Greatest WWII Military Commanders: Updated

[Desert Fox]

Rommel is the stand out in that list. He had a brilliant tactical mind, made even better by the fact that Hitler had not twisted it with Fascism and anti-Semitism. He was one of the greatest pure military leaders in history.

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

I agree

[P38 Pilot]

I agree too. He was a great military leader and a general by heart. But Patton will always be my hero and favorite military leader. Ive been doing some reasearch on him and have discovered many great things.

[plan_D]

Do some research on less famous Generals, and you'll find out even more great things. Like the fact that Patton is over-rated.

[P38 Pilot]

Patton isnt overrated. Eisenhower and Montgomery are. The problem is that they were both too much of politicians rather than soldiers. Patton got the job done and if they had let Patton fully surround the Falaise Gap the war would've ended sooner in Europe sparing the lives of more than 1 million Jews along with civilian and military casulties.

Patton too me did more to help the US Army than any other general. Patton was always on the offensive and knew what he was doing. But his superiors held him back. Patton isnt praised enough for his accomplishments.

[plan_D]

The only thing right there was saying that Ike was a politician more than a soldier. But while your closed mind centers itself on the U.S, Ike had more things to worry about like the whole Alliance. He held the Allies together in a time when they were on the brink of collapse.

As for calling Montgomery a politician, well I don't think that's even worthy of a reply. You are talking about a man just as egotistical as your beloved Patton; who wasn't a man for diplomacy.
He certainly wouldn't be there for the U.S Army, because he commanded British forces. The 8th Army in North Africa who sealed the defeat of the Afrika Korps, the landing forces in Normandy, and then the 21st Army Group in northern Europe.
While making mistakes, Montgomery made sure that the situation was right for victory. There was no rush; and sometimes you need that kind of thinker in your general staff.

If you're big on researching Patton; go research the 3rd Army offensive into Lorraine. Patton disobeyed the most common military maxim; march divided, fight concentrated. Instead of giving the Germans a knock-out punch he made the aim of being strong everywhere along his front, which made him decsively strong nowhere. He out-numbered the German defenders with 25:1 artillery; 20:1 tanks and 250 000 to 86 000 in infantry. But with his constant mis-use of armour and the ego driven belief that his operations in Lorraine were still a pursuit, what was supposed to be the final sweep into Germany ended up lasting three months with a turn north to save the US First Army.

[Hunter368]

[plan_D]

Not only did he fail in Lorraine but also deprived other armies of their knock-out punches. The U.S First Army was deprived of fuel because Patton thought it was a good idea to hi-jack their fuel supplies. He must have believed in his deluded state of mind that a front facing the Saar industrial sector was more important than those facing the Ruhr.

Ike, of course, was part in blame for the mistakes on the assault on Germany. His idea of a broad front was naive and a waste of man-power. But Patton seemed to be fine with this strategy at times, as he proved in Lorraine. Even the Corps commanders under Patton seemed to believe that dividing their tanks up amongst the infantry was a good idea. When it had been proven in World War I - and during most of World War II that it wasn't a good idea.

On top of that, Patton constantly over-stretched his supply lines. As much as he was in a rush, as all the Allies were, he should have halted when he supply lines were stretched to their limit. His tanks actually ran out of fuel and his artillery ran out of ammo. What if the Germans counter-attacked in Lorraine instead of the Ardennes? The 3rd Army was immobilised until just before the Ardennes offensive, and it had been shattered at Metz - some units suffered 50% casaulties. And the only reason Metz fell because Hitler took some of the garrison away to take part in the Ardennes Offensive.

Patton never mentioned Lorraine - I wonder why?

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Originally Posted by P38 Pilot

if they had let Patton fully surround the Falaise Gap the war would've ended sooner in Europe sparing the lives of more than 1 million Jews along with civilian and military casulties.

Are you absolutely sure about that?

[merlin]

I am staggered that Manstein is not head & shoulders in the lead!! If Hitler had the sense to put a 'general' in command on the Eastern Front, Manstein would've have been the only one every other commander in the theatre would've followed.
Manstein had the vision in 1940 to advocate goiing through the (impassable to the French) Ardenne, rather than the expected Schleffin (right spelling?) style Plan.
And subsequently, proved himself in the East - whether Sevestapol or Kharkov.
Guderian - a worthy option for his passion & vision for armoured warfare. Too often held back by either Rundstedt, or Hitler.
Rommel, how good was he? In Africa he had access to allied intentions from espionage. If he had commandered in Russia - would he have succeeded there? Better than Hoepner - doubt it!

[Raf ace]

For me i think general Marshal

[Desert Fox]

I would also like to point out that Hermann Goering was an abosolute idiot who couldnt get his head out of Hitlers arse long enough to command the Luftwaffe properly. There, i said it.

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

I think everyone knows that and that is why he did not get any votes.