NationStates Jolt Archive

Who do you think were the greatest generals of WWII? Select one from allies and one from axis.

Still no poll mate.

what about admirls do they count two same in rank realy

Of course Romel stands out.
He is my favorite.
Mao,(Was he a general, or just a commander in the communist forces)
Honestly I have read about a few very impressive ones, though I can only think of these.
SO I suppose they are my answer.

Mao doesn't really count. He was kinda on his own, and didn't really become an issue until after the war.

Edited for political misinterpretation.

Rommel in the field. Von Manstein in HQ. And I think individual commanders of lower rank also should be mentioned. Men like Hans Ulrich Rudel. His story is especially inspiring when one considers that the man who began the war as a near-washout in pilot training, who was barred from combat flying by his first squadron commander, ended the war as history's most highly decorated aviator. Or Michael Wittman. The most famouse tank ace of the war.

Personally, my favorite is Rommel, like Skibereen said. Not only was he brilliant, and intuitive enough to avoid death on multiple occasions (once he got the feeling that he should leave his hq, so he took his close staff away. Less than an hour later, the hq. was stormed by british commandos sent to assassinate him. Tell me that's not amazing intuition!) but he was also a man of honnor, and one of the few German commanders who didn't commit any war crimes. In fact, since he wasn't a nazi party member, he wasn't fully aware of what hitler was doing to the jews until almost D-day. Rommel sometimes cut his own mens' water rations so that his british prisoners could survive in North Africa. Also, he was immensely charismatic. His pushes in North Africa and earlier in France (where he conquered more territory in a shorter amount of time than anyone in history) were driven entirely by his own person. His soldiers loved him because he would often leave his headquarters to lead a tank charge during battle.
I ordered a biography on his from amazon.com. It's about him and the war, and it's called "The Rommel Papers". I haven't got it yet, but i'm sure i'll like it.
I think that Rommel was the greatest general of the entire war. If evenly matched, i think montgomery would've been destroyed by Rommel during el-alamien. Unfortunately, Rommel only had fifty tanks left by that time.

Steevgorad, you should read Knights Cross it is about Erwin Rommel.
His entire military career, he was always amazing, one of those men you knew would be great, not by providence but by shear will power.
The allies could have used him on the ground for them.

Oh and Steev, Rommel wouldnt even need to be evenly matched to beat Monty.
Just properly supplied.

What about MacArthur? Remember him? The Guy that took down Japan in WW2.

Personally, my favorite is Rommel, like Skibereen said. Not only was he brilliant, and intuitive enough to avoid death on multiple occasions (once he got the feeling that he should leave his hq, so he took his close staff away. Less than an hour later, the hq. was stormed by british commandos sent to assassinate him. Tell me that's not amazing intuition!) but he was also a man of honnor, and one of the few German commanders who didn't commit any war crimes.
There where lot's more who didn't commit any warcrimes. Like Erwin Von Witzleben. Or Admiral Canaris.
In fact, since he wasn't a nazi party member, he wasn't fully aware of what hitler was doing to the jews until almost D-day.
His son Manfred called him political naive. He actually thought he could reason with Hitler. Thats why he once suggested that Hitler should step down from power so a peace could be negotiated. Which would be impossible with him in power. Hitler of course didn't step down. I think Rommel started to realise what kind of man Hitler was during El Alamein. Where Hitler orderd him to fight till the last man. He's buried near Ulm.

Yea, what about MacAurthur?

Where's General Douglas MacArthur?

EDIT: Whoa, Crazy Duck and I both posted the same thing at nearly the same time . . .

From the list Ike is the best. But if Admirals are counted then I would vote for Admiral Canaris, chief of the Abwehr and leader of the schwarze kappele. Under his lead they came so close to a coup against Hitler.

From the list Ike is the best. But if Admirals are counted then I would vote for Admiral Canaris, chief of the Abwehr and leader of the schwarze kappele. Under his lead they came so close to a coup against Hitler.
Ah great. I always thought I was the only one who knew who Canaris was.

