Top 10 german generals of WWII

Okay, so I have yet to sufficiently address why I have chosen the ten generals that I did.  I suppose it is about time I address that.

 

Erich von Manstein - I think I have sufficiently explained my reasons for having him 1.  (I hope anyway)

 

Heinz Guderian - he was arguably the best tank commander of the war, from any side.  He was the creator of the panzerwaffe of the german army.  He was a visionary who wrote several treatises on the theory of armored warfare, but also was one of the best practioners of those theories.  His performance as the Chief of Staff was also very good indeed. 

 

Erhard Raus - he was an excellent improvisor when a part of the spearhead of an armored formation.  His performance as the commander of the spearhead formation on the drive to Leningrad was nothing short of brilliant.  He also performed quite well outside of Moscow during the winter and subsequent soviet counter-attacks, holding his position (and even attacking; offensive defence) as a divisional commander as part of Models' 9th(?) army.  He also was a divisional commander for Hoth as the spearhead on the drive to relieve Stalingrad.  He was a part of the fighting retreat under von Manstein after the 6th was destroyed.  He was also involved in Kursk, then fought much of the remainder of the war as part of AGN (army group north) using his innovative defensive tactics similar to Heinrici.  Was a proponent of the same technique used by Heinrici, know idea if they developed it independently or not, probably.  But went beyond that by developing a defence in depth strategy that was very effective at destroying soviet offensives.  He would employ it when he was given a new command and it would prove its effectiveness every time.  A very simple summary:  he would allow soviets to overrun the first line and destroy them with crossfire, machine gun fire against the wave tactics employed by soviets.  Withdrawing troops before artillery bombardments was a part of it.  Not a great explanation but hopefully gives an idea.

 

Gotthard Heinrici - one of the masters of defence for the wehrmacht.  Fought well in the latter stages of the battle for France under von Leeb's southern army group, breaking threw the Maginot Line.  Was a part of the beginning stages of Barbarossa under Guderian.  As commander of the German Fourth army he served brilliantly.  He defended against the Soviet attacks while greatly outnumbered.  This is where his defensive tactics were first used to great effect.  (the aforementioned technique of withdrawing frontline soldiers when the soviets opened up their artillery barrages before attacks and moved the soldiers back into position once the barrages were over; very effective at stopping soviet offensives)  Again performed well in hungary with the 1st Panzer with the Hungarian 1st attached to it.  Was also in charge of Army Group Vistula when the battle of berlin began, under the circumstances he performed as well as one could have.

 

Erwin Rommel - perhaps no explanation needed other than why he is so low.  I have him at 5 because as brilliant as he was as a tactical leader and also strategically.  He was more intuitive and instinctual, fighting at the very front (which is a reason for the drop) versus commanding things from his headquarters.  There were a couple of times where his decisions were not as good as they could have been.  Some of the attacks in north africa near Alamein, getting cut off and having to fight his way back to his own lines, losing a lot of supplies/equipment in the process.  If he had never got above divisional level I would have said he should be higher, I just don't think he performed as well as others as a strategical commander.  Of course him never serving in russia makes it harder to judge him.  It would have been very interesting to see how he would have done there.

 

Model - another defensive master.  He was great at doing more with less.  Also similar to Raus in that he practiced "zone defence"  (thats what Raus called it, I could not recall it at first) he was very successful at this, though earlier in the war he was an aggressive panzer leader.  Though really every german commander followed this pattern; aggressive, attacking, offensive style early and later in the war it was defence, defence, defence.  (with the occasional catastrophic counter-offensive that was a brainchild of hitlers)  He was another one of those who fought brilliantly in the defence outside of moscow during the winter of 41'/42'.  He also fought under Guderian at the beginning of Barbarossa and did well commanding the 3rd panzer division.  Was the spearhead of Guderians' force involved in the encirclement of Kiev.  Performed brilliantly as commander of the 9th army in the Rzhev salient.  Was involved in the Kursk offensive, rather a sticky situation, but it seems he was against attacking.  However, if the attack was to go through then he cautioned waiting until he had built up sufficient forces, including the new panther tanks.  Did not perform all that well during this operation, again hard to tell if he was trying to avoid attacking at all so...  In the latter stages of the war was moved all over the place like a firefighter because of hitlers confidence in him.  Eventually took over in the west.  Seemed to be a much better commander below the army level.

 

Hermann Hoth - Divisional commander in Poland.  Did well in France.  Commanded third panzer group in Russia.  Commanded the panzer army tasked with relieving Stalingrad.  Commanded the 4th panzer army during Kursk and performed well there.  Good panzer commander, he is one of the panzer army leaders I know enough about to put him on here.  The concerns with Hoepner, Balck etc. 

 

Gunther von Kluge - Commanded the 4th army in Poland and France.  Innovative commander who performed quite well in Poland moving rapidly.  Did well with the panzers in France.  Commanded AGC after von Bock was removed until his injury in 43'.  Replaced von Rundstedt as Commander in Chief in the West.  He clashed with some others, especially Guderian, but was an excellent commander overall.  I'll try and find some of my books that mention him to give a more in depth explanation beyond he commanded here and was good.  (he really was though)  Will probably always be known for his uncommitting nature when it came to the anti-nazi movement/conspirators.  Was known as der kluge hans "clever hans" for a reason.  If he had been more willingly it is very possible hitler would have been assassinated when he visited kluge in 43'.

 

Ewald von Kleist - commanded the two most second panzer corps under panzergruppe von kleist in france.  Tried to relieve Guderian for his famous "reconaissance in force".  Commanded 1st panzergruppe in the invasion of Yugoslavia and greece.  Began Barbarossa in AGS.  Commanded Army Group A in the drive to the caucusus.  Involved in the fighting retreat from Stalingrad.  Even considering his conflict with other perhaps better panzer commanders (such as Guderian, though in fairness Guderian conflicted with a lot of people) he was a good panzer commander. 

 

Walther von Reichenau - commanded the 10th army in the invasion of Poland and the 6th in the battle of france.  Commanded the 6th again in Barbarossa.  Understood the potential of armored warfare early on. 

 

Obviously some of these descriptions are longer than others.  Having given it some thought I might move up von Kluge and move down Hoth.  Also possibly take off Reichenau and replace him with...(?)

 

I decided to replace Reichenau with Hoepner because of his early advocacy for armored warfare, his grasp of it; performance in Poland, France and mainly Russia - AGN and the drive to Leningrad.  He did not command very long in russia so its hard to tell how good he was/could have been.  I also switched Hoth and von Kluge around.

 

I am debating whether to switch around Hoth, von Kleist and Hoepner.  Also possibling adding Reinhardt.  I will more than likely have to consult books to ascertain who is the best of that group and how to rank them.

 

Now you have sparked an interest.  Blaskowitz is a figure I find very interesting.  First off do you think he committed suicide or was killed?  (I know that is way off topic but I respect your opinions and am curious what you think about this rather controversial issue)  If he had not been such an inconvenience to hitler he would have been a field marshal simply based on seniority let alone skill.  How would you rate his performance in Poland?  I think his defence of southern france and his withdrawl from there was one of the more impressive achievements in the western theatre, even in the whole war.  But perhaps I am exaggerating.