Greatest WWII Military Commanders: Updated

Which of these WWII Military Commanders is the Greatest?


  • Total voters
    138

Ad: This forum contains affiliate links to products on Amazon and eBay. More information in Terms and rules

oh come along gentlemen,monty kicked rommel at alamein,and then kicked him for 1200miles across north africa.and then kicked his arse at medenine.i suppose you will twist this around,poor old rommel.yours,starling.
i also know a very close relative of sir brian horrocks,c.o of different formations in the desert and ending up most famousley as xxx corps commander.yours,starling8) .

I will not even begin to touch this post. As Kruska has stated I applaud your national pride (I think everyone should have it), but there is much for you to learn outside of everything British.

You should try it sometime...

are you missing mareth out for other reasons kruska.
there were many soldiers from the commmonwealth as well as british soldiers.they fought and died to rid the world of a megalomaniac.or madman.

Did you know that Americans, French, Russians, Australians, Canadians, South Africans, and many many nore nations fought against Germany to?

Just wondering if you actually know this.

starling said:
commanders in private.rommel ignored manyunits and chastised officers in the open.

Sources and quotes please.

starling said:
8th army soldiers trusted monty.yours,starling.

Was he the only commander that was trusted by his men.

Rommel was loved and trusted by his men.

I am sure Patton was trusted by his men.

I am sure there are hundreds of commanders from many different countries that were trusted and loved by their men.

t.v programme on yesterday,where rommels a.d.c told of rommel having a go at an officer,in front of his men.the a.d.c. said this was simply not right.and not reading wiki or google,immsmc,50div holding either the 90th light and one pz div,at mareth,and sending the nz div,1st armd div and i believe the 8th armd bde,along with lt.gen.horrocks and acting a.v.m harry broadhurst.this was the left hook behind i believe a range of mountains.this was the first blitz attack monty had ordered horrocks to commit.several sqdrns of p40,s and hurricanes attacked with bombs and mg and cannon,along with a heavy arty barrage,which i believe allowed the 1st armd div to breach and fan out,forcing the german units to retreat from mareth and run away northward.this was a battle of manourve,ordered by monty.yours,starling.

Starling if you think that Rommel was the only commander to get into an arguement with another commander in public, then you are very naive or have never been around the military.

I think you actually need to do some research. Try going outside of the box and being a bit more neutral in your research. You might actually be surprised at what you find.
 
Actually he is 80 years old now.

Yes indeed, I think he will be 80 in December this year, and he's taking a dozen tablets a day since he's 73 or 74. It's quite striking that he starts to look more and more like his father the older he gets.

Regards
Kruska
 
He would not have been in East Germany. He was from near Ulm which is near Stuttgart. His son became mayor of Stuttgart from 1974 to 1996. All in West Germany.

Patton was not in East Geramny either. Patton was in an accident near Neckarstadt and died in Heidelberg. Both in West Germany.

Sorry I didn't make myself clear, I didn't mean to imply that Patton was in East Germany. I was referring to the rumour that Patton was assasinated by {someone?} as he was very dangerous to the developing "cold war detente". He had no love for Stalin our "allies", he advocated continuing the war to stamp out communism {using the bomb if needed}

I don't know how much was conspiracy theory, but his death cetainly was suspicious.

As to Rommel, if he was from the west then it would be different. I mentioned East Germany because under the Soviets many "charismatic figures" from Poland the other new satellites were "liquidated" {Stalin did not want any Polish, German, Czech or Hungarian "national heros", who could be a focus for rebellion.
 
my posts are about firstly the battle of medenine ie the defence of this place,while being attacked by a pz corps.10pz.div,15pz.div,21pz.div,and 90th light div,the 8th army kicked rommel in the face,big time and made rommel run away.
secondly,the battle of mareth;the left hook.see my post written a few posts ago.yours,starling.8) .p.s do not try to tie me in knots,allow me the time to respond to each one.i do not understand how to pick out bits and stick on my responses.lee.:confused: .
 
my posts are about firstly the battle of medenine ie the defence of this place,while being attacked by a pz corps.10pz.div,15pz.div,21pz.div,and 90th light div,the 8th army kicked rommel in the face,big time and made rommel run away.

A piece of advice, if you dont want people to really start getting rough with you, choose your language a bit more carefully. Instead of saying " "kicked Rommel in the face", I suggest a more appropriate way of describing the outcome as "forced Rommel to withdraw" or even "Rommel was defeated". If you couch your replies wih a certain amount of respect, you will improve your credibility and peole wont get rough with you as much. Having said that, there are people on this forum that, if you cross them even a little, they are going to get stuck into you anyway. Get used to that. This place has a LOT% of knowledge, and you will make some good friends if you are patient.
Now, the truth of medenine needs you to do some background reading. Myself and Njaco have each given you a few basic WWII references that you might want to look at , perhaps in your local library. The NZ history is also on line, so you can do some Google searching as well. You will not need to go far to find the truth about medenine.

The truth is that Medenine was Rommels last battle in North Africa. Moreover, the actual plan, and the actual tactical handling were not his own. Rommel was so ill that within 3 days he had left North Africa, for good.

The battle plan was doomed from the start for a whole range of reasons. Monty did read the plan very well, and fought it on his terms, but the outcome could hardly have been different, no matter what either General did. It was incidentally, planned as nothing more than a spoiling attack, nothing more, an attack designed to gain time for the Mareth defences to be put into place. In this sense the assault was a resounding success for the Axis, because the British did not move to attack the mareth position for nearly a month. The medenine operation was the strategy of desperation really. And its aftermath was not a resounding success for the Allies. Once again they allowed the Axis remnants to slip away, unpursued, and largely intact, to fight yet more battles, for another 2 months in the theatre.


secondly,the battle of mareth;the left hook.see my post written a few posts ago.yours,starling.8) .

