Albert Kesselring (Command, 27)

Impressive!

Dr. Pier Paolo Battistelli's Albert Kesselring, No. 27 in Osprey's Command series, offers a succinct look at Generalfeldmarschall Albert Kesselring, one of the most unusual German commanders in the Second World War. As the author notes, Kesselring rose very rapidly in the German army, transferred to the new Luftwaffe in the 1930s and then occupied key joint-service command slots during the Second World War. Aside from his own memoirs and one dated biography in English, Kesselring hasn't been covered much in English-language history so this volume has merit. However, the 64-page format is tough to pull off (as I can attest personally, having written three previous volumes in this series) and in this case, is only a partial success. I suspect that a good amount of information that fell on the cutting room floor and the volume seemed to lack continuity at parts, which could also be indicative of too much editorial meddling. In any case, this volume is a decent introduction to Kesselring and his role in the Second World War, but essentially just scratches the surface. Kesselring's early life and career are covered in a few pages in the introduction. One thing that struck my eye was that, "Kesselring did not serve in the trenches or even the front line [in the First World War], he was awarded the Iron Cross first and second class..." Instead, he spent much of the First World War as an adjutant in various artillery units. Afterwards, he spent much of the 1920s in Defense Ministry postings, with only minimal command time. It is also interesting that Kesselring never really served in the hardcore staff position so exalted in the German military - operations officer. When he transferred to the Luftwaffe in 1933, Kesselring continued to occupy high-level ministry positions. All this begs greater insight into Kesselring's political instincts and ability to climb the career ladder so successfully, but without the usual credentials. However, this volume provides no insight into how Kesselring achieved such rapid career success. The author then spends a bit more space discussing Kesselring's role as Chief of Staff of the Luftwaffe and then commander of an Air Fleet in the 1939-41 campaigns. Nothing really new here. He then spent the period 1942-44 in the Mediterranean theater, where he made his most noteworthy contribution by the tenacious defense of Italy. As another reviewer noted, the volume actually says little about Kesselring's command style. A good approach might have been to zoom in on a particular battle, like Monte Cassino, and review key decisions made by Kesselring during a day or two of combat. The section on opposing commanders is little more than capsule bios, with no real comparison of how Kesselring stacked up against opponents like Harold Alexander or Mark Clark. The final section focuses heavily on Kesselring's alleged role in war crimes in Italy - thought there was a bit too much on this for a volume this size. The author only partially sums of Kesselring's individual contributions and faults, citing his excessive optimism in particular. I'm not sure that characteristic was either unique to Kesselring or necessarily pernicious. A good commander has to be optimistic even in the most critical situations; what was he supposed to do in 1943, throw up his hands and say `we're all screwed! The war is lost!' The ability of commanders like Model, Rommel and Kesselring to inspire their troops with optimism in 1944 was a critical combat multiplier for the Wehrmacht and not a fault from their point of view.

This is the first time I have ever been disappointed in an Osprey book. First of all, the book simply serves as a resume of Kesselring, not really a discussion of his leadership style (unless "optimism" is a style) or how we was able to influence and lead his soldiers and airmen. The format is confusing. There are typos and finally one map has a key item from a completely different map. While the artwork and maps are great and the photos are good it is hard for me to recommend this book.

Very interesting book about an often forgotten member of german air force.

Per la parte agiografica del soldato più utile la lettura del testo di Kesserling "soldato fino all'ultimo giorno", solo un accenno sui crimini del feldmaresciallo. E si che l'Italia dopo la Russia ha visto un numero notevole di stragi verso la popolazione civile.

Wer Kesselrings Erinnerungen noch nicht kennt, wird durch diesen Band sicherlich zur weiteren Lektüre angeregt.Wer sie schon kennt, erhält mit diesem Band eine gut gemachte Ergänzung.Empfehlenswert!V.K.