The best general of the eastern front?

"Directive of Peoples' Commissariat of Defence No. 3" was his order even though he claimed Stalin forced him to. Maybe I just look highly upon Rokossovsky because of his surviving the purge. I guess it boils down to Stalin's ego instead of Zhukov but Rokossovsky is still my favorite Soviet General.

 

Retracted

 

No doubt about it, Rokossovsky was an exceptional leader.

Also remember that it was Zhukov in late october of 41' who literally re-wrote Soviet military doctrine. Gudarian took notice quickly and in Ocotober wrote "Today Soviet artillery pounded our positions followed by an infantry and cavalry charge while their armor attacked our flanks. They are learning".

 

Hi Nigel, well said and I fully agree with you. Also, so many Generals has a "best quality or two" about themselves. Just too hard to try picking any just one General, to name ;-))

 

Despite the problems with the question concept I think it's time I stopped fence sitting and committed to a name or two, so in order to move on from the philosophy I propose we could all give a 1st/2nd/3rd choice and see after a while who crops up the most often? It could show a statistical trend at least towards who we think was the best as a group, so here goes;

1st; Gotthard Heinrici, as he tried to fight the war the way we all wish wars could be fought, he was tactically innovative, and he had much 'success' over a longer than average career for the time. His weakness was that his skill was more on the defensive than the attack, but when it was needed, he was prepared to risk punishment in order to get done what was necessary.

2nd; Albert Kesselring. (although most of his service was not in the East, his tactical changes during Barbarossa probably allowed the necessary air superiority the Germans needed in the east for most of the war). He was also probably the most versatile general ever, able in defence and attack, in command of widely varied forces of all types. He never stopped coming up with something new, and who else ever managed to deal at all with fat Herman.

3rd; Georgy Zhukov. Although his greatest successes came once he had overwhelming superiority, he was also successful in defence in a time of near collapse, and he went on to prove to be one of the few generals ever to be able to successfully coordinate the operations of multiple Army Groups for extended periods in the advance, while staying mostly on Stalin's good side until the end of the war.

I yield the floor

 

ok thanks for the 'likes' - now post your efforts ?

 

Thank you my friend and I do count Poland as East Front-and not just the last some months of the war E/Front thing ;-))

 

It's a shame Rommel didn't fight in Russia,I have so much respect for his capability as a corps c.o,that I'm finding myself almost worshipping him,even a kind of 'love',that so many of his modern 'fan club' followers do.
If he was given command of a tank group,like Leeb or Bock,I have no doubt in my heart that Russia would have been begging for mercy,by sept.lol.
On a serious note,I reckon reichnau was a masterful defensive general,so he gets my best general of the eastern front.

 

Not so sure I can agree totally with Von Reichenau - he obviously was able enough, but his treatment of Jews especially knocks him down a few marks in my book (although for sure he wasn't the only one);

"Reichenau encouraged his soldiers to commit atrocities against the Jews in the territory under his control. On one occasion he told his men: "We have to exact a harsh but just retribution on the Jewish subhumans.""

also his unexpected death in January 1942 means he wasn't as influential in the East as some

(he had a severe heart attack after going running, then lapsed into a coma for about a week - when they decided to fly him back to Germany for treatment his plane crashed, killing him, so if you believe in anything 'up there' it would seem they didn't like him much either)

 

Sorry about that everyone,I did not know about his treatment of the Jews,terrible..So I think that manstien will be my best in attack and defence ,in Russia.cheers.

 

To be fair we shouldn't perhaps concentrate too much on the behind the lines attitudes and actions of some of these men - it's the front-line stuff that seems more important to this thread, although it can tip the scales for and against otherwise fairly equal candidates.

Manstein is definitely a good all round choice, although he also came into some criticism about his handling of Jews and civilians, it was more by him not caring than actually doing much specific.

 

I think all the german marshals and generals were given that imfamous order by o.k.h.before Barbarossa ,although,for the life of me I can't quite remember the generals name.balls.

 

Well said, I think Rommel could have been sly enough to practice his trade in Russia doing a fantastic job of it. Thank you for the salute too mate ;-)

 

Aleksander Vasilevsky is missing so far..

 

Certainly he deserves to be considered - he was pretty good, but the episode at 2nd Kharkov where he failed to convince Stalin of the need for a retreat (although that wasn't necessarily his fault alone), and his failure to totally understand the threat of the German counter offensive towards Stalingrad loses him a few points. But he definitely should be on the list.

 

What about Hermann Balck? I believe he was decorated with the Diamonds to the Knight's Cross for his exploits on the Eastern Front.

 

Balck shouldn't be excluded, as he definitely knew how to move tanks about and did pretty well for himself promotion-wise, but he was convicted of murdering one of his own men (not uniquely though) and was involved in more disastrous operations than many men. I would personally list him as above competent to good, but not quite 'Best' material.

 

"...and did pretty well for himself promotion-wise, ..."

Do you mean advancing through the ranks, or do you mean he did a good job of publicizing his own achievements?

Balck did reach the level General der Panzertruppe during the war, but I think this was based on merit; I don't believe he was a political hack. Or was he?

According to what I have been able to come up with after an admittedly very brief internet search, he was convicted of ordering the execution of an officer under his command for being drunk on duty. Not quite cold-blooded murder, as I see it.

"...and was involved in more disastrous operations than many men."

I would guess that most German generals who survived the war were involved in their fair share of disastrous operations. Was Balck really involved in more than his fair share of military debacles?

 

I think the promotions were probably deserved, meaning as a measure of his competence - I think you're right he wasn't a politico. as to the murder charge - that's just legal wordplay, the fact was he had the man killed without trial. As far as the ratio of disastrous operations go, that would take a lot of work to get a definite answer, but I don't yet find any where he turned them around or made a major difference to their outcome - although also he doesn't seem to have contributed particularly to their failures.

 

I'd like to limit this to Generals who served for at least 2 years on the Eastern Front and commanded an Army (it would otherwise be very difficult to compare a divisional commander with a Front commander). In this context my top 4 would be

1. Konstantin Rokossovsky (Moscow, Operation Uranus, Kursk, Bagrathon, Vistula Oder.
2. Alexander Vaslievsky - possibly the best Staff officer of the war. Also executed the Manchuria offensive in 1945.
3. Von Manstien
4. Vassiliy Chuikov

My next 4 in no particular order:

5. Georgi Zhukov
6. Model
7. Ivan Bagramyan - Moscow, Operation Kutuzov, Bagrathon & the Baltics.
7. Henrici