Most over rated general of the war?

No don't need More Data Thanks Sir!! You've Explained Well!
I know What was Tanks Formations in WW2 (3 Sherman+1 Firefly)!!
I guess There was Sherman-Fairly or M4A2 (76)W!! also with 76mm Cannon = 76 mm one for the FireFly ,but with different Characters!! The FireFly 17 Pounder or 76mm was little more Powerfull Than the US 76mm!!
By The Way Good Explanation!!

 

The famous Panzer Ace Michael Wittmann was killed on the 8th August 1944 when leading 7 Tiger I’s of SS.Pz.Abt.101 over open ground, near Cintheaux, in a counter attack towards the suspected position of the 1.Polish Arm.Div. reported to be ahead at Aignan de Cramesnil.
His formation came under fire from two Allied units, one of which was the 3.Plt., A.Sqn., 33.Arm. Bgd., 1.Northamptonshire Yeomanry, in woods to his flank, and a unit of the Sherbrooke Fusiliers, hidden behind a stone wall on the opposite flank, both with a mix of Sherman 75mm gun tanks and Sherman Fireflys.
Within minutes, 5 of the Tigers had been Ko’d, and 1 was abandoned by its crew, without any losses to the Allied units.
Wittmann’s tank was seen by eyewitnesses from his own unit to have been hit and had its turret slightly displaced on its turret ring, before it exploded a few minutes later, throwing the turret into the air. No crew was seen to escape.


Hans Höflinger a commander of another Tiger in the attack described the attack:
'Then we drove off, Michel (sic) right of the road and I left, four others with Michel and the brother of Heinz Von Westernhagen with me. Approximately 800 meters to Michel's right there was a small wood which struck us as suspicious and which was to prove fateful to us. Unfortunately, we couldn't keep the wood under observation on account of our mission. We drove about one to one-and-a half kilometres, and then I received another radio message from Michel which only confirmed my suspicions about the wood. We began taking heavy fire from anti-tank guns and once again Michel called, but didn't complete the message. When I looked out to the left I saw that Michel's tank wasn't moving. I called him by radio but received no answer. Then my tank received a frightful blow and I had to order my crew to get out as it had already begun to burn fiercely. My crew and I dashed toward the rear and got through. I stopped to look around and to my dismay discovered that five of our tanks had been knocked out. The turret of Michel's tank was displaced to the right and tilted down somewhat. None of his crew had got out. I climbed into Von Westernhagen's tank and, together with Heurich, whose Tiger was undamaged, tried to get to Michel's tank. We could not get through. Dr. Rabe also tried it, but in vain...I can state the exact time of the incident; it was 1255 hours, near the Falaise-Caen road in the vicinity of Cintheaux

 

At D-Day British Sherman units were equipped with a single Firefly per Troop (3 75mm Sherman's, 1 Sherman Firefly) but over the next few months the number available increased, so by late 44/early 45 the mix was 2 Firefly's, 2 normal Sherman's per Troop.
The total number of Sherman Firefly's built is uncertain but it was around 2,100-2,350

 

Us Canadians are creddited with with Kill

 

The Tigers were coming under fire from both a British and a Canadian Unit, and while its probable that a single Sherman Firefly with the British unit got 3 of the 5 Tigers Ko'd, due to the position of Wittmanns Tiger when it was hit the balance of probability is that it was the Canadian unit which got him.

 

I remember watching an episode on TV about Wittmann a little while ago and the narrator gave credit to a bomb from a (p-51?) which most likely hit Wittmann's tank and ultimately killed him and not the ambush.


Can anyone verify this?

 

That's one of the theories making rounds on the web, but it was the Canadian and British fireflies that done the deed. British, Canadian and German accounts of the tank firefight was in perfect agreement, and Witman was in one of those tanks destroyed.

 

I was actually reading about this the other day, and from what I remember there was not only no aircraft in that area of the time of the Germans attack, but no allied airmen had claimed a kill on any sort of tank in the area either, so they believe it to a rumour.

 

Thanks Gents...

 

That's simple Adolf Hitler his self, if he did listen to his generals the war would went the other way to victory. But like all big leaders they living in their own world at some point.

 

Right I know That FireFly was Superior to The Tiger&Panther!!
But in that Story it's appeared that M4 sherman with its 75mm as Superior!!

 

That's not true matey, the Firefly was not necessarily superior then the tiger or the panther, it merely was equipped with the 76mm gun compared to the smaller and less powerful 75mm on the standard M4 Shermans, this simply allowed the firefly or the 76mm Sherman to pierce the Tiger and the panthers armour at far greater ease and with usually better results then the other M4's.

This I don't fully understand, Although Hitler was the commander of the army and a general in virtually every regard, I have never heard him as being a good general of the army or in that fact ever really being a good general at anything in any of the forces, so how can he be overrated other then by himself?
Hitler was simply not a military General.

 

I think ravertje is saying that if Hitler would have listened to his generals, Germany could have been victorious. I agree that they could have at least extended the war for several years had Hitler not meddled in military decisions. He was a madman and cause many a German man to die due to stupid decisions made by him.

Your right tomcat, Hitler was no general. Although he liked to think he was.

 

Sun Tzu also says that "In the practical art of war, the best thing of all is to take the enemy's country whole and intact; to shatter and destroy it is not so good."

So wouldn't the best General be the one that causes the most enemy causalities with not only the least losses to himself but also the lest damage to the country he is trying to invade? Or perhaps the General that is capable of getting out of tight situations again a tactic employed by Sun Tzu.

 

Agreed, however extending the war much more than a couple of months would have been more rather than less destructive for Germany. We must remember that the Nazis were the original targets for the "atomics", and they quite likely would have been used without qualm by Truman.

 

In my honest opinion, I think Patton is a highly overrated general, although he was an incredible person and I respect him greatly.

 

I read the art of war but it was a while back,i think not destroying the country you are invading was as much about keeping the army supplied,
Sun Tzu made the very good point that an army should use up found supplies first instead of delving into its own supplies.

 

I'll take a slightly different tack and use overrated as meaning overexposed. Meaning, the subjects are written about too often to the detriment of books being written about other generals less well known but deserving better treatment.

The Germans:
Rommel
Guderian
Manstein
Rundstedt

The UK/Commonwealth:
Montgomery
Harris
Horrocks

The US:
Bradley
Patton
Eisenhower
MacArthur

The USSR:
Zhukov
Timoshenko

The Japanese:
Yamashita
Homma

The French:
DeGaulle

 

yeah i get that,i think the japanese generals would get more exposure if japanese names werent so hard.

I know i started off by saying i though rommel was overrated but i was just reading up on him and i got to say i am a bit more impressed with him than i was a few weeks ago.
During the invasion of france some of his soldiers were coming under fire while trying to cross a river,there was nothing available to make a smoke screen so he ordered some houses to be set alight,thats thinking on the spot and for the most part he seemed to be up near the front seeing what was going on.