• Oh, and two generals I need to put a word in here since they arent mentioned. Zhokov (sp) and De Gaul. Without either, the war could never of been won.


  • Patton is by far the best. Who hasn’t seen the movie Patton? A lot of that is factual, the Germans were just plain scared of him. He beat the crap out of Rommel, and drove the stake into Germany’s heart. Anyways, I’m not biased or anything (just don’t look at my name), but Patton had the best personality to go along with his clear understanding of warfare.


  • Never mentioned is my personal favorite, Archibald Wavell. He penned the exellent book, Generals and Generalship and was the primary architech of the excellent progress Monty made latter in North Africa.
    I think honorable mention should go to Bill Slim and Vinegar Joe Stillwell, both helped turn the Burma campaign from utter disaster into an impressive victory.


  • My problem with Patton is he was too aggresive. I bet you if the allies had used him in D-Day there could of been a disaster because he went too far inland.

  • '19 Moderator

    Yanny,

    I’m not sure what you mean about Korea. He obviously didn’t win the war, but what is it that you see bad about Mac? The landings at Inch’on and the encirclement of the KPA are classic Macarthur.

  • '19 Moderator

    Also, I think it is a bit of an assumption to say that Patton would have overextended himself at D-Day. The Allies, at the time of the D-Day landings needed aggression. To delay would have given the Germans more time to regroup. The only reason I can see to keep Patton out of D-Day was deception. I think the Germans were slow to commit reserves, in part, due to the fact that Patton and his ghost army were set to cross the channel else ware. Patton was a man who was born to lead an Army, just like Ike was born to lead a nation.


    Red

    [ This Message was edited by: dezrtfish on 2001-12-26 09:50 ]


  • I think the allied generals in the italian campaign American Mark Clark and British general Alexander[don’t know first name]


  • Harold Alexander; after the war he served as Governor-General of Canada until 1956, and then as Britain’s defense minister until 58’he was made an Earl in 56’ and received the order of merit in 59’:)


  • Did anyone mention Omar Bradley? he was a real ass-kicker.


  • I think that Mac was responsible for many many lives lost. He made some stupid mistakes that his advisors told him never to do. Problem was, he was so popular in Japan that the US government wouldn’t remove him from command.


  • come on the Japs fought to the last man.Hard not to lose lives with an enemy like that.

  • '19 Moderator

    GC:
    We are talking about Korea in this case.

    Yanny:
    I guess you’ve heard some things that I haven’t. When Mac was removed it was due to the fact that Truman belived he couldn’t trust Mac to stay withing the boundries he was given. Mac wanted to take the war to China and had nukes at his disposal. Truman was afraid that if we atacked the Chinese on there own soil that the USSR would join in starting WWIII.

    Have you ever played the Avlon Hill game “Korea”? I think Mac was in a tough spot and it seems to me with what he faced he did a good job.


  • sorry Don’t know much about the Korean War


  • Mac ws a exellent general and a massively popular public figure. He was however a terrible politician, his understanding of the consequenses of his actions seems to have been very limited. There is no doubt in my mind that he would have started WWIII if given the chance.


  • Anyone who wants to use Nukes is bad in my book. Also, I think that Mac would of Nuked China if he had been in place much longer.

    I say he was responsible for losing a lot of lives because he incited China into much more than they were originally going to do.


  • If I had a fresh new weapon like nukes i’d want to use them too.I really like Mac and I’d like it if everyone layed off.

  • '19 Moderator

    The Chinese had determined to commit troops if the “UN” forces crossed the 38th parallel. When they did it was not Macarthur’s decision. The US gov. (CIA) believed that the Chinese would stay out of Korea. They expected the Chinese to build a defensive line at the border.

    The decision to use nukes was made by Truman. It was determined, when the front stabilized near the 38th Parallel, that if large numbers of Chinese or Russian troops were moved in to Korea, nukes would be used on specific targets in Manchuria.

    Macarthur did very little out side of his orders. He was told to use only ROK units within a certain distance of the Chinese border. ROK units were of very low quality for the most part, so Mac used his judgment to the counter of his orders here.

    Macarthur wanted to attack what he saw as a threat. That’s what Generals do. I don’t think the conflicts between him and the US Gov. make him any less of a General. Maybe if some of the German Generals were a little more like Mac and Patton they would have had a chance to show their true abilities in WWII.


  • If I am not mistaken (though it is a possiblity, the Korean War is not my area of expertise), Mac rushed to the <insert name=“” here=“”>River which was closer to China than the US government told him to go. Much closer in fact, close enough for a full alert of Chineese troops. I believe this is the reason he got thrown out by Truman.</insert>

  • '19 Moderator

    I am sorry, but you are mistaken.

    The US government on advise from the CIA adopted a “Roll-Back” strategy during the offensive campaign, which was determined, would end communism in Korea. The Chinese feeling a dept of gratitude to their comrades who had just helped them win a revolution, decided to assist them long before troops came near the Chinese border. The problem here was that Western intelligence has historically been unable to guess what Asians will do in a given military/political situation.

    But hey, lets get back to World War 2. :wink:


  • ______ ends Korean war discussion _______

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