Quote:
Originally Posted by Wyldhorses
George S. Patton, without a doubt. He was the general Hitler and his command feared the most and Adolph Hitler would call him, "That crazy cowboy" in staff meetings.
Nice myth. Got any German sources that back this up? Patton made very little impression on the Germans with his performance in North Africa and Sicily. There is nothing in OB Sud records that indicates any particular regard for him. Rather it is Montgomery who get the credit in German eyes. (And they were't all that impressed with Monty, either.)
The general the Germans feared most was probably Zhukov. To the extent that they feared any western allied general, they probably feared Montgomery the most. If you take a look at the quality of troops the Germans deployed against British/Canadian forces in NW Europe in the 5 weeks following the invasion vs what they deployed against the Americans, it seems pretty clear they saw the Brits and Canadians as the main threat.
This should come as no surprise, given that German after-action intelligence assessments repeatedly rated the quality of US ground forces in Italy and North Africa below the Australians, British, Canadians, French, Indians, New Zealanders and Poles (not necessarily in that order). They considered Americans poorly trained, poorly led, equipped with inferior weapons but supplied with lavish living standards.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wyldhorses
The Japanese generals all lost, that means they weren't good. If you lose you aren't good. Patton won, he was good.
Just ridiculous. Victory and defeat are products of many factors, only one of which is generalship. Japanese Generals lost becaeu fo factors beyond their control. Patton was successful in NW Europe because of the work done by Eisenhower, Brooke, Montgomery and Bradley, and the air force and navy, but most of all because of overwhelming resource supremacy.
The only time Patton faced the Germans on roughly even terms he was held to a standstill. Patton's biggest successes (with one notable exception) all came after somebody else had done the hard work before him and Patton was turned loose against negligible opposition. That one exception is the rescue mission in response to Wacht Am Rhein. That was a masterpiece of staff work, and Patton should get credit for having trained that staff and having the drive to keep things moving.
Patton was a one-dimensional general. Great as the operational leader of a cavalry movement. He never distinguished himself in any other role. There are a dozen western allied generals that were a more complete package, and countless better Russian and German generals.
What Patton was tops at was being over-rated after the war.