The best WWII general?

[Sarmatian]

(If there has been a similar thread before, please ignore it.)

I know, competition is really heavy...

My vote would have to go to russian general Zhukov. He was instrumental in soviet victories against germans, and before, against the japanese.

Second place is a coin flip between Guderian and Rommel.

Your opinions, please...

[Strike For The South]

Robert E Lee Patton. "No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country.
He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country."

[Uesugi Kenshin]

Erich von Manstein.

He was a genius, understood tanks and modern combat well and almost always brought better than expected results (Kursk).

Also the Germans generally had the best generals, and Manstein is widely agreed to be the best of them.

[English assassin]

General Slim, commander of the British 14th army in India/Burma. Masterly retreat, retraining in new and effective tactics, brilliant management of very difficult logistics, and a superb campaign to retake Burma over very difficult terrain, all at the head of a sluightly rag tag army well down the priority list when it came to supplies and equipment. He proved himself in all areas of generalship.

The only point you could hold against him as being the all round general was he never handled large armoured formations (large armoured formations not being much use in jungle and hill country). But seeing how quickly he grasped the essentials of jungle warfare from scratch I reckon he would have been equally able to be at home in armoured warfare.

Difficult to say anyone was "the best" general but Slim was IMHO the best British general (by about five light years, sadly)

[Kraxis]

Manstein hands down.

He could do it all, and did it well. And unlike Rommel he had both good relations to others and was keen on logistics.

Zhukov was too willing to just bully his way across enemy lines. While in most cases it coul be argued that he was forced to do so due to various constraints, his action at the Seelöw Heights proved that it was simply his way of thinking. He was also fairly arrogant, not willing to listen to advise.

Patton, while a spirited and talented tankcommander was in fact more similar to Zhukov than Rommel in terms of tactics. He preferred to fight the enemy where he was strongest, and used his strong presence to get the troops to do their duty, as determined by him. Tactically and strategicvally he was not very impressive.

Also these two commanders generally had plenty of advantage in numbers.

[Sarmatian]

Manstein hands down.

He could do it all, and did it well. And unlike Rommel he had both good relations to others and was keen on logistics.

Zhukov was too willing to just bully his way across enemy lines. While in most cases it coul be argued that he was forced to do so due to various constraints, his action at the Seelöw Heights proved that it was simply his way of thinking. He was also fairly arrogant, not willing to listen to advise.

Patton, while a spirited and talented tankcommander was in fact more similar to Zhukov than Rommel in terms of tactics. He preferred to fight the enemy where he was strongest, and used his strong presence to get the troops to do their duty, as determined by him. Tactically and strategicvally he was not very impressive.

Also these two commanders generally had plenty of advantage in numbers.

I think you are not giving credit where credit is due. This is from wikipedia about zhukov:

"In 1938 Zhukov was directed to command the First Soviet Mongolian Army Group, and saw action against Japan's Kwantung Army on the border between Mongolia and the Japanese controlled state of Manchukuo in an undeclared war that lasted from 1938 to 1939. What began as a routine border skirmish—the Japanese testing the resolve of the Soviets to defend their territory—rapidly escalated into a full-scale war, the Japanese pushing forward with 80,000 troops, 180 tanks and 450 aircraft.

This led to the decisive Battle of Halhin Gol. Zhukov requested major reinforcements and on August 15, 1939 he ordered what seemed at first to be a conventional frontal attack. However, he had held back two tank brigades, which in a daring and successful manouvere he ordered to advance around both flanks of the battle. Supported by motorized artillery and infantry, the two mobile battle groups encircled the 6th Japanese army and captured their vulnerable supply areas. Within a few days the Japanese troops were defeated.

For this operation Zhukov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Outside of the Soviet Union, however, this battle remained little-known as by this time World War II had begun. Zhukov's pioneering use of mobile armour went unheeded by the West, and in consequence the German Blitzkrieg against France in 1940 came as a great surprise."

"In October 1941, when the Germans closed in on Moscow, Zhukov replaced Semyon Timoshenko in command of the central front and was assigned to direct the defense of Moscow (see Battle of Moscow). He also directed the transfer of troops from the Far East, where a large part of Soviet ground forces had been stationed on the day of Hitler's invasion. A successful Soviet counter-offensive in December 1941 drove the Germans back, out of reach of the Soviet capital. Zhukov's feat of logistics is considered by some to be his greatest achievement."

And generally, tide of the war seemed to turn wherever he was given command.

[Kaiser of Arabia]

Erich von Manstein.

He was a genius, understood tanks and modern combat well and almost always brought better than expected results (Kursk).

Also the Germans generally had the best generals, and Manstein is widely agreed to be the best of them.

I disagree. I think Guderian was a much better general.

Guderian, then Manstein were the best. The best British was Monty. The greatest America was Patton, with MacArther a close second. Japan didn't have anyone notable, nor did Italy. Zhukov was a good Russian general, but he was too cynical with the lives of his men.

[Goalie]

I like Ike. In my opinion i think Dwight Eisenhower is the best general in WWII. He led Operations TORCH and OVERLORD. Those were two of the biggest invasion and campaigns in the second World War. He later became president for two terms and help keep peace during the cold war.

[Samurai Waki]

The problem with saying Eisenhower was a great general is the fact that he was so high up he dealt little with the actual planning of the invasions and focused more on the logistical side of it. Patton, Bradley, and Montgomery had far more a hand in planning on the tactical level, while Eisenhower planned on the strategic level. Granted, he was the one who made the final decision on whether to scrap a plan or not, and it was his idea to assault normandy, but he really didn't plan the tactics on how to take it, he just went up to his Generals and said "we're going to make an assault on Normandy, now you guys need to draw something up."

Had Eisenhower not been given the rank of Supreme Allied Commander I believe he would've also made a superb General.

[Pannonian]

George Catlett Marshall, by a distance. Facilitated the victory for all allied nations, won the peace.

[Alexanderofmacedon]

Robert E Lee Patton. "No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country.
He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country."

Yeah...

[KrooK]

Zhukov was good general but not great. Everytime he fought, he got big advantage. Under Moscov Russians maybe won, but they lost 1.000.000 soldiers. Into Berlin operation despite superb advantage they lost from 300.000 to 600.000 soldiers.
Best commanders of WW2 was O'Connor for his 1940 campaign. 40.000 soldiers crushed 200.000 fortified enemies.
Good job did Kesserling into 1943 in Italy. He stopped allies for long time with quite small forces.

[Sarmatian]

Zhukov was good general but not great. Everytime he fought, he got big advantage. Under Moscov Russians maybe won, but they lost 1.000.000 soldiers. Into Berlin operation despite superb advantage they lost from 300.000 to 600.000 soldiers.
Best commanders of WW2 was O'Connor for his 1940 campaign. 40.000 soldiers crushed 200.000 fortified enemies.
Good job did Kesserling into 1943 in Italy. He stopped allies for long time with quite small forces.

I don`t think that you can say that a military commander is "the best" on the premise of one or two battles.

Also, casulties of soviet troops which were under direct Zhukov command during the attack on berlin was about 4%, lower than other soviet commander during the attack, and his troops were involved in the most intense fighting.