The memoirs of Field Marshal Albert Kesselring. Field Marshal Albert Kesselring wrote his memoirs in 1952 while serving a life sentence after being sentenced to death by a British military court and subsequently pardoned. Shaped by his service in the Royal Bavarian Army and the Reichswehr, he achieved rapid advancement in the Wehrmacht. By 1937, he had become a General of the Air Force, and in 1939 he was appointed commander of Air Fleet 1, with which he participated in the invasion of Poland. In 1940, he became the commander of Air Fleet 2, which he led during the Western Campaign and continued to command in the East until December 1941. He then served as Commander-in-Chief South, leading the German air forces in the Mediterranean and North Africa. In March 1945, Hitler appointed him Commander-in-Chief West. In his memoirs, Kesselring describes the motivations behind his actions.