Jodl, Alfred

Born May 10, 1890, in Wurzburg; died Oct. 16, 1946, in Nuremberg. Colonel general (1944) of the fascist German Army.

Jodl fought in World War I and later served in staff positions of the Reichswehr and was chief of the Home Defense Department. From August 1939 to May 1945, Jodl was chief of operations of fascist Germany’s armed forces and Hitler’s chief adviseron operations and strategy. In the last days of the war his responsibilities were limited to the western theaters of operation. In Reims on May 7, 1945, on the instructions of Admiral K. Doenitz, Jodl signed the unconditional surrender of the German armed forces to the Western Allies. Tried as a war criminal, he was sentenced to death by the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg on Oct. 1, 1946, and was hanged.