Albert Kesselring (1885–1960) was a Luftwaffe Generalfeldmarschall during World War II. In a military career that spanned both World Wars, Kesselring became one of Nazi Germany's most skillful commanders, being one of 27 soldiers awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds. Kesselring joined the German Army as an officer cadet in 1904, and served in the artillery branch. 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. During World War II he commanded air forces in the invasions of Poland and France, the Battle of Britain, and Operation Barbarossa. As Commander-in-Chief South, he was overall German commander in the Mediterranean theatre, which included the operations in North Africa. Kesselring conducted a stubborn defensive campaign against the Allied forces in Italy until he was injured in an accident in October 1944. He won the respect of his Allied opponents for his military accomplishments, but his record was marred by massacres committed by troops under his command in Italy. After the war, Kesselring was tried for war crimes and sentenced to death. The sentence was subsequently commuted to life imprisonment.

Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Kesselring

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1794:

American inventor Eli Whitney patented the cotton gin , the first ever machine that quickly and easily separated cotton fibers from their seedpods. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/cotton_gin

1915:

World War I: British forces cornered and sank the SMS Dresden, the last remnant of the German East Asia Squadron, near the Chilean island of Más a Tierra. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_M%C3%A1s_a_Tierra

1945:

The British Royal Air Force first used the Grand Slam, a 22,000 lb (9.98 t) earth quake bomb, on a strategic railroad viaduct in Bielefeld, Germany. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Slam_bomb

1991:

The "Birmingham Six", wrongly convicted of the 1974 Birmingham pub bombings in Birmingham, England, were released after sixteen years in prison. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birmingham_Six

1994:

Version 1.0.0 of the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel, was released, becoming one of the most prominent examples of open source software. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_kernel

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush (proverb): It is preferable to have a small but certain advantage than a mere potential of a greater one http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/a_bird_in_the_hand_is_worth_two_in_the_bush

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Only the individual can think, and thereby create new values for society — nay, even set up new moral standards to which the life of the community conforms. Without creative, independently thinking and judging personalities the upward development of society is as unthinkable as the development of the individual personality without the nourishing soil of the community.

The health of society thus depends quite as much on the independence of the individuals composing it as on their close political cohesion. --Albert Einstein http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein