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Originally Posted by Doppleganger I am leaning towards Guderian now (from Manstein). The main reason being is that the Manstein Plan, which is held up as an example of the genius of him, could not have been successful without Guderian's help. In fact, it was Guderian's insistence that the majority of the German armour be placed in Army Group 'A' instead of 'B'. Thus the decisive breakout through the Ardennes and behind the bulk of the Allied Armies really was Guderian's idea, presented to Hitler by Manstein. Moreover, much of the later success of Manstein could not have been achieved without Guderian's development of the Panzerwaffe and combined arms operations. So whilst Manstein rightly gets credit for his plan, which Hitler later 'adopted', much of the credit for its success should be Guderian's. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_France |
I would normally agree with you as there is little doubt to his genius however the thing that prevents me making him my number one choice is that (and I am being unkind here) his role in the German army through WW2 seemed more of an administrative one and less an active one.
While Manstein and co were planning and executing vast battles in Russia Guderian was doing what, after having problems von Kluge in France he was effectively retired until after the battle of Stalingrad at which point he was recalled to moderise German tank production (which he did extremely well). During this time however Manstein had been responsible for a sizable proportion of Russian campaigns greatest successes.