page_title: Albert Kesselring
section_title: Mediterranean and North Africa
hierarchical_section_title: Albert Kesselring / World War II / Mediterranean and North Africa
caption_attribution_description: For documentary purposes the German Federal Archive often retained the original image captions, which may be erroneous, biased, obsolete or politically extreme. Bild Nr. 464 Generalfeldmarschall Rommel im Gespräch mit Generalfeldmarschall Kesselring Berlin, den 4.2.1943 [Herausgabedatum]
context_page_description: Albert Kesselring was a German Generalfeldmarschall of the Luftwaffe during World War II who was subsequently convicted of war crimes. In a military career that spanned both world wars, Kesselring became one of Nazi Germany's most highly decorated commanders, being one of only 27 soldiers awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds.
  Kesselring joined the Bavarian Army as an officer cadet in 1904 and served in the artillery branch. He completed training as a balloon observer in 1912. During World War I, he served on both the Western and Eastern fronts and was posted to the General Staff, despite not having attended the War Academy. Kesselring remained in the Army after the war but was discharged in 1933 to become head of the Department of Administration at the Reich Commissariat for Aviation, where he was involved in the re-establishment of the German aviation industry and the laying of the foundations for the Luftwaffe, serving as its chief of staff from 1936 to 1938.
  During World War II he commanded air forces in the invasions of Poland and France, the Battle of Britain and Operation Barbarossa.
context_section_description: In November 1941, Kesselring was appointed Wehrmacht Commander-in-Chief South and was transferred to Italy along with his Luftflotte 2 staff, which for the time being also functioned as his Commander-in-Chief South staff. Only in January 1943 did he form his headquarters into a true theatre staff and create a separate staff to control Luftflotte 2. As a theatre commander, he was answerable directly to the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW) and commanded ground, naval and air forces, but this was of little importance at first as most German units in the theatre were under Italian operational control.
  In 1941 it was clear whoever controlled Malta held an advantage. The island sat in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea in the path of maritime trading routes—and Maltese–based British forces had taken a heavy toll of Axis shipping. which provided a base from which British aircraft and submarines could interdict Axis convoys headed for North Africa. Without the vital supplies they carried, particularly fuel, the Axis forces in North Africa could not conduct operations. In October 1941, 63 per cent of Axis supply ships had been sunk, and in November it was 77 per cent. Periodically, Kesselring established local air superiority and neutralised Malta. Kesselring ordered attacks on the island's airfields, ports and infrastructure, along with Malta Convoys, which provided food and war materials to the island.
  Kesselring's Luftflotte 2 made an immediate impact. The offensive formally opened on 20 March 1942. One third of the bombing effort was directed against airfields. Conflicting Axis priorities, insufficient forces, and concentration of force, coupled with British determination to reinforce and supply Malta, defeated Kesselring. After May 1942 the British air defences were not seriously threatened, and by August, the air battle over the island had subsided. Kesselring's air fleet flew 11,000 sorties against the island from early April to 10 May, placing the garrison and population in dire straits. Approximately 30,000 buildings were destroyed or damaged and 1,300 civilians were killed. The Allied losses in airmen, fighter aircraft, warships and transport ships were high. The effectiveness of the attacks brought the population to the brink of starvation. Axis shipping losses fell to 20–30 per cent.
  Through suppressing Maltese–based forces, Kesselring managed to deliver an increased flow of supplies to Generaloberst Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps in Libya. The Axis lost only three per cent of their seaborne supplies and the central Mediterranean was closed, once again, to Allied shipping. With his forces thus strengthened, Rommel prepared an attack on the British positions around Gazala, while Kesselring planned Operation Herkules, an airborne and seaborne attack on Malta with the Italian 185 Airborne Division Folgore and the German Ramcke Parachute Brigade. Kesselring hoped to thereby secure the Axis line of communication with North Africa.
  For the Battle of Gazala, Rommel divided his command in two, taking personal command of the mobile units of the Afrika Korps and Italian XX Motorised Corps, which he led around the southern flank of Lieutenant-General Neil Ritchie's British Eighth Army. Rommel left the infantry of the Italian X and XXI Corps under General der Panzertruppe Ludwig Crüwell to hold the rest of the Eighth Army in place. This command arrangement went awry on 29 May 1942 when Crüwell was shot down and he was taken prisoner. Lacking an available commander of sufficient seniority, Kesselring assumed personal command of Gruppe Crüwell, placing himself under Rommel's command even though he was the senior officer. It was the first time Kesselring had held a senior ground command, albeit a temporary one. He was able to relieve Rommel's logistical problems by pushing a supply convoy through the British minefields.
  Kesselring was critical of Rommel's performance in the Battle of Bir Hakeim, a vital position held by the 1st Free French Brigade that formed the southern pivot of the British Gazala Line. Rommel called for, and Kessel
caption: North Africa, February 1942. Kesselring (right) meets with Erwin Rommel (left) and Fritz Bayerlein of the Afrika Korps.
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