Originally Posted by Doppleganger

You're absolutely right Monty. Rommel, and to a lesser extent Rundstedt, Kesselring and Model etc have all taken all the headlines, primarly as they fought against the Western Allies from 1943 onwards. Guderian and Manstein are known to people who have looked into things a little more but there are plenty of commanders who deserve to be mentioned yet are almost unknown to most people. Aside from the excellent generals you already mentioned you could add the likes of Hoepner, Balck, Schweppenburg, Eberbach, Dietrich, Bock, Leeb. I could go on and on. I think the German system of Auftragstaktik, where commanders were given mission-style orders by their superiors and given a great deal of autonomy in achieving those orders, developed commanders who were quick to use initiative and think for themselves. This system created and nurtured some excellent commanders. It is notable that as soon as Hitler started micro-managing the Wehrmacht much of its ability and dash disappeared. Even so, NCOs and upwards were still encouraged to think for themselves and is one reason why even the 1944-45 Wehrmacht was still a very effective combat force, albeit on the defensive.