Who was Best German Field Marshal of WWII?

[Bush92]

I think Eric Von Manstein. He actually stood up to Hitler for his troops so they would not be sacrificed needlessly. His plan, basically, was the one used to crush France in 1940 and his post Stalingrad actions destroyed two Russian divisions and gained ground.

 

[Moonglow]

Manstein was not the master mind of blitzkrieg, it as Heinz Guderian. And Heinz developed it from the strategy of Alfred von Schlieffen, in WWI.

My vote would be......Rommel or Guderian, the masters of tank warfare..Rommel stood up to Hitler in the 1944 plot to assassinate Hitler executed by Wehrmacht officers...

 

[Bush92]

Manstein was not the master mind of blitzkrieg, it as Heinz Guderian. And Heinz developed it from the strategy of Alfred von Schlieffen, in WWI.

My vote would be......Rommel or Guderian, the masters of tank warfare..Rommel stood up to Hitler in the 1944 plot to assassinate Hitler executed by Wehrmacht officers...

Guderian was never a Field Marshal. But a great general.

 

[Bush92]

Btw...Rommel was good...but overrated. See how he would have done on the Eastern Front and not out maneuvering poorly led and supplied Commonwealth troops in North Africa.

 

[Picaro]

Kesslering was almost as good a strategist as Mannstein, very close in capabilities. Model.and Schorner were masters on defense. von Rundtstedt was an old school genius as well. Rommel was similar to Patton, a great divisional commander, great at tactics, not so much as a strategist.

Not a field marshal but almost always overlooked as a great general was Eduard Dietl; if he hadn't been killed he would most likely have been a field marshal.

I don't think any of the German Field Marshals were as good as the British Field Marshals, though; Alan Brooke and William Slim were both better than the best Germans. The only reason Brooke wasn't made Supreme Allied Commander was U.S. pressure; we held all the cards at the time and it went to Eisenhower. Nothing against Ike, he was excellent; Brooke was just better. All armies would kill to have such talent pool problems.

 

[Two Thumbs]

none of them were all that good.

not one

They started the war with advanced weapons and swept over armies still using WW1 tools.

hell, the Pols actually sent out their cavalry. Not tank cavalry, but guys on horses with swords and lances.

once the world caught up to them, it was one loss after another

 

[RetiredGySgt]

none of them were all that good.

not one

They started the war with advanced weapons and swept over armies still using WW1 tools.

hell, the Pols actually sent out their cavalry. Not tank cavalry, but guys on horses with swords and lances.

once the world caught up to them, it was one loss after another

Actually the German tanks in 39 and 40 were inferior to the French and British Tanks. And in the Soviet Union during the 1st year the German tanks were inferior to the Soviet Tanks as well.

 

[Two Thumbs]

none of them were all that good.

not one

They started the war with advanced weapons and swept over armies still using WW1 tools.

hell, the Pols actually sent out their cavalry. Not tank cavalry, but guys on horses with swords and lances.

once the world caught up to them, it was one loss after another

Actually the German tanks in 39 and 40 were inferior to the French and British Tanks. And in the Soviet Union during the 1st year the German tanks were inferior to the Soviet Tanks as well.

nominally

Germans had better ships and WAY better subs
Their planes were off the scale in comparison
Machine guns? holy shit

 

[Picaro]

none of them were all that good.

not one

They started the war with advanced weapons and swept over armies still using WW1 tools.

hell, the Pols actually sent out their cavalry. Not tank cavalry, but guys on horses with swords and lances.

once the world caught up to them, it was one loss after another

Actually the German tanks in 39 and 40 were inferior to the French and British Tanks. And in the Soviet Union during the 1st year the German tanks were inferior to the Soviet Tanks as well.

Yes. And, the Germans had a serious shortage on not only tanks but trucks and motorized transport throughout the war; they still had to rely on horse and donkey carts throughout the war, which makes their victories and fighting retreats all the more impressive, not less, and this with a doped up idiot like Hitler running the show to boot.

