Who was the best commander in WWII?

[Akalonor]

Best General For USA was Patton, Globally it would've been Rommel
But Patton still was brilliant with Shermans

[Pauly3]

i guess you are right, rommel disliked the nazi regime.
HE STILL HELPED THEM FIGHT A WAR AGAINST HUMANITY REGARDLESS!!! which makes him an evil man.

[Akalonor]

So every German Troop in WWII was Evil in your views??

[Pauly3]

well considering my grandpa was a u-boot officer (a lower one, 2cond officer)
i wouldnt say every one was evil but a brilliant man like rommel should have seen the dark side of the nazis+ he problably knew very well about holocaust.
but enough about this discussion.
in  my opinion rommel was a good soldier, leading his men to die for the wrong cause

[figgy]

I don't blame Rommel for what he fought for. Most Generals felt that they were fighting for Germany, not for Nazism. Such as Groscurth at Stalingrad. He stated after the Seige that he fought on only for Germany, and not for Hitler.

No one was able to know for sure what was happening to these "undesireables". The best that circulated through German ranks were rumors about concentration camps and such. Maybe Rommel knew about the Holocaust, maybe he didn't. Maybe he knew, but knew the best he could do would be to allow the Valkyrie plan go into action. Ideas to overthrow Hitler started in 1941, after generals recieved the illegal Barbarossa orders invloving the ,"Extreme measures against all forms of Jewry." Plans to do so didn't evolve until Hitler directly invloved himself into major military defeats, such as Stalingrad and Kursk.

The Holocaust was very well hidden from many people. People living near concentration camps were probably told that these were POWS. Why would they wish to investigate a POW camp full of Eastern European prisoners of war (supposedly)?

The Nazis did a damn good job of confusing the average German soldier of what their intentions were with Jews. Especially in Russia. They purposely rounded up Jews and Partisans and executed them both at the same time in order to cover up their operations. The term "partisan" became very loose in Russia.

[Sovereign]

I don't blame Rommel for what he fought for. Most Generals felt that they were fighting for Germany, not for Nazism. Such as Groscurth at Stalingrad. He stated after the Seige that he fought on only for Germany, and not for Hitler.

No one was able to know for sure what was happening to these "undesireables". The best that circulated through German ranks were rumors about concentration camps and such. Maybe Rommel knew about the Holocaust, maybe he didn't. Maybe he knew, but knew the best he could do would be to allow the Valkyrie plan go into action. Ideas to overthrow Hitler started in 1941, after generals recieved the illegal Barbarossa orders invloving the ,"Extreme measures against all forms of Jewry." Plans to do so didn't evolve until Hitler directly invloved himself into major military defeats, such as Stalingrad and Kursk.

The Holocaust was very well hidden from many people. People living near concentration camps were probably told that these were POWS. Why would they wish to investigate a POW camp full of Eastern European prisoners of war (supposedly)?

The Nazis did a damn good job of confusing the average German soldier of what their intentions were with Jews. Especially in Russia. They purposely rounded up Jews and Partisans and executed them both at the same time in order to cover up their operations. The term "partisan" became very loose in Russia.

While there are good points merged with some not so good points here, I generally agree Rommel was one of my favorite him and Bulk were revered gens but...

The Holocaust as a whole was not by any means "well hidden" nor can you go out and broadly say that your average german soldier knew nothing at all about the fate of jews at the time.

[Akalonor]

Interesting how Hitler ordered deaths of millions yet was a vegetarian and was disgusted at the slaughtering of animals.

[wordsmith]

Erich von Manstein without any doubt
...the man was brilliant tactician and strategist which was not so common during WW2.

I like Heinz Guderian too because he was visionary, he knew  years in advance how the battles would be fought and what will be improtant. Even armies of today are still using strategy which he developed.

