MAYBE IT TAKES GREAT EGOS TO MAKE GREAT GENERAL?
MAYBE IT TAKES GREAT EGOS TO MAKE GREAT GENERAL?
Well in the German Army of WW2, the rank of Field Marshall was directly equivalent to a 5 Star General in the US Army, although operationally it was probably more akin to a 4 Star General. There are many grades of General and Rommel attained the highest field rank in the German Army regardless.Erwin "The Desert Fox" Rommel i believe is one of the best Generals of WW2, though his title stated Field Marshal, in most countries that is the equivalent of General. Also General Georgi Zhukov of the Russians proved himself in the battle for Moscow all the way to Berlin, if it wasn't for him i doubt the Russian front would have recovered from Hitler's blitz.
I have done extensive readings on ww2, and read books from the Rise and Fall of the Third Reich which is about 1500 pages to such books as Fatal Decisions which is about the most crucial mistakes made during ww2. I won't argue with you b/c i can discuss ww2 down to the detail, but thats besides the point....Every war has great Generals that usually played a crucial difference, and Zhukov played that part on the Russian front. As far as Erwin Rommel is considered ppl have their differring views but he is recognized as one of the Greatest military tacticians and General/Field Marshal of WW2. Hitler handicapped him in North Africa did not send supplies of men and material and basically abandon the Afrika Corps, if Hitler gave Rommel what he need in North Africa, things might have turned differently in that theater.
Monty B and Doppleganger you guys are both right i am not disagreeing with you guys, but we can't belittle Rommel, because he was a wiz especially when it came to mechanized warfare and the art of deciption he was as cunning as they come on the field and they only thing that saved Montgomery is the entry of the Americans into North Africa and the fact that Hitler didn't give Rommel the Men and Materials he requested because Hitler put the priority on the Russian front, and wanted to quickly and decisively crush the Russians. Had Hitler gave Rommel the men and materials he requested especially more tanks and air cover, I truely believe Rommel would have captured North Africa and Egypt.
While I agree with you guys, their is a reason why they called Rommel the "Desert Fox."
I believe that Rundstedt did indeed say that about Rommel, as they were in disagreement over where to place German armoured forces in the West in anticipation of the D-Day landings. Rundstedt agreed with Guderian that the German panzer reserves should be placed inland near Paris so that they could counter-attack and envelop Allied armoured thrusts. Rommel disagreed and wanted them placed near the coast which negated their mobility and thus their main strengths. As Rommel was officially in charge of these forces Hitler took Rommel's advice. Interestingly though, some say part of Rommel's real reasoning was to have some army divisions in positions that suited him because he was involved in the July bomb plot. Certainly the 21st panzer division seemed to fall into this category.
This is one area I think Rommel may well have been right though, under normal operating conditions keeping the panzer units back so that they can move to counter where required makes sense but these were far from ideal conditions for the movement of armour as the Luftwaffe was toast leaving the allies with total air superiority and making effective movement all but impossible.
I also tend to believe that the only option available to the Germans on D-Day was to defeat the allies on the beaches as once they became established the war was effectively over.
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