 

[Mr. H.]

Field Marshall Von Dillon?

 

[asaratis]

Rommel was better than most of the other Field Marshals but was not a great military strategist. He stretched his his supply line beyond workable limits, ran out of fuel and committed suicide....all three of which are deadly mistakes.

 

[Sallow]

The dead ones.

 

[RetiredGySgt]

Rommel was better than most of the other Field Marshals but was not a great military strategist. He stretched his his supply line beyond workable limits, ran out of fuel and committed suicide....all three of which are deadly mistakes.

Rommel committed suicide to save his family. As for his supply lines he had little choice on the matter and in fact he never put his army out of supply.

 

[asaratis]

Rommel was better than most of the other Field Marshals but was not a great military strategist. He stretched his his supply line beyond workable limits, ran out of fuel and committed suicide....all three of which are deadly mistakes.

Rommel committed suicide to save his family. As for his supply lines he had little choice on the matter and in fact he never put his army out of supply.

Okay. I'll give you that Rommel committed suicide on the orders of A. Hitler. Hitler wanted a "quiet removal" of this hero of the German people. Hitler promised that his family would go unharmed if he committed suicide.

On the supply line issue, Rommel screwed up more than once.

The Battle of Alam el Halfa was launched on 30 August, with Rommel's forces driving through the south flank. Perhaps not realising that the British defensive line was not continuous, or else simply so desperate for supplies that he took the first opportunity to outflank regardless of risk, Rommel ran straight into Montgomery's trap. After passing the El Alamein line to the south, Rommel drove north at the Alam el Halfa Ridge, just as Montgomery had anticipated—into a mine-strewn area with patches of quicksand. Under heavy fire from British artillery and aircraft, and in the face of well prepared positions that Rommel could not hope to outflank due to lack of fuel, the attack stalled. By 2 September, Rommel realized the battle was unwinnable, and decided to withdraw.

He had outpaced his supply line.

Regarding his supply line, Rommel lost the second battle of El Alamein partially due to lack of fuel and ammunition. He had outpaced his supply line. In September British raiding parties attacked important harbours and supply points. The flow of supplies successfully ferried across the Mediterranean had fallen to a dismal level. Some two-thirds of the supplies embarked for Africa were destroyed at sea. In addition, Rommel's health was failing and he took sick leave in Italy and Germany from late September. Thus he was not present when the Second Battle of El Alamein began on 23 October 1942. Although he returned immediately, it took him two vital days to reach his HQ in Africa. The defensive plan at El Alamein was more static in nature than Rommel preferred, but with shortages of motorized units and fuel, he had felt it was the only possible plan.

Despite orders from Hitler and Mussolini to fight to the bitter end, Rommel continued to retreat in order to save his troops and shorten his supply line.

Erwin Rommel - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia

 

[Picaro]

The North African campaign was based on Hitler's belief it would be easy victories, and didn't give much thought to the weaknesses of the strategic positions Rommel would be launching from. When the 'easy victories' failed to materialize, Rommel was in a bad position. The success of Operation Torch, a rather miraculous success for the time, even without a contested landing, made the situation even more untenable. Hitler should have abandoned that campaign early on, or better not launched it at all.

In Rommel's defense, I don't think any General would have ended up doing well in North Africa on the German side, where Rommel started from, even if they had taken Alexandria and the canal, there is no way they could have held it for long, not with India and Slim at large there.

 

[Picaro]

nominally

Germans had better ships and WAY better subs

Their subs were easily neutralized early on, as better tactics and sub hunting planes came on line. they were only a major threat early on, and not for long.

The British fleet sent the Germans' 'better ships' scurrying back into the German ports in 1942, where they remained,, after the Battle of the Barents Sea.

Battle of the Barents Sea - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia

Despite this German attack on convoy JW 51B, all 14 of its merchant ships reached their destinations in the USSR undamaged.