Strangly enough I always thought I was the only one who knew who Canaris was too.

Strangly enough I always thought I was the only one who knew who Canaris was too.
Seems like the man remains in death what he was in live. An illusive(sp) enigma.

Patton is spelled with a pair of Ts.

I have visited the American Cemetery and Memorial at Hamm, Luxembourg, and as a tanker it can only be Patton, and Rommel.

I have to say Rommel and Patton at a tie...Patton had a nasty of habit of making some pointless sacrifices of his own men for personal glory, but he did get the job done....and Rommel, well, Rommel was brilliant, pity he was on the axis.....

I'd have to go with Patton on this one. The man might have been egotistical, but he sure as heck knew how to win a fight. The very best of the German High Command were terrified of him (in point of fact, that's one of the reasons why the initial stages of Operation Market Garden went so well--nobody assumed that the Allies would be dumb enough to give any mission of any significance to anybody but Patton. By the time they realized their mistake, Monty had already secured several bridgeheads).

At a strategic level, I'd say Guderian. He's the man who practically wrote the handbook that Patton used to win the war.

On a divisional level, Rommel by far beats out all opposition, but anything above that and Rommel fars far behind, he was not really as brilliant a Corps, Army, or Army Group Commander as legend has made him.

On an Army level, Manstein and Kesselring definitely from the Axis, Macarthur and probably Bradley from the Allies, people like Zhukov, Patton, Montgomery, or Clark all have too many things I don't like about them to be considered.

ok, i've been getting a lot of feedback telling me i should have put in an option for douglass macarthur and admiral canaris. Basically, i was thinking about the land battles on the atlantic front, if you'll forgive me. Sorry if i spelled Patton wrong as well, i wasn't quite sure of it.
Anyway, back to the topic at hand: The sword and sheild is probably right: Rommel, in command of a small army, could utilize his abilities as a general to the fullest, but he wasn't a master strategist like others such as Ike or Zhukov. Personally, i beleive that Rommel would've fared just as well as any of the other field marshall at the time save some of those in the poll, if he were given command of an army or army group.
Has anyone here ever read the book "Third Reich Victorious"? It's a list of alternate history scenarios depicting the possibilities of germany winning. Almost all of them involve Rommel in some way or other. Reading that book first got me interested in studying him.
My favorite scenario is called "Rommel vs. Zhukov". Basically, what happens in that alternate history is that, unlike in real history, Rommel manages to destroy all the british forces that landed in D-day. The American landings were successful, but didn't gain land fast. Hitler comes out to the coast to gloat at the endless columns of prisoners and piles of captured equipment, and Rommel, who beleived that hitler should be out of power at the time, has him arrested. After that, he travels back to Berlin with some of his forces and detains every leading member of the Nazi party. Before the nazis can be tried, however, the July Plot ends their lives while at dinner one evening. Managing to avoid a civil war, Rommel makes himself head of state. After learning the whole truth about the holocaust, he has the concentration camps taken apart and the SS commadants responsible round up and shot, along with the more brutal SS guards. Rommel effectively dismantles naziism, replacing the swatstika with the old german tricolor flag.
Rommel then sends out feelers to the western allies for peace. The yalta conference only called for unconditional surrender while the nazi regime was still in place. Rommel immediately offers France, the Low Countries, and Greece to America and Britain, and a release of prisoners on both sides. After a lot of contreversial debate, they agree.
Rommel wasn't able to make peace with Russia, however. The allies, by the terms of the peace treaty, were still allowed to send equipment lend-lease to the russians through ports in the Baltic Sea States.
All the german troops in the western front are transferred to the East, and both the Soviets and the Germans prepare for a massive battle over poland.
To spare you the details, Rommel wins by constructing a massive line of trenches and tank screens while effectively utilizing the group of German generals known as the "Warlords". The Russians are halted in the plains of Central Poland, Stalin is pissed, and Zhukov is sent to the gulag for failing to enter Germany.
Interesting scenario, isn't it? Maybe i should have a seperate poll to see if people think it's possible! It's certainly something to think about.