Most underrated battles/commanders


  • You always hear about Montgomery or Rommel or Patton’s feats, and the names Stalingrad, Midway, D-Day, El Alamein frequently spring up.

    What about Mountbatten, Leclerc, de Lattre, Stilwell? The Battles of Bir Hakeim, Imphal, Monte Cassino?

    Who do you think are the most unsung heroes of WWII, or the most underrated battles of the war?


  • The Battle of Britain, although it is not very underrated, or unknown compared to many other big battles, but UK RAF leaders and pilots did a good job defending England. If England had fallen, Germany would have much better odds for succeeding with operation barbarossa.
    Also the battle of the atlantic is somewhat underrated compared to D-Day and Stalingrad. It almost took too long before commanders decided to protect the convoys with small warships, ideal for hunting subs. UK and Russia was almost dependent on receiving resources from the US, at least early in the war.

    And those who tricked German commanders think that Norway needed 300.000-400.000 soldiers for protecting Norway from allied assault. Never had so many soldiers done so little to help their country win the war  :-D


  • The three battles you listed were won by the French, the British and Indians, and the Poles.


  • @calvinhobbesliker:

    The three battles you listed were won by the French, the British and Indians, and the Poles.

    Well, I wouldn’t say the Free French won Bir Hakeim, but they delayed the Afrika Korps for 16 days, enough for the British 8th Army to regroup and stop them at El Alamein.

    As for the Polish winning Monte Cassino…well, again, they took part in it, and they stormed and took the cathedral itself and took heavy losses, but there was also the Brits, Americans, French mountain troops, Commonwealth, and so on.


  • @UN:

    @calvinhobbesliker:

    The three battles you listed were won by the French, the British and Indians, and the Poles.

    Well, I wouldn’t say the Free French won Bir Hakeim, but they delayed the Afrika Korps for 16 days, enough for the British 8th Army to regroup and stop them at El Alamein.

    As for the Polish winning Monte Cassino…well, again, they took part in it, and they stormed and took the cathedral itself and took heavy losses, but there was also the Brits, Americans, French mountain troops, Commonwealth, and so on.

    Well the Poles were the ones that broke through the line; the others failed


  • @calvinhobbesliker:

    @UN:

    @calvinhobbesliker:

    The three battles you listed were won by the French, the British and Indians, and the Poles.

    Well, I wouldn’t say the Free French won Bir Hakeim, but they delayed the Afrika Korps for 16 days, enough for the British 8th Army to regroup and stop them at El Alamein.

    As for the Polish winning Monte Cassino…well, again, they took part in it, and they stormed and took the cathedral itself and took heavy losses, but there was also the Brits, Americans, French mountain troops, Commonwealth, and so on.

    Well the Poles were the ones that broke through the line; the others failed

    Not really. Actually, the battle wasn’t a single battle: it was four. No one broke through the first three times and on the fourth the French Moroccan troops broke through at the mountains around the same time the Polish stormed the cathedral. If anything the French won the entire battle for the Allies for compromising the entire line.


  • @UN:

    @calvinhobbesliker:

    The three battles you listed were won by the French, the British and Indians, and the Poles.

    Well, I wouldn’t say the Free French won Bir Hakeim, but they delayed the Afrika Korps for 16 days, enough for the British 8th Army to regroup and stop them at El Alamein.

    As for the Polish winning Monte Cassino…well, again, they took part in it, and they stormed and took the cathedral itself and took heavy losses, but there was also the Brits, Americans, French mountain troops, Commonwealth, and so on.

    It’s my opinion that Monte Cassino gets a lot of well deserve discussion.


  • My choice of the most underrated battles are the many unpopular battles between German units and encircled Red Army units in the summer and fall of 1941. Most of these pockets fought bravely and cost the Germans men and bought time for Moscow and Leningrad


  • The most underrated naval commander was Raymond Spruance, who assumed command at the Battle of Midway following the damage to the Yorktown, and commanded at the Battle of the Philippine Sea in June of 1944.  Overshadowed by Halsey, he never would have fallen for the Japanese carrier lure at the Battle of Leyte Gulf.

    As for underrated battles, probably the most decisive underrated battle was fought prior to WW2 starting, between the Japanese and the Russians at Nomohan/Khalkin-Gol on the northeastern border of Manchuria.  The Japanese decided after their shattering defeat by the Russians that it would be safer to attack south for resources to sustain the China war than to attack the Soviet Union.

    The other would be the campaign to isolate Rabaul from August of 1942 through February of 1944, which aside from costing the Japanese heavily in irreplaceable warships and transports, also essentially destroyed their carrier air power far more thoroughly than the losses at Midway.

    Lastly for simple unbelievable guts and determination, the low-level attack by B-24 Liberators on the Ploesti oil refineries on August 1, 1943.

Suggested Topics

  • 3
  • 17
  • 7
  • 11
  • 13
  • 16
  • 1
  • 1
Axis & Allies Boardgaming Custom Painted Miniatures

41

Online

17.0k

Users

39.3k

Topics

1.7m

Posts