Greatest Guerrilla generals

The German general in East Africa during WWI. He held out until the end of the war and tied down Allied forces more than 10 times his strength. Never defeated at operational level. His force of German officers, NCOs and African Askaris was superbly trained and motivated. They lived off of the scant supply stocks they had at the beginning of the war and mainly off the enemy.

Now, I know that some of you will try to bring George Washington into this discussion, but I would like him excluded, simply because he never actually employed guerrilla tactics, most of his battles were on open ground and staged affairs, he rarely used ambushes and the likes, etc; some of the revolutionary commanders in the Southern colonies would fit into this more, and there are certainly other good and successful guerilla and partisan commanders as well, and any additions are welcome.
 
Che was a good guerilla commander, he just made several crucial errors. His campaign in Cuba was really his only success as a commander (failures in the Congo and Bolivia), but his strategies, ideas, influence, and most importantly, inspiration were his major commitment to guerilla warfare.
 
A number of the Boer generals in the South African War, 1899-1902 were also very good. Men such as Koos de la Rey, Louis Botha, and Jan Smuts managed to evade the British throughout the war, and hampering the British war effort significantly. Some historians say modern guerilla warfare began with these men.
 
If you go by success...

Mao Zedong and Vo Nguyen Giap between them formulated much of the theory of modern guerilla warfare, and they and their fellow commanders (especially with Mao it is never quite clear how much actually was his idea and how much he just appropriated) ran two of the most successful guerilla wars ever. Dien Bien Phu alone should get you at least a top ten listing.

Of course, then you had the people who assumed the theory that worked in Indochina has to work everywhere...
 
Yeah, I'd second the Boer Commando generals mentioned, I shoulda thought of them earlier, as well as von Lettow-Vorbeck. I'd also nominate other guerilla leaders like
Spanish guerilla commanders who bled the French white during the Peninsular War
Orde Wingate for his excellent long range penetration techniques with the Chindits in Burma
Col. Bernard Callinan (see my post in 'Most Underrated Military Commanders') who conducted a highly successful Australian commando campaign against far superior Jap forces on East Timor 1942-43
Gideon and his 300 chosen men in the campaign against the Midianites
Metacom/King Philip during King Philip's War against the Puritan settlers in New England, at least in the opening stages during 1675
Nama and Herrero leaders in Namibia like Samuel Maharero who conducted a highly successful irregular war against German troops in the late 19th C

What about other native American leaders like Geronimo and Osceola ?
 
Street_Disciple said:
The German general in East Africa during WWI. He held out until the end of the war and tied down Allied forces more than 10 times his strength. Never defeated at operational level. His force of German officers, NCOs and African Askaris was superbly trained and motivated. They lived off of the scant supply stocks they had at the beginning of the war and mainly off the enemy.

Now, I know that some of you will try to bring George Washington into this discussion, but I would like him excluded, simply because he never actually employed guerrilla tactics, most of his battles were on open ground and staged affairs, he rarely used ambushes and the likes, etc; some of the revolutionary commanders in the Southern colonies would fit into this more, and there are certainly other good and successful guerilla and partisan commanders as well, and any additions are welcome.

Fidel Castor and Che Guevara.
 
1)William Wallace-Though romanticized by Hollywood, it cannot be denied that he fought with skill and cunning against the English.

2)Mordechai Aneilewicz(sp?)-One of the great Jewish Resistance leaders, he fought a dangerous war against Nazi oppression.

3)Otto Skorzeny-SS Commando leader, he snatched Mussolini out from under the Allies' noses and was behind the English-speaking German soldiers during the Battle of the Bulge.

4)Francis Marion-known as the "Swamp Fox", employed guerilla tactics against the British during the American Revolution in South Carolina.

5)Tito- He united the people of Yugoslvia, and led them to great succes against a more moderinized and advanced army (Germany).He was so much succesfull in his strategies and tactics, that even Hitler himself said that if he ever caught Tito, he would first shake his hand and congratulate him, and then kill him.

Giap (Vietnamese... commanded the VC/VM) defeated the French army at dienbienphu in '54 though the Americans finally managed to decisively defeat him in '68 in the Tet counter-offensive. Castro on the other hand, defeated the American financed, American trained, American outfitted, American supplied Batistiano army with a bunch of farmers and students let's not forget Massoud of the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan against the USSR. Two 19th century guerrilla leaders here in the US stand out for their effectiveness against overwhelming odds. Although ultimitly defeated, Geronimo and Quantrill wrote their own chapters in the history of guerrilla warfare.
 
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