Commanders of World War II

List of leading WWII commanders

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World War II

Navigation

*     * Campaigns
* Countries
* Equipment

*     * Timeline
* Outline
* Lists
* Historiography

*     * Category
* Bibliography

* v
* t
* e

Timelines of World War II

Chronological

Prelude

* Events (in Asia
* in Europe)

* Aftermath

* 1939
* 1940
* 1941
* 1942

1943
* 1944
* 1945
* Aftermath

By topic

*     * Causes (Diplomacy)

* Declarations of war
*     * Battles
* Operations

By theatre

* Battle of Europe air operations
*     * Eastern Front
* Manhattan Project

* United Kingdom home front
* Surrender of the Axis armies

* v
* t
* e

The Commanders of World War II were for the most part career officers. They were forced to adapt to new technologies and forged the direction of modern warfare. Some political leaders, particularly those of the principal dictatorships involved in the conflict, Adolf Hitler (Germany), Benito Mussolini (Italy), and Hirohito (Japan), acted as dictators for their respective countries or empires.[1]

## Military commanders

[edit]

### Allied Forces

[edit]

#### United Kingdom

[edit]

Armed Force  | Name  | Highest Rank  | Highest Award  | Commands  | Fate  | Theatres / Battles

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|
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Army | Alan Brooke |  | Field Marshal | Knight of the Garter.  | Commander-in-Chief, Home Forces

Chief of the Imperial General Staff

| Served as CIGS.  |

* Chief of the Imperial General Staff
* Battle of the Ypres-Comines Canal
* Operation Aerial

Commanded the II Corps of the British Expeditionary Force at the Battle of France. Later served as the Chief of the Imperial General Staff.[1]
Bernard Montgomery |  | Field Marshal | Knight of the Garter.  | General Officer Commanding, 3rd Infantry Division

General Officer Commanding, II Corps

General Officer Commanding, V Corps

General Officer Commanding, XII Corps

General Officer Commanding-in-Chief South-Eastern Command

General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eighth Army

Supreme Commander, Allied Ground Forces (Normandy)

General Officer Commanding-in-Chief 21st Army Group

General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, British Army of the Rhine and Military Governor of British Occupation Zone in Germany

| Served as CIGS, and later Commander-in-Chief of the Western Union and Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe in NATO.  |

* Western Desert Campaign
* Battle of Alam el Halfa
* Second Battle of El Alamein
* Battle of El Agheila
* Tunisia Campaign
* Battle of Medenine
* Operation Pugilist
* Battle of Wadi Akarit
* Operation Husky
* Operation Avalanche
* Western Front (World War II)
* Operation Overlord
* Battle for Caen
* Operation Epsom
* Operation Goodwood
* Operation Cobra
* Falaise pocket
* Operation Market Garden
* Battle of the Bulge
* Western Allied invasion of Germany

A veteran of World War I and the Irish War of Independence, entered the Second World War as a divisional commander within the British Expeditionary Force, defending France and then took command of II Corps during the evacuation at Dunkirk. After several Corps appointments was placed in command of South-Eastern Command before being dispatched to Egypt to take command of the Eighth Army, following the death of William Gott. Won the Second Battle of El Alamein and played a crucial role in the completion of the North African Campaign. Then led the Eighth Army during the Battle of Sicily and then the invasion of Italy itself. Was transferred back to the United Kingdom to take command of the 21st Army Group and led all Allied ground forces during Operation Overlord. Following the conclusion of this campaign, relinquishing the role of Ground Forces commander, he continued to lead 21st Army Group throughout the rest of the 1944-1945 North West Europe Campaign.[1][2]
Harold Alexander |  | Field Marshal | Knight Grand Cross of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath | General Officer Commanding, 1st Infantry Division

General Officer Commanding, I Corps

General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Southern Command

General Officer Commanding, XII Corps

General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, South-Eastern Command

General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Middle East Command

General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, 18th Army Group

General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, 15th Army Group

Supreme Commander Allied Forces Headquarters

| Governor General of Canada |

* Battle of Dunkirk
* Mediterranean and Middle East Theatre
* Adriatic Campaign of World War II
* North African Campaign
* Battle of Tunisia
* Italian Campaign (World War II)

The last British soldier to evacuate Dunkirk, replaced Auchinleck from command at North Africa, and turned the tide in the Allies' favour. Defeated the Germans in North Africa. Staged a successful invasion of Italy, and as Commander-in-Chief of Allied Forces liberated it in 1944 before becoming Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces Headquarters, responsible for all military operations in the Mediterranean Theatre.[1]
Archibald Wavell |  | Field Marshal | Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath | General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Middle East Command

Commander-in-Chief, India

Supreme Commander, American-British-Dutch-Australian Command

Governor-General of India

| Viceroy of India, returned to England in 1947 and became High Steward of Colchester and a Lord Temporal |

* Mediterranean and Middle East Theatre
* Adriatic Campaign of World War II
* North African campaign
* East African Campaign
* Anglo-Iraqi War
* Syria–Lebanon Campaign
* Burma Campaign 1942–43

Commander-in-Chief of British Forces in the Middle East 1939–1941. Commander-in-Chief in India 1941–1942. Commander of ABDACOM 1942\. Commander-in-Chief in India 1942–1943. Viceroy of India 1943–1947.[1]
Viscount Gort |  | Field Marshal | Holder of the Victoria Cross.  | General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, British Expeditionary Force

Governor of Gibraltar

Governor of Malta

High Commissioner for Palestine and Trans-Jordan

| Died in 1946.  |

* Western Front (World War II)
* Battle of France
* Battle of Dunkirk

A World War I hero, he played a major role in mobilising and arming the British forces during the Phony War. He took command of the British Expeditionary Force for the German invasion of France but was overwhelmed by German military tactics. When his troops were trapped in Dunkirk, he disobeyed orders from French and British command to attack and decided to evacuate, a decision which saved the lives of over 300,000 soldiers.[1]
Claude Auchinleck |  | General | Order of the Bath | General Officer Commanding, IV Corps

Commander-in-Chief, Northern Norway

Governor of Malta

General Officer Commanding, V Corps

General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Southern Command

General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Middle East Command

Commander-in-Chief, India

| Commander-in-Chief, India during the Partition of India |

* Mediterranean and Middle East theatre of World War II
* Adriatic Campaign of World War II
* North African Campaign
* Anglo-Iraqi War
* Operation Crusader
* Battle of Gazala
* First Battle of El Alamein

Organised the Home Guard to protect against Operation Sea Lion. A quick response to the Iraq revolt impressed Churchill, who appointed him Commander-in-Chief of the North Africa forces. Frequent disagreements with British command, coupled with significant loss of territory against Rommel, forced him to be reassigned back to India. He fared better in this theatre, successfully mobilising the British Indian Army against the Burma invasion.[1]
Air Force | Charles Portal |  | Marshal of the Royal Air Force | Knight of the Garter | Air Member for Personnel

Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, RAF Bomber Command

Chief of the Air Staff

| Chairman of atomic energy division of Ministry of Supply, British Aluminium, and British Aircraft Corporation.[3] |

* Chief of Air Staff
* Adlertag
* Strategic bombing during World War II

Strong advocate of area bombing. Took over as head of the RAF after the Battle of Britain. Continually launched air raids against Germany, especially targeting civilian populations, and helped create Pathfinder forces.[1]
Arthur Harris |  | Air Chief Marshal | Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath | Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, RAF Bomber Command | Manager of the South African Marine Corporation |

* Strategic bombing during World War II
* Combined Bomber Offensive
* Pointblank directive
* Battle of the Ruhr
* Bombing of Kassel in World War II
* Battle of Berlin (RAF campaign)

Assisted Charles Portal in the strategic bombing campaign against Germany, issued the area bombing directive
Hugh Dowding |  | Air Chief Marshal | Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath | Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, RAF Fighter Command | Dismissed as head of fighter command in November 1940. Became a theosophist after the war. Died in February 1970, aged 87 and buried in Westminster Abbey.  |

* Battle of Britain

Leader in World War I of a Royal Flying Corps squadron. Commander of the Battle of Britain. Credited with saving Britain from defeat by devising the Dowding system
Navy | Andrew Cunningham |  | Admiral of the Fleet | Knight of the Thistle | Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet

First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff

| Served as Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. Died in June 1963, buried at sea off Portsmouth.  |

* French West Africa in World War II
* Battle of the Mediterranean
* Battle of Calabria
* Battle of Taranto
* Battle of Cape Matapan
* Siege of Malta (World War II)
* Operation Torch
* Operation Retribution (1943)
* Operation Husky

First Sea Lord 1943–1946.[1]
Louis Mountbatten |  | Admiral of the Fleet | Knight of the Garter | Commanded HMS Kelly and HMS Illustrious

Commander-in-Chief, Combined Operations Headquarters

Supreme Allied Commander, South East Asia Command

| Viceroy of India until 1947. First Sea Lord from 1954 to 1957.  |

* Battle of Dieppe
* South-East Asian theatre of World War II
* Burma Campaign
* Operation Tiderace

Supreme Allied Commander of SEAC. Under him were such generals as William Slim and Joseph Stilwell.[1]
Sir Alfred Pound |  | Admiral of the Fleet | Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath | First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff | Died of illness, October 1943.  |

* Battle of the Atlantic

First Sea Lord 1939–1943.[1]
James Somerville |  | Admiral of the Fleet | Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath | Commander-in-Chief, East Indies Station

Commander-in-Chief, Battlecruiser Squadron

Supreme Allied Commander, Force H

Commander-in-Chief, Eastern Fleet

| Became Lord Lieutenant of Somerset in August 1946.  |

* Attack on Mers-el-Kébir
* Battle of Cape Spartivento
* Indian Ocean raid

#### France

[edit]

Armed Force  | Name  | Highest Rank  | Highest Award  | Commands  | Fate  | Theatres / Battles

|
|
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Army | Charles de Gaulle |  | Général de Brigade | Grand Master Legion of Honor | Commander, 4th Armored Division

Leader of the Free French Forces

Chairman of the Provisional Government of the French Republic

| Took control of France as President and was instrumental in creating the Provisional Government of the French Republic and later the Fifth French Republic.  |

* Battle of France
* Battle of Montcornet
* Battle of Abbeville
* West African Campaign
* Battle of Dakar
* Battle of Gabon
* Free French Forces

Defied Vichy France by vowing to continue fighting after the French surrender. He headed with de Tassigny the Free French Forces, who assisted the Allies in the liberation of France in 1944.[1]
Jean de Lattre de Tassigny |  | Marshal of France | Grand Master Legion of Honor | Commander, First Army

Commander-in-Chief, Ground Forces in Western Europe

| Later commanded the French Far East Expeditionary Corps in the First Indochina War.  |

* Invasion of Elba
* Operation Dragoon
* Colmar Pocket
* French Resistance

Defied Vichy France by vowing to continue fighting after the French surrender. He headed with Charles de Gaulle the Free French Forces, who assisted the Allies in the liberation of France in 1944.[1]
Alphonse Juin |  | Marshal of France | Grand Cross Legion of Honor | Commander, 15th Motorized Infantry Division

