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Post by hi224 on Oct 26, 2018 19:02:44 GMT
Aside from Custer as well.
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Post by TheGoodMan19 on Oct 26, 2018 22:59:49 GMT
Phillip VI of France set his own knights against the retreating Genoese mercenary crossbowmen at the Battle of Crecy. While the English longbowmen rained arrows down on both.
Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna insisted on wasting time attacking the Alamo while his subordinated generals literally begged him to bypass it.
Braxton Bragg didn't fortify the right part of Missionary Ridge at Chattanooga. Weeks went by and he never realized his mistake. When the Union army attacked, they were shielded from the Confederate soldiers.
In the Boer War, Redvers Buller attacked strong Boer positions,waiting for the Boer artillery to fire and show their positions with smoke. The Boers were using smokeless gunpowder.
And there's Adolf Hitler of course. Worst military leader in history, but too many blunders to mention here.
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needysboy
Sophomore
@needysboy
Posts: 347
Likes: 129
 
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Post by needysboy on Oct 27, 2018 0:13:56 GMT
Burgoyne wasn't so hot.
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Post by koskiewicz on Oct 30, 2018 17:06:28 GMT
General Dreedle from "Catch-22"
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Post by politicidal on Nov 2, 2018 23:13:35 GMT
Ambrose Burnside, perhaps the archetypal military blowhard.
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Post by Feologild Oakes on Nov 3, 2018 1:23:28 GMT
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Post by koskiewicz on Dec 17, 2018 0:08:15 GMT
...and there was also Gen Creighton Abombs and Gen William Wastemoreland...
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Post by TheGoodMan19 on Dec 22, 2018 21:32:32 GMT
Actually, George Custer's Civil War record was impressive. I've said that he might have been the best pure cavalry combat general of the war. Remembering that Phil Sheridan made his name in combined operations, J.E.B. Stuart was a raider and Bedford Forrest basically ran his command as mounted infantry. His leadership in the Gettysburg Campaign, Sheridan's Richmond Raid, the 1864 Valley Campaign and the Appomattox Campaign were textbook. What happened at the Little Big Horn? His ego first. I've always wondered if he really thought the Sioux encampment was really that small and filled with noncombatants. If he did, his plan was sound. And Benteen and Reno did let him down. I cannot call him incompetent.
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Post by The Herald Erjen on Dec 27, 2018 21:34:52 GMT
Actually, George Custer's Civil War record was impressive. I've said that he might have been the best pure cavalry combat general of the war. Remembering that Phil Sheridan made his name in combined operations, J.E.B. Stuart was a raider and Bedford Forrest basically ran his command as mounted infantry. His leadership in the Gettysburg Campaign, Sheridan's Richmond Raid, the 1864 Valley Campaign and the Appomattox Campaign were textbook. What happened at the Little Big Horn? His ego first. I've always wondered if he really thought the Sioux encampment was really that small and filled with noncombatants. If he did, his plan was sound. And Benteen and Reno did let him down. I cannot call him incompetent. I agree with this except for the part about Benteen and Reno letting him down. |
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Post by The Herald Erjen on Dec 27, 2018 21:38:07 GMT
Publius Quinctilius Varus; the Roman version of George Armstrong Custer.
Robert E. Lee who pissed away eleven thousand of the finest infantry the world ever saw in a stupid and useless charge that was doomed to failure.
Horatio Gates, who snatched defeat from the jaws of victory during the American Revolution.
John P. Lucas who completely fumbled the ball at Anzio.
Sir Douglas Haig
Alcibiades
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Post by TheGoodMan19 on Dec 27, 2018 22:14:22 GMT
Actually, George Custer's Civil War record was impressive. I've said that he might have been the best pure cavalry combat general of the war. Remembering that Phil Sheridan made his name in combined operations, J.E.B. Stuart was a raider and Bedford Forrest basically ran his command as mounted infantry. His leadership in the Gettysburg Campaign, Sheridan's Richmond Raid, the 1864 Valley Campaign and the Appomattox Campaign were textbook. What happened at the Little Big Horn? His ego first. I've always wondered if he really thought the Sioux encampment was really that small and filled with noncombatants. If he did, his plan was sound. And Benteen and Reno did let him down. I cannot call him incompetent. I agree with this except for the part about Benteen and Reno letting him down. Reno never did anything but throw a skirmish line against the encampment. That immediately told Crazy Horse and Gall that this was a diversion and the main attack (Custer) was coming form another direction. He was in a stupor from having his scout's brains spattered all over him. And he panicked. "All those who wish to make their escape follow me," Benteen waited for the pack train to arrive and then left to Reno's aid without them. He might as well have been in San Francisco. Custer was too rash, Reno and Benteen, too timid. The attack should have been coordinated better but the distances between Custer and Reno were too great.
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Post by The Herald Erjen on Dec 27, 2018 22:21:04 GMT
I agree with this except for the part about Benteen and Reno letting him down. Reno never did anything but throw a skirmish line against the encampment. That immediately told Crazy Horse and Gall that this was a diversion and the main attack (Custer) was coming form another direction. He was in a stupor from having his scout's brains spattered all over him. And he panicked. "All those who wish to make their escape follow me," Benteen waited for the pack train to arrive and then left to Reno's aid without them. He might as well have been in San Francisco. Custer was too rash, Reno and Benteen, too timid. The attack should have been coordinated better but the distances between Custer and Reno were too great.
