He commanded the bombing offensive over Poland, the Netherlands, and France before commencing the Battle of Britain, when he was hampered by interference from Goering and Hitler. Posted to the Mediterranean soon after, from 1943 to 1945 he commanded all German forces in Italy, and in 1945 in the West. Condemned to death as a war criminal in 1947, he had his sentence commuted to life imprisonment and was freed in 1952.