Germany's Greatest General

He once had his troops enter a town with strong British ties, pass through and exit it, then reconverge with the incoming troops, and enter it again, then re-exit and once again enter...the result being the same troops entered three times, and British spies duly reported back a force three times larger than it actually was.
That's one of the reasons he has my vote as best German General.

(The Schwarze Kapelle even wanted him to be 'stand in' chancellor during their final planned coupe, only failing due to telephone communications not being cut with the SS headquarters, and resulting in the assassination of a number of key figures of the German General staff, including Rommel (via cyanide). Read 'bodyguard of Lies' for the full story.)

I'll continue ... until you're all convinced

9th Dec. - the Luftwaffe Field Division took up positions on the 336th Divisions left flank (which had been broken by the Russian 1st Armoured Corps). The two infantry units held the line of the R.Chir from Nizhna Chirskaya to Oblivskaya, 11.Panzer Division was the mobile reserve.

Balck was called upon time and time again to restore the front on the river Chir; during these actions he continually showed speed and skill which is attributed only to the famous German generals.

On 11th Dec. Balck received his first message of a breakthrough; Soviet forces had broken through Lissinski and Nizhna Kalinovski. These two breakthroughs were 22km apart as the crow flies. Balck acted quickly and force marched the 11.Panzer Division to Lissinski to arrive there at dawn on 12th Dec. The Soviet breakthrough was quickly destroyed upon the arrival of the German armour. Balck did not split his forces and hit with everything at hand to ensure success.
Without stopping for rest Balck ordered the 11.Panzer Division north-west to the breakthrough at Nizhna Kalinovski. After a march of 15 miles after the morning battle the 11.Panzer Division struck at the Russian bridgehead and compressed it.

On the morning of 13th Dec. Balck was met with a crisis during his assault on the bridgehead. While pushing for the final attack the 11.Panzer Division was struck on its right flank by a large Soviet force. One battalion was surrounded and Balck quickly ordered his force to disengage the bridgehead and turn against the new attack. The encircled battalion was freed and the new assault was blunted. Balck and his division then had to rest which unfortunately left the bridgehead intact. Balck had pushed his men and machines to march by night and fight by day for eight days straight - an amazing achievement for Balck and most certainly the men fighting under him.

The 48th Panzer Corps was ordered to join Hoth's 4th Panzer Army in the relief attempt on Stalingrad on the 10th Dec. This led to Balck and his 11.Panzer Division being pulled from the line on the 15th Dec. and moving to Nizhna Chirskaya to force a crossing of the Don there. The Luftwaffe Field Division were left to cover the Soviets at Nizhna Kalinovski. The plan was for Balck and his 11.Panzer Division to cross the Don on the 17th and cover the 4th Panzer Army's left flank ... but this was not to be.

And I'll continue later...

i voted for rommel, cuz i tried to read a 3000 autobiography of his....
it bored me to tears.

is pretty good and great general tho

Reading 3000 autobiographies of the same person would probably bore me too!

And I'm back... !

The line was quiet on the 16th Dec. as the Russian 5th Tank Army made no attempts on the German line. It was believed that they could have crossed the Don to oppose Hoth but nothing was certain as German air recon had been grounded for several days.

On the 17th as Balck was preparing his assault across the Don the position of the Russian 5th Tank Army was made clear. The Soviet army smashed through the 336th Divisions front 6 miles north of 11.Panzer Divisions position at Nizhna Chirskaya. 11.Panzer Division was turned north and quickly checked the Soviet attack.

On the 18th Balck continued his assault on the Russian bridgehead at Chirskaya and was on the brink of destroying it before the news came of a breakout at the Nizhna Kalinovski bridgehead 12 miles north-west of Balcks position. The Luftwaffe Field Division had been broken through by a motorised corps on a wide front. Balck was ordered to retrieve the situation against his wishes to destroy the Russians at Chirskaya first. Balck quickly ordered a night march toward the new Soviet breakthrough.

