore supply from Sweden into the Reich via Narvik.
After the Fall of France, Jodl like most German soldiers, thought that Hitler was a military
genius but he did not play an active role in the campaign.
When Hitler confirmed his intention to attack Russia in 1941 Jodl received the news with a
good dose of scepticism. After the failure of the summer campaign of 1941, Hitler took control
of the Army and made the OKH solely responsible for the Eastern Front and the OKW with all
other theatres of war.
| Major-General of Artillery Alfred Jodl 1890-1946 |
(1) Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (Army General Staff) coordinated the efforts of the German Army (Heer), Navy (Kriegsmarine), and Air Force (Luftwaffe), (2) The Oberkommando des Heeres was the Armes Forces General Staff. There was a rivalry between OKW and OKH. Because most German operations during World War II were army operations (with air support), OKH demanded the control over the German military forces. Hitler decided against OKH and in favour of OKW. |
For Jodl, life in the Führer's headquarters Wolfschanze (Wolf's lair) in East Prussia
became sheer agony. Hitler thought that the Summer campaign of 1942 would bring
the fall of Russia with the taking of Stalingrad, Astrakhan and the Caucasus. But at
the end of August none of those objectives had been attained and Jodl, back from an
inspection mission on the East front, did not mince his words to Hitler. The war in
Russia could not be possibly won, he told the Führer, refused to give more orders to
this end, left the room and slammed the door. After this sortie, Hitler never trusted
anymore his Generals to the exception of Sepp Dietrich and got rid of Halder but kept
Jodl and Keitel.
In spring 1943 his wife Irma died of pneumonia and in November married Luise von
Benda, secretary of General Halder, and a long-time friend of his wife. During the coup
of July 1944, he was slightly wounded to the head and did not understand the
rationale of the plotters. But he was a faithful man and he walked to the end with dignity
: he signed the surrender without conditions of Germany on French soil on 7/8 May
1945 and on 23 MAy he was arrested by the British.
Charged as a "principal war criminal" at Nuremberg, he was convicted of war crimes
and crimes against humanity and given a sentence of death by hanging. He had
requested the firing squad but this was denied to him. The French co-President of the
Tribunal Henri Donnedieu de Vabres protested strongly against Jodl's conviction,
stating that it was a miscarriage of justice for a professional soldier to be convicted
when he held no allegiance to Nazism. On 28th February 1953, Jodl was
posthumously exonerated by a German de-Nazification court, which cited Nuremberg
Trial judge Donnedieu's statements and found Jodl not guilty of crimes under
international law.
became sheer agony. Hitler thought that the Summer campaign of 1942 would bring
the fall of Russia with the taking of Stalingrad, Astrakhan and the Caucasus. But at
the end of August none of those objectives had been attained and Jodl, back from an
inspection mission on the East front, did not mince his words to Hitler. The war in
Russia could not be possibly won, he told the Führer, refused to give more orders to
this end, left the room and slammed the door. After this sortie, Hitler never trusted
anymore his Generals to the exception of Sepp Dietrich and got rid of Halder but kept
Jodl and Keitel.
In spring 1943 his wife Irma died of pneumonia and in November married Luise von
Benda, secretary of General Halder, and a long-time friend of his wife. During the coup
of July 1944, he was slightly wounded to the head and did not understand the
rationale of the plotters. But he was a faithful man and he walked to the end with dignity
: he signed the surrender without conditions of Germany on French soil on 7/8 May
1945 and on 23 MAy he was arrested by the British.
Charged as a "principal war criminal" at Nuremberg, he was convicted of war crimes
and crimes against humanity and given a sentence of death by hanging. He had
requested the firing squad but this was denied to him. The French co-President of the
Tribunal Henri Donnedieu de Vabres protested strongly against Jodl's conviction,
stating that it was a miscarriage of justice for a professional soldier to be convicted
when he held no allegiance to Nazism. On 28th February 1953, Jodl was
posthumously exonerated by a German de-Nazification court, which cited Nuremberg
Trial judge Donnedieu's statements and found Jodl not guilty of crimes under
international law.
| T26 Russian tanks knocked out. |
Wilhelm Keitel was born in 1883 on his family estate in the Dukedom of Brunswick, a 650
acres, which has been in the family property since 1871. The prevalent concept in this family
of farmers was loyalty, notably to the old dynasty of the Hanovarians who were deposed by
Bismarck. His mother passed away when he was only five. There was no military tradition in
his family and politics were restricted to the hatred of Prussia. Although quite intelligent, he
was an average pupil and barely scraped through the Abitur.
