What is the board opinion of the leadership qualities of General Sir Brian Horrocks?? and if he wasn't the best English commander(overall) in WW2 then opine on who was.

this man, it would appear, is the english equivelant of the american general omar bradly...he could be the equivelant of the british soldiers general. one with a very fine war record but possibly the real genius behind montgomery. I like him....

I too , could find no major flaws in his direction Mark , and believe that would likely be the consensus(although it would appear to be a rather small sampling of you and I ). I am wondering though , how many would tab him as the best overall that England had.....perhaps Alexander??

"I have always regarded the forward edge of battle as the most exclusive club in the world."
-Lt.Gen Sir Brian Gwynne Horrocks (1895-1995)
("A Full Life" 1960)
http://www.military-quotes.com/database/h.htm

It's a verified quote, I got it from some personal friends of him..

Interesting post on a much overlooked British General. However, the question was asked if he was the greatest British General of WWII and in my most humble opinion, he was not. That honour most go the FM Slim, commander of the 14th Army in Burma who, to quote the title of his autobiography, took an Army from defeat to victory. If anyone is unfamiliar with Slim I suggest you read Defeat to Victory. I dare you not to be impressed!

Redleg ,

Thank you for the quote.....haven't seen that one before.

Thank you for opining GJC

As for General Horrocks, in my opinion he should be noted and discussed under a separate forum topic for Great Britain like the

Who was the worst American general or battlefield tactician?

He made blunder after blunder and cost the lives of a good many American airborne warriors and British soldiers. Well, for those of you who are visual, I suggest you see the movie, The Bridge Too Far, there you will at least get an idea of the leadership skills of General Horrocks. Despite my negative bias and dislike for his military operations, I still think General Douglas MacArthur was still far worse.

david: i really have to call you on that one.

In all the searching i have done for this particular General, no where was there any mention of the fiasco scenarios you mentioned in your post, especially market garden that are directly attribitable to general Horricks tactical or leadership skills.

Can you at least post a link or a reference to back up what you have said about this general? Because in truth, like i said, i havent found anything in the references backing your claim.

not trying to start a flame war...just interested as this is very counter to what i have seen...

I have to agree with Mark here , there is no indication that Horrocks was in any way culpable for the Arnem scenario , nor was it an indication of Horrocks ability or lack thereof....and BTW David , I re-enact WW2 British airborne , so I have seen my Market Garden DVD enough to where I can recite the lines before the actors do