Commander, French Expeditionary Corps

Chief of the Defence Staff

| Became Resident General in Morocco and member of the Académie Française, Allied Joint Force Commander Brunssum in NATO |

* Winter Line

Commander of the Vichy French forces in North Africa until 1942, then commander of the French Expeditionary Corps in Tunisia and Italy.[1]
Maurice Gamelin |  | Général d'Armée | Grand Cross Legion of Honor | Chief of Staff of the French Army | Died in 1958.  |

* Saar Offensive
* Battle of Belgium
* Battle of France
* Battle of Sedan (1940)

Commander-in-Chief of French army during Battle of France, was replaced on 20 May 1940.[1]
Maxime Weygand |  | Général d'armée | Grand Cross Legion of Honor | Chief of Staff of the French Army

Minister of National Defence

| Arrested on charges of treason but acquitted.  |

* Battle of Belgium
* Battle of France
* Battle of Abbeville
* Battle of Dunkirk

Commander-in-Chief of French army during the Battle of France from 20 May 1940 until the surrender of France. Oversaw the creation of the Weygand line, an early application of the Hedgehog tactic.[1]
French Navy | François Darlan |  | Admiral of the Fleet | War Cross | Chief of Staff of the French Navy

High Commissioner for France in North and West Africa

| Assassinated by Fernand Bonnier de La Chapelle December 1942.  |

* North African Campaign
* Mers-el-Kébir
* Operation Torch

Built up the French Navy to prepare for war, only to see it destroyed by the British Navy. Served the Vichy France government and was tipped to become Pétain's successor. Was commander of Vichy French forces in Operation Torch. After arranging a ceasefire, he defected to the Allied side.[1]

#### United States

[edit]

Armed Force  | Name  | Highest Rank  | Highest Award  | Command  | Fate  | Theatres / Battles

|
|
|
|
|
|

Army | George Marshall |  | General of the Army | Distinguished Service Medal, Silver Star | Chief of Staff of the United States Army | As United States Secretary of State his name was given to the Marshall Plan, for which he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1953. Also served as Secretary of Defense during the Korean War.  |

* Chief of Staff of the United States Army

Was the aide to General John J. Pershing after World War I. Was Chief of Staff having overall command of the US Army during and before World War II. Marshall served as the U.S. Army Chief of Staff during the war and as the chief military adviser to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Many of the American generals that were given top commands during the war were either picked or recommended by Marshall, including Dwight Eisenhower, Lloyd Fredendall, Lesley J. McNair, Mark W. Clark and Omar Bradley.[4] He led the rapid growth of US forces, co-ordinated the Western Allies and promoted postwar reconstruction of Europe.[1]
Dwight D. Eisenhower |  | General of the Army | Army Distinguished Service Medal, Navy Distinguished Service Medal.  | Commanding General, European Theater of Operations

Supreme Commander Allied Expeditionary Force

Military Governor of the U.S. Occupation Zone in Germany

| After liberating Europe, served as Army Chief of Staff, president of Columbia University, and Supreme Commander of NATO before being elected the 34th President of the United States.  |

* Mediterranean and Middle East theatre of World War II
* Adriatic Campaign of World War II
* North African Campaign
* Italian Campaign (World War II)
* Western Front (World War II)
* Western Allied invasion of Germany

In December 1943, President Roosevelt decided that Eisenhower—not Marshall—would be Supreme Allied Commander in Europe. The following month, he resumed command of European Theater of Operations United States Army (ETOUSA) and the following month was officially designated as the Supreme Allied Commander of the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE), serving in a dual role until the end of hostilities in Europe in May 1945. He was charged in these positions with planning and carrying out the Allied assault on the coast of Normandy in June 1944 under the code name Operation Overlord, to head the liberation of Europe on the Western Front and the invasion of Germany.
Douglas MacArthur |  | General of the Army | Medal of Honor, Philippine Medal of Valor | United States Military Advisor to the Philippines

Commanding General, United States Army Forces in the Far East

Supreme Allied Commander, South West Pacific Area

Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers

| Tasked with rebuilding Japan after the war. Later commanded the United Nations Command in the Korean War, and was controversially dismissed by President Harry S. Truman for considering the use of nuclear weapons against China and North Korea. Considered possible Republican Party candidate in 1952 United States presidential election, and chaired Remington Rand |

* South West Pacific theatre of World War II
* Philippines campaign (1941–1942)
* Solomon Islands campaign
* New Guinea campaign
* Salamaua–Lae campaign
* Admiralty Islands campaign
* Philippines Campaign (1944–45)
* Borneo campaign (1945)
* Japan campaign

Recalled from retirement prior to the start of the Pacific war. Early on in World War II, received the Medal of Honor for extreme bravery. Was disappointed to relinquish the Philippines to the Japanese. Promising to return, he did so in 1945 and while in Manila, prepared for war in Japan itself. MacArthur presided over the Japanese Unconditional Surrender in 1945. His strategy of maneuver, air strikes and force avoidance meant that soldiers under his command faced relatively low casualties.

[1]

Omar Bradley |  | General of the Army | Distinguished Service Medal (Army and Navy).  | Commanding General, 82nd Airborne Division

Commanding General, II Corps

Commanding General, First Army

Commanding General, Twelfth Army Group

| Promoted to General of the Army during the Korean War (after serving in the rank of General during World War II). Became Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.  |

* Battle of Hill 609
* Western Front (World War II)
* Operation Cobra
* Operation Lüttich
* Falaise pocket
* Allied advance from Paris to the Rhine
* Battle of Hürtgen Forest
* Operation Queen
* Battle of the Bulge
* Western Allied invasion of Germany

This former infantry school instructor entered the war under Patton, later becoming his boss. Towards the end of the war, led a force of over 1.3 million troops (America's largest to serve under one man).[1]
Mark W. Clark |  | General | Distinguished Service Medal (Army and Navy).  | Commanding General, II Corps

Commanding General, Fifth Army

Commanding General, Seventh Army

Commanding General, 15th Army Group

| Commanded the United Nations Command at the end of the Korean War. Served as President of the Citadel from 1954 to 1965.  |

* Allied invasion of Italy
* Bernhardt Line
* Battle of San Pietro Infine
* Battle of Monte Cassino
* Operation Shingle
* Battle of Cisterna
* Gothic Line
* Operation Grapeshot

Led the triumphal entry into Rome. Served under General Harold Alexander. Ordered the destruction of the religious abbey at Monte Cassino. Was commander-in-chief in Italy from late 1944.[1]
George S. Patton, Jr. |  | General | Distinguished Service Cross | Commanding General, Desert Training Center

Commanding General, II Corps

Commanding General, Seventh Army

Commanding General, First Army Group

Commanding General, Third Army

Acting Military Governor of U.S. Occupation Zone in Germany

Commanding General, Fifteenth Army

| Died in a road accident 4 months after the end of the war.  |

* Operation Torch
* Battle of El Guettar
* Operation Vulcan
* Battle of Sicily
* Battle of Chambois
* Falaise pocket
* Battle of Fort Driant
* Battle of Metz
* Battle of the Bulge

An aggressive general whose ferocious military thrusts earned him admiration and respect from many participants in the war (and at times endangered his military career). Successfully used the German tactic of armored blitzkrieg against the Germans.[1]
Navy | Ernest King |  | Fleet Admiral | Navy Cross | Commander-in-Chief, United States Atlantic Fleet

Commander-in-Chief, United States Fleet

Chief of Naval Operations

| Retired on 15 December 1945.  |

* Battle of the Atlantic

[1] United States Chief of Naval Operations.
William D. Leahy | Photograph of Fleet Admiral William D. Leahy, who served as the senior officer of the United States Armed Forces during World War II. | Fleet Admiral | Navy Cross | Chief of Staff to the Commander in Chief | Retired on 2 March 1949.  |

* Chief of Staff to the Commander in Chief

As the Chief of Staff to the Commander in Chief, Leahy was the most senior United States military officer on active duty during the war. Serving as the de facto first Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he oversaw all of the American armed forces. He also presided over the American delegation to the Combined Chiefs of Staff. He was a major decision-maker during the war and was second only to the President in authority and influence. Was the first-ever five-star officer in the United States Armed Forces.[5]
Chester W. Nimitz |  | Fleet Admiral | Legion of Honour, Distinguished Service Medal | Commander-in-Chief, United States Pacific Fleet

Commander, Pacific Ocean Areas

Chief of Naval Operations

| Served as Chief of Naval Operations.  |

* Pacific Ocean theatre of World War II
* Battle of Midway
* Solomon Islands campaign
* Philippines Campaign (1944–45)
* Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign
* Mariana and Palau Islands campaign
* Volcano and Ryukyu Islands campaign
* Japan campaign

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, took command of the Pacific Ocean areas, and turned around USA's fortunes in the Battle of Midway. Closed the war with operations in the Leyte Gulf and Okinawa.[1]
William Halsey, Jr. |  | Fleet Admiral | Navy Cross | Commander, Carrier Division 2

Commander, South Pacific Area

Commander-in-Chief, United States Third Fleet

| Retired 1947.  |

* Marshalls–Gilberts raids
* Solomon Islands Campaign
* Guadalcanal campaign
* New Georgia Campaign
* Philippines Campaign (1944–45)
* Bombing of Kure (July 1945)

Commander of South Pacific Area 1942–1944. Commander of United States Third Fleet 1944–1945.[1][6]
Frank Jack Fletcher |  | Admiral | Medal of Honor | Commander, Task Force 14

Commander, Task Force 17

Commander, Task Force 61

Commander, Northwestern Sea Frontier

| Chairman of the General Board, retired in 1947.  |

* Marshalls–Gilberts raids
* Battle of Coral Sea
* Battle of Midway
* Solomon Islands Campaign
* Battle of the Eastern Solomons

Recipient of the Medal of Honor for saving hundreds of refugees during the United States occupation of Veracruz in April 1914 during the Mexican Revolution. Operational commander at the pivotal Battles of Coral Sea and of Midway; nephew of Admiral Frank Friday Fletcher. In November 1942, he became Commander, Thirteenth Naval District and Commander, Northwestern Sea Frontier. Later, he was placed in charge of the Northern Pacific area.[1]

Raymond A. Spruance |  | Admiral | Navy Cross | Commander, Task Force 16

Deputy Commander-in-Chief, United States Pacific Fleet

Commander, Central Pacific Force

Commander-in-Chief, United States Pacific Fleet and Pacific Ocean Areas

| Served as President of the Naval War College.  |

* Battle of Midway
* Solomon Islands Campaign
* Mariana and Palau Islands campaign
* Volcano and Ryukyu Islands campaign
* Japan campaign

Commander of two significant battles during the war, Battle of Midway and the Battle of the Philippine Sea.
USAAF | Henry Arnold |  | General of the Air Force | Distinguished Service Medal | Chief of the United States Army Air Forces

