Greatest WWII Generals

Exactly, and my opinion of Montgomery has nothing to do with “Saving Private Ryan” or any other movie.

Well … he got the bridge at Nijmegen…
i found
www.marketgarden.com to have a nice overview and anything over the actions there.

my apologies to dezerfish (sp?), not suggesting you lift your opinions from films what-so-ever.

I think Montgomery has come in for a lot of stick from historians (and moviemakers) which I don’t think is entirely fair.
Remember that Britain (with enormous help from the Empire and Commonwealth) had basically spent years isolated fighting a holding action until the events of 1941 made it a ‘world’ war. Until Alamein the British had not really enjoyed a victory in the sense of taking and holding land. Furthermore the British had not had a General who could win.
Churchill could very well have been removed from office (there was nearly a motion of censure in the House of Commons before news of Alamein came through).
Alamein was the result of M’s careful husbanding of his resources and forced the axis to fight it out. Numbers were about even and the axis had only just completed their own offensive. But they only stayed eight weeks before they were being thrown back, never to return. somewhat overlooked also was M’s ability to contain and check ‘autumn mist’ (German offensive on the Ardennes, 1944). I say ‘overlooked’ because its Patton’s third army which gets the credit.
Also, whilst logistics is certainly the most unglamourous and unsexy area of war it is the most vital. Armies, no matter who is commanding them, quickly stop without food, ammunition, fuel. After the USAF and RAF did such a great job destroying French railways it became progressively more difficult for the Allies to keep their advance sustained after the break-out from Normandy. It took an awful lot more than just competence to keep it going.

Also, whilst logistics is certainly the most unglamourous and unsexy area of war it is the most vital. Armies, no matter who is commanding them, quickly stop without food, ammunition, fuel. After the USAF and RAF did such a great job destroying French railways it became progressively more difficult for the Allies to keep their advance sustained after the break-out from Normandy. It took an awful lot more than just competence to keep it going.

I’m not arguing about the fact that logistics is the most vital, but I do think that just because you can manage supply lines doesn’t make you a great general. Also, I thought we were talking about N. Africa, not the invasion of Europe.

yea, logistics are the backbone of any military. and generals will tell you “amateurs talk tactics, professionals talk logistics”, but all told, it only takes a general to manage logistics because of the specialized nature of the military. otherwise, anyone with those kind of planning and organizational skills could do it.