In 1901 he joined the 46th Prussian Artillery Field Regiment near Brunswick and he was
quickly remarked for his capacities in organizational and tactical duties. In 1909 he married
Lisa Fontaine from a wealthy farm family of Hanover, an educated young woman and more
sophisticated than him. He was the kind of man to read no books at all except military ones.
During WW1 he went in action with the 46th Artillery and was soon called into the General
Staff for his organizational skills. He became rapidly First General Staff Officer (Ia) of a
reserve infantry division and in 1917 Ia of the Marine Corps in Flanders, considered as élite
troops. At the end of the war, he was extremely upset by what he saw and at some stage
thought that he did not understand this world anymore.
He decided to stay in the Army rather than rejoining the family farm and was called by General
von Seeckt, the C-in-C, at the Truppenamt (disguised General Staff) where he served until
1933 in the rank of Colonel. In 1931 Keitel and von Brauchitsch travelled to Moscow to visit
and inspect the Red Army that Leon Trotsky was remodelling and were very much impressed.
He was sick in bed with a thrombosis at the end of 1932 when the dice rolled in favor of the
Nazis and it is from Prague where he was recovering that he learnt about the appointment of
Adolf Hitler as Chancellor.
Recalled to duty he became Major General in Octobre 1933 and was in charge of the
formation of the 22nd Infantry Division in Bremen. He welcomed Hitler's stroke against Röhm
and the SA leaders on June 1934 as his opinion about Hitler had radically changed since
their first meeting in 1933. In 1935 he was appointed head of the Wehrmachtamt (Armed
Forces Office). As such he tried to reunite the Army, the Navy and the Air force under one
unique Command inside the Wehrmachamt but Hitler opposed this as he preferred this state
of confusion and Keitel recanted. For Keitel, the will of the Führer was what mattered as the
will of the Landlord of his childhood. All other Generals disliked the humble origins of Hitler
the Austrian Lance Corporal but Keitel was more sensitive to his terrific rise from poverty and
orphanhood.
However he was appalled when Hitler suggested that they could organize a murder as a
pretext to invade Czechoslovakia but still he did not manifest hostility and stayed in his job.
Again he did not have objections to the campaign against Poland, Norway and France. The
victory over France had a overwhelming effect on Keitel to the point that he is said to have
muttered that "Hitler was the greatest General of all times."
acres, which has been in the family property since 1871. The prevalent concept in this family
of farmers was loyalty, notably to the old dynasty of the Hanovarians who were deposed by
Bismarck. His mother passed away when he was only five. There was no military tradition in
his family and politics were restricted to the hatred of Prussia. Although quite intelligent, he
was an average pupil and barely scraped through the Abitur.
In 1901 he joined the 46th Prussian Artillery Field Regiment near Brunswick and he was
quickly remarked for his capacities in organizational and tactical duties. In 1909 he married
Lisa Fontaine from a wealthy farm family of Hanover, an educated young woman and more
sophisticated than him. He was the kind of man to read no books at all except military ones.
During WW1 he went in action with the 46th Artillery and was soon called into the General
Staff for his organizational skills. He became rapidly First General Staff Officer (Ia) of a
reserve infantry division and in 1917 Ia of the Marine Corps in Flanders, considered as élite
troops. At the end of the war, he was extremely upset by what he saw and at some stage
thought that he did not understand this world anymore.
He decided to stay in the Army rather than rejoining the family farm and was called by General
von Seeckt, the C-in-C, at the Truppenamt (disguised General Staff) where he served until
1933 in the rank of Colonel. In 1931 Keitel and von Brauchitsch travelled to Moscow to visit
and inspect the Red Army that Leon Trotsky was remodelling and were very much impressed.
He was sick in bed with a thrombosis at the end of 1932 when the dice rolled in favor of the
Nazis and it is from Prague where he was recovering that he learnt about the appointment of
Adolf Hitler as Chancellor.
