Pick three favorite officers from history, and say why you picked them.

[Lonestar]

Re: Pick three favorite officers from history, and say why you picked them.

Originally posted by Lancer

Lee kept the Confederacy in the fight with inferior forces through superb generalship. He was aided by inept leadership of Union armies and had excellent officers under his command. He comes third because of Gettysburg, that great mistake which may have saved the Union.

Good ol' "Charge them across a mile of open field at an entrenched enemy" Lee, huh?


For me:

Epmaninondas, who crushed Sparta and freed the Helots.

Sherman, who did his level best to destroy the ones who started the Civil War, the Slave holding aristocracy.

And Major Winters, for reasons already mentioned. Tho' Colonel Spear gets a Bad-ass Mother****er honorable mention.

[BlackCat]

It seems that most worty to be mentioned has already been mentioned, so I'll stick to Sir Harry Flashman .

[Proteus_MST]

Originally posted by Hueij

crossed his own T

I've come across this expression a couple of times now and I never understood what it meant. Would you care to explain it in simple English? Thanks...

I know the expression crossing the T,
although this normally refers to 2 fleets.

It means that one of the fleets sails straight ahead (the I from the T) and the other, more maneuverable fleet crosses the projected trajectory of the first fleet perpendicular to this course, at some distance bowsides of the first fleet.

Gives the second fleet a large advantage, as it can shoot broadsides at the second fleet, whereas the enemy can only use the guns located at its bow.

Admiral Togo used this against the russian fleet for great advantage.

Crossing its own T probably means, that you sail in one Direction and then sail along a curve which brings you 90° to your old course.

[Dry]

Originally posted by Hueij

crossed his own T

I've come across this expression a couple of times now and I never understood what it meant. Would you care to explain it in simple English? Thanks...

Crossing the T: The blue ships are crossing the T of the red ships (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross_the_T for more)






Nelson doing exactly the opposite: crossing his own T (see http://www.nelsonsnavy.co.uk/battle-of-trafalgar.html for more)

[Donegeal]

Hmmm...

Maybe he was thinking with his fleet with the wind, he'd be able to pirce the T and start blowing away at the ships at fist with the bow guns, then both the starboard and port guns at the same time.

[Zkribbler]

Originally posted by Donegeal
Hmmm...

Maybe he was thinking with his fleet with the wind, he'd be able to pirce the T and start blowing away at the ships at fist with the bow guns, then both the starboard and port guns at the same time.

Which is indeed what he did. But it's a gutsy move. Kinda like smashing your face into the other guy's fist.

[Hueij]

Thanks guys

[Frozzy]

Major John Howard - led the airborne assault on Pegasus bridge on D-Day, and his 28 strong platoon held the bridge against elements of the 21st Panzer Division, strongly supported by artillery, with limited anti-tank weaponry.

Captain Charles Upham - won the VC twice

1) He displayed outstanding gallantry in close-quarter fighting, and was twice hit by mortar fire and badly wounded. In spite of this and an attack of dysentery which reduced him to a skeletal appearance, he refused hospital treatment and carried a badly wounded man to safety when forced to retire. Eight days later he beat off an attack at Sphakia, twenty two Germans falling to his accurate fire.

2) When leading his company attacking an enemy held ridge overlooking the El Alamein battlefield, he was wounded twice but took the objective after fierce fighting. He personally destroyed a German tank, several guns and vehicles with grenades. Upham was shot through the elbow with a machine gun bullet and had his arm shattered, he went on again to a forward position and brought back some of his men who had become isolated. After his wounds were dressed, he returned to his men but was again severely wounded and unable to move. He was eventually overrun by the superior weight of the enemy forces and taken as a prisoner of war.

Aleksandr Ivanovich Pokryshkin - Thrice Hero of the Soviet Union, single-handedly changed Soviet fighter tactics against the party line, almost courtmartialled, instead promoted.

[techumseh]

Zhukov, Yamamoto, Giap.

[Blaupanzer]

Napoleon, Genghiz Khan, McArthur, Zhukov

Note all of these are winners, as opposed to the list that began the thread. Note also that none of these men would make good subordinants, due both to their egos and their style of command. They, along with Alexander the Great, seemed unable to lose.

The best warrior in myth may have been Hector, doomed by Achilles' invincibility. Best in actual history may have been Erich Alfred Hartmann or Audie Murphy.

[Arrian]

Umm... Napolean ended a loser. McArthur lost, won, lost, etc. And he was a major pain in the ass.

-Arrian

[LordShiva]

Giap

Surprised that he's only been mentioned once so far.

[Lord Avalon]

Originally posted by Lancer
Patton was a great American officer of course. I wonder though if his competition with Montgomery cost the lives of some of his soldiers.

Did Patton have any pyrrhic victories? He got results without excessvie casualties, AFAIR. How many casualties were suffered because Monty was too cautious?

OTOH there was Monty's ill-fated Operation Market-Garden, which was overly bold.

Rommel is another of my favorites. He did a lot with a little in Africa. He would have been really scary if his supplies made it through.

Don't know the names, but props to the WWII Allied codebreakers. Knowing what the Germans & Japanese were up to was a really huge advantage.

[Zkribbler]

Originally posted by Lord Avalon
Rommel is another of my favorites. He did a lot with a little in Africa. He would have been really scary if his supplies made it through.

Don't know the names, but props to the WWII Allied codebreakers. Knowing what the Germans & Japanese were up to was a really huge advantage.

The geniuses at Benchley Park Yeah -- I was going to add that Rommel would have been really scary if the Brits didn't know what he was going to do because the German's Ultra Code was broken.

I also liked that he was in on the plot to kill Hitler and overthrow the Nazis.

[beingofone]

It is to difficult to keep the list to three. In descending order of achievment with resources at hand.

Alexander the Great
Gengis Kahn (Subotai) ?
Napoleon Bonaparte
Hannibal Barca
Frederick the Great
Eric Von Manstein
Robert E. Lee
Julius Caesar
Ambrose E.Burnside - just kidding