At 0500 on the 19th Balck threw his plan into action; Panzer Grenadier Regiment.110 moved to a blocking position infront the Soviet advance, Panzer Regiment.15 attacked the Soviets eastern flank while Panzer Grenadier Regiment.111 moved further to the Soviet rear on Panzer Regiment.15s right flank acting as flank cover and reserve.
At first light Panzer Regiment.15 saw Russian armour deployed in battle formation and moving south. From their concealed line of advance the twenty-five panzers left in the regiment moved in behind the Soviet armour and quickly knocked out forty-two tanks. The Soviets only realised that the wave behind them was German and not Russian when it was too late. Panzer Regiment.15 took over the dominating heights of the area and discovered another Soviet armoured unit moving in a similar fashion to the first. The panzers repeated their previous performance for a total kill count of sixty-five without a single loss.
That evening the Russian 3.Mechanized Brigade made an attack on the left flank of 11.Panzer Division and overran 1.Battalion/Panzer Grenadier Regiment.110. Panzer Regiment.15 was called in and quickly recovered the position. The Soviet attack was blunted.

On the 20th Balck continued in his assault to throw the Soviets back across the Chir. In the evening the Soviets counter-attacked on Panzer Greandier Regiment.11s front and smashed into their rear. Panzer Regiment.15 retrieved the situation and knocked out ten Russian tanks.

I will continue the final part of the Chir battles later...

I chose Rommel, no reasons need mentioning, Guderian, for introducing Blitzkrieg, and von Rundstet

Conclusion of the Chir Battles -

On the 21st Balck ordered his units to halt any offensive action and regroup. In the face of the continuous Soviet onslaught Balck recognised that his troops needed rest. At 0200 hours on the 21st the Soviets attacked once again under the bright moonlight. The German troops were in the motion of regrouping, both the Panzer Grenadier Regiments (110 111) were broken through and being overrun. Panzer Regiment.15 quickly counter-attacked and largely recovered the position. Balck ordered Motorcycle Battalion 61 to the junction between Panzer Grenadier Regiment.110 and Panzer Grenadier Regiment.111 where the main Soviet thrust was aimed. When the day broke the situation became clear; Balck had won another defensive victory but this one was at a grave cost in casualties.

On the 22nd, Balck was order ninety miles west with 11.Panzer Division to Tatsinkaya in order to save Rostov. The Soviets had smashed through the Italian Eighth Army on the 48th Panzer Corps left flank; this led to the disaster at Stalingrad.

Only a few days later would Balcks' 11.Panzer Division be saving Rostov from a Guards Armoured Corps bearing down upon it.

"...Balck came tearing down on the enemy with the whole weight of his armour in accordance with the old maxim: No stinting, but stunning."

"...General Balck, a born leader of armour." - Maj. Gen. F. W. Von Mellenthin

Fantastic stuff, Plan!

My opinion is that the greatest German military leaders are those not so prominent. One that comes to mind is Oberst Stahel, who held together a critical section of the Chir front, after the encirclement of 6th Army, for more than a month, with only a few batteries of flak troops, and other rear area auxiliaries. Both Richthoven and Fiebig, commanders of Luftflotte 4 and fliegerKorps Viii respectively, described his activities as "superb". contact was lost with his forces after December 2, with his commanders fearing him dead or captured. in fact Stahel was not dead or captured. Along with significant elements of his combat group, he had been surrounded, and was resisting strong attacks from Soviet forces many times his strength, and with troops that most would consider superior to his own. it is evident from historical accounts, that this force was held together by the superior leadership displayed by Stahel. Regrouping his forces into a single cohesive command, he proceeded to hack his way out of this "mini-Stalingrad", and emerged about a week after disappearing having destroyed several enemy battalians in the process.

There are many others in the German armed forces who deserve greater credit than they generally receive. IMO it was the german "middle management" that deserves the bulk of the credit for the amazing successes of the German armed forces, rather than flashier, and more well known army and front commanders. Rommel, incidentally, began as one of those "middlemanagers", and achieved his greatest successes whilst more closely aligned with that Genre, rather than as a high ranking Field Marshal, where his leadership and management skils were less accessible and more prone to interference from the high command

Udet said:

I´d dislike the notion of having General Walter Model included on the "other" poll option for he was one of the most skilled and brilliant commanders of the entire war.