Also some interesting names which were not mentioned and are worth some info:

Hyazinth Graf Strachwitz - der Panzergraf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyazinth_Graf_Strachwitz_von_Gross-Zauche_und_Camminetz

Walter Model - Hitler's fireman
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Model

Rodion Yakovlevich Malinovsky
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodion_Malinovsky

Ivan Stepanovich Konev
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Konev

[ford_prefect]

Interesting how Hitler ordered deaths of millions yet was a vegetarian and was disgusted at the slaughtering of animals.

I believe he thought other kinds of people were "animals" 

[GodlikeDennis]

There's a lot of attention towards the generals in Europe but not much love for poor Yamamoto. He knew the US so well that he was convinced the Empire of Japan would not win a war against them. Yet when war became unavoidable he quickly deduced the main advantage of the US, their industry, and formulated a counter, a massive decisive battle that would force them to capitulate quickly. He masterminded probably the most brilliant attack of the 20th century and completely changed the course of naval warfare from this point onwards, with the focus shifting to aircraft carriers rather than battleships. If US forces hadn't been lucky in not having their carriers in port, the entire pacific war may have gone differently. He was also the only non-German to ever receive a knights cross.

After the Japanese won battle after battle, the US navy eventually recovered (as Yamamoto knew it would) and he suffered some defeats, most notably at midway. But this was due to the US intelligence which was able to decrypt exactly when and where the attack would commence. He was similar in Rommel in that his support network was just fail but better in his strategic vision.

Anyway, I know this thread's a few months stale but I really think Yamamoto deserved a few more votes.

[HyperSniper999]

I have no respect for Georgi Zhukov, how he sent millions of men to their fate with his conscript spam strategy.

[Red_Stinger]

I have no respect for Georgi Zhukov, how he sent millions of men to their fate with his conscript spam strategy.

It prove you dont know too much about this general (no offense intended  ).

[Newbie.]

I have top go with Major General Orde Wingate, commander of the British&Commonwealth forces in Burma. He was a brilliant tactician that led to many victories in Burma for the Commonwealth.

[HyperSniper999]

I have no respect for Georgi Zhukov, how he sent millions of men to their fate with his conscript spam strategy.

It prove you dont know too much about this general (no offense intended  ).

Well it's just another chance to learn. Enlighten me about Zhukov, please.

[Red_Stinger]

I have no respect for Georgi Zhukov, how he sent millions of men to their fate with his conscript spam strategy.

It prove you dont know too much about this general (no offense intended  ).

Well it's just another chance to learn. Enlighten me about Zhukov, please.

I'm not an historian teacher, but I can tell you at least he defeated ("crushed" would be the right word) the japanese forces in Far East by using a combined arms strategy (with poor air support btw due to lack of airport in Siberia) with large tanks group, massive artillery barrage to cut down ennemi supply and others modern/innovative tactics. We can see that the Red Army dont relie on massive infantry charge and heavy losses, but much more on massive supply and interesting use of different parts of the army!

He also take part in the Finnish War, but stalin wanted to use georgian infantery division to be sure that they will not fraternize or betray the USSR, instead of regular infantry, much more equipped/trained/skilled and ready to fight in the cold winter. With officer's purges, we know all the results of the soviet offensive  And Zhukov dont performed well in this war.

In the Great Patriotic War, he commanded at different sector of the front. He was tasked to the defense of St-Petersburg when germans nearly take the city. Then he backed to Moscow to organize the defense. He prepared the return of siberian division and commanded the counter-offensie of Moscow, successfully.

In 1942, he also organized the defense of Stalingrad, and the encirclement of germans forces into the city. In 1943 he take part in the Kursk battle.
He also broke the siege of St-Petersburg in 1944, and lead the Operation Bagration.

Thats only the most known of his success. But his primary quality was his capacity to contradict stalin and to give him advise. Thanks to him, politics commissar lost their commanding powers in favor of officers in 1942, and these officers were then able/encouraged to take initiatives. Btw, he wasnt, like Rommel, a convinced partisans of stalin!