German general in World War II, one of the most popular marshals in China and the West.

Albert Kesselring (1885165438+1October 30-65438+July 0960 16), marshal of Nazi German air force in World War II. During his military career spanning two world wars, his rich experience and knowledge made Kesselring one of the most commanding generals in Nazi Germany. He was one of the winners of the Iron Cross of Diamond, Oak Leaf and Double Sword Knight with only 27 people. Kesselring was one of the most popular German generals in World War II, and his opponents and allies nicknamed him "Smiling Albert". 1904 joined the Bavarian army as a trainee officer and served in the artillery department. 19 12 years, he completed the training of balloon observers. In World War I, he served on the East-West Line. After that, Kesselring was assigned to serve in the General Staff, although he did not enter the Bavarian Military Academy for further study. Kesselring stayed in the German army after the war, and 1933 left to be the head of the Imperial Aviation Department. And served as chief of staff of the air force from 1936 to 1938. During World War II, Kesselring commanded the Air Force to participate in the Polish and French invasions, the Battle of Britain and the Barbarossa operation; He also served as commander-in-chief of the southern theater, commanding all Germans in the Mediterranean and North Africa battlefields; In the last days of World War II, Kesselring also served as commander-in-chief of the German Western Front. Kesselring's military talents and achievements even won the respect of the allied forces, but his reputation was also damaged by the massacre of his troops in Italy. After the war, Kesselring was convicted of war crimes and sentenced to death, but was later pardoned for life imprisonment. Due to media propaganda and political factors, officials claimed that Kesselring was released on 1952 for "health reasons". Kesselring was also one of the only three marshals of the Nazi German Army, Navy and Air Force who published his personal memoirs, entitled Doomsday Warrior. Early experience Catherine was indeed an excellent soldier, and he did not come from a military family. He was born in Maktoudev in 1885. His father was a teacher and later became a city manager. As early as childhood, he had a wish to be a soldier. After graduating from high school, he has decided his career choice: 1904 joined the Bavarian Second Infantry Artillery Corps and was promoted to second lieutenant three years later. Kesselring devoted himself to the pursuit of professional knowledge as early as a young officer. He first received a general education from the artillery, then received training as a weather observer in Metz, and finally received special training in measurement and optical measurement at the artillery and engineering school in Munich. From this knowledge, he laid the foundation for serving the motorized antiaircraft gun company in the army a few years later. During the First World War, Kesselring was promoted to captain, served as an army officer and various staff officers, and later served as chief of staff. After World War I, he served in the headquarters of the Bavarian Second Army in Nuremberg. He once assisted in the preparation and training of military units in the countryside, and experienced the riot of the * * * production party attacking the military headquarters in the "German hero barracks". He was arrested in June 19 19, but was released without trial. When he held different military posts in Anbeck, Herun Root and Nuremberg, he was promoted to major and transferred to the army headquarters in Berlin. 1930 was promoted to lieutenant colonel and transferred to the battalion commander of the Fourth Artillery Regiment in Dresden. After the beginning of World War I, Kesselring and his troops were stationed in Lorraine. 19 14 At the end of the year, Kesselring was transferred to Bavaria 1 division under the Sixth Army of the German Empire. On May 19 16, Kesselring was promoted to captain. In the same year, he was transferred to the 6th Bavarian Division. Kesselring made his mark in the Battle of Arras and stopped the British attack with clever tactics. Because of his outstanding performance in the Western Front, Kesselring won the Second Class and the First Class Iron Cross successively. Although he did not study in the Bavarian Military Academy, in 19 17, Kesselring was still assigned to serve in the General Staff Department, and was later transferred to the Bavarian First Reserve Division on the Eastern Front. 191810 in October, Kesselring returned to the western front again and became a staff officer of the second and third Bavarian army. [1] After World War I, according to the requirements of the Treaty of Versailles, Kesselring's Bavarian Third Army stationed in Nuremberg was dissolved. Due to a dispute with a leader of the local Freedom Corps, Kesselring was accused of participating in the mutiny against the commander of the Bavarian Third Army, and was arrested and imprisoned. Kesselring was released soon, but his boss, Major Hans Zeiler, accused him of "lack of proper judgment". From 19 19 to 1922, Kesselring served as the battery commander in the 24th artillery regiment. 1 922 65438+1October1,joined Weimar * * and the Defence Force, and worked in the Military Training Section of the Ministry of Defence in Berlin. 1929, Kesselring returned to Bavaria and became the commander of the 7th Military Region in Munich. During his work in the Ministry of National Defense, Kesselring participated in the organization of the army and made great efforts to reduce redundant staff, with a view to enhancing the combat effectiveness of the army under the condition of limited resources. He helped reorganize the military equipment department and laid the foundation for the research and development of new weapons and equipment. 