Beaverbrook was not an officer, but he wasn't great at running war production during BoB, and he spent 1942 pushing Allanbrooke to invade France with 1-3 divisions against 10-15 German divisions.
Worst 10 officers of each WWII power.
- Thread starter Spencersj345.346
- Start date
Such lists can inspire alternate histories based on a PoD where some accident claims the lives of all those on one country's list. How much better would country X do with that PoD?
marathag
Banned
I wouldn't call him a disaster, just a bit too cautious at times, and slow at others.
Had he been at Singapore in 1941, there would have been no end to the praise for his actions.
Just not the Guy for Post El Alamein or Sicily.
McPherson
Banned
Americans
1. Fred Fredendall (Kasserine)
2. Jay MvKelvie (Utah, then Normandy)
3. Bill Rupertus (Peleliu)
4. Mark Clark (Italy)
5. John Lucas (Anzio)
6. Doug MacArthur (Luzon) (and his entire worthless staff).
7. Jon Wainwright (Luzon)
8. N orman Cota (Omaha, then Normandy)
9. Alan Walter Jones (106th Inf division folded up during the Bulge.)
10. John E. Dahlquist (Anywhere that fool showed up was bound to be a disaster.)
Air Farce generals? (Brereton, Brett, Bissell etc.... pick a HAP Arnold buddy and you were guaranteed a disaster.)
1. Fred Fredendall (Kasserine)
2. Jay MvKelvie (Utah, then Normandy)
3. Bill Rupertus (Peleliu)
4. Mark Clark (Italy)
5. John Lucas (Anzio)
6. Doug MacArthur (Luzon) (and his entire worthless staff).
7. Jon Wainwright (Luzon)
8. N orman Cota (Omaha, then Normandy)
9. Alan Walter Jones (106th Inf division folded up during the Bulge.)
10. John E. Dahlquist (Anywhere that fool showed up was bound to be a disaster.)
Air Farce generals? (Brereton, Brett, Bissell etc.... pick a HAP Arnold buddy and you were guaranteed a disaster.)
...and yet somehow managed to win
What were he advanced West faster than the 'amazing' Rommel ever advanced East?
That post El Alamein?
I believe in results - Monty delivered them while fighting and beating the world's best army on multiple occasions
nbcman
Donor
Eh, the one that won at the El Alamein battle that counted was Gen Auchinleck. Monty inherited a strong position and ground out additional victories.
Ok, it's British time.
(dis)Honourable mention: Churchill (Greece, Hong Kong, Force Z... )
1. Dan Pienaar (living argument in favour of having commissars #1)
2. Gordon Bennett (living argument in favour of having commissars #2)
3. Arthur Percival (not a coward, but that's literally the only thing to be said in his favour)
4. Bernard Freyberg (had tunnel vision, and that tunnel wasn't even pointed in a potentially useful direction)
5. Tom Phillips (walked into an obvious trap)
6. Richard Peirse (not very good at terror bombing Germany, later neglected his duties out of a preference for cucking poor Auchinleck)
7. Jackie Smyth (blowing up a bridge to prevent the enemy from using it, before having retreated across it yourself, has to be one of the biggest bruh moments in history)
8. Louis Mountbatten (imagine Churchill, if he had a field command)
9. Andrew McNaughton (wrote a book: "how to ruin an army in peace time, demoralize it during wartime, and scheme to cripple it after being relieved from duty". THANK GOD HE NEVER SAW BATTLE) [on that note, that's all the Dominions covered]
10. Archibald Wavell (more of a really mixed bag than anything. On one hand: Torch, Syria, relieving the Bengal Famine. On the other: getting kicked around like a soccer ball by Rommel, losing Burma, taking a long walk down a short pier.)