Recalled to duty he became Major General in Octobre 1933 and was in charge of the
formation of the 22nd Infantry Division in Bremen. He welcomed Hitler's stroke against Röhm
and the SA leaders on June 1934 as his opinion about Hitler had radically changed since
their first meeting in 1933. In 1935 he was appointed head of the Wehrmachtamt (Armed
Forces Office). As such he tried to reunite the Army, the Navy and the Air force under one
unique Command inside the Wehrmachamt but Hitler opposed this as he preferred this state
of confusion and Keitel recanted. For Keitel, the will of the Führer was what mattered as the
will of the Landlord of his childhood. All other Generals disliked the humble origins of Hitler
the Austrian Lance Corporal but Keitel was more sensitive to his terrific rise from poverty and
orphanhood.
However he was appalled when Hitler suggested that they could organize a murder as a
pretext to invade Czechoslovakia but still he did not manifest hostility and stayed in his job.
Again he did not have objections to the campaign against Poland, Norway and France. The
victory over France had a overwhelming effect on Keitel to the point that he is said to have
muttered that "Hitler was the greatest General of all times."
| Twenty one salvos for the fallen comrades on the Russian front |
In July 1940 he was promoted to Field Marshal but was alarmed when he
heard about operation Barbarossa. He even wrote a memorandu to Hitler
to protest an expedition that could cause the ruin of Germany. The Memo
did not survive the war. But in the end Keitel signed the infamous
"Commissars Order" in whicj Hitler ordered to liquidate the Soviet political
commissars having status as Red Army combatants. He also signed a
decree stating that Germans who had committed offenses against civilian
populations should not be court-martialed, the Night and Fog decree
allowing detention of resistance fighters without informing their next of kin
of their whereabouts and the order not to recognize members of ennemy
commandos as POW but to hand them over to the security service for
"treatment". How could a German General with a background like Keitel's
have possibly signed and endorsed such monstruosities ? It is so
appalling that we better regard this as an history fact and do not try to
explain it further.
To be honest one must remind the reader that on several occasions he
begged Hitler to relieve him of his duties but Hitler knew he had with Keitel
a faithful lackey (as the Field Marshal would be remembered) and he
refused. At some stage he was about to shoot himself but was prevented to
do it by General Jodl. However, during the 20th of July attempt against
Hitler's life, he tried hard to prevent the district and military commanders
from obeying orders from Berlin as this attack was only for him a shameful
perfidy.
Eventually he was arrested in May 1945 by the British military police and put
on trial as a principal war criminal. He got no clemency , was convicted
and badly hanged (see picture) on 16 October 1946. Basically he was a
good man who lost his conscience and his sense of honour.
heard about operation Barbarossa. He even wrote a memorandu to Hitler
to protest an expedition that could cause the ruin of Germany. The Memo
did not survive the war. But in the end Keitel signed the infamous
"Commissars Order" in whicj Hitler ordered to liquidate the Soviet political
commissars having status as Red Army combatants. He also signed a
decree stating that Germans who had committed offenses against civilian
populations should not be court-martialed, the Night and Fog decree
allowing detention of resistance fighters without informing their next of kin
of their whereabouts and the order not to recognize members of ennemy
commandos as POW but to hand them over to the security service for
"treatment". How could a German General with a background like Keitel's
have possibly signed and endorsed such monstruosities ? It is so
appalling that we better regard this as an history fact and do not try to
explain it further.
To be honest one must remind the reader that on several occasions he
begged Hitler to relieve him of his duties but Hitler knew he had with Keitel
a faithful lackey (as the Field Marshal would be remembered) and he
refused. At some stage he was about to shoot himself but was prevented to
do it by General Jodl. However, during the 20th of July attempt against
Hitler's life, he tried hard to prevent the district and military commanders
from obeying orders from Berlin as this attack was only for him a shameful
perfidy.
