The Memoirs of Field-Marshal Kesselring Paperback – January 26, 2016

His troops called him "Smiling Albert", but his enemies considered him something between a strategic mastermind and a bloodthirsty war criminal. Hitler considered him too honest for his own good, and everybody knew he was tough. In 1944, when his staff car collided with the business end of a howitzer, a joke circulated among his armies during his convalescence: "The Field Marshal was only slightly injured, but the gun had to be retired." Such was Albert Kesselring, General Field Marshal of the Luftwaffe and one of the few of that rank to leave his memiors behind.Kesselring had one of those military careers that is actually several careers in one -- army officer, air force general, theater commander. Considering his many achievements, he should probably be more famous, but it was his fate to be the "other field marshal" in the Southern Theater - the principle one being, of course, Rommel, with whom Kesselring often bitterly quarreled. Indeed, it was Kesselring's relations with men like Hitler, Goering, and Rommel that I was arguably looking most forward to reading about - among other things. And therin lies the problem. It turned out there were too many "other things" in MEMIORS. Kesselring was attempting too much. His life story is simply too damned big to cram into a single volume. Considering the vital importance he played in the development of the Luftwaffe, the French campaign, the Battle of Britain, the invasion of Russia, the war in North Africa and the defense of Sicily and Italy, it would have been better to split this into a two or even a three-volume series.The problem of biting off more of his life than he could chew was exacerbated by the fact that he wrote these pages wholly or partially while imprisoned for war crimes, and thus had very limited access to research materials - he seems to be operating from memory, and from postwar literature produced by his ex-enemies. Finally, Kesselring's writing style, while not precisely bad and showing flashes of talent here and there, isn't what you would call aesthetically pleasing. Having read a lot of German military literature to use as comparison, I would rate him in the bottom half of the ex-generals: he often generalizes when he should speak specifically, and sometimes bogs down in details when he should have spoken broadly.I also have some issues with the book itself. The pictures are low quality -, grainy, dot-matrix style, and the translation from German to British English leaves something to be desired. Ranks are incorrectly translated on many occasions and some of the sentences have that unweildy, unnatural quality that an overly literal translation tends to create. There are also some misspellings, and a comment or two in the forward which is/are downright nonsensical.MEMIORS are by no means all bad. Kesselring's career is breath-taking in its sheer scope, and his criticisms of Allied battle strategies, the cumbersome and inefficient leadership structure of Hitler's armed forces, and the Axis failure to seize Malta (which cost them the North African war) are all fascinating. His diplomatic criticisms of Rommel shed interesting light on the less pleasing aspects of that legendary soldier. Furthermore, in defending himself against charges of war crimes in Italy, he makes a number of valid points about the hypocrisy of the Allies, who encouraged and facilitated the brutal partisan movement knowing full well how the Germans would respond to it, and then used ex post facto laws to prosecute German leaders after the war.MEMIORS are most definitely not a smooth and easy read. In some ways they is not even as well-written as Field Marshal Keitel's death row memiors, which were cut short by his execution at Nuremberg. But they are an important contribution to war literature.

This book was written by Kesselring from his records and memories. While one might not agree with all his conclusions (for one example he did not like a three branch government with an independent executive branch, i.e. the US system) it is interesting to see what a high ranking officer from the Axis side of WWII was thinking and doing.

This was a good read.

A highly recommended read for anyone interested in WW2 military history, a must read for military history buffs. He does a great job of taking one through the nuances of German military leadership excellence as well as how tradition & training influenced himself. Good insight into the beginning of the modern Luftwaffe & its influence on the panzer attack strategy. Kesselring’s leadership and later defensive skills are well known, however given the political constraints & the later Italian collapse, it is even more appreciated. An interesting prospective on the African theater and comments on Rommel as well as others are valuable insight. Perhaps some self-serving, but his treatment after the war was both unfair & detrimental to the recovery of Europe.

Learned many things unknown to me. Enjoyed the Italian campaign stories as well as the discussion on saving Italian art.

Excellent, not a mainstream book. Reads with great detail by the opposition. This General knew his profession and reports its impacts on man, and country. A must read to understand what WWII involved. Combine it with Patton, Eisenhower and Montgomery (et. al) - paints an impressive graphic that stay with you. First hand writing provides an unusual authenticity.

This was an interesting book to read the view of much of WWII in Europe from one of Germany's best generals. I learned a lot that was not available in many other books of the war. This was written while he was incarcerated by the Allies after the surrender. I was hoping for more in depth discussions of various parts of the war in Italy and France/Germany during the invasion years but most of the book contained general descriptions, opinion and reactions about what transpired rather than in depth analysis and details about his involvement and how the German forces performed against the Allies. All in all it was a good book and I do recommend it.

Field Marshal Kesselring was a senior Wehrmacht leader during WWII who was commander of Axis efforts in the Mediterranean at one point. His memoirs avoid some subjects of discussion and glosses over others. It would have been helpful if the book was annotated to explain some of the items being discussed, to clarify in footnotes perhaps. Kesselring seems to have identified the key to defeating the British in North Africa (Malta) but it seems to me he never really discusses the proposed invasion or the suppression of the island at length. Kesselring does seem to have been aware that there was some sort of security leak in the Axis effort in Africa but when this was initially published he had no way of knowing about Ultra, the Allied system which allowed them to read at least some military messages.

Great book about a field marshal who was goering and rommel in one.

It was a present for someone, they were pleased with it and I am hoping to borrow it in due course.

good read great service

great man and soldier.

One of the most striking things about this volume is what an amazingly good writer Kesselring is, despite not actually being a writer. There are many lines and paragraphs I highlighted, not just for their significance for understanding history, but because they express his ideas and thoughts so clearly and vividly. A sign of his intelligence, dedication, and ability to apply himself to a task (even one new to him) and get something remarkable done.There are insightful comments on Hitler, Goring, Rommel and a number of other major and minor but still very important characters. And some of the lesser known characters seem important exactly because of their character, even if he mentions them only briefly and only once. General Ritter von Hengl is an example – I had never heard of him before, despite a having some knowledge of WW II. Kesselring’s words are tribute to this man whose talent and dedication to his men Kesselring so admired. It’s a brief but moving single paragraph tribute to a man who would otherwise be almost forgotten.This is also probably a lot of history you would not get from historians, not just because of his personal involvement in the events, but because of his perceptiveness and his ability to express it clearly in words.A couple notes about this e-book version, Pickle Partners Publishing (2016). There are a few photos included and while historically interesting, the quality of the reproductions here are grainy and generally pretty poor. And there are typos – not a lot, but they are there.