History's most celebrated military commanders

[eatshitndie]

Zhukov in his memoir said that the 2nd Sino-Japanese war battle of Taierzhuang was his inspiration for the battle of Stalingrad. he was a military observer during the Taierzhuang battle back then. he was very impressed with how the Chinese effectively fought against the Japanese at close quarters inside a city. the interesting fact was China Taierzhuang battle military strategist was Alexander von Falkenhausen, Germany general and military advisor to Chiang Kai Shek.

unknown to many and forgotten by many zhukov was still wet behind the ears when his soviet and mongolian forces defeated the japs in khalkin gol in 1939. the devastating defeat caused the japs to avoid further conflict in ussr and mongolia and focus their war effort in china and the pacific. this strategic stalemate on the siberia and mongol fronts allowed the soviets to concentrate their manpower and resources on the eastern front against the nazis. jippun wasn’t invincible in 1939. in fact they were embarassed and humiliated by the soviets and mongols. japs would be humiliated again by the soviets in 1945 when jap occupied manchuria was invaded and over a million jap soldiers and their gook and manchu allies were either killed, wounded or captured. that massive defeat (and final land battle in ww2) in manchuria contributed to the emperor’s decision to surrender after 2 atomic bombs were dropped in jp. the emperor’s plan b was to move to manchuria and continue the war there.

 

[steffychun]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_Park

Air Chief Marshal Sir Keith Rodney Park, GCB, KBE, MC & Bar, DFC (15 June 1892 – 6 February 1975) was a New Zealander who served as a senior RAF officer. An ANZAC Gallipoli Veteran and Second World War Royal Air Force commander, he was placed in command of No. 11 Group of the RAF - the Group responsible for the defence of South East England and London. Due to the strategic significance and geographic location concerning the Luftwaffe, Park’s Group bore the brunt of the German aerial assault during the Battle of Britain.[1]

‘If any one man won the Battle of Britain, he did. I don't believe it is recognised how much this one man, with his leadership, his calm judgment and his skill, did to save not only this country, but the world.’ Lord Tedder, Head of the RAF, 1947.[2]

Sir Keith Park is also known as "the Defender of London".[3]

 

[Hypocrite-The]

Fritz Erich Georg Eduard von Manstein (born Fritz Erich Georg Eduard von Lewinski; 24 November 1887 – 9 June 1973) was a German Field Marshal of the Wehrmacht during the Second World War, who was subsequently convicted of war crimes and sentenced to 18 years imprisonment.
Born into an aristocratic Prussian family with a long history of military service, Manstein joined the army at a young age and saw service on both the Western and Eastern Front during the First World War (1914–18). He rose to the rank of captain by the end of the war and was active in the inter-war period helping Germany rebuild its armed forces. In September 1939, during the invasion of Poland at the beginning of the Second World War, he was serving as Chief of Staff to Gerd von Rundstedt's Army Group South. Adolf Hitler chose Manstein's strategy for the invasion of France of May 1940, a plan later refined by Franz Halder and other members of the OKH.

Anticipating a firm Allied reaction should the main thrust of the invasion take place through the Netherlands, Manstein devised an innovative operation – later known as the Sichelschnitt ("sickle cut") – that called for an attack through the woods of the Ardennes and a rapid drive to the English Channel, thus cutting off the French and Allied armies in Belgium and Flanders. Attaining the rank of general at the end of the campaign, he was active in the invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941. He led the Axis forces in the siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942) and the Battle of the Kerch Peninsula, and was promoted to field marshal on 1 July 1942, after which he participated in the siege of Leningrad.

Germany's fortunes in the war had taken an unfavourable turn in December 1941, and in the following year during the catastrophic Battle of Stalingrad, Manstein commanded a failed relief effort ("Operation Winter Storm") in December. Later known as the "backhand blow", Manstein's counteroffensive in the Third Battle of Kharkov (February–March 1943) regained substantial territory and resulted in the destruction of three Soviet armies and the retreat of three others. He was one of the primary commanders at the Battle of Kursk (July–August 1943). His ongoing disagreements with Hitler over the conduct of the war led to his dismissal in March 1944. He never obtained another command and was taken prisoner by the British in August 1945, three months after Germany's defeat.

Manstein gave testimony at the main Nuremberg trials of war criminals in August 1946, and prepared a paper that, along with his later memoirs, helped cultivate the myth of the clean Wehrmacht – the myth that the German armed forces were not culpable for the atrocities of the Holocaust. In 1949 he was tried in Hamburg for war crimes and was convicted on nine of seventeen counts, including the poor treatment of prisoners of war and failing to protect civilian lives in his sphere of operations. His sentence of eighteen years in prison was later reduced to twelve, and he served only four years before being released in 1953.

As a military advisor to the West German government in the mid-1950s, he helped re-establish the armed forces. His memoir, Verlorene Siege (1955), translatedinto English as Lost Victories, was highly critical of Hitler's leadership, and dealt with only the military aspects of the war, ignoring its political and ethical contexts. Manstein died near Munich in 1973.

 

[Hypocrite-The]

LTG Hal Moore

 

[Hypocrite-The]

Heinz Wilhelm Guderian (German: [ɡuˈdeːʁi̯an]; 17 June 1888 – 14 May 1954) was a German general during World War II who, after the war, became a successful memoirist. An early pioneer and advocate of the "blitzkrieg" approach, he played a central role in the development of the panzer division concept. In 1936, he became the Inspector of Motorized Troops.