Eventually he was arrested in May 1945 by the British military police and put
on trial as a principal war criminal. He got no clemency , was convicted
and badly hanged (see picture) on 16 October 1946. Basically he was a
good man who lost his conscience and his sense of honour.
| Russian front : mulling over ones comrades' death |
| Keitel's hanging was purposedly butchered by US executioner Sergeant Woods |
| Walter Warlimont was born in October 1894 in Osnäbruck, son of a publisher. He attended the humanistic gymnasium of Osnäbruck, joined the foot artillery in Strasbourg Alsace (German since 1870) as a Prussian officer and in WW1 saw active service as a gunner and as an adjutant. In 1919 he joined the Freikorps in order to fend off the Bolsheviks's attempts to overthrow the nascent Republic of Weimar. He applied for the General Staff of the young Reichswehr, was accepted and in 1926 joined the Army High Command at the Ministry of Defence. He was awarded a three month language sabbatical in England to learn English and in 1920-30 spent a year in the USA to study American methods of industrial mobilization. In 1936 he was detached to General Franco with some semi diplomatic role linked to the organization of the Condor Legion. In 1938 he became Head of Home defence branch and acting Chief of Wehrmacht Operations Office and just before the invasion of Poland Deputy Chief of Wehrmacht Operations Staff, working just under General Keitel. During the war he continued with his duties with the convictions as soon as 1942 that the war was lost and Hitler a madman. During D-Day he was convinced that the real invasion of Europe had begun and he pressed the OKW and Jodl to send the OKW reserves to the beaches of Normandy. Jodl did not dare to wake Hitler up and no Panzer divisions were sent. The Allies were able to move forward without being seriously threatened. Hitler lost the war on this day. On the day of the attack against Hitler in July 1944 he was not wounded in the explosion but after some time his Doctor diagnosed a severe concussion, he was put to the Führer reserves at OKW but after his recovery was not re-employed. After the war, he was arrested by the Americans and was judged at Nuremberg and sentenced to life imprisonment. In 1957 he was released from prison and died in 1976 in Upper Bavaria, aged 82. |
| General of Artillery Walter Warlimont 1894-1976 |
| Göring awarding medals to members of the Legion Condor |
He found Bavaria in the hand of the Reds
which made a profund impression on him
although the mayhem spread by the Reds
never made him a Nazi. However between
two evils he preferred fascism and swore
loyalty to the Führer in person rather than to
the State.
In 1922 he was summoned to Berlin to
organize the new Reichsheer as laid down by
the Treaty of Versailles (1) under the authority
of the remarkably brilliant General von Seeckt
and after under General von Schleicher .
Seeckt taught him not to meddle in Politics,
an habit that cost Schleicher his life as he
was murdered by the SS during the Night of
the Long Knives. Kesselring did an
admirable job in his functions in the
Truppenamt, notably because it implied
deceiving the Allies about the real nature of
what was going on in the army.
.
which made a profund impression on him
although the mayhem spread by the Reds
never made him a Nazi. However between
two evils he preferred fascism and swore
loyalty to the Führer in person rather than to
the State.
In 1922 he was summoned to Berlin to
organize the new Reichsheer as laid down by
the Treaty of Versailles (1) under the authority
of the remarkably brilliant General von Seeckt
and after under General von Schleicher .
Seeckt taught him not to meddle in Politics,
an habit that cost Schleicher his life as he
was murdered by the SS during the Night of
the Long Knives. Kesselring did an
admirable job in his functions in the
Truppenamt, notably because it implied
deceiving the Allies about the real nature of
what was going on in the army.
.
| (1) The Reichsheer and the Treaty of Versailles Under the provisions of the Treaty, the German Army could not have more than 100,000 men in arms without heavy artillery, tanks, aircraft and chemical weapons. It was in fact reduced to some sort of internal police. More especially the prestigious and elitist General Staff was abolished as it was regarded b the Allies as the driving force behing the German agression in 1914. But the Allies were dumb enough not to prevent studies of modern developments and how they could be emplyed and procured. Actually the General Staff was reborn under the disguise of the Truppenamt although the jealous and stupid Hitler did later his best to limit his prerogatives or annihilated it entirely. |
In 1933 to his chagrin he was told by the Nazis to go to retirement and to get a job of civil
administrator in the Ministry of Air. Then he understood that another deception had been set up as
he was in charge of a huge budget to build a network of Air-Force stations, runways, barracks
and airfields. In 1936 Göring called him to take over the job of chief of the Luftwaffe staff and was
given command of an air-region. In 1939, Kesselring was in command of the First Air Fleet
(Luftwaffe 1) consisting of high-level bombers. He succeeded in qualifying as a pilot at 48.
