Rifleman

Lots of threads about greatest generals. What about small unit tactical leaders? Care to vote on or name the greatest small unit tactical leader you've ever heard of?

I'd have to put Geronimo up near the top. Others would be Robert Rogers of French and Indian War fame; Daniel Morgan of the American Revolution; Richard Winters, made famous by the book "Band of Brothers;" and Tony Herbert and David Hackworth from Vietnam.

Your thoughts?

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"Aim small, miss small." - Benjamin Martin in The Patriot

Officer of Engineers

Patton and Rommel

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Chimo

Rifleman

Yeah, but I usually have them in the greatest generals category. I'm thinking of great leaders at the squad through battalion level. I'm not aware that Patton or Rommel were standout platoon leaders. Maybe they were, but I've never heard it mentioned.

Dick Winters, on the other hand, was nominated for the Medal of Honor and awarded the Distinguished Service Cross as a young lieutenant. This was for leading an assault on a German gun battery on D-Day morning. The battery consisted of four guns and was guarded by a German infantry platoon. Winters had 12 men, what amounted to a squad. They routed the infantry platoon and disabled all four guns.

Things like that are what I meant. Leaders of small unit actions.

Officer of Engineers

I'm sorry that I was not clear. Patton (and Rommel) view recee as "what's in front of my binoculars." They were both essentially company level commanders with the knowledge depth to lead a division. In short, they can exploit a tactical advantage for strategic purposes. I point to Patton's swing north during the Battle of the Buldge and Rommel swing in Eygpt.

lemontree

Col. David Sterling (LRDG/ SAS fame) and Col. T.E Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia)

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Cheers!...on the rocks!!

Bluesman

LtCol Lettow-Vorbeck. Tactical AND strategic genius.

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"The quickest way of ending a war is to lose it, and if one finds the prospect of a long war intolerable, it is natural to disbelieve in the possibility of victory."
- George Orwell

leib10

There are so many "unknowns" that would qualify. Fine leaders of men, intelligent and skilled in the art of war. Men only known to soldiers under their own command and maybe to the enemy in their theater of operations, but destined to never be recognized beyond that.

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"The right man in the wrong place can make all the difference in the world. So wake up, Mr. Freeman. Wake up and smell the ashes." G-Man

Rifleman

Exactly. It sort of amounts to a "best you've heard of" question, or your personal favorite, for the reasons you stated.

The ones I listed, Geronimo, Robert Rogers, Daniel Morgan, Richard Winters, Tony Herbert, and David Hackworth, are some of my favorites, and reasonably well known to people who like to read about small unit actions.

Shek

Can you vote for yourself Just kidding! I'm just happy to have all my fingers and toes still

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"So little pains do the vulgar take in the investigation of truth, accepting readily the first story that comes to hand." Thucydides 1.20.3

Anon

Simply the best.

Yeah, yeah...just tell us which nazi you'd most like to blow, and we'll record your vote.

David Hackworth so dishonored himself wrt the things he said about Michael Durant that as far as i'm concerned, he barely even qualifies as an American.

This is not to say he wasn't a crack leader at some point. All i know is that now, i wouldn't spit on him were he on fire.

sappersgt

Sir,
I found your comment about being company commanders with knowledge depth extremely intriguing. Could you as the Brigadier would say "amplify" ?

Bluesman

I wrote this about him in this thread:

Rifleman

I agree that his comments about CWO Durant were mean spirited and cheap, and there was no excuse for it. But like you alluded to, that can't erase the fact that he was a great tactical leader at battalion level and below. Four Distinguished Service Crosses, that says something. It doesn't make him a great person but it does say something about his abilities as a tactical leader.

For all of the hoopala that surrounds him and his service in Vietnam, I feel that he didn't have any better idea than anyone else about how to win the Vietnam War strategically. Just better ideas about how to kill a lot of the enemy without having his own troops suffer as many casualties.

leib10

Now did I even mention a German in this thread? Please stop the attacks.

Parihaka

General Sir James Hope Grant. No question.

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In the realm of spirit, seek clarity; in the material world, seek utility.
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz