Best commanders of ww2

Leonid Govorov definately

RIP Wall of Text. Basically, I wrote this wall of text on the reasons why I chose whoever. My mind kept telling me I should copy and paste my work to Notepad or something else. Kept ignoring it. Then, I accidentally highlighted a word. I held down on the word for too long till the screen was covered in white and had in the middle, "Drop files here". I couldn't click out of it so I'm so angry at myself right now lol. My hard work...This below is the most and absolute shortened version of my "essay" (Seriously, each choice had several lines worth of explanations, battle tactics and events. I guess I could make presentations instead.). I'm not risking another 3 hours lol.

(NOTE: These generals were written in random, if I were to rank them, they would all be in a different order).

1. Georgy Zhukov. One of the greatest Marshals in history as he contributed heavily to the defeat of Nazi Germany. The battle of Khalkhin Gol and the Soviet Japanese Border War pretty much help him create tactics that helped him in Barbarossa. It also brought the creation of the T-34. He commanded in many battles and eventually took Berlin in 1945 with Ivan Konev, resulting with Allied victory in Europe. Zhukov has been praised for his tactics and contribution of WW2, but has been criticized for the massive amounts of troops/soldiers he lost.

2. Konstatin Konstantinovich Rokossovsky. One of the most greatest marshals in history. Zhukov, during the Soviet Japanese War, complimented Rokossovsky for his discipline and his tactics, but criticized him for his stubbornness. Rokossovsky fought and commanded in many operations and was well known for Operation Bagration, in which he made a 2 point attack on Belarus, resulting in massive success. Now as Marshal, he, along with the other generals, pushed their way through. In the end, Rokossovsky met up with Bernard Montgomery at Wismar, while Konev and Zhukov took Berlin. Rokossovsky was one of the greatest tacticians in history. Soldiers under his command felt more comfortable as they knew Rokossovsky would not always throw men away like Zhukov who was able to complete and accomplish military objectives, but lost many lives in doing so.

3. Aleksandr Vasilevsky. Another great marshal, often never spoken of. He commanded most Soviet counteroffensives in WW2. He was well know for his command over the Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation which was a simple, but complex and massive pincer attack on the Japanese Kwantung Army (this operation was successful).

4.Nikolai Vatutin. One of the most creative and brilliant generals in history. He was well known for his tactics and was the first general to make a major encirclement on the Germans. He commanded the Soviet forces in Voronezh, Kursk, the liberation of Kiev and much more operations in Ukraine. He unfortunately died in 1944 when we was ambushed and mortally wounded by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army.

5. Ivan Konev. One of the most notable marshals of the Soviet Union and well known for his contribution in WW2. His tactics and ruthlessness helped the Soviets in many situations. He had fought in many battles such as Kursk, etc. He also contributed to the capture of Berlin. 


....And that's it, I think. I really need to sleep now. To compensate for my lost work, I'll go write up a presentation. I really need to otherwise I can't stop thinking about it ;-;

How dare Kuribayashi not be on the list? He brought more casualties on the American side than on his, and the American side had warships, air support, more men and tanks, better tanks, not to mention the fact that the soldiers were marines. Did I mention that the battle took a good month to finish?

In all seriousness, in my opinion, Manstein is the best general during WWII. His marching during operation barbarossa-hundreds of miles in a merely five days-was simply amazing, showing the good example of Blitzkrieg. "The German FieldMarshall that Stalin was most afraid of" seems to fit perfectly with him. For others, I would pick Guderian(The ardennes campaigns on the West plus the battle of Kiev), Hott(Guderian's perfect partner, AKA "Papa"), and perhaps Model("Der Fuhrer's Firemen", one of the best defensive commander after the sacking of Guderian+many who fought at Barbarrossa). Not Rommel, though. He tried to be a hero and screwed up the whole African campaign.

This *might* be a bit biased but how about de Tassigny?

He did not try to be a hero and failed. He fought outmanned outsupplied and outnumbered, the war effort in Africa wasn't supported that much by Germany, and the enemy knew how Desert Combat is, going through the desert let alone navigating is a nightmare. And general and general of the british army have failed to make a dent, even Monty would have been defeated because of his too worried mindset

I do not say he is the best but he isn't bad either

For Yamashita, it's also unfair to say his skills at waging war was the main reason for his success in the Pacific.

In this incomplete thread on the Fall of Malaya (modern day Western Malaysia): european-war-4.boards.net/thread/6103/malayan-campaign-ww2 The Allies found themselves in a terrible situation, worsened by intelligent Japanese actions (such as the sinking of 2 major warships).

If the Allies used their numbers properly, gave their men the necessary training (Tropical Warfare) & reacted well, Yamashita might have more difficulty in winning. Thus, it was partially due to Allied shortcomings IN ADDITION to his expertise in waging war that he gained success. This sadly, lowers his ranking as a skilled commander since 50% of his success came from external factors.


However, he is still worthy of recognition as a skilled commander since he led guerrilla Japs & held territory in the Philippines after it fell. He was only finally "defeated" in the Philippines when Japan surrendered the war.
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Yamashita's Wikipedia page said that he did not participate in Burma at all cuz at the time he was "banished" to Manchuria then redeployed to the Philippines when Allied forces attacked.
Yamashita, however, did conquer Singapore.