During the Polish campaign his Air Fleet 1 performed perfectly and Kesselring himself flew over
the targets to observe his pilots at work.
After the Belgian intelligence got hold in January 1940 of a document detailing the invasion of
France, the commander of Luftwaffe 2 was dismissed and Göring asked Kesselring to take over
Luftwaffe 2 as well. When the invasion started he was fully responsible of all the actions of the Air
Force and of the paratroopers and with the success he was rewarded with a Field Marshal's
baton. During the battle of Britain, he reluctantly transferred his planes to the East in preparation
for the attack on Russia : since then he has always maintained that the Luftwaffe never lost the
battle of Britain but had to be set on halt to prepare for the onset on the Soviets and that an air
attack of this sort could only succeed if supported by ground troops. So he blamed the defeat on
Hitler and not on his Luftwaffe.
He had no doubt or qualms about operation Barbarossa and at first everything went amazingly
well as the Luftwaffe destroyed 2,500 aircrafts on the ground. But as the things turned more
messy, Kesselring began to nourish doubts and wonder whether the war could be won against
such a powerful enemy that seemed indestructible and who like the Phoenix always rose back
from his ashes.
administrator in the Ministry of Air. Then he understood that another deception had been set up as
he was in charge of a huge budget to build a network of Air-Force stations, runways, barracks
and airfields. In 1936 Göring called him to take over the job of chief of the Luftwaffe staff and was
given command of an air-region. In 1939, Kesselring was in command of the First Air Fleet
(Luftwaffe 1) consisting of high-level bombers. He succeeded in qualifying as a pilot at 48.
During the Polish campaign his Air Fleet 1 performed perfectly and Kesselring himself flew over
the targets to observe his pilots at work.
After the Belgian intelligence got hold in January 1940 of a document detailing the invasion of
France, the commander of Luftwaffe 2 was dismissed and Göring asked Kesselring to take over
Luftwaffe 2 as well. When the invasion started he was fully responsible of all the actions of the Air
Force and of the paratroopers and with the success he was rewarded with a Field Marshal's
baton. During the battle of Britain, he reluctantly transferred his planes to the East in preparation
for the attack on Russia : since then he has always maintained that the Luftwaffe never lost the
battle of Britain but had to be set on halt to prepare for the onset on the Soviets and that an air
attack of this sort could only succeed if supported by ground troops. So he blamed the defeat on
Hitler and not on his Luftwaffe.
He had no doubt or qualms about operation Barbarossa and at first everything went amazingly
well as the Luftwaffe destroyed 2,500 aircrafts on the ground. But as the things turned more
messy, Kesselring began to nourish doubts and wonder whether the war could be won against
such a powerful enemy that seemed indestructible and who like the Phoenix always rose back
from his ashes.
| Lance-Corporal self-promoted Generalissime Hitler knew better than his Generals and made mistake after mistake in the conduct of the war. |
But suddenly he was sent by Hitler to Rome as C-in-C of the Axis Forces in the
Mediterranean as the Führer thought that the Italian ally was weakly organized and
badly commanded. He was chosen because the Luftwaffe was considered "Nazi" at
heart while the Navy was "Imperial" and the Army "Republican." His official title was
Oberbefehlshaber Süd (C-in-C South) but this role was already filled by Italian
General Cavallero who did not take lightly the appointment of Kesselring. Furthermore
Rommel depended of Cavallero and his Deputy and could only be approached via
those two men. However he was widely appreciated in Italy and won the nickname of
"smiling Albert" and in the end even Cavallero went round totally.
Unfortunately he found that Rommel had a direct link to Hitler and used it to bypass the
normal chain of communications and circumvented his own authority. Rommel even
succeeded in frustrating Kesselring's Mediterranean strategy (i.e. the invasion of Malta
and the refusal to attack Suez). When Africa was lost with 25,000 Axis troops, he tried
to prevent such an occurrence in Sicily and at least successfully organised the
evacuation of the island, an operation that was dubbed German Dunkirk. He then
prepared to resist an invasion of Italy but the surrender of Marshal Badoglio in July
1943 thwarted his plans as the conspirators had already sent an envoy to the Allies
asking for an Armistice.