(dis)Honourable mention: Churchill (Greece, Hong Kong, Force Z... )
1. Dan Pienaar (living argument in favour of having commissars #1)
2. Gordon Bennett (living argument in favour of having commissars #2)
3. Arthur Percival (not a coward, but that's literally the only thing to be said in his favour)
4. Bernard Freyberg (had tunnel vision, and that tunnel wasn't even pointed in a potentially useful direction)
5. Tom Phillips (walked into an obvious trap)
6. Richard Peirse (not very good at terror bombing Germany, later neglected his duties out of a preference for cucking poor Auchinleck)
7. Jackie Smyth (blowing up a bridge to prevent the enemy from using it, before having retreated across it yourself, has to be one of the biggest bruh moments in history)
8. Louis Mountbatten (imagine Churchill, if he had a field command)
9. Andrew McNaughton (wrote a book: "how to ruin an army in peace time, demoralize it during wartime, and scheme to cripple it after being relieved from duty". THANK GOD HE NEVER SAW BATTLE) [on that note, that's all the Dominions covered]
10. Archibald Wavell (more of a really mixed bag than anything. On one hand: Torch, Syria, relieving the Bengal Famine. On the other: getting kicked around like a soccer ball by Rommel, losing Burma, taking a long walk down a short pier.)
Honestly surprised that Stillwell hasn't made it to the American lists yet. He seemed dead set on doing every single job EXCEPT the one he was actually assigned. He was the theater commander in charge of China-Burma-India and yet thought it was his job to personally micromanage several Chinese divisions in the Burmese jungle in person. The Chinese division commanders viewed him as a mere adviser and would generally prefer orders from China to orders from him so he wasn't even being effective in his dereliction of duties. That doesn't even get into his stranglehold on supplies and information for the Chinese theater, Chiang Kai Shek (the officially recognized head-of-state of an allied nation) had to do some cloak and dagger work-arounds to get a message to Washington D.C. because Stillwell was blocking all official communications. The only positive thing that I can say about him is he was good at managing his public image.
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Karol Świerczewski "man, who doesn't bow to the bullets". Veteran of Polish-Bolshevik war (when he fought on Bolshevik side against Poland) and Spanish Civil War (he fought on Republican side obviously. In Spain he became friend of Ernest Hemingway-I wonder how it is possible that Hemingway befriended such scum?) He was general in Red Army during ww2. In 1943 he was delegated to Polish People's Army. Świerczewski was drunk idiot and criminal. As he was drunk everyday it should not be surprise, that he was giving orders usually while being under influence of alcohol. In November 1941 he lost whole division on Eastern Front near Vyazma (out of 10 000 men from his division only 5 (five, not five thousands, just FIVE) remained after battle!). Generally, he cared very little about lives of his soldiers-he was also commander of Polish troops during Battle of Bautzen in 1945, when Poles suffered massive loses.
Wainwright's problem was that he was left a total mess by dug out Doug.
@SealTheRealDeal
I wouldn't be too sure about Perceval's bravery. As Intelligence Officer in the Essex Regiment in Bandon during the Irish War of Independence he hid for most of the time in the barracks. Overseeing torture of Volunteers and civilians.
The IRA tried to assassinate him several times but failed. Perhaps they'd have done Britain a favour had they succeeded
😉
I wouldn't be too sure about Perceval's bravery. As Intelligence Officer in the Essex Regiment in Bandon during the Irish War of Independence he hid for most of the time in the barracks. Overseeing torture of Volunteers and civilians.
The IRA tried to assassinate him several times but failed. Perhaps they'd have done Britain a favour had they succeeded
😉
Ramontxo
Donor
And he routed them all the way back to Túnez and destroyed the German army at Normandy. And in the black days of 1940 his handling of his division changing fronts and plugin the hole made by the Belgians surrender was an major assistance for the Dunkerke evacuation. But of course he had an ginormous ego and had an penchant for self promotion and that is unheard of between mayor allied or German generals and quite imperdonable
True, but this is a WWII thread. A lot of the people on my list performed very differently in WWI.
So how did Perceval show personal bravery? In France or the Desert campaign?
Kenji Doihara was a comically bloodthirsty nitwit, but honestly I don't know if any IJA generals other then Yamashita were worth their oxygen.
McPherson
Banned
When the last defense line broke on Bataan, Wainwright was out cold, stinking drunk and senseless. Most of the Bataan battle actually ran on auto-pilot. It was no secret that Wainwright was a washout and should have been retired for cause of health. He was mentally wiped out and not fit to command a bathtub gin detail in 1941.