Certainly of the WW2 era Sir John Monash and Orde Wingate fill this catagory nicely, Wingate in particular seems to have been overlooked by popular history.

Another one to think about is Bomber Harris who took over bomber Command [RAF] and made it a force to be reckoned with, now not every one would agree with his tactics but he did get the job done. Also his tactics where adopted by America when they started to area bomb Japan.

May i add to this neglected thread

"Mary" Conningham

and after reading about Gen. Alexanders work i N.Africa...well him.

Theoretician John R. Boyd, though he's become increasingly famous since 1997. I vote underrated because the Pentagon shunted him aside and tried to screw him over when possible.

General Monash... he who introduced the very first use of total combined arms attacks on the Western front

Orde Wingate...Who did so much in North Africa with so little even when his troops were out numbered 30 to one. He then went off and set up the Chindits which gave the Japanese a right headache

But he was a bit of a nutter and the second chindit operation got a bit out of hand, trying to do too much and increasing to much in size

KC72.....General Stiwell took over that operation after Ord was killed in a plane crash. Now Stiwell may have been a good General but he did not use the Chindits as a fighting mobile force but had them set up defensives position in indefensible areas. Although they held the Japanese they never fought again as force

Originally Posted by Doppleganger

Erich von Manstein

I agree with this choice, his defense of the Army Group South sector after the loss of Stalingrad is just one of the examples of his abilities as a commander.

Originally Posted by panzer

I agree with this choice, his defense of the Army Group South sector after the loss of Stalingrad is just one of the examples of his abilities as a commander.

I believe Erich Von Manstein was the greatest Axis commander of the war. And the more I think of it, I suppose he has been largely under-rated by a large pool of military historians.

General Auchinleck is my choice for one of the most under-rated commanders of the war. Auchinleck along with Ritchie, made a gigantic blunder by leaving 35,000 men and a good amount of supplies and ammunition at Tobruk. Common sense dictated that the city should have been abandoned. But if Tobruk could hold out for a week or so, Rommel would expend a serious amount of supplies. ( Or so the theory goes.).

Rommel took Tobruk in one day and almost all the 35,000 Allied soldiers ended up in captivity.

But Auchinleck made up for this gaffe in spades. What is called the 1st battle of El Alemain was quite a surprise for Rommel. Auchinlecks forces beat the German and Italian forces so severely the Germans had to use paratroops, used as ground troops to save Rommel from a total retreat.

Unfortunatly the political situation had Churchill trying to rush his commanders into action, any action. Auchinleck knew he would need to husband his troops and tanks until further supplies and armour could be deployed. But Churchill demanded a counter-attack which The Auk gave him and of course it failed.

Churchill moved his officers around into different commands. But it was being sacked all the same. Churchill put Auchinleck in charge of Iraq and Iran and Allan Brooke in Cairo. The Prime Minister wanted General Gott in charge of the 8th army. Gott died in an accident and Montgomery took his place and the rest is history.

Note: Both Auchinleck and Brooke refused their appointments. These appointments then went to Henry Maitland Wilson and Harold Alexander.