but who do you think were the WORST generals? (this might be harder, since nobody talks about the bad generals)
maybe some would be
i don’t know about too many bad generals, but how many can you think of?
the us commander from anzio (italy) was clark- and I think if D-Day hadn’t over shadowed his taking rome, many would think differently of him. I put him at #10. it wasn’t really that he sucked so much as kesselring was just that much better.
paulus was definately down there though. let’s look at some Italian generals (early in the african campaign) when they outnumbered and out gunned the british and still lost. or some of the french high command. during the first few weeks of the war. or how about the american commander at the kasserine pass- obviously IKE but I think alexander actually commanded this group of troops. if it wasn’t for german infighting the americans would likely have reconsidered helping the british.
yeah, the italian/french (for the first few weeks; they weren’t bad near the end considering their troops had lost all interest in defending their country) commanders were awful. here’s a startling statitic: right after the fall of france, there were 350,000 italians in africa opposing 21,500 british, and the british DESTROYED the italians, hence the germans sending troops to north africa
I definately admire Patton. He saved a lot of lives during the Battle of the Bulge.
yes, but he had a huge ego, and he was a little bit insane; he thought that he was a re-incarnation of caesar and achilles and some other heroes of antiquity.
Field Marshal Walther Model, the Fuhrer’s fireman (a damn good general). Rommel is good but in my opinion he is a bit overrated.
My favorite general would have to be Patton (you can’t beat what he did during the Bulge and across the Siegfried line (he sustained the lowest number of causalities of an army of his size, while inflicted nearly a million German losses).
Oh, and in case you’re wondering, my sister’s favorite general is General of Fighters, Aldolf Galland. Pretty obvious why.
Could it be the Mustache?
I know very little about WW2 commanders.
I think we had this discution once before. I remember that I was one of the few that liked MacArthur.
I have a hard time ranking who I think was the best. I don’t think it is possible to realy say definatively “he is the best”. But since it is an oppinion I will go ahead. First, I like offencive generals they are just more interesting to me. I like boldness, and I think a good general should be arogant, but only if he has the stuff to back it up with. I nevercared for Russian Generals, I don’t know why I guess I’m just a child of the cold war. ;)
I like Patton, Mac Arthur, and Rommel, not in any order. I like the fact that Patton would claim unatainable objectives and then make them obtainable. I like MacArthur’s Island campains and his methods of cutting off enemy supplys. I think he saved alot of lives in the Pacific by fighting smart. The thing I like most about Rommel is what he did in WWI. That guy had balls of steel, and he didn’t get to be a General by sucking up to hitler like some did. I know Hitler liked him but everyone did, he was a badass.
As for least liked Generals, I can not stand Bernard Montgomery. I think he was a blow hard, and I think that his arogance cost way to many lives durring Market Garden. I think he risked his men’s and other men’s lives just to try to stroke his ego. Patton risked mens lives, but I think he was a driven warrior. He as arogent, but it was deserved.
I know these are probably not very original oppinions but the old standard are the old standards for a reason.
By the way my all time favorite General is Thomas (Stonewall) Jackson Different era though. :)
Hahaha, I don’t think anybody could ever disagree of Stone Wall Jackson. Smashing three Union armies with just one during the Valley Campaign. ;)
yea Good old Stone wall is going to be played by Stephan Lang in the movie Civil War movie Gods and Generals. which i find amussing for it was Stephan Lang who was Picket in GettysBurg. so he is 2 confed Generals in his acting career. most interesting.
-1) Peiper. -1 = highest.
Peiper???
Are you serious???
I guess you are, but Peiper was successful not because of his military genius, but only because of his total lack of respect to human lives. And that is what he became infamous for.
As for least liked Generals, I can not stand Bernard Montgomery. I think he was a blow hard, and I think that his arogance cost way to many lives durring Market Garden. I think he risked his men’s and other men’s lives just to try to stroke his ego. Patton risked mens lives, but I think he was a driven warrior. He as arogent, but it was deserved.
Not to mention in Normandy! He was so cautious he gave the Germans time to regroup, instead of advancing into an undefended Caen. The extra half a day gave the Germans time to take up positions in Caen, and a huge battle costing many Canadian and British (and German) lives erupted.
He was a great General in Africa though. He held out vs Rommel!
right but that cuatiousness also worked very well for him in defeating rommel in the desert. I too felt his tactics were far to consevative, but never the less in africa he was good. I liked model too, until I read guderians panzer leader. guderian and model did not agree on many things.
patton is an obiously good american choice, but I had to rate hom lower because A) he wasn’t fighting on the eastern front against those battle hardened german troops. B) the anglo american forces were only opposed by 20-25% of the less trained soldiers. and C) he tried to liberate a concentration camp where his son in law was being held, the raid failed and cost people’s lives for “personal reasons”. I will agree though that he was my favorite american commander. and only behind zhokov on the allied side. zhokov not only for defense, but he did crush the sixth army. he learned well from the germans.
I would rate rommel higher, but after el alamein, and his power struggles with the duce, hitler and kesselring, he just kind of gave up the war for lost. and quitting on your troops is unacceptable. even if you don’t believe you can win, you can’t let your troops down.
Rommel knew the war was lost after Alamein, but he hardly gave up on his troops. He did what could with what he had. Monty fought “safe” battles of attrition at Alamein, no magic there…
He held out vs Rommel!
Yes… with three times the number of troops and twice the number of tanks (not sure if I accidentally switched those 2 numbers). Not to mention his great advantage of air cover and protected supply lines… :-?
A) he wasn’t fighting on the eastern front against those battle hardened german troops.
Ummm… are you forgetting that Patton took on Rommel’s hardened 10th (or 12th) Panzer in Africa and elite, Herman Goering Division in Sicily…? :-?
he tried to liberate a concentration camp where his son in law was being held, the raid failed and cost people’s lives for “personal reasons”.
That is still debated on. Try reading Frederick Ayer’s “Before the Colors Fade” on this…
zhokov not only for defense, but he did crush the sixth army. he learned well from the germans.
Not to mention his major disaster in Operation Mars… :-?