He had to improvise a plan of his own without the help of the Italians. Once more
Rommel who had left Africa defeated played the Hitler card and derailed Kesselring's
plans. But smiling Albert managed to hold behind the famous Gustav line (at Monte
Cassino) and kept the Allies in check until May 1944. Then all hell broke lose :
Kesselring sustained a terrible attack from the Allies and retreated in Rome in the hope
to establish a new Gustav line in the Apennines. He successfully began to do it when
in October 1944 his car collided with a tan in tow and he suffered heavy injuries to his
head. When he returned in March 1945 to command his troops, the situation was
desperate but fortunately for him he was summoned to Berlin to lean that he was going
to take over as C-in-C West from von Rundstedt.
His task was simple : to stop 85 Allied divisions on their march to Berlin. He had 51
divisions, no more panzers, few air-forces and a demoralized army where desertion
was beginning to occur. In April 1945 his command was extended to the South but he
was eventually taken as POW, deprived by vengeful Allies of his baton and prosecuted
as war criminal. He was prosecuted under allegations of brutalities and war crimes
during the italian battles off 1944 and tried in May 1947 in Venice by a court-martial. He
was found guilty and sentenced to death.
It was a particularly unfair sentence. In 1944, Kesselring had been summoned by the
Pope who needed German neutrality vis à vis theVatican for the Pontifical Relief
Committee to function. Thousands of Jews were on the roll of this Committee and
everybody knew it. Vatican Secretary of State Luigi Cardinal Maglione was dispatched
to pay a personal call upon Kesselring, inviting him to meet with the Pope. Kesselring
appeared to be surprisingly cooperative and promised the Pope to respect the Holy
See's independence and integrity : the Vatican would be off limits and the Nazis
would not violate the Holy See's churches, basilicas, convents or colleges. He also
promised to protect Castel Gandolfo, the papal summer residence. Weeks later, when
a confrontation between the Nazi troops and the Swiss Guards seemed to be
inevitable, Kesselring ordrered his men to hold their fire : the Commanders on both
sides conferred and it was once more agreed that Vatican neutrality would be observed.
Against this background, the sentence to death raised so much turmoil in England
and Europe that the verdict was changed and he was given life imprisonment. He was
released in 1952 due to his medical condition and the aftermath of his head injuries.
He published his Memoirs in 1953 in England. They give a unique insight into the
mind of a German General at grips with the problems of politics and war. The man can
be remembered as one with an obsessive loyalty and sense of duty that rapped him
-like many others Generals- in the service of a madman, mediocre strategist and
selfish Führer named Adolf Hitler. He died in 1960.
Mediterranean as the Führer thought that the Italian ally was weakly organized and
badly commanded. He was chosen because the Luftwaffe was considered "Nazi" at
heart while the Navy was "Imperial" and the Army "Republican." His official title was
Oberbefehlshaber Süd (C-in-C South) but this role was already filled by Italian
General Cavallero who did not take lightly the appointment of Kesselring. Furthermore
Rommel depended of Cavallero and his Deputy and could only be approached via
those two men. However he was widely appreciated in Italy and won the nickname of
"smiling Albert" and in the end even Cavallero went round totally.
Unfortunately he found that Rommel had a direct link to Hitler and used it to bypass the
normal chain of communications and circumvented his own authority. Rommel even
succeeded in frustrating Kesselring's Mediterranean strategy (i.e. the invasion of Malta
and the refusal to attack Suez). When Africa was lost with 25,000 Axis troops, he tried
to prevent such an occurrence in Sicily and at least successfully organised the
evacuation of the island, an operation that was dubbed German Dunkirk. He then
prepared to resist an invasion of Italy but the surrender of Marshal Badoglio in July
1943 thwarted his plans as the conspirators had already sent an envoy to the Allies
asking for an Armistice.
