Best military commander post WW2?

Who is the best military commander since WW2? You can't include people who had a high ranking in WW2, so people like Douglas MacArthur don't count.

 

Here's my nominee. Something tells me that this Israeli officer was not above studying the strategy and tactics of Erwin Rommel.

Gen. Israel Tal
Considered the Israeli equivalent of Gen. George Patton and FM Erwin Rommel, Tal made a name for himself by expanding the Israeli Defense Force’s armored capacity to match the potential of their numerous, tank-heavy, enemy military formations. His success in the 1967 Six Day War, when his armored task force swept the Egyptian 7th Armored Division from the field and advanced beyond the Suez Canal, propelled him to the top of the class in the annals of armored warfare and in his home as a national hero. In 1973, following the official end of the Yom Kippur War, Tal defied an illegal order from his superiors to attack the Egyptian forces in the Sinai; a gaffe that subsequently prevented him from being considered for Chief of Staff, of the Israeli Defense Forces. Nevertheless Tal overcame the in-house rivalries and went on to oversee the development of the Merkava tank project, Israel’s first and only, manufactured main battle tank. The Merkava began production in 1978 and with several technological upgrades, remains Israel’s main battle tank, still to this day. His technical expertise in tank design and battlefield skills as an armored commander has boosted the ability of the IDF to secure a qualitative superiority over their numerous Arab enemies in the field of armored warfare, which has gone a long way in preventing the outbreak of another Arab-Israeli war.

 

Frederick C. Weyand.

He was responsible for calling the Tet Offensive in Vietnam and repostitioning troop so we could quickly respond to the attack.

People think we were surprised by it but we weren't.

He was an analytical genius when discerning troop movements and intelligence.

 

Since when was he a good commander?

 

It was just an example.

 

Petraeus ranks pretty high in my book.

 

Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, he was responsible for planning Desert Shield, which became Desert Storm in January 1991, the ousting of Iraqi forces from Kuwait.
Schwarzkopf planned, organized, and executed the largest U.S. mechanized combat operation since 1945. Between August 1990 and and January 1991, he assembled 765,000 troops-of which 541,000 were American-from 28 countries, hundreds of ships, and thousands of tanks and aircraft...

I personally met him and was given a CINC CENTCOM challenge coin...as I was also based in Riyadh where the special planning group, or "Black Hole" was created for the offensive plan.
He wasn't always particularly well liked by other general officers, but as a commander, he knew his stuff. Without question, in my mind, the best commander Post-World War 2.

 

I second Schwarzkopf.

 

Seems like most general officers don't like when their own speak their mind or are over achievers. But, you're right Schwarzkopf managed a pretty massive and affective feat of combined arms maneuver warfare.

I guess Im just partial to Petraeus, because he helped implement a counter insurgency strategy that turned it around for us in Iraq.

 

Your average 12 year old could have planned the attack on the Iraqis with what the Coalition had at their disposal.

 

No, not really. But nice try.

 

In Germany: Otto the Great

http://youtu.be/9yF8QfTqXWw

 

Because Iraqi equipment was so advanced?

 

You're being pretty short sighted. Enemy composition and disposition are only one part of any military strategy. Nearly one million coalition members, from nearly thirty different nations took part in this operation.

But ya, I'm sure your average 12 year old can manage maneuver warfare, the logistics, intelll gathering, a combined air/ground campaign with over a thousand air sorties a day, along with handling the delegate political tight rope it took to keep the coalition partners cohesive.

 

Don't underestimate Tommy Franks. He took a smaller force and conquered more ground than Schwartzkopf. Petraeus solidified Franks' work.

Tal was a reformer, but all he really did was institute the balanced-force experience of World War II into the Israeli Army. Rommel and Patton knew the dangers of a tank-heavy force.

 

Most people don't realize that the Tet Offensive was a huge defeat militarily for the North Vietnamese...particularly the Viet Cong.

 

Gen. Schwarzkopf drew Iraqi forces out of position with a fake amphibious landing and around Iraq's celebrated Republican Guard. He cut the enemy's communications, destroyed their supply lines, and forced Saddam to adopt a cease-fire. Total U.S. casualties were 293 killed and 467 wounded.