Deputy Chief of Staff for Air

|   |

* Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force

Member of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Combined Chiefs of Staff committees.[1]
Ira C. Eaker |  | General | Distinguished Service Medal (Army, Navy and Air Force)  | Commander, Eighth Air Force

Commander of Air Operations, Mediterranean Theater of Operations

Deputy Commander of the United States Army Air Forces

| Became deputy commander of the Army Air Forces until retirement in 1947.  |

* Interception of the Rex
* Operation Cockade
* Strategic bombing campaign

Commander of the 8th US Bomber command.[1]
Carl Spaatz |  | General | Air Force Cross | Commander, Air Combat Command

Commander of Air Operations, European Theater

Commander, U.S. Strategic Air Forces in Europe

Commander, U.S. Strategic Air Forces in the Pacific

| Replaced Arnold in September 1947 to become chief of the US Air Force.  |

* Operation Flax
* Strategic bombing during World War II
* Combined Bomber Offensive
* Pointblank directive
* Bombing of Kassel in World War II

One of the pioneers of US military aviation, Spaatz advocated the use of scientific analysis to bombing raids, and made effective use of long range fighters, tactics which helped the Allies achieve air superiority over Europe.[1]

#### Soviet Union

[edit]

Armed Force  | Name  | Highest Rank  | Highest Award  |  | Fate  | Theatres / Battles

|
|
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|
|
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Army | Georgy Zhukov |  | Marshal of the Soviet Union | Twice an Order of Victory, four times Hero of the Soviet Union | Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army

Commander, Reserve Front

Commander, Leningrad Front

Commander, Southwestern Front

Military Governor of Soviet Occupation Zone in Germany

| Became Soviet member of the Allied Control Council for Germany, influential in removal of Lavrentiy Beria and selection of Nikita Khrushchev as First Secretary after the death of Joseph Stalin, Minister of Defense of the Soviet Union 1955–57, member of the 20th Presidium of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union 1956-1957  |

* Eastern Front
* Operation Barbarossa
* Siege of Leningrad
* Battle of Moscow
* Battles of Rzhev
* Operation Mars
* Case Blue
* Battle of Stalingrad
* Battle of Kursk
* Dnieper–Carpathian Offensive
* Kamenets-Podolsky pocket
* Operation Bagration
* Vistula–Oder Offensive
* Operation Solstice
* Battle of Berlin

Involved in nearly every major battle on the Eastern Front. He successfully led the defense of Moscow and later relieved Leningrad. After vying with Rokossovsky for overall command, he led all Soviet armies in the closing stages of the war and at the Battle for Berlin.[1]
Aleksandr Vasilevsky |  | Marshal of the Soviet Union | Twice an Order of Victory, twice Hero of the Soviet Union.  | Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army

Deputy People's Commissar for Defense of the Soviet Union

Commander-in-Chief, Soviet Forces in the Far East

| Chief of Staff of the Soviet Army, Soviet Defence Minister  |

* Eastern Front
* Operation Barbarossa
* Battle of Moscow
* Second Battle of Kharkov
* Case Blue
* Battle of Stalingrad
* Operation Bagration
* East Prussian Offensive
* Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation
* Soviet–Japanese War

Stalin's strategic specialist who planned and carried through many successful Soviet operations as overall commander, particularly the encirclement at Stalingrad and the grand plan for Bagration. Commander-in-Chief of Soviet Forces in the Far East during Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation.[1]
Konstantin Rokossovsky |  | Marshal of the Soviet Union, Marshal of Poland | Order of Victory, twice Hero of the Soviet Union.  | Commander, 9th Mechanized Corps

Commander, 4th Army

Commander, 16th Army

Commander, Bryansk Front

Commander, Don Front

Commander, Central Front and 1st Belorussian Front

Commander, 2nd Belorussian Front

Commander, Northern Group of Forces

| Commanded the Northern Group of Forces during the Soviet occupation of Poland and the beginning of the Cold War. Appointed Minister of National Defense of the Communist Polish People's Republic.  |

* Eastern Front
* Case Blue
* Battle of Stalingrad
* Third Battle of Kharkov
* Battle of Kursk
* Battle of Dnieper
* Dnieper–Carpathian Offensive
* Operation Bagration
* East Prussian Offensive
* East Pomeranian Offensive
* Battle of Berlin

Decisive role in the Battle for Moscow, led encirclement forces at Stalingrad, broke German counter-attack at Kursk, advanced into Poland and eventually linked up with the Americans at Wismar.[1]
Ivan Bagramyan |  | Marshal of the Soviet Union | Twice Hero of the Soviet Union.  | Commander of 1st Baltic Front

Commander 3rd Belorussian Front

Commander of 16th Army

Commander of 11th Guards Army

Commander of Baltic Military District

| Soviet Army commander  |

* Eastern Front
* Operation Barbarossa
* Battle of Rostov
* Battle of Moscow
* Second Battle of Kharkov
* Battle of Kursk
* Operation Bagration
* Baltic Offensive
* Courland Pocket
* East Prussian Offensive
* Battle of Memel
* Battle of Königsberg

Bagramyan's experience in military planning as a chief of staff allowed him to distinguish himself as a capable commander in the early stages of the Soviet counter-offensives against Nazi Germany.
Boris Shaposhnikov |  | Marshal of the Soviet Union | Three Orders of Lenin | Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army

Deputy People's Commissar for Defense

| Commandant of the Voroshilov Military Academy. Died in 1945.  |

* Pre-emptive war

Chief of the General Staff 1937–1940, 1941–1942. Organized pre-war buildup of the Red Army.
Nikolai Vatutin |  | General of the Army | Hero of the Soviet Union | Commander, Voronezh Front

Commander, Southwestern Front

Commander, 1st Ukrainian Front

| Killed by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army.  |

* Eastern Front
* Battle of Stalingrad
* Third Battle of Kharkov
* Battle of Kursk
* Battle of Kiev (1943)
* Dnieper–Carpathian Offensive
* Kamenets-Podolsky pocket
* Korsun-Cherkassy Pocket

Deputy of the Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army. Played a decisive role at Kursk, outmanoeuvered German commander Manstein and later routed German forces in Korsun salient.[1][additional citation(s) needed]
Ivan Konev |  | Marshal of the Soviet Union | Order of Victory, Twice Hero of the Soviet Union | Commander, 19th Army

Commander, Kalinin Front

Commander, Western Front

Commander, Northwestern Front

Commander, 2nd Ukrainian Front

Commander, 1st Ukrainian Front

Commander, Group of Soviet Occupation Forces in East Germany

| Appointed head of the Soviet forces in the Soviet occupation zone of Germany. Served as Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet Armed Forces and Supreme Commander of the Unified Armed Forces of the Warsaw Treaty Organization during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, the Berlin Crisis of 1961, and the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia |

* Eastern Front
* Battles of Rzhev
* Battle of Kursk
* Battle of the Dnieper
* Battle of Kiev (1943)
* Dnieper–Carpathian Offensive
* Kamenets-Podolsky pocket
* Uman–Botoşani Offensive
* First Jassy–Kishinev Offensive
* Lvov–Sandomierz Offensive
* Battle of the Dukla Pass
* Vistula-Oder Offensive
* Battle of Berlin
* Prague Offensive

Played a pivotal role in the War, retaking much of Eastern Europe. Helped in the capture of Berlin, the capital of Nazi Germany. Konev was also a competitor of Marshal Georgy Zhukov.[1]
Semyon Timoshenko |  | Marshal of the Soviet Union | Order of Victory, Twice Hero of the Soviet Union.  | Commander, Kiev Military District

Commander, Ukrainian Front

Commander, Leningrad Military District

People's Commissar of Defense of the Soviet Union

Commander, Western Front

Commander, Southwestern Front

Commander, Northwestern Front

| Commanded the Belorussian Military District (Soviet Armed Forces in the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic)  |

* Invasion of Poland
* Winter War
* Battle of Summa
* Eastern Front
* Operation Barbarossa
* Battle of Smolensk (1941)
* Second Battle of Kharkov
* Case Blue

Defence Commissar till 19 July 1941. Chairman of the Stavka (Soviet High Command). A capable commander in the early stages of World War II. Played a decisive role in the Winter War and the invasion of Poland. After the defeat Kharkov, Timoshenko was removed by Stalin from front-line command but given overall command in different fronts of the USSR.
Soviet Navy | Ivan Isakov |  | Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union | Hero of the Soviet Union | Chief-of-Staff of the Soviet Navy | Chief of Staff of the Soviet Navy, Deputy People's Commissar of the Navy  |

* Eastern Front
* Baltic Sea campaigns
* Battle of the Caucasus

Nikolay Kuznetsov |  | Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union | Hero of the Soviet Union | People's Commissar of the Navy  | People's Commissar of the Navy during The Second World War  |

* Eastern Front
* Yalta conference

Ivan Yumashev |  | Admiral | Hero of the Soviet Union | Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Fleet | Commander of Soviet Pacific Fleet  |

* Pacific War
* Soviet–Japanese War

Soviet Aviation | Sergei Khudyakov |  | Marshal of Aviation of the Soviet Union | Order of Lenin | Chief of Staff of the Soviet Air Force | Chief of Staff of the Soviet Air Force, deputy commander of the Air Force  |

* Eastern Front
* Battle of Moscow
* Battles of Rzhev
* Battle of Kursk
* Yalta conference
* Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation
* Soviet–Japanese War

Alexander Novikov |  | Chief Marshal of Aviation of the Soviet Union | Two times Hero of the Soviet Union | Chief of Staff of the Soviet Air Force | Commander of the Air Forces of the Soviet Union

Chief of the High school of civil aviation  |

* Eastern Front
* Operation Barbarossa
* Battle of Kursk
* Battle of Stalingrad
* Pacific War

Alexander Golovanov |  | Chief Marshal of Aviation of the Soviet Union |  | Commander, 18th Air Army

Commander, Long Range Aviation

| Commander of the Long Range Aviation  |

* Eastern Front

Army: Filipp Golikov

#### Australia

[edit]

Armed Force  | Name  | Highest Rank
held during World War II | Highest Award  | Command  | Fate  | Theatres / Battles

|
|
|
|
|
|

Army | Vernon Sturdee |  | Lieutenant General | Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire | Chief of the General Staff

General Officer Commanding, First Army

* Sturdee served as the Chief of General Staff and commanded the First Australian Army (1939-1945).
* On 6 September 1945 he was the senior Allied officer present at the surrender of Japanese Forces in Rabaul in the South West Pacific theatre.
* On 1 December 1945 Sturdee was appointed Commander in Chief of the Australian Military Forces, overseeing the demobilisation of the wartime army. He was mentioned in despatches for a third time on 6 March 1947.