He had to improvise a plan of his own without the help of the Italians. Once more
Rommel who had left Africa defeated played the Hitler card and derailed Kesselring's
plans. But smiling Albert managed to hold behind the famous Gustav line (at Monte
Cassino) and kept the Allies in check until May 1944. Then all hell broke lose :
Kesselring sustained a terrible attack from the Allies and retreated in Rome in the hope
to establish a new Gustav line in the Apennines. He successfully began to do it when
in October 1944 his car collided with a tan in tow and he suffered heavy injuries to his
head. When he returned in March 1945 to command his troops, the situation was
desperate but fortunately for him he was summoned to Berlin to lean that he was going
to take over as C-in-C West from von Rundstedt.
His task was simple : to stop 85 Allied divisions on their march to Berlin. He had 51
divisions, no more panzers, few air-forces and a demoralized army where desertion
was beginning to occur. In April 1945 his command was extended to the South but he
was eventually taken as POW, deprived by vengeful Allies of his baton and prosecuted
as war criminal. He was prosecuted under allegations of brutalities and war crimes
during the italian battles off 1944 and tried in May 1947 in Venice by a court-martial. He
was found guilty and sentenced to death.
It was a particularly unfair sentence. In 1944, Kesselring had been summoned by the
Pope who needed German neutrality vis à vis theVatican for the Pontifical Relief
Committee to function. Thousands of Jews were on the roll of this Committee and
everybody knew it. Vatican Secretary of State Luigi Cardinal Maglione was dispatched
to pay a personal call upon Kesselring, inviting him to meet with the Pope. Kesselring
appeared to be surprisingly cooperative and promised the Pope to respect the Holy
See's independence and integrity : the Vatican would be off limits and the Nazis
would not violate the Holy See's churches, basilicas, convents or colleges. He also
promised to protect Castel Gandolfo, the papal summer residence. Weeks later, when
a confrontation between the Nazi troops and the Swiss Guards seemed to be
inevitable, Kesselring ordrered his men to hold their fire : the Commanders on both
sides conferred and it was once more agreed that Vatican neutrality would be observed.
Against this background, the sentence to death raised so much turmoil in England
and Europe that the verdict was changed and he was given life imprisonment. He was
released in 1952 due to his medical condition and the aftermath of his head injuries.
He published his Memoirs in 1953 in England. They give a unique insight into the
mind of a German General at grips with the problems of politics and war. The man can
be remembered as one with an obsessive loyalty and sense of duty that rapped him
-like many others Generals- in the service of a madman, mediocre strategist and
selfish Führer named Adolf Hitler. He died in 1960.
| At the start of the war, the real boss of the Luftwaffe was Kesselring and not Göring |
| In March 1945, von Rundstedt was demoted ac C-in-C West in favour of Kesselring |
| HITLER AND HIS GENERALS 3 |
| Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel 1883-1946 |
| Field Marshal Albert Kesselring 1885-1960 |
Albert Kesselring is a neglected General by
historians as his career was eclipsed by the
huge successes of Guderian or Rommel. But he
had three careers all of them remarkable. He
was born in 1885 in Bayreuth Bavaria in the
family of a schoolmaster of good bourgeois
stock. He entered the 2rd Regiment of the Foot
Artillery in the Bavarian Empire as an
officer-aspirant - Fahnenjunker- in Metz Lorraine.
In 1914 he served as a gunner for some time
before to be called as an adjutant in the
headquarters of his regiment. In 1917 he was
transferred to the General Staff, a sign of his
competences, and served then until the Armistice
of 1918 when he returned to his native Bavaria.
historians as his career was eclipsed by the
huge successes of Guderian or Rommel. But he
had three careers all of them remarkable. He
was born in 1885 in Bayreuth Bavaria in the
family of a schoolmaster of good bourgeois
stock. He entered the 2rd Regiment of the Foot
Artillery in the Bavarian Empire as an
officer-aspirant - Fahnenjunker- in Metz Lorraine.
In 1914 he served as a gunner for some time
before to be called as an adjutant in the
headquarters of his regiment. In 1917 he was
transferred to the General Staff, a sign of his
competences, and served then until the Armistice
of 1918 when he returned to his native Bavaria.
| HITLER AND HIS GENERALS 3 |
| Pius XII obtained from Kesselring that Vatican neutrality would be observed and this deed save Kesselring's life in 1945 |
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