Who was your favorite German military commander of the Third Reich?
I’d have to say Erich Von Manstein for his excellent work on the Eastern Front.
It was a tough decision between him and Heinz Gudarian, because of his creation of Blitzkrieg
Erwin Rommel because of his excellent tank command in the deserts and defenses. He totally gets my vote.
Even though he commited suicide I still thank he was the best of the best. Even though I would not like a commander who would commit suicide. I understand because if he did not his family would be killed.
Rommel would have to be my fav because he leaded the afrika corps like no other ,but he was beaten bad by the brits
Ah, the good old best commander thread 
My vote goes to von Manstein, excellent commander, difficult to find weaknesses 
To put it nastily grin short:
Rommel just couldn’t lead anything which had more than four soldiers, because he just wandered around the frontline when he should have been leading units in HQ.
Guderian just lost toooooo many times. I have always felt bad for those divisions under guderian which were badly beaten several times in precisely the same way near moscow. Guderian didn’t consider enough what enemy might do - in my opinion.
_
Has anybody ever read any of that autobiographies written by some of these commanders?
ie: Manstein, Guderian
well, fatty goering will NOT get my vote, he was one of the worst commanders you can ever imagine.
jens
Oh no…
Please don’t tell me someone voted for ‘Fatty’…
Shame on whoever for doing that! 
Yes and yes.
My days at the head of 56 Panzer Corps were now numbered. On the evening of 12th September, under a steady downpour of rain, I was sitting in my tent with one or two officers of my staff. Ever since it had begun to get dark early we had taken to playing bridge to while away the time until the evening situation reports came in. Suddenly the telephone rang at my elbow and I was asked to take a call from my friend Busch, the army commander. A telephone message at this late hour did not usually bode anything pleasant, but on this occasion Busch read me out an order that had come over the teleprinter from O.K.H. :
‘General of the Infantry v. Manstein will leave forthwith for Southern Army Group to assume command of Eleventh Army.’
Every soldier will sense how proud and happy I felt at the prospect of leading a whole army from now on. To me, at the time, this seemed the peak of my military career.
Early next morning I took leave - only by telephone, unfortunately - of the divisions under my command and then bade farewell to my own staff. In doing so I had grateful memories of all that 56 Panzer Corps and its staff had achieved in the past months, when the headquarters and divisions had grown into a thoroughly integrated unit.
Joyful though I was in taking over this new and bigger task, I was nevertheless fully aware that probably the most satisfying phase of my life as a soldier was now over. For three whole months I had lived close to the fighting troops, sharing not only their trials and tribulations, but also the pride of their successes. Time and again I had been able to derive fresh energy from the very fact of this common experience, from the cheerful devotion with which everyone went about his duty and from the intimacy of comradeship. From now on my position would prevent me from working among the troops to the extent I had done to date.
- von Manstein, Lost Victories
_
I voted Rommel because even if we wasn’t the best he was an honourable opponent who fought according to the rules of war, something that the commanders who fought on the eastern front cannot lay claim too.
Agreed. We can’t even dream of the terrors of surrendering in the East…
Sad but true…
I just wanted to say that I hate internet, or more precisely computers
I wrote a long reply about Rommel, and then clicked to close one application, and system closed two applications, including the one with my reply.
It’s just so painful to re-write a post with several claims and sources, that I have to respect those who can do it - personally I can’t, re-creating something is so mind-numbing. :-/
_
I know what you mean. I have got into the habit of composing longer posts ahead of time in notepad and then pasting them in afterward. Just to avoid problems like you described.