Mareth was fought nearly a mjonth later, after Rommel had left the theatre sick. Here, and at Wadi Akarit, it was fought against mainly italian formations, who showedf their mettle and fought very well indeed. The allies won, but it was a mark of meticulous planning rather than any inspred geeralship that won these battles. Moreover by this stage Monty could start to rely on the abilities of his lieutenants to a much greater extent. Men such as Horrocks and Tuker began to shine from the ranks in eight army.

p.s do not try to tie me in knots,allow me the time to respond to each one.i do not understand how to pick out bits and stick on my responses.leeThe replies to your rather aggressive posts are very restrained compared to some that i have seen. You are very lucky these guys have not gotten stuck into you like some in this forum would. i think thats because they can see that you dont have a lot of experience. But you have been corrected several times, and advised to check your facts several times, but you dont seem to be listening. Eventually, the patience of the forum members is going to wear thin and all hell is going to break loose.

If you are going to make explosive posts, you7 need to be well researched and knowledgeable on a subject. If you dont, yoou are going to come across as flippant, and I will predict you wont last long in this place.

What bits do youo not understand. I am not the best person to give you advice about how to post attachm,ents, but perhaps one of the moderators or other forum members can help. If you cant find better help, i will tell you what I kknow, but youor question needs to be more specific.
 
Hello starling,

I think that parsifal has put it very professionally and friendly to you. So please take his advice and read on the topic more into detail or forward questions or your (reasonable) opinion to the subject.

BTW every time I read and see your avatar flag and forum name I do have to grine a bit. One of my favorite ww2 movies (based not on true accounts as I had to find out painfully a week ago :) , Njaco even thought it was a documentary :) ) is "The Eagle has Landed" where this Irish agent working for the Germans is named Starling.

Regards
Kruska
 
yes,but i am an avid ornitholigist,and starlings are beautiful,but i will change later today.is sparrow o.k.yours,lee.

Hello starling,

Sparrow sounds fine, but why take away my amusement in regards to starling? :(

Regards
Kruska
 
Starling, I don't think he's asking you to remove it, just explain it as he thought it might represent something else.

As for posting, most of what you can do is right on the page. It you want to change something you said, press the edit button at the bottom of your post and you can change and save. If you want to quote someone, press the quote button (it looks like a yellow piece of paper) across the top after you hit the edit. Then you can cut and paste whoever said what between the brackets.

Back on thread. Starling you must remember two things about the battle you support. Like Parsifal said, Rommel was forced to accept plans with the Italian general, who, funny as it sounds, was the highest authority at that time in NA. He was not happy with that.

Second, the British were not facing all of the German forces as some were facing the Americans coming in from the west. It was a two front battle and German forces were split.
 
. One of my favorite ww2 movies (based not on true accounts as I had to find out painfully a week ago :) , Njaco even thought it was a documentary :) ) is "The Eagle has Landed" where this Irish agent working for the Germans is named Starling.

Regards
Kruska

Very good book and movie!
 
i apologise to you all,if my remarks upset any one here.yours,starling.
i try to read books and my memory,instead of google or wiki,to me these are tools,not complete fact.thanks for pointing the way forward though,i will try and get my books out of storage.yours,starling.:oops: .
 
i apologise to you all,if my remarks upset any one here.yours,starling.
i try to read books and my memory,instead of google or wiki,to me these are tools,not complete fact.thanks for pointing the way forward though,i will try and get my books out of storage.yours,starling.:oops: .


:thumbleft: You have a great character, I will enjoy to have you on this forum

Regards
Kruska
 
Starling

Its a good sign that you can apologize like that. I for one did not set out to denigrate you. But i did want to try and educate you on how to present your cases. If you dont you will get into all sorts of strife.


Just to summarize....know your facts, then choose your language. Dont see this as a competition, but rather an exchange of ideas. you can make any statements that you like, but if you do, be well prepared.

I am saying this to try and help you, not inslut or belittle you
 
I agree with Parsifal and Kruska, Starling. I would just add that phrases like "kick a**" and "he's a dope" really don't get you too far especially when trying to make a point. I say that because I have done that a few times and learned the hard way! :)

not inslut or belittle

Parsifal, sounds like a flyboyism! :) :)
 
Off course, sure he ….....ahhh……..yeah……...hmm…. well as a buddy of him or favored subordinate, you would have been invited to one of his swell parties at Carinhall, hunting and bathing your hands in semi precious stones.

Regards
Kruska
 
Since he is on the list, was there any redeeming value having Hermann Goering as a commander?

I think I've heard he was a fairly good brave flyer in WWI, only later in WWII did he turn into a pompous ass.

But if you consider the early history of the Luftwaffe they were quite effective, do you think that was all the work of subordinates?

Consider thet he {presumably as head of LW}:

1.) Built up in secret from nothing into a potent force.

2.) Promoted competent subordinates like Kesselring, not just useless toadies

3.) Allowed presided over a whole new set of strategies for air power, such as the use of Stuka's as "forward artillery" {in France 1940, etc}

4.) Allowed such revolutionary concepts such as the destruction of the enemy air power on the airfields, {Poland, France, Russia etc.}, while the British RAF were starving their own air defences to feed the "Trenchard" folly, RAF doctrine was almot totally fixated on "Heavy Bombing"

I'm not saying that he did all of this, but the Luftwaffe was a very effective tool of war {with the only failing 39 - 42 being "BoB"}, so if he was totally wrong and incompetant I don't think they could have done this well
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back