1924, participated in the secret military intervention in the Soviet Union, and formulated the so-called "grand plan" for building the army from 1923 to 1924, including 102 division. After a short period of bottleneck in the Ministry of National Defense, Kesselring was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel on 1930 and served in the Fourth Artillery Regiment in Dresden for two years. The air force was established in June 1933 65438+ 10/.Catherine reluctantly left the army and became the director of the aviation munitions management department (Reichskommissarian fü r die Luftffahrt), and was promoted to colonel. As a department head, Kesselring had to look around for people to enrich his department. He participated in the reconstruction of German aviation industry and the construction of secret factories. In cooperation with the Ministry of Finance, he made up millions of budgets for the Air Force, supervised the production of aircraft and prepared the required funds. Everything: real estate-buildings include airports, barracks and other military equipment. He planned and implemented it. Personnel issues such as civil servants, air force employees and workers also belong to his scope of work. Due to hard work and excellent achievements in building the Air Force, he was promoted to Major General on 1935; And was promoted to lieutenant general on 1936. Like other generals in Nazi Germany, Kesselring also received a private allowance from Hitler, and the 6,000 marks he received was by no means a small sum at that time. During his work in the aviation department, Kesselring gradually realized that in order to manage pilots well, he must have first-hand knowledge of all aspects of flight. Therefore, at the age of 48, he began to learn to fly. Although he said that his academic performance was not as good as that of senior pilots or new pilots, he didn't care and encouraged himself. Kesselring can fly all kinds of single-engine and multi-engine aircraft for three or four days a week. When the first Air Force Chief of Staff, General Walter Weaver, crashed over Dresden on 1936, Kesselring was appointed as his successor. Lieutenant General Kesselring has a strong personality and is not very good at getting along with people, especially not buying rice hill's account. Although Mirc is very capable and holds the titles of Secretary of State of the Ministry of Aviation, Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force and Director of the Air Force, as well as the rank of aviation general, in Kesselring's view, Mi Hill is not a real soldier, but just a clerk waiting for this. He should take care of his administrative work and not interfere in the military. 1936, mihir was rejected by the chief of staff, Kesselring, because the training accident of the subordinates of the 3rd Training Brigade of the Air Force was too high, and he prepared to try Major Hans Jeshonek in a military court. Kesselring even dared to teach Hill "mind your own civil aviation" in front of him. Later, when a senior British military delegation visited Germany, Kesselring accused Hill of treason on the grounds that Hill had told the British too much. Mihir that attitude is relatively high, at least in the future, in terms of personnel arrangements, will not go to get even with Kesselring. What about Hermann G?ring? He regarded M Hill as a potential competitor for the position of Commander-in-Chief, and was happy to see that M Hill and Kesselring were at odds, pretending to be invisible and letting it go. During Kesselring's one-year tenure as chief of staff, the German Air Force had three major events. Three weeks after he took office, the Spanish civil war broke out, and the German Air Force set up a vulture corps to go to Spain, and summed up many valuable experiences in the war. Another achievement was that during Kesselring's tenure, the Air Force established paratroopers and later became the elite in the war. Other air force ground forces, such as anti-aircraft guns and searchlights, have also developed rapidly. Kesselring, as the third major event of the Air Force Chief of Staff, has far-reaching influence. He stopped two four-engine long-range strategic bomber projects, Junk 89 and Dornier 19, which were started during Weaver's tenure. Perhaps it was Kesselring's background in charge of budget and logistics in the Air Force. He has a clear understanding of the huge amount of raw materials, fuel and manpower needed for the so-called "Ural Bomber Project", and has strongly advocated dismantling the Ju89 and Do 19 projects since he took office. This time, Mi Hill and Kesselring reached an agreement on a rare point of view and hit it off. From then on until the beginning of World War II, the German Air Force never seriously developed a strategic bomber. It can be said that the transformation of the German Air Force into a purely tactical air force began in Kesselring. He and Hans-Juergen Stumpf are often accused that the German Air Force is underdeveloped, paying too much attention to close support and neglecting strategic bombing capability. However, the main advocates of close ground support operations are actually two senior professional pilots-hugo sperrle and hans jeschonnek. Therefore, the German Air Force is more involved in land support operations, not because of the pressure from the army, nor because the leader of the Air Force was born in the army (such as Kesselring). In fact, interception and close support operations are more in line with the existing war concept of the German Air Force, that is, joint operations with ground-air coordination, rather than independent strategic