* Dutch East Indies campaign
* Aitape–Wewak campaign
* New Britain campaign
* Bougainville Campaign

Brudenell White |  | General | Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath | Chief of the General Staff | Killed in the Canberra air disaster, 1940.  |

* Chief of the General Staff

Chief of the General Staff (March–August 1940)
Thomas Blamey |  | General | Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire | General Officer Commanding, Second Australian Imperial Force

General Officer Commanding, I Corps

Commander-in-Chief of the Australian Military Forces

Commander of Allied Land Forces, South West Pacific Area

| Promoted to Field Marshal in 1950. Became an author and promoted welfare of ex-servicemen.  |

* Mediterranean and Middle East theatre of World War II
* Battle of Greece
* South West Pacific theatre of World War II
* New Guinea campaign
* Kokoda Track campaign
* Battle of Wau
* Landing at Nadzab

Commander-in-chief of Australian Armed Forces and commander-in-chief of Allied Land Forces in the South West Pacific Area.
Edmund Herring |  | Lieutenant General | Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire | General Officer Commanding, 6th Division

General Officer Commanding, 7th Military District

General Officer Commanding, Northern Territory Force

General Officer Commanding, II Corps

General Officer Commanding, New Guinea Force

General Officer Commanding, I Corps

| Later Chief Justice of Australia. Received KCMG in 1949.  |

* South West Pacific theatre of World War II
* Kokoda Track campaign
* Landing at Nadzab
* Battle of Buna–Gona

Commander of Australian forces in the Kokoda Track campaign.
Leslie Morshead |  | Lieutenant General | Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath | General Officer Commanding, 18th Infantry Brigade

General Officer Commanding, 9th Division

General Officer Commanding, II Corps

General Officer Commanding, New Guinea Force

General Officer Commanding, Second Army

General Officer Commanding, I Corps

| Became General Manager of the Orient Steam Navigation Company.  |

* Western Desert Campaign
* Siege of Tobruk
* Battle of Sio
* South West Pacific theatre of World War II
* Borneo campaign

Led the Australian defence against Rommel's in siege of Tobruk. Commander at the Battle of El Alamein. Australia forces took 22 percent of the casualties there. After learning the art of jungle warfare, he became the commander of operations against the Japanese in New Guinea.
Air Force | Charles Burnett |  | Air Chief Marshal | Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath | Inspector-General of the Royal Air Force

Chief of Staff of the Royal Australian Air Force

| RAF officer loaned to Australia and served as Chief of the Air Staff from 1940 to 1942. Oversaw a 20-fold increase in the size of the RAAF which supported the Empire Air Training Scheme. Returned to Great Britain in 1942 and while suffering poor health worked in the RAF's cadet organisation, the Air Training Corps. Died of a coronary thrombosis months before the end of the War.  |

* Chief of Air Force

Fighter ace during the First World War. Deputy Commander of RAF in the Middle East.
Air Force | Peter Roy Maxwell Drummond |  | Air Marshal | Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath | Deputy Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief RAF Middle East

Air Member for Training

| Died in an air crash at sea, 1945.  |

* Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Middle East

Fighter ace during the First World War. Deputy Commander of RAF in the Middle East.
Navy | John Gregory Crace |  | Vice Admiral | Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire | Commander, ANZAC Squadron

Commander, Task Force 44

| Commanded Chatham Dockyard in Britain.  |

* Pacific Ocean theatre of World War II
* Battle of the Coral Sea

Commanded the Australian navy in the Battle of the Coral Sea. Commander of the Allied Naval Squadron, ANZAC Force.

#### Canada

[edit]

Armed Force  | Name  | Highest Rank  | Highest Award  |  | Fate  | Theatres / Battles

|
|
|
|
|
|

Army | Harry Crerar |  | General | Order of the Companions of Honour | General Officer Commanding, 2nd Canadian Infantry Division

General Officer Commanding, I Canadian Corps

General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, First Canadian Army

Chief of Staff of the Canadian Army

| Became a diplomat, postings in Czechoslovakia, Netherlands and Japan.  |

* Operation Tractable
* Falaise pocket
* Operation Astonia
* Siege of Dunkirk (1944–45)
* Battle of the Scheldt
* Operation Veritable

De facto commander-in-chief of the Canadian military.[1]
Rod Keller |  | Major General  | Commander of the Order of the British Empire |  |  |
Guy Simonds |  | Lieutenant General | Companion of the Order of Canada | General Officer Commanding, 1st Canadian Infantry Division

General Officer Commanding, II Canadian Corps

General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, First Canadian Army

| In 1951 he was appointed Chief of the General Staff |

* Operation Atlantic
* Battle of Verrières Ridge
* Operation Spring
* Operation Totalize
* Operation Tractable
* Battle of the Scheldt
* Operation Infatuate

Devised the Kangaroo armoured personnel carrier.[1]
Andrew McNaughton |  | Lieutenant General | Order of the Companions of Honour | General Officer Commanding, 1st Canadian Infantry Division

General Officer Commanding, VII Corps

General Officer Commanding, Canadian Corps

General Officer Commanding, I Canadian Corps

General Officer Commanding, 2nd Canadian Infantry Division

Minister of National Defence of Canada

| First President of the United Nations Security Council |

* Minister of National Defense

A noteworthy scientist and inventor of a direction finding device for artillery, a precursor to Radar. Fought in Vimy Ridge during World War I and was a lieutenant colonel. Commander of the Canadian troops until 1943. Was defeated in the Dieppe Raid. Opposed the breaking up of the Canadian Army, and insisted it fight as a single unit. Grandfather of Lieutenant-General Andrew Leslie of Canada.[1]
Air Force | George Croil |  | Air Marshal | Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire  | Chief of the Air Staff of the Royal Canadian Air Force

Inspector-General of the Royal Canadian Air Force

| Died in 1959 in Vancouver, British Columbia.  |

* Defence of Canada
* Overseas operations

Croil succeeded in obtaining the RCAF's independence from the Army just before the war. He was Chief of the Air Staff from 1938 to 1940 and Inspector-General of the Royal Canadian Air Force from 1940 to 1944.
Lloyd Samuel Breadner |  | Air Chief Marshal | Companion of the Order of the Bath | Chief of the Air Staff of the Royal Canadian Air Force

Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, RCAF Overseas

| Retired after the war. Died in 1952 in Boston, Massachusetts.  |

* Defence of Canada
* Overseas operations

A decorated Royal Naval Air Service pilot in World War I, Breadner served as Chief of the Air Staff from 1940 to 1943 and Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief RCAF Overseas from 1944 to 1945. He was one of only two Canadian air chief marshals, the other being Frank Robert Miller.

#### South Africa

[edit]

Armed Force  | Name  | Highest Rank
held during World War II | Highest Award  | Command  | Fate  | Theatres / Battles

|
|
|
|
|
|

Army | Evered Poole |  | Major-General | Companion of the Order of the Bath | General Service Officer Grade 1, 1st Infantry Division

General Service Officer Grade 1, 2nd Infantry Division

General Officer Commanding, 2nd Infantry Brigade

General Officer Commanding, 6th Armoured Division

General Officer Commanding, South African Forces in Allied Central Mediterranean Force

| Passed over as Chief of Staff in 1948 by the newly elected National Party. Posted as head of the South African military mission in Berlin, before embarking on a successful diplomatic career. In 1960, he became ambassador to Greece.  |

* Western Desert Campaign
* Italian Campaign

Commanded the 6th Armoured Division upon its formation in February 1943, and led the division throughout the Italian campaign until 1945. He was among the very few South Africans to be invested as a Commander of the United States Legion of Merit, and was invested as a Commander of the French Legion of Honour. He also received the French Croix de Guerre.
Dan Pienaar |  | Major-General | Companion of the Order of the Bath | General Officer Commanding, 1st Infantry Brigade

General Officer Commanding, 1st Infantry Division

General Officer Commanding, 5th Infantry Brigade

General Officer Commanding, 2nd Infantry Division

| Killed in an air crash near Lake Victoria, Kenya on his way back to South Africa in December 1942. Pienaar was arguably one of South Africa's most charismatic and popular military commanders. An infantry regiment, the exhibition hall at the South African National Museum of Military History and a suburb of his home town, Bloemfontein, were later named after him.  |

* East African Campaign
* Western Desert Campaign

Fought in the East African Campaign, and led the 1st South African Infantry Division in the Western Desert. He was recorded by the press after El Alamein as saying, "Rommel will not get to Alexandria, he will not get the Canal, and he will never dine in Cairo - unless as a tourist."
George Brink |  | General | Companion of the Order of the Bath | General Officer Commanding, 1st Infantry Division

General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Inland Area Command

| Declared unfit for field duty and recalled to South Africa. Although he retired from the military in 1946, Brink led South Africa's demobilisation efforts from 1944 to 1948.  |

* East African Campaign
* Western Desert Campaign

From 1940, Brink commanded the 1st South African Division during the East African Campaign, and later commanded the division during the Western Desert Campaign in North Africa. In 1942, Brink turned over command of the division to Dan Pienaar after being declared unfit for field duty due to a back injury.
Hendrik Klopper |  | General | Distinguished Service Order | General Officer Commanding, 3rd Infantry Brigade

General Officer Commanding, 2nd Infantry Division

| Escaped from captivity in 1943 and was later exonerated by a 1942 Court of Inquiry into the Tobruk disaster, however, Klopper never commanded in the field again.

Officer Commanding the South African Army College from 1944 to 1945, before being appointed in command of Northern Command in 1945. From 1951 to 1953, Klopper served as Army Chief of Staff, as Inspector-General from 1953 to 1956, and as Commandant General of the Union Defence Force from 1956 to 1958.

* Western Desert Campaign

Briefly commanded the 2nd South African Infantry Division from May to June 1942, and was tasked as Fortress Commander of Tobruk. Forced to surrender the Tobruk garrison to Axis forces, with over 30,000 British and Commonwealth troops being taken prisoner. Klopper later escaped from captivity in 1943 and returned to South Africa.
Isaac Pierre de Villiers |  | Major-General | Companion of the Order of the Bath | General Officer Commanding, 2nd Infantry Division | Retired in 1945, became Chairman of the Immigrants Selection Board from 1946 to 1948.  |

* Western Desert Campaign

Commanded the 2nd South African Infantry Division between 1940 and 1942, later overseeing Coastal Area Command in South Africa until 1945. Relinquished command of the 2nd SA Division just one month before the Fall of Tobruk where over 10,000 South Africans were taken prisoner by Axis forces.
Air Force | Pierre van Ryneveld |  | General | Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire | Chief of the General Staff of the Union Defence Force

Founder of the South African Air Force

| Retired in 1949 after serving as CGS for sixteen years, including the whole of the Second World War. The Pretoria suburb of Pierre van Ryneveld Park was named in his honour and the airport just north of Upington in the Northern Cape is also named after Van Ryneveld. Sir Pierre van Ryneveld High School is in Kempton Park, Gauteng. The SAAF's annual air power symposium, is known as the Sir Pierre Van Ryneveld Air Power Symposium.  |

* Chief of the General Staff

Established the SAAF in 1920 and directed it until 1933, when he was promoted to Chief of the General Staff (CGS), in command of the Union Defence Forces. However, for the next four years, the SAAF remained under Van Ryneveld's direct control as no one was appointed as the Air Force's director until 1937.
Air Force | Jimmy Durrant |  | Major-General | Companion of the Order of the Bath | Officer Commanding, No. 40 Squadron SAAF

Officer Commanding, No. 24 Squadron SAAF

Officer Commanding, No. 205 Group RAF

Air Officer Commanding, No. 231 Group SAAF

| In 1946, he became Director-General of the South African Air Force and qualified on a special course at the Imperial Defence College in 1951. He resigned from the SAAF as a result of the de-anglicisation policy instituted by the National Party after they took power after the 1948 general election.  |

* East African Campaign
* North African Campaign
* Far East Campaign

Appointed officer commanding of No. 40 Squadron SAAF, which he commanded in East Africa from May 1940 to September 1941 when was promoted lieutenant-colonel and appointed officer commanding 24 Squadron SAAF. He commanded this squadron throughout the bitter fighting in the Western Desert Campaign in 1941–42. Later promoted colonel and given command of 3 (Bomber) Wing SAAF in North Africa, Sicily and Italy. In 1945, he was posted to the Far East as AOC No. 231 Heavy Bomber Group, RAF, with the rank of major-general. At the age of 32, he was the youngest major-general in the Allied forces.
Navy | Guy Hallifax |  | Rear Admiral | Order of St Michael and St George |  | Killed in an air crash at Baboon Point, 74 kilometres (46 mi) north of Saldanha while returning from a tour of inspection to the newly established naval detachment in Walvis Bay in March 1941.  |

* South African Coastal Defence

Instrumental in overseeing large-scale industrial and administrative expansion of the South African Navy between 1939 and 1941, as well as assuming operational responsibility from the Royal Navy for the first time.

