The Worst General?

How about who was the worst General of World War Two? I leave you with this while Im on holiday! Percival(I think that was his name!) in Singapore springs to mind, but I aint saying anymore... over to you guys!

 

Most Italian and quite a few French generals probably qualify. I'll have to look this one up!

 

Ha haaa ! I thought about posting this one !

This will probably run for about ten pages...
I can probably think of loads; I'll start with Major-General G I ( 'Ivo') Thomas, 43rd Infantry Divn. Take a look at the famous photo of him 'snubbing' Sosabowski at Arnhem and you'll see why I don't like him !

 

Yup the British do seem to have the monopoly on ignorant commanders!

 

We-e-ll, I've got my doubts about Mark Clark, too ! But I'd like to do some more reading before damning.

 

Hi all

Does any one have the picture of Major-General G I ( 'Ivo')Thomas where he is 'snubbing' Sosabowski at Arnhem?
Or does anyone know a good site where i can see it?

Sverri

 

Hi Sverri

Haven't sen the photo on the web, it is reproduced in several books about Arnhem, eg Middlebrook's 'Arnhem 1944 - The Airborne Battle'.

The photo was taken at the Valburg Conference on 24th September '44.

Aaargh ! I just looked at it again - Thomas looks such an *rs*h*l* !

 

Just had a look aswell... dont you just love arrogant, ignorant British Generals! Nobody makes them like us!

 

Géneral Maurice Gamelin
Géneral Henri Corap (7th French Army)

Generallo Ettore Bastico
Generallo Rodolfo Graziani

Marshall sir Bernard L. Montgomery (ooopsss... my mistake ) No, he was not that bad.
Marshall sir Harold Alexander

Generaloberst Alfred Jodl
Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler

Marshall Ion Antonescu

(I will come with more later)

 

Uhhh... I'd say he was certainly close to that bad...
besides Africa, I've never been atall impressed with Monty. And considering how many troops he commanded and how much power he had, his incompetence cost more than many lower generals...
(not sure why I dislike Monty so much... He's just always rubbed me the wrong way!)

 

I often wonder how much Monty's odd-ball personality has affected views of his military performance.

On a scale of one to ten, with Monty as incompetent, surely that'd leave Clark peeling potatoes ?

 

Refresh my memory- Clark was the American general that decided to vacation at Anzio for a couple months? Under german fire?

 

Clark commanded the US Fifth Army in Italy. He was highly intelligent and a good staff officer but

'..his weaknesses were .. bitter jealousy of his rivals and an avid desire for publicity... Clark's concept of the art of command did not embrace the idea that he should support and encourage his subordinates...' ( Graham & Bidwell, 'Tug Of War - The Battle for Italy' )

His greatest foul-ups were his temporary loss of nerve at Salerno and his decision to 'enter Rome in triumph' rather than by-passing it in pursuit of the retreating Germans.

 

I wondered how long it would take for dear old Monty to crop up!

I totally agree Fredrich, I have long had my doubts about him.

As for Himmler, he should have stuck to being a chicken farmer.

 

Yes, I do not like Clark either. Martin has very good and true points.

And Montgomery was not that bad. he just was too cautious. But his planns on paper seemed well to me. Beside, he learnt the good things: he copied all Rommel's desert tactics (the problem is that Rommel fell in his own traps!!!). But I must say that Montgomery and Alexander made some of the biggest mistakes of the war. Napoleon had said that Italy, for its terrain and physical form must not be invaded from the South, because it is a long way to the North passing for awful roads and positios, perfect for the defenders. Italy must be invaded in the top, then the rest of the country is aislated and Italy is "hanged" from the "neck". Not listening to this big advice of Napoleon costed them 200.000 casualties for a campaign that we all knoe did not have a lot of importance. It had, but not that much...

I had forgotten about the stupid Sopviet general Budény, who was just a stupid politician who did not know a s... of war.

 

GORING-he was never in touch-he was basically just like all the hierarchy of teh Axis general ship-incompetent-and focused only on getting planes in the air-and when his limp-wristed Fuhrer had a spit at him-he balmed perfectly good airman like Adolf Galland (RIP), Hannes Trautloft (RIP) and Gunther Rall.....WHAT AN IDIOT--How can we possibly have overlooked an incompetent drug addict as the worst general!!!!!

 

I have to agree with Ryan--I think goring was the worst commander of all.

I.e Not finishing the job at Dunkirk, Battle of Britain, Stalingrad--just to name a few.

 

Even so. Why was he a bad commander? Because he did not have the experience. He had been only a captain during WWI and he did not earn his rank by merit. He was just a politician (a very good one, by the way) but not a general at all. He did a good job in the 1930s when he coordinated Milch and Udet's efforts to build the Luftwaffe. That was nice on him. But he was not a general as I said, and he did not take good decisions due not to his stupidity (because he was all but stupid) but to his lack of experience.

 

I am amazed that I never replied to this one. I would have to say Bernard Montgomery. I have seen some listed that were poor commanders at the onset of war due to improper strategies (ie French, Italian generals). But Montgomery was there throughout and I cannot believe how this character survived to stay in command of all British forces. Yeah, yeah I know, what about N. Africa. Well, as someone has already posted, Rommel pretty much did to himself because he pushed it to the limit and carried out offenses when he did not have all the resources necessary to ensure success. Montgomery did not attack until the enemy ran out of steam (somewhat smart) but then only when he was oversupplied (this is what made him dumb). The latter is what caused him to lose so many opportunities to take the field. That over cautiousness is what makes him a lame duck. The Brits had nobody else so that is all they had.
As for Goring, all the Friedrich points out is correct but he must have had some kind of mental disorder because of his constant withdrawal to his dreamworld of being some kind of bohemian king wearing makeup and costumes. Freaky Dicky to me.

 

I agree with all your thoughts, PzJgr!

Göring was indeed very excentric and lived in a dream world some times (and all the time late in the war...). That did not help him a bit.

And all my thoughts are with you on Monty. He attacked at El Alamein just when he had eight tanks to one... Copied Rommel tactics and well, a samrt thing: he took advantages of Rommel's errors too.