tasks. In addition, many commanders of the German Air Force believe that medium bombers can carry out strategic bombing missions against Britain and France, Germany's most likely enemies. Also at 1937, the Air Force General Staff reported directly to Goering. As the State Secretary of the Ministry of Aviation, Mi Hill is responsible for all administrative affairs of civil aviation and air force, because he still serves as the deputy commander and director of the air force. In this way, at least in terms of affiliation, Kesselring, as the chief of staff of the Air Force, has achieved a position tied with M Hill. Parallel to Kesselring and Mi Hill, there is also the Air Force Equipment Development and Procurement Department headed by Ernst Udaite, which is also directly responsible to Goering. Kesselring is a simple soldier. He soon got tired of the tit-for-tat power struggle with Mi Hill in the Air Force and resigned voluntarily a year later. After leaving office, Kesselring was promoted to aviation officer and was appointed as the commander of the third military region of the Air Force in Dresden. Due to the reorganization of the Air Force, Kesselring took over the First Air Corps on April 1, and was later renamed as the Commander of the First Air Corps. In this position, General Kesselring applied his knowledge to practical work. His troops were highly trained and showed great success when they occupied Sudetenland and Czechoslovakia. Polish campaign, air force expert, responsible for supporting the northern army group under the command of General fedor von bock in the Polish campaign that triggered the Second World War. Although Kesselring was not a subordinate of Bok, he cooperated closely with Bok and obeyed Bok's orders in many ways to meet the needs of ground war. Kesselring should provide close support to the ground forces as far as possible, concentrate the available air force and give full play to the flexibility of the air force at key points (such as the battle of La Chu). He also tried to cut off the communication lines of the Polish army through a series of bombing operations in Warsaw, Poland, only to find that even a one-ton bomb might not blow up the bridge. Kesselring was shot down by its air force in Poland. He was shot down five times during the whole World War II. In recognition of Kesselring's performance in the Polish War, Hitler personally awarded him the Knight Iron Cross. [1] Kesselring's Western Campaign 1940 Kesselring's 1 Air Force did not participate in the preparations for the upcoming Western Campaign. On the contrary, the force is still stationed on the eastern front, responsible for establishing a new air base and air raid protection network in occupied Poland. However, after a plane carrying German invasion plan documents forced to land in Belgium (the famous Melunxi incident), Goering dismissed Haimrle Ferme, commander of the 2nd Air Fleet, and appointed Kesselring to take over the post. The latter flew to his new headquarters in Mü nster the next day (1940 65438+ 10/3). Ferme's chief of staff, Major General Joseph Kamhuber, was also dismissed, and Kesselring appointed his own chief of staff, William Speedel. After arriving in the western front, Kesselring learned that the task of the 2nd Air Force was to support Bok's B Army Group. He inherited a complicated air invasion plan from Ferme, which described the airborne action plan to occupy the bridges and airports in The Hague and Rotterdam in the "Dutch Fort" area. There are several hours of action in the planned timetable that are accurate to the minute. The paratroopers are under the command of aviation general Kurt Studen, and the success or failure of the operation depends on getting in touch with the mechanized troops quickly. In order to achieve this goal, Kesselring promised Bok that he would provide as much personal support as possible. But air and ground operations will start at the same time, so there will be no time to suppress the Dutch air force responsible for defense. The Dutch campaign began in May 1940. Although the initial air combat went smoothly and Kesselring's fighter and bomber units gained the upper hand against the weak Dutch air force, paratroopers met fierce resistance in The Hague and Rotterdam. 1940 On May 4th, in response to Studen's request for assistance, Kesselring ordered the bombing of the center of Rotterdam, which triggered a fire and caused a lot of damage to the city. 1940 in may 14, the Netherlands surrendered. The 2nd Air Force continued to try to seize the new airport in Belgium, and at the same time, it did not forget to provide support for the rapidly advancing army troops. The French campaign went very smoothly. General heinz guderian, an armored soldier, crossed the Meuse River in Sedan on May 1940+03. In order to support this breakthrough, Kesselring transferred the Eighth Air Force led by Lieutenant General wolfram von Richthofen to the Third Air Force. On May 24th, the Allied Forces split in two, and only one seaport in Dunkirk was still under control, while the Germans were only 15km away. However, General Gert von Lang Stedt ordered to stop the attack that day, which was a "fatal mistake" in Kesselring's view. The burden of the Germans holding their ground and preventing the Allied troops from retreating from Dunkirk fell on the shoulders of Kesselring pilots. Their attack was interfered by bad weather and the Royal Air Force, and most of the allied forces finally successfully withdrew from Dunkirk. 1940, 19 In July, Kesselring was promoted to the rank of Marshal, which was a special reward for him and his troops. This article was originally written by the author of classic wartime legends. References are reproduced without permission: World War II Encyclopedia.