#### New Zealand

[edit]

Armed Force  | Name  | Highest Rank
held during World War II | Highest Award  | Command  | Fate  | Theatres / Battles

|
|
|
|
|
|

Army | Bernard Freyberg, 1st Baron Freyberg |  | Lieutenant General | Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George, Distinguished Service Order
Holder of the Victoria Cross plus three other Distinguished Service Orders (World War I)  | General Officer Commanding, New Zealand Expeditionary Force

General Officer Commanding, 2nd New Zealand Division

| Returned to New Zealand and later became Governor-General of New Zealand |

* Battle of Greece
* Battle of Thermopylae (1941)
* Battle of Crete
* North African Campaign
* Tunisia Campaign
* Italian Campaign (World War II)

A veteran of the Mexican Revolution and Victoria Cross recipient during the First World War. First soldier on beach for the Battle of Gallipoli during the First World War and the youngest general in the British Army during the First World War.[7] He liked to be in the thick of action—Churchill called him "the Salamander" due to his love of fire. Involved in the defeat in the Battle of Greece. Again defeated as the Allied Commander in the Battle of Crete after Churchill failed to provide enigma intelligence. Very successful as a commander in various campaigns in the North African Campaign, including the Battle of El Alamein. Defeated again at the First Battle of Cassino as a Corps Commander. Relieved Padua and Venice, and was first to enter Trieste in the race for Trieste, and successfully confronted Josip Broz Tito's Partisans there. By the end of World War II, Freyberg had spent ten and a half years fighting the Germans during both the second and first world wars.[8]
Air Force | Arthur Coningham |  | Air Marshal | Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath | Air Officer Commanding, No. 4 Group RAF

Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Desert Air Force

Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Northwest African Tactical Air Force

Air Officer Commanding, RAF Second Tactical Air Force

| Missing in Bermuda Triangle.  |

* North African Campaign
* Western Desert Campaign
* First Battle of El Alamein
* Second Battle of El Alamein
* Operation Torch
* Italian Campaign
* North-West Europe Campaign
* Normandy campaign

A high scoring air ace in World War I. Air force Commander working with famous Major General George Patton during Operation Torch. Commander of tactical Air Forces for Operation Husky and D-Day.
Keith Park |  | Air Chief Marshal | Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath | Air Officer Commanding, No. 11 Group RAF

Air Officer Commanding, No. 23 Group RAF

Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Air Headquarters Egypt

Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Air Headquarters Malta

Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Middle East Command

Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Air Command South East Asia

| Returned to New Zealand.  |

* Battle of France
* Battle of Britain
* Battle of Malta
* Pacific Theatre of Operations

A veteran of World War I and air ace. Served under Hugh Dowding and commanded the defense of London during the Luftwaffe attacks. Dowding and Park are credited with winning the Battle of Britain. Led the defense of Malta.
Roderick Carr |  | Air Marshal | Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire | Air Officer Commanding, No. 4 Group RAF | Air Officer Commanding Indian Air Force, 1946  |

* Battle of Britain
* RAF Bomber Command

Served in the Royal Naval Air Service during the First World War. Commander of Northern Ireland RAF. Bomber Command Commander 4 Group. Deputy Chief of Staff (Air), SHAEF.

#### Poland

[edit]

Armed Force  | Name  | Highest Rank  | Highest Award  | Command  | Fate  | Theatres / Battles

|
|
|
|
|
|

Army | Edward Rydz-Śmigły |  | Marshal of Poland | Order of the White Eagle | General Inspector of the Polish Armed Forces | Suffered heart attack before he could participate in the Polish resistance.  |

* Invasion of Poland
* Fighting Poland Movement

Was commander-in-chief of Poland during its invasion by German and Russian troops.[1]
Władysław Sikorski |  | General | Order of the White Eagle | General Inspector of the Polish Armed Forces

Prime Minister of the Polish government-in-exile

Commander-in-Chief, Polish Armed Forces in the West

| Died in plane crash July 1943.  |

* Polish Armed Forces in the West

Served as Commander-in-Chief of the Polish government in exile, and formed the Polish Armed Forces.[1]
Władysław Anders |  | General | Order of the White Eagle | Commander, Nowogródzka Cavalry Brigade

Commander, Anders’ Army

Commander, Polish 2nd Corps

| Became Inspector-General of the Polish Armed Forces in Exile.  |

* Polish Armed Forces in the East

Founder & commander of the Polish Forces Armed in Iran (1942), better known as Anders Army.[1]
Michał Rola-Żymierski |  | Marshal of Poland | Order of the Builders of People's Poland | Commander-in-Chief, Polish Armed Forces in the East

Minister of National Defense of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Poland

| He was a member of the Polish United Workers Party |

* Eastern Front (World War II)
* People's Army of Poland.

Was commander-in-chief of the Polish Army fighting alongside the Soviet Union.[1]
Tadeusz Bór-Komorowski |  | Lieutenant General | Order of the White Eagle | Commander-in-Chief, Home Army | Elected Prime Minister of Polish government in Exile.  |

* Polish Resistance
* Warsaw Uprising

Commanded the main part of the Warsaw Uprising.[1]
Franciszek Kleeberg |  | Major General | Virtuti Militari

Iron Cross

| Commander, Independent Operational Group Polesie | He was one of the officers of the Polish Legion against the Soviets. He was imprisoned in Oflag IV-B Königstein and died in 1941.  |

* Polish–Soviet War
* Invasion of Poland
* Eastern Front (World War I)

The last remaining Polish General holding the Germans off until the battle of Kock, he had never lost a battle until Kock.[9]

#### Czechoslovakia

[edit]

Armed Force  | Name  | Highest Rank  | Highest Award  | Commands  | Fate  | Theatres / Battles

|
|
|
|
|
|

Army | Ludvík Svoboda |  | General | People's Hero of Yugoslavia, Hero of the Soviet Union | Commander-in-Chief, 1st Czechoslovak Army Corps in the Soviet Union | Later president of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic.  |

* Eastern Front
* Battle of Sokolovo
* Battle of the Dukla Pass

Commander of the Czechoslovak military units on the Eastern front
Ján Golian |  | Brigadier General | Czechoslovak War Cross |  | Executed by the Germans in a concentration camp in Flossenburg.  |

* Slovak National Uprising

Led the insurgent Slovak Army during the Slovak National Uprising.

#### Greece

[edit]

Armed Force  | Name  | Highest Rank  | Highest Award  | Commands  | Fate  | Theatres / Battles

|
|
|
|
|
|

Army | Alexander Papagos |  | Field Marshal | the Commander's Cross of the Cross of Valour | Chief of the Hellenic Army General Staff | Deported to Dachau Concentration Camp, led Greek army in Greek Civil War, later Field Marshal and Prime Minister of Greece.  |

* Greek Resistance

Commander-in-Chief of the Greek Army in 1940–41.
Napoleon Zervas |  | Lieutenant Colonel |  | Commander, National Republican Greek League | Twice minister, died in 1957.  |

* Greek Resistance
* Operation Harling

Commander of the National Republican Greek League resistance army.
Stefanos Sarafis |  | Major General |  | Commander, Greek People's Liberation Army | Later MP for the United Democratic Left, died in a car accident in 1957.  |

* Balkan Campaign (World War II)
* Greco-Italian War
* Capture of Klisura Pass
* Italian Spring Offensive
* Battle of Greece

Founder and chief leader of the Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS).
Aris Velouchiotis |  | Corporal (actual rank)
Major of Artillery (assumed rank)  |  | Leader of the National Liberation Front | Committed suicide after the Second World War.  |

* Greek Resistance
* Operation Harling

Chief military officer of the Greek People's Liberation Army after April 1943.[1]
Navy | Alexandros Sakellariou |  | Vice Admiral | the Commander's Cross of the Cross of Valour | Chief of the Hellenic Navy General Staff | MP, Navy and National Defense Minister after the war. Died in 1982.  |

* Battle of the Mediterranean

Chief of staff of the Royal Hellenic Navy 1940–41, Minister for National Defence, 1951–52

#### Netherlands

[edit]

Armed Force  | Name  | Highest Rank  | Highest Award  | Commands  | Fate  | Theatres / Battles

|
|
|
|
|
|

Army | Henri Winkelman |  | General | Military William Order | Chief of Defence of the Netherlands Armed Forces | Died in 1952.  |

* Battle of the Netherlands
* Battle of Maastricht
* Battle for The Hague
* Battle of Zeeland
* Battle of Belgium
* Battle of France

Was Commander-in-Chief of the Netherlands army during the Battle of the Netherlands.[1]
Hein ter Poorten |  | Lieutenant General | Commander-in-Chief, Royal Netherlands East Indies Army

Commander, American-British-Dutch-Australian Land Command

|  | He spent the rest of the war in various prisoner of war camps, and in 1945 returned to the Netherlands. Died in 1968.  |

* Netherlands East Indies campaign
* Battle of Java island

Commander of the ABDA land forces in early 1942.
Navy | Conrad Helfrich |  | Vice Admiral | Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Netherlands Lion | Commander of the Royal Netherlands Navy

Commander, American-British-Dutch-Australian Sea Command

| Died in 1962.  |

* Netherlands East Indies campaign
* Battle of the Java Sea

Commander of the ABDA Naval forces in 1942.
Karel Doorman |  | Rear admiral | Knight of the Military William Order | Commander, American-British-Dutch-Australian Combined Striking Force | Died in Battle of the Java Sea.  |

