Its inevitable I think, so lets just put it out there already. Who was the baddest WW2 Commander of them all?? I'm very curious how this one turns out.

EDIT: Might not hurt to explain your vote. I will explain mine later, but I don't think it belongs in the topic starter.

Still has to be Manstein for me just, and you know how much I love Guderian (check sig and avatar pic!) His memoirs, 'Lost Victories', sum up what might have been. However, this was one of those rare times when a nation had 2 military geniuses, Guderian and Manstein. All other commanders of WW2, as good as some of them were, were either the student of the former or in the shadow of the latter.

I refuse to reveal my vote.

I voted for Guderian of course. Inventer of Blitzkrieg and a royal pain in the butt for an enemy to deal with on the Battlefield. Manstein is a close second for me, which most of you already know.

Have to stick with Zhukov.
Hard to say if he was the best, but he was the commander that saved Russia when it was on it's knees,[following on that, saving Europe] defeat the Germans and their top commanders, [including Guderian and Manstein] sometimes against the odds, in the most decisive battles of WW2, and eventually capturing Berlin.

General Yamashita conducted one of the finest campaigns of the war against Singapore and the most frustrating (from the US view) in the Phillipines.
Amazingly, since there were so few war crimes against the Japanese,and inwhose prison allied prisoners suffered a worse fatality rate than in the Stalags, we still found time to railroad and execute this man.(John Toland The rising Sun and James Webb's The Emperor's General). I would like to throw out the name of General Herman Balck who both Alan Clark(if I remember correctly) and Maj. Gen. F.W. Von Mellenthin considered the finest German field commander.

you know how much george patton would've done in Korea if he didn't die after ww2? He's like the american version of rommel, and has the leadership ability of zhukov.

He pretty much single-handedly led the allies through europe and north africa for the entire offensive there.

Originally Posted by melkor the first

General Yamashita conducted one of the finest campaigns of the war against Singapore and the most frustrating (from the US view) in the Phillipines.
Amazingly, since there were so few war crimes against the Japanese,and inwhose prison allied prisoners suffered a worse fatality rate than in the Stalags, we still found time to railroad and execute this man.(John Toland The rising Sun and James Webb's The Emperor's General). I would like to throw out the name of General Herman Balck who both Alan Clark(if I remember correctly) and Maj. Gen. F.W. Von Mellenthin considered the finest German field commander.

Yes, Balck was a very fine Panzer Commander. Not the best IMO and he had a limited influence over the war compared to either Guderian or Manstein.

Ike is the best General in history

Originally Posted by clark130

Ike is the best General in history

In history? That's a pretty bold claim. Care to give reasons why you think this?