Table of Contents
List of Maps 7
Foreword Kenneth Macksey 8
Introduction 11
Part 1 Years of War and Peace: 1904-41 13
1 Service in the Royal Bavarian Army and the Reichswehr, 1904-33 15
2 Flashes from the Reichswehr Period 20
3 Transfer to the Luftwaffe 25
4 In the Air Ministry 31
5 Chief of the General Staff of the Luftwaffe 35
6 Chief of Air Fleet 1, Berlin 37
7 The Polish Campaign, 1939 43
8 Between Campaigns-The Winter of 1939-40 49
9 Air Fleet 2 in the Western Campaign 52
The First Act in the West 55
The Second Act in the West 60
10 Before the Turning-Point-Summer 1940 62
11 Operation Sea-Lion and the Battle of Britain 65
12 The Russian Campaign Till the End of November 1941 85
Part 2 The War in the Mediterranean: 1941-45 101
13 The Mediterranean, 1941-42 103
14 Malta or Egypt? November 1941 to October 1942 119
15 The Allied Invasion of North Africa and the Battle for Tunis 137
Before the Invasion, 137
North Africa, November 1942 to January 1943, 141 Tunisia, February to May 1943, 149
16 The Leap to Sicily 158
17 Mussolini's Fall And Italy's Defection 167
Preliminaries 167
My First Steps After Mussolini's Arrest 169
Hitler's First Reactions 170
My Efforts to Consolidate the Situation 173
Operation Axis 175
The Day of the Surrender-8 September 1943 176
The Last of Cavallero 178
King Victor Emanuel, Mussolini and Hitler 179
18 The Battle of Salerno and the Struggle to Build Up a Defence Front South of Rome 182
19 Cassino, Anzio-Nettuno and Rome, Autumn 1943 Till Early Summer 1944 190
The Bridgehead and Cassino 190
Before the Battle for Rome 197
The Big Spring Battle 200
20 Defence Stand in Italy, Summer 1944 Till Spring 1945 204
June till Mid-August 1944 204
The 20th July and the Italian Theatre 209
Autumn 1944 210
Northern Italy After the Apennine Battles 213
The Winter Period, 1944-45 218
Balance-sheet of the Italian Campaign 221
21 The Partisan War in Italy 224
Preliminary 224
The Development of Guerilla Warfare 224
Organisation of the Partisans 225
Partisan Methods 227
The Fight Against the Partisans 228
The Spread of the Partisan War. Its Excesses 231
Part 3 Unconditional Surrender and My Trial 235
22 Commander-in-Chief West 237
My Assignment 237
The Situation and Preliminary Measures 239
Again at the Fuhrer's General Headquarters 244
The Loss of the Palatinate 245
The Oppenheim Crossing and its Consequeaces 248
The Allied Break-out from the Remagen Bridgehead 250
The "Ruhr Fortress" 255
The Allied Break-through on the Lower Rhine 256
The Situation on the Upper Rhine in March 258
Retrospect and Outlook 259
My Relations with Hitler and the O.K.W. 264
The Battles in Central Germany 266
23 The End of the War 269
Southern Germany 269
The Battle for Cities 275
The Demolition of Bridges 276
The Alpine Fortress 276
The Situation in Mid-April 1945 277
The End of the Fighting in South Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia 280
I am Given Plenipotentiary Powers 285
Problems of Leadership at the End of the War 287
Capitulation 288
24 My Post-War Experiences 294
First Years of Imprisonment 294
My Trial 297
Measures for the Protection of Italy's Population and Culture 307
After my Trial 310
Index 317
Maps
The bombardment of the Dutch forces in Rotterdam 57
The principal targets in the economic war against Britain 77
Encirclements of Russian forces in the second half of 1941 91
The Mediterranean as a base for operation in World War II 111
German operations and operational objectives in Tunisia, January 1943 145
Battles in the Mareth zone: 19th to 29th March, 1943 153
Operations in Italy 201
The last campaign, showing the front on 11th March, 1945 251