* Netherlands East Indies campaign
* Battle of Makassar Strait
* Battle of Badung Strait
* Battle of the Java Sea

Commander of the combined American, British, Dutch and Australian (ABDA) fleet in the Dutch East Indies.[1]

#### Luxembourg

[edit]

Armed Force  | Name  | Highest Rank  | Highest Award  | Commands  | Fate  | Theatres / Battles

|
|
|
|
|
|

Army | Émile Speller |  | Major-Commandant  | Order of the Oak Crown | Chief of Defence | Arrested by Germany in 1940 following the invasion of Luxembourg but later released, died 17 January 1952[10] |

* German invasion of Luxembourg

#### Yugoslavia

[edit]

Armed Force  | Name  | Highest Rank  | Highest Award  | Commands  | Fate  | Theatres / Battles

|
|
|
|
|
|

Army | Draža Mihailović |  | General of the Army | Legion of Merit | Commander of the Chetnik Detachments of Yugoslav Army | Executed by Communists in 1946.  |

* World War II in Yugoslavia
* Chetniks

Led the Chetniks.
Josip Broz Tito |  | Marshal | Order of the National Hero | President of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia

Commander-in-Chief of the Yugoslav Partisans

Founder of Democratic Federal Yugoslavia and the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

| Became President of Yugoslavia |

* World War II in Yugoslavia
* Yugoslav Partisans

Led the People's Liberation Army.[1]

Dušan Simović
Milan Nedić

#### China

[edit]

[1]

Armed Force  | Name  | Highest Rank  | Highest Award  | Commands  | Fate  | Theatres / Battles

|
|
|
|
|
|

Army | Chiang Kai-shek |  | Generalissimo | Order of National Glory | Premier of the Republic of China

Commander-in-Chief of the National Revolutionary Army

Chairman of the Military Affairs Commission

Chairman of the Nationalist government

| After the war against Japan, resumed Chinese Civil War against the communists. Retreated to Taiwan and led the Kuomintang (KMT) government there until his death.  |

* Supreme Leader of the China Front

Was both the head of the Republic of China and the supreme Allied commander in the China Theatre. Led the nation to total war from his temporary capital at Chongqing.
Yan Xishan |  | General | Order of Blue Sky and White Sun | Commander of the National Revolutionary Army in Shanxi | Fought on the side of the Republic of China in the civil war.  |

* Second Sino-Japanese War
* Operation Chahar
* Battle of Taiyuan
* Battle of Xinkou

Warlord of Shanxi
Chen Cheng |  | General | Order of Blue Sky and White Sun | Commander-in-Chief, Chinese Expeditionary Force | Became the Chief of the general staff.  |

* Second Sino-Japanese War
* Battle of Shanghai
* Battle of Wuhan
* 1st Battle of Changsha
* Battle of West Hubei
* Burma theatre

Zhu De |  | Marshal of the People's Republic of China | Honour Sabre of the Awakened Lion | Commander-in-Chief, Chinese Red Army

Commander, Eighth Route Army

| Became the commander-in-chief of the People's Liberation Army.  |

* Second Sino-Japanese War
* Battle of Taiyuan
* Battle of Pingxingguan
* Battle of Xinkou
* Hundred Regiments Offensive

Military leader of the Communist Eighth Route Army.
Xue Yue |  | General | Order of Blue Sky and White Sun | Commander, 19th Army Group

Commander, Eastern Henan Army

Commander, 1st Army Corps

Commander, 9th Front

| Fought on the side of the Republic of China in the civil war.  |

* Second Sino-Japanese War
* Battle of Wuhan
* Battle of Wanjialing
* Battle of Nanchang
* 1st Battle of Changsha
* 1939–40 Winter Offensive
* 2nd Battle of Changsha
* 3rd Battle of Changsha
* 4th Battle of Changsha

Li Zongren |  | General | Order of Blue Sky and White Sun | Commander of the KMT Fifth War Zone  | Became the Vice President of the Republic of China.  |

* Second Sino-Japanese War
* Battle of Taierzhuang
* Battle of Wuhan
* Battle of Suixian–Zaoyang
* Battle of Zaoyang–Yichang
* Battle of South Henan

Bai Chongxi |  | General | Order of Blue Sky and White Sun |  | Became the Minister of National Defence of the Republic of China.  |

* Second Sino-Japanese War
* Battle of Taierzhuang
* Battle of Wuhan
* Battle of South Guangxi
* Battle of Henan-Hunan-Guangxi

Navy | Chen Shaokuan |  | Fleet Admiral | Order of Blue Sky and White Sun | Chief of Navy of the Republic of China Navy | Became the Minister of Navy of the Republic of China, the Vice Governor of Fujian Province of the People's Republic of China  |

* Second Sino-Japanese War
* Battle of Jiangyin

Chen Ce |  | Admiral | Order of the British Empire
|  |  |

* Second Sino-Japanese War
* Battle of Humen
* Battle of Hong Kong

Shen Honglie |  | Admiral | Order of Blue Sky and White Sun |  |  |

* Second Sino-Japanese War
* Manchurian Incident
* Battle of Shanghai

### Axis Forces

[edit]

#### Germany

[edit]

Armed Force  | Name  | Highest Rank  | Highest Award  | Commands  | Fate  | Theatres / Battles

|
|
|
|
|
|

Army | Wilhelm Keitel |  | Field Marshal | Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross | Chief of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht | Executed in 1946.  |

* Oberkommando der Wehrmacht

Chief of the OKW during World War II. Was convicted of war crimes in the Nuremberg Trials and executed by the Allies.[1]
Alfred Jodl |  | Colonel General | Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross | Chief of the Operations Staff of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht | Executed in 1946.  |

* Oberkommando der Wehrmacht

Chief of the Operations Staff of the OKW.[1]
Heinrich Himmler |  | Reichsführer-SS | Blood Order, Golden Nazi Party | Reichsfuhrer-SS

Reichsleiter

Chief of German Police

Director of the Reich Security Main Office

Reichsminister of the Interior

| Chief of the SS during World War II.[1] Suicide, 1945.  |

* Operation Konserve
* Operation Nordwind
* Colmar Pocket
* Western Allied invasion of Germany

Military commander and a leading member of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) of Nazi Germany. Nazi leader Adolf Hitler later appointed him Commander of the Replacement (Home) Army and General Plenipotentiary for the administration of the entire Third Reich. Himmler was one of the most influential men in Nazi Germany and one of the persons most directly responsible for the Holocaust.
Walther von Brauchitsch |  | Field Marshal | Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross | Supreme Commander of the German Army | Died in 1948.  |

* Oberkommando des Heeres
* Operation Barbarossa

Commander-in-Chief of the German Army 1938–1941.
Paul Ludwig Ewald von Kleist |  | Field Marshal | Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords | Commander, 1st Panzer Army

Commander-in-Chief, Army Group A

| Died in 1954 in a Soviet prison. Most senior German officer to die in a Soviet prison.  |

* Invasion of Yugoslavia
* Battle of Sedan (1940)
* Battle of Dunkirk
* Battle of Rostov (1941)
* Battle of Brody (1941)
* Case Blue
* Battle of the Dnieper

An aristocrat and senior commander in World War I. Commander of tank armies in the German Army in World War II. Fought in most of the actions involving blitzkrieg techniques.
Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb |  | Field Marshal | Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross | Commander-in-Chief, Army Group C

Commander-in-Chief, Army Group North

| Died in 1956.  |

* German occupation of Czechoslovakia
* Battle of France
* Operation Barbarossa
* Siege of Leningrad

Exemplary service in World War I. Given the command of Army Group North in Operation Barbarossa. Was in charge of the unsuccessful siege of Leningrad, which lasted nearly 1000 days.
Gerd von Rundstedt |  | Field Marshal | Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords | Commander-in-Chief, Army Group South

Commander-in-Chief, Army Group A

Oberbefehlshaber West

| Died in 1953.  |

* Invasion of Poland
* Battle of Belgium
* Battle of France
* Battle of Sedan (1940)
* Battle of Dunkirk
* Dunkirk evacuation
* Operation Barbarossa
* Battle of Uman
* Dieppe Raid
* Battle of Kiev (1941)
* Battle of Rostov (1941)
* Battle of Normandy
* Allied advance from Paris to the Rhine
* Operation Market Garden
* Battle of the Bulge
* Western Allied invasion of Germany
* Pointe du Hoc

A Kriegsakademie graduate of the Prussian nobility, and a major World War I veteran, Rundstedt distinguished himself as commander of numerous fronts of World War II including the Western and Eastern fronts of Europe.[1]
Günther von Kluge |  | Field Marshal | Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords | Commander, 4th Army

Commander-in-Chief, Army Group Centre

Oberbefehlshaber West

| Committed suicide in 1944.  |

* Operation Mars
* Battle of Kursk
* Battle of Smolensk (1943)
* Operation Atlantic
* Operation Goodwood
* Battle of Verrières Ridge
* Operation Cobra
* Operation Lüttich
* Falaise Gap

Commander of many successful operations including the invasion of Poland, France and the Soviet Union. Involved in the failed Hitler assassination, he decided to commit suicide.[1]
Georg von Küchler |  | Field Marshal | Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves | Commander, 18th Army

Commander-in-Chief, Army Group North

| Arrested in 1948 by the Americans, for crimes against the Soviet Union. Released in 1953.  |

* Battle of France
* Battle of the Netherlands
* Battle of the Lys (1940)
* Siege of Leningrad
* Leningrad–Novgorod Offensive

Relieved von Leeb as commander of the siege of Leningrad. After this failed, withdrew Army Group North, which prevented its destruction.[1]
Fedor von Bock |  | Field Marshal | Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross | Commander-in-Chief, Army Group North

Commander-in-Chief, Army Group B

Commander-in-Chief, Army Group Centre

Commander-in-Chief, Army Group South

| Was killed by a British fighter pilot in 1945 and became the only one of two of Adolf Hitler's field marshal's to die from enemy fire.  |

* Invasion of Poland
* Battle of the Netherlands
* Battle of Belgium
* Battle of France
* Operation Barbarossa
* Battle of Białystok-Minsk
* Yelnya Offensive
* Battle of Smolensk (1941)
* Battle of Moscow
* Second Battle of Kharkov
* Case Blue

Recipient of the Pour le Mérite from World War I, rose rapidly in rank to field marshal by the fall of France. Took command of Army Group Centre, whose Panzer groups penetrated the furthest into Russia. Was one of the senior Wehrmacht commanders before the outbreak of war. Play a decisive role in the defeat of Poland and France. Bock was German Army Group Center commander during Operation Barbarossa, after the defeat at Moscow was relieved of command by Hitler. After Reichenau death, he was appointed to take over Army Group South. He was instructmental in defeating Marshal Timoshenko forces at Kharkov. However, Hitler was displeased with Bock and dismissed him. Played no further part in the war[1]
Erich von Manstein |  | Field Marshal | Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oakleaves and Swords | Commander, 18th Infantry Division

