Portal:World War II/Selected biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Erich von Manstein (November 24, 1887-June 10, 1973) served the German military as a lifelong professional soldier. Von Manstein rose to become one of the most promiment commanders of Germany's Armed Forces (Wehrmacht). During World War II, he attained the rank of Field Marshal(Generalfeldmarschall), despite the fact that he was not a member of the Nazi party. Many historians accredit von Manstein with helping(along with Heinz Guderian) concoct the plan to conquer France. He was eventually given command of Army Group South. While in command, von Manstein brought about one of the greatest victories in modern warfare. Von Manstein became famous for standing up to Hitler on various issues. Although this behavior would have normally led to his swift removal from command, von Manstein remained one of the very few generals who had repeatedly proved themselves in Hitler's eyes. In 1944, Hitler dismissed von Manstein over a question of strategy. Von Manstein was subsequently surrendered to the British and was sentenced to 18 years imprisonment, although he only served four years. Following his imprisonment, von Manstein served as senior adviser to the West German government; helped shape the new Bundeswehr; and became the Bundeswehr honorary Chief of Staff. Von Manstein died on June 10, 1973, becoming one of the very few German World War II Generals to be honored with full military honors.
Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, KG, GCB, DSO, PC (17 November 1887–24 March 1976), often referred to as "Monty", was a British Army officer. He successfully commanded Allied forces at the Battle of El Alamein, a major turning point in World War II, and troops under his command were largely responsible for the expulsion of Axis forces from North Africa. He was later a prominent commander in Italy and North-West Europe, where he was in command of all Allied ground forces during Operation Overlord until after the Battle of Normandy.
Read more...
George Smith Patton Jr. (November 11, 1885 – December 21, 1945) was a leading U.S. Army general in World War II. In his 36-year Army career, he was Cadet Adjutant at West Point, finished in Fifth Place in the Modern Pentathlon at the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm, Sweden; Graduate Student at the Cavalry School at Saumur, France in 1912 and 1913; the designated military member of The American Committee for the Sixth Olympiad, which was scheduled to be held in Berlin, Germany in 1916[1], advocate of armored warfare and commanded major units of North Africa, Sicily, and the European Theater of Operations. Many have viewed Patton as a pure, ruthless and ferocious warrior, known by the nickname "Old Blood and Guts", a name given to him after a reporter misquoted his statement that it takes blood and brains to win a war. But history has left the image of a brilliant military leader whose record was also marred by insubordination and some periods of apparent instability. Patton was also a member of Kappa Alpha Order.
Read more...
Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel (listen ) (15 November 1891 – 14 October 1944) was one of the most distinguished German field marshals of World War II. He was the commander of the Deutsches Afrika Korps and also became known by the nickname “The Desert Fox” (Wüstenfuchs, listen ) for the skillful military campaigns he waged on behalf of the German Army in North Africa. He was later in command of the German forces opposing the Allied cross-channel invasion at Normandy.
Rommel is often remembered not only for his remarkable military prowess, but also for his reputation for chivalry towards his adversaries - being one of the German commanders who disobeyed the infamous Commando Order. He is also noted for possibly having taken part in a plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler, for which he was forced to commit suicide before the war's end.
Read more...
Vasily Ivanovich Chuikov (Васи́лий Ива́нович Чуйко́в) (February 12, 1900 - March 18, 1982) was a lieutenant general in the Soviet Red Army during World War II, two times Hero of the Soviet Union (1944, 1945), who after the war became a Marshal of the Soviet Union. Born into a peasant family, he joined the Red Army during the Russian Revolution of 1917 and later attended the Frunze Military Academy. Chuikov served in the Soviet occupation of eastern Poland in 1939 and in the Russo-Finnish War of 1940. He was then sent to China as an advisor to Chiang Kai-shek. In May 1942 the USSR recalled their military advisor, according to Chuikov's memoirs this was due to Nationalist China claiming the USSR was providing military aid as part of an attempt to draw the USSR into the Second Sino-Japanese War. On returning to Moscow, Chuikov was placed in command of the 64th Army, on the West bank of the Don river. The 64th Army took part in the fighting withdrawal to Stalingrad, and shortly before the Battle of Stalingrad itself began, Chuikov was made commander of the more important 62nd Army, which was to hold Stalingrad itself, with the 64th on its Southern flank. After the victory there, the 62nd Army was promoted into the Soviet 8th Guards Army. Chuikov then commanded the 8th Guards as part of 1st Belorussian Front and led its advance through Poland, finally heading the Soviet offensive which captured Berlin in April 1945.
Read more...
Omar Nelson Bradley (February 12, 1893 – April 8, 1981) was one of the main U.S. Army field commanders in North Africa and Europe during World War II and a General of the Army of the United States Army. He was the last surviving five star officer of the United States. On May 5, 2000, the United States Postal Service issued the Distinguished Soldiers stamps in which Bradley was honored.
Read more...
Isoroku Yamamoto (Japanese: 山本五十六 Yamamoto Isoroku?) (4 April 1884 – 18 April 1943) was a Fleet Admiral and Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during World War II, graduate of Imperial Japanese Naval Academy and alumnus of U.S. Naval War College and Harvard University (1919 - 1921).
Yamamoto is considered to be one of Imperial Japanese Navy's most talented and most influential naval strategists and tacticians and is highly respected in Japan. In the United States he is widely regarded as a clever, intelligent and dangerous opponent who resisted going to war, but once the decision was made did his utmost for his country. However, some American survivors of the war maintain their condemnation of him for the surprise character of the attack on Pearl Harbor. He died during an inspection tour of forward positions in the Solomon Islands when his transport aircraft was ambushed by American P-38 Lightning fighter planes. He held several important posts in the Imperial Japanese Navy, and undertook many of its changes and reorganizations. His death was a major blow to Japanese military morale during World War II.
Read more...Adolf Hitler (April 20, 1889-April 30, 1945) was Chancellor of Germany from 1933, and Führer (Leader) of Germany from 1934 until his death. He was leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), better known as the Nazi Party. Hitler gained power in a Germany facing crisis after World War I. Using propaganda and charismatic oratory, he was able to appeal to the economic need of the lower and middle classes, while sounding resonant chords of nationalism, anti-Semitism and anti-communism. With the establishment of a restructured economy, a rearmed military, and a totalitarian and fascist regime, Hitler pursued an aggressive foreign policy with the intention of expanding German Lebensraum ("living space"), which triggered World War II when Germany annexed Austria, the Czech lands, and invaded Poland, much of which was also annexed to form the "Greater German Reich" (Großdeutsches Reich). In the final days of the war, Hitler, along with his new wife, Eva Braun, committed suicide in his underground bunker in Berlin, as the city was being overrun by the Red Army of the Soviet Union.
Read more...
Major-General Sir Percy Cleghorn Stanley Hobart (14 June 1885-19 February 1957) - also known as "Hobo" - was a British military engineer, noted for his command of the 79th Armoured Division during World War II. He was responsible for many of the specialised armoured vehicles ('Hobart's Funnies') that took part in the invasion of Normandy.
Read more...
Hiroyoshi Nishizawa (* January 27, 1920 – † October 26, 1944) was an ace pilot of the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Force during World War II. It is possible he was the most successful Japanese fighter ace of the war; he personally claimed to have had 87 aerial victories at the time of his death. Some uncertainty is due to the Japanese habit of recording victories for the pilot's air group rather than the individual after 1941, and the often wildly exaggerated claims of aerial kills that were frequently accepted on all sides. Some sources credit Nishizawa with over one hundred victories.
