Books: Smiling Al

KESSELRING—A SOLDIER'S RECORD (381 pp.)—Albert Kesselring—Morrow ($5).

To judge by their memoirs, German generals led sheltered lives. Most of them agree that under twelve years of Hitler rule they saw no evil, spoke none and did none. The latest to proclaim his innocence is 69-year-old Field Marshal Albert Kesselring. Loyal enough by his own admission to "enjoy Hitler's unreserved confidence," Kesselring also proved affable and adjustable enough after the war to assist U.S. Army historians and retain his wartime nickname of "Smiling Al."

A Luftwaffe general, Smiling Al Kesselring lacked the dash of a...