Commander, XXXVIII Army Corps

Commander, LVI Panzer Corps

Commander, 11th Army

Commander-in-Chief, Army Group Don

Commander-in-Chief, Army Group South

| Imprisoned after war, later released and served as senior advisor to the Bundeswehr.  |

* Battle of France
* Battle of Sevastopol
* Siege of Odessa (1941)
* Case Blue
* Battle of Stalingrad
* Operation Winter Storm
* Third Battle of Kharkov
* Battle of Kursk
* Battle of the Dnieper
* Battle of Kiev (1943)
* Kamenets-Podolsky pocket

The master of mobile battle, authored the original Sichelschnitt plan, a plan which enabled Germany to capture France with minimal casualties. Manstein captured Sevastapol and was responsible for shoring up the Southern Front after the defeat at Stalingrad. He later recaptured Kharkov. After the defeat at Kursk, he successfully handled his army group retreat. However, he was dismissed by Hitler after frequently clashing with him in 1944. He then played no further part in the war from then on.[1]
Erwin Rommel |  | Field Marshal | Pour le Mérite, Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oakleaves, Swords and Diamonds | Commander, 7th Panzer Division

Commander, Afrika Korps

Commander, Panzer Army Africa

Commander, Army Group Africa

Commander-in-Chief, Army Group B

| Committed suicide after being implicated in the Valkyrie plot. Official cause of death by the State was succumbing to wounds from an Allied air attack.  |

* Battle of France
* Battle of Arras (1940)
* Siege of Lille (1940)
* North African Campaign
* Western Desert Campaign
* Operation Sonnenblume
* Siege of Tobruk
* Operation Brevity
* Operation Battleaxe
* Operation Crusader
* Battle of Gazala
* Battle of Bir Hakeim
* First Battle of El Alamein
* Battle of Alam Halfa
* Second Battle of El Alamein
* Battle of El Agheila
* Tunisia Campaign
* Battle of the Kasserine Pass
* Battle of Medenine
* Battle of Normandy
* Battle for Caen

Nicknamed The Desert Fox, Rommel headed the German campaign of North Africa. Rommel was highly decorated in World War I with the Pour le Mérite, Germany's highest award. During World War II, he made an immediate impact in the Saharan desert, conquering all of West Africa and threatening to reach Suez. A number of factors such as stretching supply lines and the reinforcement of Allied military power (both in Morocco and Egypt) turned the tide in the favour of the Allies, and his forces were routed in the Battle of Tunisia in 1943. Before he could counterattack, German high command reassigned him to defend the Atlantic Wall. Rommel failed to stop the allied invasion of Normandy. Though typically linked to the assassination of Hitler, Rommel likely did not take part in the July 20 plot as he did not want future generations to think that the Axis lost the war due to backstabbing. Nevertheless, Rommel committed suicide in order to avoid trial after the war.[1]
Walter Model |  | Field Marshal | Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oakleaves, Swords and Diamonds | Commander, 3rd Panzer Division

Commander, XLI Panzer Corps

Commander, Ninth Army

Commander-in-Chief, Army Group North

Commander-in-Chief, Army Group North Ukraine

Commander-in-Chief, Army Group Centre

Commander-in-Chief, Army Group B

Oberbefehlshaber West

| Committed suicide in 1945.  |

* Battle of Moscow
* Battles of Rzhev
* Operation Mars
* Battle of Kursk
* Leningrad–Novgorod Offensive
* Operation Tractable
* Battle of Chambois
* Hill 262
* Falaise pocket
* Allied advance from Paris to the Rhine
* Operation Market Garden
* Operation Bagration
* Battle of Hürtgen Forest
* Operation Queen
* Battle of the Bulge
* Western Allied invasion of Germany

German Army officer whose expertise in defensive warfare earned him the nickname of the 'Führer's fireman'[1]
Heinz Guderian |  | Colonel General | Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves | Commander, 2nd Panzer Division

Commander, XVI Army Corps

Commander, XIX Army Corps

Commander, 2nd Panzer Army

Acting Chief of the Oberkommando des Heeres

| Died in 1954.  |

* Oberkommando des Heeres
* Battle of Wizna
* Battle of Kobryń
* Invasion of Luxembourg
* Battle of France
* Battle of Sedan (1940)
* Battle of Montcornet
* Battle of Boulogne (1940)
* Battle of Smolensk (1941)
* Operation Wotan
* Battle of Moscow

Early pioneer of Blitzkrieg tactics. Chief of OKH General Staff 1944–1945.[1]
Friedrich Paulus |  | Generalfeldmarschall | Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves | Deputy Chief of the Oberkommando des Heeres

Commander, 6th Army

| Soviet captivity until 1953. Became a vocal critic of the Nazi regime.  |

* Second Battle of Kharkov
* Battle of Stalingrad
* Operation Uranus

Commander of the disastrous campaign in the Battle of Stalingrad.
Josef Dietrich |  | SS-Oberst-Gruppenführer und Generaloberst der Waffen-SS | Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oakleaves, Swords and Diamonds | Commander, Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler
Commander, I SS Panzer Corps
Commander, 5th Panzer Army
Commander, 6th Panzer Army | Sentenced to life, reduced to 25 years imprisonment in 1946. Promoted welfare of ex-servicemen on release.  |

* Battle of Vevi (1941)
* Battle of Kleisoura Pass
* Operation Perch
* Operation Epsom
* Operation Charnwood
* Operation Goodwood
* Battle of Verrières Ridge
* Operation Spring
* Battle for Caen
* Battle of the Bulge
* Operation Spring Awakening

Before World War II, Dietrich was very close to Hitler, commanded his bodyguard unit, was a member of the Prussian State Council, and played a key part in the Night of the Long Knives. In World War II, he became the commander of 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler and General of the Waffen-SS. Dietrich came into prominence for his role in the Battle of the Bulge in late 1944. He later commanded the defense of Vienna. He was a widely respected person in Germany both during and after the war.[1]
Air force | Hermann Göring |  | Reichsmarschall | Grand Cross of the Iron Cross | Reichsmarschall of the Greater German Reich (supreme commander of the Wehrmacht)

Chief of the Oberkommando der Luftwaffe

| Committed suicide after being sentenced to death for war crimes.  |

* Oberkommando der Luftwaffe
* Rotterdam Blitz
* Battle of France
* Battle of Britain
* Battle of the Atlantic
* Battle of Berlin

Was a high scoring air ace and took over the Red Baron's famous squadron, and won the prestigious Pour le Mérite in World War I. Hitler's second in command. Commander-in-Chief of Luftwaffe 1935–1945. He was involved with the running of Germany and the war, including implementation of the Holocaust.[1]
Albert Kesselring |  | Field Marshal | Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oakleaves, Swords and Diamonds | Commander, Luftflotte 1

Commander, Luftflotte 2

Oberbefehlshaber Süd

Commander, Army Group C

Oberbefehlshaber West

| Died in 1960 at the age of 75.  |

* Oberkommando der Luftwaffe
* Invasion of Poland
* Battle of France
* Battle of Britain
* Battle of Moscow
* Mediterranean and Middle East theatre of World War II
* North African Campaign
* Tunisia Campaign
* Siege of Malta (World War II)
* Italian Campaign (World War II)
* Western Allied invasion of Germany

Was commander-in-chief of Luftwaffe South (1941–1943), then South-west (1943–1945), then West Europe (1945). Chief of the defense of Italy against the allies during the prolonged battles of Anzio and Monte Cassino. Was a leader in the defense of Germany at the end of the war. Kesselring was admired by both sides of the war and was responsible for protecting priceless artworks and even the City of Rome from destruction.[1]
Wolfram Freiherr von Richthofen |  | Field Marshal | Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves | Commander, 8th Air Corps

Commander, Luftflotte 2

Commander, Luftflotte 4

| Died in 1945.  |

* Battle of France
* Battle of Montcornet
* Case Blue
* Battle of Greece
* Battle of Stalingrad

Robert Ritter von Greim |  | Field Marshal | Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oakleaves, Swords and Diamonds | Commander, 5th Air Corps

Commander, 8th Air Corps

Commander, Luftflotte 6

Chief of the Oberkommando der Luftwaffe

| Committed suicide in 1945.  |

* Western Front (World War II)
* Eastern Front (World War II)

An ace of World War I and winner of the prestigious Pour le Mérite award. Before World War II, went to China to help build their air force. A commander of the Luftwaffe during the Battle of Poland. He was loyal to Hitler to the end, flying in on 26 April 1945 with Hanna Reitsch. He and Hanna Reitsch said "It was the blackest day when we could not die at our Führer's side.".[1]
Kurt Student |  | General | Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oakleaves | Commander, 1st Parachute Division | Held as a Prisoner of War by the British and freed in 1948.  |

* Battle of Rotterdam
* Balkan Campaign (World War II)
* Battle of Crete
* Operation Market Garden
* Battle of Overloon

An ace of World War I. Before World War II, trained troops in airborne operations. Commanded the successful airborne operations in the Battle of Crete. Commanded the highly successful operation to free Benito Mussolini. Successful again in the defense against airborne landings near Arnhem.[1]
Navy | Erich Raeder |  | Grand Admiral | Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross | Chief of the Oberkommando der Marine | Died in 1960.  |

* Oberkommando der Marine
* German occupation of Norway
* Battle of the Atlantic
* Operation Sea Lion

Commander-in-Chief of Kriegsmarine 1936–1943.[1]
Karl Dönitz |  | Grand Admiral | Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves | Befehlshaber der U-Boote

Chief of the Oberkommando der Marine

President of Germany

| Briefly became President of Germany. Spent 10 years in prison. Died in 1980.  |

* Oberkommando der Marine
* Battle of the Atlantic

Commander-in-Chief of Kriegsmarine 1943–1945.[1]

#### Italy

[edit]

Armed Force  | Name  | Highest Rank  | Highest Award  | Commands  | Fate  | Theatres / Battles

|
|
|
|
|
|

Army
Pietro Badoglio |  | Marshal of Italy | Knight of the Supreme Order of the Most Holy Annunciation | Chief of the Supreme General Staff

Viceroy of Ethiopia

Prime Minister of Italy

| Succeeded Mussolini and arranged an Armistice of his country with the Allies. Died in 1956 of natural causes (Cardiac asthma).  |

* Mediterranean and Middle East theatre of World War II
* Adriatic Campaign of World War II

Supreme commander of the Royal Italian Army. Was not in favour of Italy's alliance to Germany, and resigned after the Battle of Greece.[1]
Rodolfo Graziani |  | Marshal of Italy | Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus | Chief of Staff of the Royal Italian Army

Governor-General of Libya

Governor-General of Italian East Africa

Minister of National Defense of the Italian Social Republic

| Graziani was sentenced to 19 years in jail but only 4 months were served. Died in 1955.  |

* North African Campaign
* Italian Campaign
* Mediterranean and Middle East theatre of World War II

Viceroy of Italian East Africa, Governor-General of Italian Libya, Minister of Defense of RSI.
Ugo Cavallero |  | Marshal of Italy | Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross | Chief of the Supreme General Staff

