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Albert Kesselring, (born November 20, 1885, Marktstedt, Bavaria, Germany—died July 16, 1960, Bad Nauheim, West Germany), field marshalwho, as German commander in chief, south, became one of Adolf Hitler’s top defensive strategists during World War II. The son of a town education officer, Kesselring joined the army as a cadet in 1904.

Albert Kesselring had one of the most wide-ranging careers of WWII. A skilled German commander, he was fondly referred to by his admirers as “Smiling Albert.” He commanded in both the army and air force; took part in diplomacy and political administration and featured in nearly every theater of the war in Europe and the Mediterranean.

Albert Kesselring: Hitler’s Go-To Guy. A smiling persona masked a hard-nosed commander who participated in everything from the invasion of Poland to the fighting withdrawal in Italy to the defense of the western front in 1945. This article appears in: Summer 2022.

Field Marshal Albert Kesselring (1885-1960), one of the most prominent German air and field commanders in World War II, surrendered the southern part of the German troops to the Americans in 1945. Albert Kesselring was born in Markstedt near Bayreuth, Bavaria, on Nov. 20, 1885.

Albert Kesselring, also called “Uncle Albert” by his troops and “Smiling Albert” by Allied forces, was a German Field Marshal ( Generalfeldmarschall) and life-long military man. His career spanned over 40 years, three wars, and was equal parts filled with military brilliance, horrific targeting of civilians, and cleaning up, as best ...

Albert Kesselring. German Field Marshal. Led a number of Air Fleets in the early part of World War II. Theatre commander in North Africa and Italy. Albert Kesselring served in the German army during World War I. He transferred to Luftwaffe in 1933 and in 1936 he became chief of the Luftwaffe general staff. During the first years of World War II ...

Kesselring, Albert (1885–1960) German general. During World War II, he commanded the Luftwaffe, later becoming commander-in-chief in Italy (1943) and then supreme commander on the Western front (1945). Implicated in a 1943 massacre of Italian hostages, in 1947 he was sentenced to death, later commuted to imprisonment, by a British court.

Support JVL. Donate. Albert Kesselring served as General Field Marshal of the air force and later Commander-in-Chief of the German troops in Italy during World War II. Born in Bavaria in 1885, Kesselring joined the military as a cadet in 1904 and became an artillery officer in the Bavarian army. After his service in the First World War ...