Even more critically for the outcome of the war, Adolf Hitler was infuriated at what he perceived as the uselessness of the surface raiders, seeing that two heavy cruisers were driven off by mere destroyers. There were serious implications: this failure nearly made Hitler enforce a decision to scrap the surface fleet, and for the German Navy to concentrate on U-boat warfare. Admiral Erich Raeder, supreme commander of the Kriegsmarine, offered his resignation—which Hitler accepted, apparently reluctantly.[citation needed] Raeder was replaced by Admiral Karl Dönitz, the commander of the U-boat fleet, who saved the German surface fleet from scrapping (though Hipper and several light cruisers were laid up).

E-boats continued to operate off the coast of France, but the only major surface operation completed following the battle[citation needed] was the attempted raid on Convoy JW 55B by the battleship Scharnhorst, sunk by an escorting British task force in what later became known as the Battle of the North Cape.

On the British side, Captain Robert Sherbrooke was awarded the Victoria Cross. He acknowledged that it had truthfully been awarded in honour of the whole crew of Onslow. In the action he had been badly wounded, and had lost the sight in one eye. However, he returned to active duty, and retired from the navy in the 1950s with the rank of rear-admiral.

At the memorial for Bramble, Captain Harvey Crombie stated of the crew: "They had braved difficulties and perils probably unparalleled in the annals of the British Navy, and calls upon their courage and endurance were constant, but they never failed. They would not have us think sadly at this time, but rather that we should praise God that they had remained steadfast to duty to the end."[5]

The battle was the subject of the book 73 North by Dudley Pope.

U Boats losses, by year:

U-boat losses 1939-1945 - Fates - German U-boats of WWII - Kriegsmarine - uboat.net

Their planes were off the scale in comparison

Another temporary advantage, and too few to prevent their defeat.

Machine guns? holy shit

Also not enough.

The SS also had the coolest uniforms of the war, too. They didn't do anything to prevent total defeat.

 

[Picaro]

Probably off-topic, but this might be entertaining:

German World War II submarine was sunk due to malfunction of the toilet

uboat.net - A German World War II submarine was sunk due to malfunction of the toilet.

 

[asaratis]

At least one U-boat was captured rather than sunk. A German sailor was held as a POW at the base in my hometown. He later became a tile setter. He laid the tiles in a huge monument at the dead end of a major downtown street. The monument included in the message, "May the spirit of our men who died in battle live forever!" The text surrounded a huge ceramic tile image of the American flag.

This particular POW returned to my hometown with his entire family after his release and worked his way up to manager of the biggest and best tile-setting company in the area. I went to high school with one of his sons.

I am thankful his boat was not sunk.

 

[asaratis]

At least one U-boat was captured rather than sunk. One particular POW was held in my hometown at the local Air Base. He later returned and became a tile setter. I am thankful to have known the family and gone through high school along with the sons...and later to have known Bonnie and Detlev as great friends.

This WWII Memorial at the end of a major downtown street...is the handiwork of a former German POW who had been captured on a U-boat.

world war 2 memorial

Please read the entire article.

 

[Picaro]

At least one U-boat was captured rather than sunk. One particular POW was held in my hometown at the local Air Force Base. He later returned and became a tile setter. I am thankful to have known the family and gone through high school along with the sons...and later to have known Bonnie and Detlev as great friends.

Please read the entire article and a particular WWII Memorial at the end of a major downtown street...the handiwork of a former German POW who had been captured on a U-boat.

world war 2 memorial

Please read the entire article.

There were numbers of German POW's incarcerated here in Texas. Several of them came back with families after the war and settled around the part of Texas I'm from, around Fredricksburg and environs. Lots of German immigrants around there, going way back to before the Civil War, and a large number coming in the 1880's, after Bismarck and Wilhelm I implemented the draft in the newly 'unified' Germany. They seem mostly to have come from Bavaria and southern Germany here. In one or two cases an entire village or two immigrated.

More than a few of them strongly resemble the pastor John Hagee, which is funny, at least around there it is anyway.. lol