Quote:
|
Originally Posted by perseus However, if I had to choose a incompetent military commander (for want of a better name)
Marshal Semyon Budenny, with ideas rooted in the past and little military skill, charging at everything. Effectively a political crony of Stalin which is why he survived the purge |
I would have to second Budenny as being well up there as one of the worst, asuuming we are talking about military commanders rather than political leaders. Budenny was responsible for the largest single defeat in history at Kiev in August 1941, where he lost over half a million men. Four entire Soviet Armies were wiped from the field. Part of this calamity was the fault of Stalin, who ordered the city held at all costs. Nonetheless, Budenny was a commander who refused to adapt and change with the times. He was the commander whom Rundstedt commented, "huge moustaches, tiny brains!"