Schwarzkopf could have marched into Baghdad with little resistance, but UN resolutions did not include the capture of Iraq, so Schwarzkopf stood down. Annoyed with not being allowed to finish the job, he retired in 1992.

The question asked was Best commander post-World War 2, and while General's Petraeus, Franks, and Mattis would round out a top 5 or top 10, it's still my opinion, Gen. Schwarzkopf deserves being regarded as the Best. I actually served under Schwarzkopf and Franks as both were Commander-in-Chief of CENTCOM, and troop morale was very high under Schwarzkopf...I'm not as familiar with the leadership during the Vietnam war, other than Gen. Westmoreland is historically regarded in not the greatest light. Petraeus became CinC CENTCOM in 2008 and I was out of the services at that point..

 

But but but, the all knowing in everything military already stated that a twelve year old could have accomplished what Schwarzkoph accomplished. Why would you dare contradict him!!

 

Duly noted, Gen. Schwarzkopf's accomplishments were equivalent to organizing a Boy Scout jamboree. I will not question the opinion of a paintball extraordinaire...and stand corrected.

 

It's amazing how literally you guys take everything.

 

You're not offering an intelligent reply to warrant an intelligent response.

"A 12 year old could have planned and executed Desert Shield/Desert Storm"

C'mon...a comment like this is supposed to elicit an intellectual debate?

A parallel command structure was implemented in the coalition operation in the Persian Gulf War... Western coalition forces came under the control of a U.S. force commander (General Schwarzkopf), and the Arab and Muslim coalition forces came under the control of a Saudi force commander (General Khaled Bin Sultan). Both force commanders recognized the diversity of the cultures involved in the coalition and wisely selected a parallel command structure for their respective multinational operations.

General Schwarzkopf understood that the coalition’s efforts against Iraq were extremely vulnerable to cultural sensitivities, and therefore he made sure to foster cross-cultural interaction throughout the campaign.

I've offered content to back-up my assertion Gen. Schwarzkopf as the best modern military commander post-World War 2...I'm not just making a blanket statement as you appear to be.

Anecdotally, I served in the operations...and anecdotal evidence admittedly, on it's own merits, should be taken with a grain of salt...but what evidence are you providing to argue your position in this debate?

Aside from...paraphrasing...
"A 12 year old could have done the same thing"

Which is equivalent to saying I played lots of Command & Conquer, therefore I'm an expert on the topic...

 

Iraq had the 4th largest military in the World at the time of the Persian Gulf War. They were defeated in 100 hours of fighting...
a cease fire was declared. Coalition troops stopped advancing.

You seem to think, logistically moving half a million troops, equipment and supplies thousands of miles is
"ho hum"...nothing to it...organizing a coalition of diverse nations...establishing bases...

I have no idea how to even reply to that assumption...

Honestly, I'm not trying to make this personal, but I'm at a loss for words if you think...contextually or not, this was a simple operation, just the logistics,
nevermind combat operations themselves.

 

The mobilization of 550,000 troops and the shipment of 7,000,000 tons of supplies; this is what the Persian Gulf war entailed..all boiling down to 100 hours of ground combat operations. The military objective completed swiftly with limited coalition losses.

Gen. Schwarzkopf may have been a "glory hound" but as Central Command's Commander-in-Chief, the buck stopped at his desk...and I fail to see any modern commander, post-World War 2, that has managed the equivalent operations involved with the Persian Gulf War.

You're still not providing any evidence to the contrary. You could argue Gen. Franks, Petraeus or Mattis dealt with the same logistical issues in Afghanistan and Iraq. Or another commander no one has even brought up yet...but I believe you're being dismissive for the sake of dismissiveness. Regardless of what anyone will comment on here, you'll just provide the peanut gallery quips...
"he was just another Rommel."

Good day.

 

Sorry but your post deserved criticism. Your analogy was so far off the mark, it's ridiculous.

 

...and Panzerkampfwagen's nomination is...?