The Best Military Commanders WWII

forgot the Tiger of Malaya? what about Zhukov?

I'd pull MacArthur, was more a great showman with political connections than a great general.

 

Other commanders that bear note are Stillwell, Wood, Nimitz, Doolittle(US), 

Caunter(UK),  personally I think no other commander demonstrates the ineptitude of the British army as does John Alan Lyde Caunter.  This old tanker served as Alexander's second in command at the battle of Beda Fomm and was forced to take command when Alexander became ill.  The agressive tank commander swiftly crushed Axis opposition and a reward for his service he was dispatched to a backwater garrison guarding the Northwestern frontier in India.

 

Sad thing is that the American military shared the same flaws, a number of senior American tank commanders were to backwater spots of little importance.

One is tempted to say Zhukov because he did so much for the allies but he did of course not use the most subtle or impressive looking tactics.  For battlefield brilliance I go with either Mannstein or Patton.  Romeel and Yamash*ta deserve kudos for brilliant mobile offensives as well.

Good point, I like Slim alot especially after I read a book about him.

Kesselring was an extremely talented general. And I'd have to put him high on the list. I mention him first because he had not been mentioned yet, which is a crime.

In planning I go with Manstein.
In logistics I go with Kesselring.
In shear genius I go with Guderian.
In tactical awareness I go with Rommel.

The allies should be mentioned out of respect. After all we did beat these military geniuses, even if it was with a 10 to one advantage.





Edited by Bishop

I'd go for Bill Slim

 

damn, I would have mentioned him if I hadn't forgot about him and his fourteenth army...

Yes, Zhukov could only be mentioned due to the end result - the fall of Berlin. But any other general with a little military skill could have kept the post WW2 Soviet Russias population up a couple of million young men, rather then waste them on some pointless deathtrips. General winter weakened the Wehrmacht and Zhukov just wiped those weakling out, with really hard work.

But still, i guess it was better to have Zhukov on the main offensive by the Soviets rather than Voroshilov, Budjonnoi (weird spelling), Kulik Kaganovitsch or Krutschev. The soviets had really bad generals acctually when i look at it. Stalin just wasn't lucky with his timing when he had the good ones murdered just before the war and he did notice it right after the Winter War and the summer of 1941.

Rommel...by far the best!! Interesting that the allies in North Africa forbid their soldiers to refer to Rommel by his name.They simply refered to him as " The enemy " . Rommel was their worst nightmare!

Air Chief Marshall Dowding  Officer Commanding RAF Fighter Command 1940.

Here's my WWII Top Five:

1. Gen. George Patton
2. Erwin Rommel
3. Gen. DoulgasMcArthur
4. Maj. Richard Winters
5. Benjamin O. Davis