Worst WW2 General

[R. Evans]

This can be the first for the worst. We have had numerous thread on Best WW2 generals, so why not for the Worst? I have heard names like Clark, Bradley, Patton or even Montgomery thrown out as worst/overrated generals when most don't deserve it. So let's name the worst general in your opinions and the reasons why.

I have a name in mind, but I'm waiting to see if anyone else says the same thing.

[Post Captain]

General Paulus, should have ignored Hitler and gone for the breakout.

[Freightshaker]

Originally Posted by mike brown

General Paulus, should have ignored Hitler and gone for the breakout.

Paulus was quite successful and a 'up and comer' until his disaster at Stalingrad.

I vote Hodges. The entire Hurtgen forest campaign was an avoidable fiasco and only served to kill men for no purpose. The Kall Trail as a corp supply liine???


This is the Kall Trail in 1993.

[Jon Jordan]

On the American side, Lloyd R. Fredendall. His staff disliked him, the British hated him, he splintered his divisions, and he went into some kind of trance when things fell apart at Kasserine. He lost men and equipment when the Allies could not afford it, and gave the U.S. fighting man a bad name among the British ("How Green Was My Ally") that took a long time to erase.

His punishment? A promotion and a ticket home to a hero's welcome.

[redcoat]

While he was a successful officer during the First World War, General Maurice Gamelin, Commander in Chief of the French army at the start of May 1940, was a total failure in WW2

Here's some words of 'wisdom' from Gamelin just before the German attack

"Combat tanks are machines to accompany the infantry",

"In battle, tank units constitute an integral part of the infrantry.... Tanks are only supplementary means.... The progress of the infantry and its seizing of objectives are alone decisive."

"There is no such thing as the aerial battle", he told the French air forces even after seeing the success of the Luftwaffe in Poland, "there is only the battle on the ground."

[johnbryan]

Originally Posted by Jon Jordan

On the American side, Lloyd R. Fredendall. His staff disliked him, the British hated him, he splintered his divisions, and he went into some kind of trance when things fell apart at Kasserine. He lost men and equipment when the Allies could not afford it, and gave the U.S. fighting man a bad name among the British ("How Green Was My Ally") that took a long time to erase.

His punishment? A promotion and a ticket home to a hero's welcome.

Agreed. You'd have to look long and hard to find a more incompetant General than Fredenhall. Before Kasserine Pass he forced all of his Combat Engineers to build a massive, bomb-proof, underground command and control complex for he and his staff. Instead of pursuing and encouraging mobile warfare, he tried to dig in to wage static warfare, ala' WWI on the Western Front. Rommel quickly beat him stupid at Kasserine Pass and sent him packing, leaving Patton to take over.

[Full Monty]

Originally Posted by freightshaker

Paulus was quite successful and a 'up and comer' until his disaster at Stalingrad.

I vote Hodges. The entire Hurtgen forest campaign was an avoidable fiasco and only served to kill men for no purpose. The Kall Trail as a corp supply liine???

Add to that his performance (or lack of it) at The Bulge and one has to question why he was ever promoted to command an army! He had neither the skill nor the nerve.

Percival at Singapore may have been left with a battle he had little chance of winning, at least in the long run, but he could have at least made a fight of it. Instead he worried more about alarming the ex-pat population and ended up condemning them, and his troops, to the hell of the Japanese POW camps. Had he performed better (or at all really) at least some might have been evacuated.

[Wolery]

Ernst Buch. He knew what was at stake with Army Group Center in 1944, and could have prevented the worst of it by retreating, al la Heinrici, but he chose to obey Hitler to the letter and allow 300,000 Germans to fall into Soviet Hands and allowed the entire front to collapse. Paulus might have lost more men, but this was the deathblow of the Wehrmacht in the East.

[dirkymarky]

Originally Posted by Wolery

Ernst Buch. He knew what was at stake with Army Group Center in 1944, and could have prevented the worst of it by retreating, al la Heinrici, but he chose to obey Hitler to the letter and allow 300,000 Germans to fall into Soviet Hands and allowed the entire front to collapse. Paulus might have lost more men, but this was the deathblow of the Wehrmacht in the East.

This is one I'm going to totally have to disagree with. In my opinion Buch (somehow that's incorrect spelling) was just an average commander who really never had a chance to start with. Hitler thought that the Red Army's main blow would fall elsewhere and had some of his best units transferred to the south I believe. As for obeying Hitler, heck even Rommel nearly condemmed his army to death at Alamain (at Hitlers orders) only to save it at the brink of Annihilation.

[Naffenea]

Wow, Clark doesn't even earn a spot on the worst list. Until now, his was the only name I knew in a negative manner.

[Pruitt]

My biggest problem is determining the parameters. Lots of Colonels fail at being General and they leave with little fanfare. Mark Clark goes to prove an old Army tactic, line them up and promote the tallest!

Pruitt

[redcoat]

Originally Posted by Naffenea

Wow, Clark doesn't even earn a spot on the worst list.

Don't worry. He will

ps, No doubt some muppet wil put Monty's name forward as well

[String]

Originally Posted by Jon Jordan

On the American side, Lloyd R. Fredendall. His staff disliked him, the British hated him, he splintered his divisions, and he went into some kind of trance when things fell apart at Kasserine. He lost men and equipment when the Allies could not afford it, and gave the U.S. fighting man a bad name among the British ("How Green Was My Ally") that took a long time to erase.

His punishment? A promotion and a ticket home to a hero's welcome.

I'd have to agree with Fredendall aswell. Many generals lost battles, some lost big battles but very few managed to lose like he did.

[Col. Dyess]

The interesting thing about Fredendall was on maneuvers he was an excellent general. Unfortunately in the real world, he was not the same. After the Kasserine Pass fiasco, he returned to the states and was given a training command. In 1943 he was promoted to General Officer Commander in Chief Central Defense Command. He retired in 1946.

General Brereton although an Air force general is in my opinion one of our worst generals. Everything he touched ended in disaster. Clark field, the Ploestia raid, the Arnhem operation.

[R. Evans]

Originally Posted by Jon Jordan

On the American side, Lloyd R. Fredendall. His staff disliked him, the British hated him, he splintered his divisions, and he went into some kind of trance when things fell apart at Kasserine. He lost men and equipment when the Allies could not afford it, and gave the U.S. fighting man a bad name among the British ("How Green Was My Ally") that took a long time to erase.

His punishment? A promotion and a ticket home to a hero's welcome.

Nice job! The fourth post in and you nailed the guy I was thinking of. You left out the digging and concreting of a command bunker some 60 miles behind the front lines. What a total incompetent!