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. Upon completion of a traditional classical education, he joined the Bavarian foot artillery in 1904 and was commissioned officer in 1906. During World War I and most of the postwar years he served as an army staff officer at the disguised general staff or "Troops Office" and later at the War Ministry. After the Nazi take-over in 1933, he was formally discharged from the army and put in charge of the administration office of the incipient and still undercover air force under the command of his old comradein-arms Hermann Göring.

In June 1936 Kesselring became Göring's chief of staff; one year later he commanded Air Region...