Well whose fault was that? Custer wasn't a general anymore when this happened. He commanded a regiment, and one regiment on land is as one warship at sea. |
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Post by TheGoodMan19 on Dec 27, 2018 22:23:22 GMT
Robert E. Lee who pissed away eleven thousand of the finest infantry the world ever saw in a stupid and useless charge that was doomed to failure. If you have ever been to Gettysburg and stood at the Angle on Cemetery Ridge, you have to wonder what was going through Lee's mind. A monkey could see that a frontal assault was doomed. Especially since he had done nearly the same thing at Malvern Hill one year before with the same results. I'm not sure you can put the architect of 2nd Manassas and Chancellorsville beside Gates and Lucas. Not for one bad afternoon.
And, face it, Lee lost Gettysburg on the 2nd day. Problem was, for the first time, he wasn't up against a buffoon. Meade was no Napoleon, but he had more brains in his little finger than McClellan, Pope, Burnside and Hooker had in their combined heads.
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Post by TheGoodMan19 on Dec 27, 2018 22:29:40 GMT
Reno never did anything but throw a skirmish line against the encampment. That immediately told Crazy Horse and Gall that this was a diversion and the main attack (Custer) was coming form another direction. He was in a stupor from having his scout's brains spattered all over him. And he panicked. "All those who wish to make their escape follow me," Benteen waited for the pack train to arrive and then left to Reno's aid without them. He might as well have been in San Francisco. Custer was too rash, Reno and Benteen, too timid. The attack should have been coordinated better but the distances between Custer and Reno were too great.
Well whose fault was that? Custer wasn't a general anymore when this happened. He commanded a regiment, and one regiment on land is as one warship at sea. The 7th Cavalry was split into three parts. And the distance between Custer, Benteen and Reno was too great. Not in a straight line, but there was a ridge you had to go around to get from Custer column (moving away) to Reno's fixed position.
I'm certainly not saying is was a great plan. Custer should have just harassed the Sioux and waited for Terry, Gibbon et al to come up. But there was no glory in that. And his thirst for glory gothim a hole in the ground. Shame he took a lot of poor slobs with him.
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Post by The Herald Erjen on Dec 27, 2018 22:41:14 GMT
Well whose fault was that? Custer wasn't a general anymore when this happened. He commanded a regiment, and one regiment on land is as one warship at sea. The 7th Cavalry was split into three parts. And the distance between Custer, Benteen and Reno was too great. Not in a straight line, but there was a ridge you had to go around to get from Custer column (moving away) to Reno's fixed position.
I'm certainly not saying is was a great plan. Custer should have just harassed the Sioux and waited for Terry, Gibbon et al to come up. But there was no glory in that. And his thirst for glory gothim a hole in the ground. Shame he took a lot of poor slobs with him.
"No glory in that" is the operable phrase here. There are things to admire about Custer, but he was a man behind his time. Agreed about the poor slobs. |
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Post by TheGoodMan19 on Dec 27, 2018 23:19:45 GMT
The 7th Cavalry was split into three parts. And the distance between Custer, Benteen and Reno was too great. Not in a straight line, but there was a ridge you had to go around to get from Custer column (moving away) to Reno's fixed position.
I'm certainly not saying is was a great plan. Custer should have just harassed the Sioux and waited for Terry, Gibbon et al to come up. But there was no glory in that. And his thirst for glory gothim a hole in the ground. Shame he took a lot of poor slobs with him.
"No glory in that" is the operable phrase here. There are things to admire about Custer, but he was a man behind his time. Agreed about the poor slobs. It was a poorly run campaign from the beginning. There was no overall commander, Sheridan, the department commander, was in Washington. Crook was in command, according to Crook, but neither Terry or Gibbon deferred to him. The columns were unsupporting, too widely separated. Crook got beat on the Rosebud and then sat on his ass for weeks. Custer believed that Crook had at least bloodied Crazy Horse's band on the Rosebud. And they were facing some of the finest light cavalry in history, ably led.
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Post by koskiewicz on Dec 28, 2018 18:26:40 GMT
Benedict Arnold was a turncoat bastard...
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Post by MCDemuth on Dec 30, 2018 19:45:37 GMT
And there's Adolf Hitler of course. Worst military leader in history, but too many blunders to mention here. First... Adolf Hitler wasn't a "general"... Sure he made some mistakes But, I won't say that he was the " worst military leader in history"... Many historians think his Army was close to being able to take over the world... and if they had created the atomic bomb, first, we would all be speaking German right now! What other Army has ever came so close? |
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Post by TheGoodMan19 on Dec 30, 2018 20:08:58 GMT
And there's Adolf Hitler of course. Worst military leader in history, but too many blunders to mention here. First... Adolf Hitler wasn't a "general"... Sure he made some mistakes But, I won't say that he was the " worst military leader in history"... Many historians think his Army was close to being able to take over the world... and if they had created the atomic bomb, first, we would all be speaking German right now! What other Army has ever came so close? OK, he didn't have the rank of General. Neither did Frederick the Great or Gustavus Adolphus. But he was the overall commander and did make all the key decisions. And, the more Hitler had his hands on a military decision, the worse it turned out. Dunkirk, Stalingrad, Kursk, Normandy etc, etc, etc. Nazi Germany did come close, despite Hitler. It had superior armaments, superior men and superior battlefield generals. If Hitler had kept out of major battlefield decisions, the war might have turned out differently. The Nazi came close due to Kesselring, Manstein, Guderian, Model, Rommel. The Panzer IV, V and VI, The 88's. The panzerschreck and panzerfaust. And as far as the bomb, we would have had one too. And Germany could never get one to the US. Moscow and London might have been obliterated, but never NY and Washington. And Germany would have been a parking lot. |
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The Lost One
Junior Member
@lostkiera
Posts: 2,667
Likes: 1,290
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Post by The Lost One on Mar 8, 2019 0:11:59 GMT
You think? I thought he did quite well. I always thought the Sicilian disaster was more Nicias' fault. |
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