Who was the best WW2 commander? I belive it is Patton.
Best of the lot was Slim, followed by a whole bunch of Germans.
Monty, because he stopped the axis advance in Africa, thus stopping the Mediterranean Sea from becoming an Axis Lake, and stopping them from conquering the Suez Canal, and the oil fields in Persia and Saudi Arabia.
Hmmm ,Montgomery was only two weeks in charge when Rommel attacked El Alamein/Alam Halfa.All the defensive positions were exactly the same than Auchinleck’s.The XXX corps was still in the north and the mobile XIII corps in the south.The only difference would be the reserve with the 10th Armoured division and the 44th Division.
I doubt two weeks would be enough to make some dramatic changes.
But Britain needed a “super” commander to face Rommel and the choice came to Montgomery.Can’t say I had ever been impressed by his command either around Caen or the failure that was Market-Garden.
wheres yamamoto
Yeah, Montgomery was compentent but no better while having an ego the size of Yorkshire. MacArthur fits that description rather well too…
Sorry after making it I realized I forgot Yamamoto.
If you’ve heard his name, he’s probably overrated…
Patton had talent, but he was possibly brain-damaged which led to an impulsivity and lack of moment to moment judgment. He was kicked in the head by a US Army mule in the 1930s, and was certainly prone to emotional meltdowns – he often broke down crying in MASH units after visiting the wounded, something not realized by most who judge him harshly for slapping a private, which he did in fact twice. Patton was a very incomplete general with a penchant for ignoring logistics…but no one can deny he was brilliant tactically and someone that could alter the time and space of battle locally. But he was also a fuck up strategically…
I see a lot of people tend to downgrade Rommel and insinuate that his image as “The Desert Fox” was largely built by the British that were unable to defeat him initially despite more supplies and numbers…I go for Patton
Well, I don’t seem him discussed as much as some of the more “glamorous” generals, but I’d follow TR Jr. anywhere! According to what I’ve found, he was the ONLY US general to go ashore with the troops on D-Day. Served in WW1 and WW2 and awarded the CMH.
What about Konev?Rokossovky?Vasilevsky?
It always makes me smile when we celebrate El-Alamein defeating four German divisions and inflicting 60 000 Axis losses while the same month at Stalingrad defeated and encircled German Sixth Army,damaged Fourth Panzer Army and smashed Rumanian Third and Fourth Armies eradicating 50 divisions and over 300 000 men from the Axis order of battle.
There’s a reason El Alamein is still celebrated. It was the last purely British/Imperial victory on the field of battle against a serious enemy. All battles since have either been against a second-rate enemy (Falklands) or as very much the junior partner in a coalition (Overlord, Korea, the Persian Gulf x 2, etc.).
That is so true PDF> I concur with what you are saying. El Alamein was the last one for sure. The falklands was a cake walk. Not even worth mentioning. Yup!
Are you seriously trying to imply that the Argentine army was on a par with the Afrika Corps relative to the British Army of the time???
Look, all I can say is that Argentina has the most beautiful girls in the world. They are always up there in the top picks at Ms.Universe etc. So since they have such beautiful women, the country deserves recognition. They don’t need to have a big bad ass army or navy because one look at their women, and you’d drop your arms and surrender. Thats a fact you can take to the bank:)
Maybe it is because the defeat of the Germans had a lot to do with many wrong decisions and advice given by the real German generals that were thrown away by Hitler. Rommel actually had a little more freedom to run his Korps in whatever way he wanted, even though he was terribly depleted of supplies. This was the British last great battle ending in victory against a worthy opponent.
Hitler’s interventions during Rommel’s campaigns in the desert were nothing compared to his untimely decisions in the Eastern Front. For one thing, Hitler had the attitude that German troops in the Eastern Front were not to fall back and give up any ground previously gained. This caused many German deaths, brought about many pockets that trapped Germans troops and tied the German generals’ hands. Considering that the Germans were ill equipped for the winter and the subsequent spring mud, short of supplies and crippled by bad decisions from above, they still almost kicked the Red Army’s butt.
As far as the best commander, I personally like Germany’s von Mansteim. Just about each plan that he forged, Hitler turned down, inlucidng his plan for the battle of Kursk. He still managed to be very successful even with his hands tied like he was. His command was taken away basically because he told Hitler that he should let the generals make the decisions in the front. Hitler should have listened.
Have you seen what women look like as soon as they wear uniform? <shudders>
Hippocrocagorillapig just about covers it!
By the time Bagration was taking place,the Red Army was a different army from the one that got beaten in 1941/42.
The Russians became masters of deception,letting the German guess where the next blow would fall(it was easy though,they would simply attack everywhere).Deep Operations proved to be a far more effective combined arms tactic than the German Bewegungskrieg.As much as I am interested in the Axis side of the war,I just can’t deny the effectiveness of Russian tactics and the talent of Russian Generals.
Rommel terribly depleted of supplies???
Garbage!!!
Rommel’s pigheadedness THREW AWAY any chance at victory in the Med…
Rommel…a political appointee, described as “really only a good divisional general”…(quote from G. von Runestedt)
Take Rommel off the list…I’ll proove to you that his arrogance and foolhardy outrunning of supplies in a sector where logistics was KING doomed the Axis effort, despite good advice from his Italian allies, and despite the Regia Marina getting supplies and men to Rommel through thick and thin…
Are you ready to be surprised?..Rommel should not be on this list
The TALENT of Russian Generals???
I would not call 5 million plus CAPTURED as talented at all…Budenny got over a million men to defend Kiev with in 1941 and @#%*ed that up…Zhukhov was famous for summary executions to restore order…etc, etc…
TALENT???..Endless human material to work with, and factories turning out AFVs and nothing else , and at the expense of FOOD…leaders willing to throw MANY into the fire just to save their precious revolution…christ, no wonder Ost-Front was a failure for the Reich…a misguided gamble…We would have been better off letting Russia fall and then bringing the war in Europe to a conclusion by Atomic weaponry…no Cold War, no arrogant Russian foreign policy, no divided Europe.
Russian politicians and leaders, as usual, have more than a lot to answer for…