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Lucky13 said:

Obergruppenführer Felix Steiner

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plan_D said:

I choose General der Panzertruppe H.Balck as the greatest German general of World War II and Guderian would agree. Guderian described Balck as the most gifted armour commander.

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Great points, Udet, Lucky, PlanD.

I would agree that Model, Steiner, Balck should be on the list.

Perhaps Student as well.

Sorry if they weren't listed, Udet, Lucky, et al. I'm not that familair with ground generals after the Luftwaffe ones. But its great that you brought them up!

Njaco said:

Sorry if they weren't listed, Udet, Lucky, et al. I'm not that familair with ground generals after the Luftwaffe ones. But its great that you brought them up!

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That's Ok Njaco, not many people do. Alot of the "reputation" of the Generals is hype ego to begin with. It was also easier for Rommel to look like a genius when he was up against the faulty organization equipment of the British armoured forces. The Commonwealth really had no answer for the lethal 88's of the Germans in 1941-1942

magnocain said:

Ok. This is taken fromThe History Buff's Guide to World War II by Thomas R. Flangel.
P.S. sorry for the blurry words. Basically it says Rommel was all reputation.

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He can't even spell his name correctly. Read the 1,5 pages and its full of crap, seriously. Just another stupid author trying to get attention by "re-writing" history.

I'm still surprised Rommel is #1, v. Manstein was imo by far the better overall. Rommel was a great tactician, but he had a lack of sense for logistics.

rommel was a corps commander at best.just look at his hasty rush to the wire,and especially medenine.10-15-21st panzer divs stopped dead.monty knocked him about big time,so did auchinleck.yours,lee.

Was it Rommel at Medenine or von Arnim?

I have used these criteria for making my list:
1. How many different types of warfare did the different generals excell at?
2. What where their odds against the enemy they faced?
3. Did they contribute with anything "new".

Mannstein is without any doubt My number 1. Rommel was a great commander/tactitian at division and korps level. But no more than that. He handled a very "simple" front and did so excellently. In France (1940) he made a good show and handled his ghost division to perfection (although he owed much of his breakthrough to "stealing" engineer units from the neighbouring 5 panzer division). Anyways: This is my top 5 list and the reasons for my choices:

1. Field Marshall Erich Von Mannstein - Excelled at every type of combat under any conditions. His greatest feats where probably the recapture of Kharkov '43, the capture of Sevastopol '42 and finally his mobile defense in the east after "Zitadelle" in '43/'44. This final feat (and his final command) is by many military experts regarded as the most well executed battles in modern history.

2. General Heinz Guderian - The father of modern Armoured warfare. Without him Germany with its meagre industry and raw materials probably never would have reached anywhere near the goals that they did reach. He is the most important german general but not the best.

3. Field Marshall Walther Model - The Führers "fireman". Model was a solid offensive commander but it was in defense that he excelled. Said to never have lost a battle... But i would say that the northern flank of Zitadelle was a defeat...

4. Field Marshall Erwin Rommel - one of the most colourfull commanders of the war. A superb tactician but arguably a weak strategist. His feats in the desserts of North Africa and France where truly great. Enjoyed great respect among the allies aswell due to his chivalrous attitude and skill on the battlefield.

5. General Kurt Student - Father of the Airborne division. Perhaps not a brilliant commander but his invention of the airborne attack had a huge effect on the war.

Others that should be mentioned and their main posts:
Eduard Dietl: Commander of the Mountain troops in the North
Ringel: Commander of Mountain Troops in Norway and Greece
Von Leeb: Early Commander of AG North and also held a high postion in France
Paul Hauser: One of the few SS-Generals to come from the Wehrmacht - and as such was arguably the most skilled of them.

I voted Guderian and Manstein. if had Model choice, I would like to vote him

Rommel
not only for his genius,
but also because in the end he realized that he was on the wrong side of the war

starling said:

rommel was a corps commander at best.just look at his hasty rush to the wire,and especially medenine.10-15-21st panzer divs stopped dead.monty knocked him about big time,so did auchinleck.yours,lee.

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Rommel was a superb tactician.

He was never "knocked down big time" by anyone. He was defeated for a number of reasons, many out of his control.

I see you have not done your research like parisifal and njaco have told you to do.