At the beginning of the Second World War, Guderian led an armoured corps in the Invasion of Poland. During the Invasion of France, he commanded the armoured units that attacked through the Ardennes forest and overwhelmed the Allied defenses at the Battle of Sedan. He led the 2nd Panzer Army during Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union. The campaign ended in failure after the German offensive Operation Typhoon failed to capture Moscow, after which Guderian was dismissed.

In early 1943, Adolf Hitler appointed Guderian to the newly created position of Inspector General of Armoured Troops. In this role, he had broad responsibility to rebuild and train new panzer forces but saw limited success due to Germany's worsening war economy. Guderian was appointed Acting Chief of the General Staff of the Army High Command, immediately following the 20 July Plot to assassinate Hitler.

Guderian was placed in charge of the "Court of Honour" by Hitler, which in the aftermath of the plot was used to dismiss people from the military so they could be tried in the "People's Court" and executed. He was Hitler's personal advisor on the Eastern Front and became closely associated with the Nazis. Guderian's troops carried out the criminal Commissar Order during Barbarossa, and he was implicated in the commission of reprisals after the Warsaw Uprising of 1944.

Guderian surrendered to the United States forces on 10 May 1945 and was interned until 1948. He was released without charge and retired to write his memoirs. Entitled Panzer Leader, the autobiography became a bestseller, widely read to this day. Guderian's writings promoted several post-war myths, including that of the "clean Wehrmacht". In his autobiography, Guderian portrayed himself as the sole originator of the German panzer force; he omitted any mentions of crimes that he authorised or condoned. Guderian died in 1954 and was buried in Goslar.


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinz_Guderian

 

[Hypocrite-The]

If he did not die..Krautland would have extended the war ...


Walther Wever (general)

Walther Wever (11 November 1887 – 3 June 1936) was a pre-World War II Luftwaffe Commander. He was an early proponent of the theory of strategic bombing as a means to wage war, while supporting the theories of Giulio Douhet. He died in an air crash in 1936.

Wever became the Commander of the
Reichsluftfahrtministerium on 1 September 1933. On 1 March 1935, he became Chief of Staff of the Luftwaffe shortly after its creation on 26 February 1935, a post he held until his death. Wever was a supporter of the Strategic bomber and recognised its importance as early as 1934. He supported the aviation companies such as Junkers and Dornier, in their respective projects to produce the Ju 89 and Dornier Do 19 competitors for the Ural Bomber production contract competition. Wever outlined five key points to air strategy:

1. To destroy the enemy air force by bombing its bases and aircraft factories, and defeating enemy air forces attacking German targets.
2. To prevent the movement of large enemy ground forces to the decisive areas by destroying railways and roads, particularly bridges and tunnels, which are indispensable for the movement and supply of forces
3. To support the operations of the army formations, independent of railways, i.e, armored forces and motorised forces, by impeding the enemy advance and participating directly in ground operations.
4. To support naval operations by attacking naval bases, protecting Germany's naval bases and participating directly in naval battles
5. To paralyze the enemy armed forces by stopping production in the armaments factories.[1]
However, after his death, other strategists, like Ernst Udet and Hans Jeschonnek favored smaller aircraft as they did not expend as much material and manpower. They were proponents of the dive-bomber (Junkers Ju 87) and the doctrine of close support and destruction of the opposing air forces on the 'battle-ground' rather than through attacking enemy industry. As a result, high-speed medium-bombers such as the Heinkel He 111, Dornier Do 17, and Junkers Ju 88 were developed, with much initial success. While some large strategic bomber programs were initiated, most notable the Ural Bomber project, which morphed into the He 177 Program, without a proponent of strategic bombing in the upper echelons of the Luftwaffe, the programs saw little progress, and would ultimately be developed too late into the war to have any meaningful effect.
On 3 June 1936 Wever flew from Berlin to Dresden, to give a lecture at the Luftkriegsschule Klotzsche to a gathering of Luftwaffe cadets. When he received the news of the death of World War I German hero Karl Litzmann, he immediately set off for Berlin. On his return journey, the Heinkel He 70 Blitz that he was flying had not been properly examined during preflight checks, and the aileron gust locks were not removed. The aircraft was airborne when the wing dipped, and the Heinkel stalled and went into a horizontal cartwheel (akin to a ground loop, but at low altitude). It crashed and exploded in flames, killing Wever and his flight engineer. That same day, the RLM issued the Bomber A heavy bomber specification and design competition for what would become the Luftwaffe's only wartime heavy bomber in production and frontline service, the Heinkel He 177.[2]

After Wever's death, a Luftwaffe bomber wing, Kampfgeschwader 4 General Wever was named after him, which fittingly enough in the later war years, would be equipped with and using in combat the one aircraft created for the design competition that started on the day of General Wever's death, the Heinkel He 177. His son, also named Walther Wever, was a fighter pilot who was killed in action in April 1945.

 

[jw5]

Moshe Dayan (1915–1981)​

Moshe Dayan was born on Israel's first kibbutz, Degania Alef. His military acumen became apparent as commander of the Jerusalem front in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War—the first of many dramatic victories for Israel over its Arab neighbors. Dayan's most stunning victory was as defense minister in 1967 when Israel triumphed over a coalition of Arab states primarily comprising Jordan, Syria, and Egypt in what became known as the Six-Day War.

 

[jw5]

Norman Schwarzkopf Jr. (1934–2012)​

US Army general Norman Schwarzkopf became a familiar face on television screens around the world during the Gulf War (1990–91). A career soldier, he commanded all coalition forces during the conflict and was considered by many military historians as an exceptional leader for his abilities as a military diplomat and his easy-going rapport with the press.