Viceroy of Ethiopia

| Committed suicide in 1943 after alienating both Germany and non-fascist Italy.  |

* Mediterranean and Middle East theatre of World War II
* Adriatic Campaign of World War II
* North African Campaign
* Balkan Campaign (World War II)
* Greco-Italian War
* Capture of Klisura Pass
* Battle of Greece

Chief of the Italian Supreme Command 1940–1943.[1]
Giovanni Messe |  | Marshal of Italy | Grand Officer of the Military Order of Savoy | Commander, Italian Expeditionary Corps in Russia

Commander, First Army

Chief of the Supreme General Staff

| Became a member of the Italian Senate. Died in 1968.  |

* North African Campaign
* Battle of Petrikowka
* Tunisia Campaign
* Operation Pugilist
* Battle of El Guettar
* Battle of Wadi Akarit
* Operation Vulcan
* Balkan Campaign (World War II)

Commander of the Italian Expeditionary Corps in Russia. Later defected to the Allies as leader of the Italian Co-belligerent Army
Ettore Bastico |  | Marshal of Italy | Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic | Governor of the Italian Islands of the Aegean

Governor-General of Libya

Commander-in-Chief of Italian forces in North Africa

| Marshal of Italy and high rank officer during North Africa Campaign. Died in 1972.  |

* North African Campaign

Governor of the Italian Aegean Islands and Libya.
Mario Roatta |  | General | Silver Medal of Military Valor (3)  | Deputy Chief of Staff of the Royal Italian Army

Commander, Second Army

| Removed from service by Badoglio in 1943 under Allies' request. He later fled to Spain living under protection of Francisco Franco. In Italy he was sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment but his sentence was overturned in 1948. Died in 1968.  |

* Battle of Málaga
* Battle of Guadalajara
* World War II in Yugoslavia
* Invasion of Yugoslavia
* Case White

General of the Italian Second Army known for his cruelty against civilians in the Italian-occupied Yugoslavia and for the deportation of many Slavs to the Rab concentration camp.
Alfredo Guzzoni |  | General | Commander of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus | Commander-in-Chief, Higher Forces Command Albania

Commander, Fourth Army

Commander, Army Group Liguria

| Died in 1965.  |

* Italian invasion of France
* Allied invasion of Sicily

Commander-in-Chief of Army Group Liguria.
Vittorio Ambrosio |  | General | Commander of the Military Order of Savoy | Commander, 2nd Army

Chief of Staff of the Italian Army

| Was Chief of Staff of the Italian Army. Was demoted to Inspector-General of Army by Badoglio because the Allies didn't trust him. Died in 1958.  |

* Invasion of Yugoslavia

Served an instrumental role in the fall of Benito Mussolini and the breakdown of the alliance between Italy and Germany.
Giuseppe Castellano |  | General | Bronze Medal of Military Valor |  | Negotiated the armistice between Italy and the Allied armed forces in September 1943. Died in 1977.  |

* Invasion of Yugoslavia

Emilio de Bono |  | Marshal of Italy | Knight of the Supreme Order of the Most Holy Annunciation |  | He was one of the members of the Fascist Grand Council who voted oust Benito Mussolini. After Mussolini was put in charge of the Italian Social Republic, de Bono was sentenced to death after the Verona trial in 1944.  |

* Second Italo-Ethiopian War

Navy | Arturo Riccardi |  | Admiral | Grand Officer of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus | Chief of Staff of the Regia Marina | Removed from office by Badoglio. Died in 1966.  |

* Battle of the Mediterranean

Served as Chief of staff of the Italian Navy.
Angelo Iachino |  | Admiral | Grand Officer of the Order of the Crown of Italy | Commander-in-Chief, Battle Fleet  | Died in 1976.  |

* Battle of the Mediterranean
* Battle of Cape Spartivento
* Battle of Cape Matapan
* First Battle of Sirte
* Second Battle of Sirte
* Operation Vigorous
* Operation Halberd

Commander of the Italian Naval Academy
Junio Valerio Borghese |  | Frigate captain | Knight of the Military Order of Savoy | Commander of the Decima Flottiglia MAS | Died under mysterious circumstances in 1974. His death could be compatible with arsenic poisoning.[11] |

* Mediterranean and Middle East theatre of World War II
* Raid on Alexandria

Known for his neofascist activism in post-war Italy and for the Golpe Borghese.
Inigo Campioni |  | Admiral | Grand Officer of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus |  | Executed by a firing squad at Parma on 24 May 1944 after being convicted of high treason by the military tribunal of the Italian Social Republic.  |

* Battle of the Mediterranean
* Battle of Calabria
* Battle of Taranto
* Operation White
* Battle of Cape Spartivento
* Dodecanese Campaign

Giuseppe Fioravanzo |  | Admiral | Military Order of Italy |  | Died in 1975.  |

* Operation Harpoon
* Battle of Cape Matapan

Alberto Da Zara |  | Admiral | Military Order of Italy |  | Died in 1951.  |

* Operation Pedestal
* Operation Harpoon

Air Force | Italo Balbo |  | Marshal of the Air Force | Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus | Quadrumvir of the Grand Council of Fascism

Minister of the Air Force

Governor-General of Libya

| Killed by friendly fire over Tobruk in 1940.  |

* North African Campaign

Governor-General of Libya, Commander-in-Chief of Italian North Africa.
Rino Corso Fougier |  | Chief of Staff of the Italian Air Force | Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus | Chief of Staff of the Royal Italian Air Force

Commander of the Corpo Aereo Italiano

| Served as the commander of the Corpo Aereo Italiano. Served as the Chief of Staff of the Italian Air Force between 1941 and 1943. Died in 1963.  |

* Battle of Britain

Commanded the Regia Aeronautica between 1941 and 1943.
Francesco Pricolo |  | Chief of Staff of the Italian Air Force | Military Order of Savoy | Chief of Staff of the Royal Italian Air Force | Served as the Chief of Staff of the Italian Air Force from 1939 to 1941. Died in 1980  |

* Siege of Malta

#### Japan

[edit]

Armed Force  | Name  | Highest Rank  | Highest Award  | Commands  | Fate  | Theatres / Battles

|
|
|
|
|
|

Army | Hideki Tojo |  | General | Order of the Rising Sun | Prime Minister of Japan

Minister of War

Chief of Army General Staff

Chief of Staff of the Kwantung Army

| Executed in 1948.  |

* Supreme War Council
* Second Sino-Japanese War
* Pacific War

Prime minister of Japan and President of the Imperial Rule Assistance Association in 1941-1944 was also a military commander. Chief of the Army General Staff in 1944.[1]
Hajime Sugiyama |  | Field Marshal | Order of the Rising Sun | Minister of the Army

Inspector-General of Military Training

Commander North China Area Army

Commander Mongolia Garrison Army

Chief of Imperial Japanese Army General Staff

Commander First General Army

| Committed suicide shortly after the end of the war.  |

* Supreme War Council
* Second Sino-Japanese War
* Pacific War

Chief of the Army General Staff 1940–1944.[1]
Prince Kotohito Kan'in |  | Field Marshal | Order of the Chrysanthemum | Chief of Imperial Japanese Army General Staff | Died in 1945  |

* Supreme War Council
* Second Sino-Japanese War
* Battle of Wuhan
* Pacific War

Chief of staff of the Army, 1931–1940
Hisaichi Terauchi |  | Field Marshal | Order of the Rising Sun | Commander, Taiwan Army of Japan

Commander, North China Area Army

Minister of the Army

Commander-in-Chief, Southern Expeditionary Army Group

| Died in a prisoner of war camp in Malaya June 1946.  |

* South West Pacific theatre of World War II
* Kokoda Track campaign
* South-East Asian theatre of World War II
* Battle of Mount Song

Son of former PM Terauchi Masatake, became the senior officer of the Imperial Japanese after the coup of 1936. Was at one time considered as Tojo successor after the latter's resignation.
Shunroku Hata |  | Field Marshal | Order of the Rising Sun | Commander, 14th Division

Commander, Taiwan Army of Japan

Inspector-General of Military Training

Commander, Central China Expeditionary Army

Minister of the Army

Commander-in-Chief, China Expeditionary Army

Commander-in-Chief, 2nd General Army

| Sentenced to imprisonment.  |

* Second Sino-Japanese War
* Battle of Taierzhuang
* Battle of Wuhan
* Zhejiang-Jiangxi Campaign
* Battle of Henan-Hunan-Guangxi

Commanded the Second General Army, based in Hiroshima from 1944 to 1945 in preparation for the anticipated Allied invasion of the Japanese home islands.
Tomoyuki Yamashita |  | General | Order of the Rising Sun | Commander, 3rd Imperial Infantry Regiment

Commander, 4th Division

Commander, 25th Army

Commander, First Area Army

Military Governor of the Philippines

Commander, Fourteenth Area Army

| Executed at 1946.  |

* South-East Asian theatre of World War II
* Japanese invasion of Thailand
* Malayan Campaign
* Battle of Kampar
* Battle of Singapore
* Invasion of Sumatra
* Battle of Leyte
* Battle of Ormoc Bay
* Invasion of Lingayen Gulf
* Battle of Luzon
* Battle of Bessang Pass
* Raid at Cabanatuan
* Battle of Maguindanao

Forced the surrender of the allies in the Battle of Singapore. Defender of the Philippines against MacArthur. an American military tribunal in Manila tried General Yamashita for war crimes relating to the Manila Massacre and many atrocities in the Philippines and Singapore against civilians and prisoners of war, such as the Sook Ching massacre, and sentenced him to death. This controversial case has become a precedent regarding the command responsibility for war crimes and is known as the Yamashita Standard.[1]
Iwane Matsui |  | General | Order of the Rising Sun | Commander, 11th Division

Commander, Taiwan Army of Japan

Commander, Shanghai Expeditionary Army

Commander, Central China Expeditionary Army

| Retired 1938, executed in 1948.  |

* Second Sino-Japanese War
* Battle of Shanghai
* Battle of Nanjing

Arrested by the American occupation authorities after the surrender of Japan, Matsui was charged with war crimes in connection with the actions of the Japanese army in China also known as The Nanking Massacre. In 1948, the International Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE) found him guilty of class B and C war crimes, and he was hanged that December at Sugamo Prison, alongside six others, including Hideki Tojo. He was 70 at the time of his death.
Navy | Osami Nagano |  | Fleet Admiral | Order of the Rising Sun | Minister of the Navy

Chief of Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff

| Died of a heart attack in 1947.  |

* Supreme War Council
* Pacific War

Chief of the Navy General Staff, 1941–1944.
Prince Fushimi Hiroyasu |  | Fleet Admiral | Order of the Chrysanthemum | Chief of Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff | Died in 1946.  |

* Supreme War Council
* Pacific War

Chief of staff of the Navy, 1932–1941.
Isoroku Yamamoto |  | Fleet Admiral | Order of the Chrysanthemum | Director of the Imperial Japanese Navy Aviation Bureau

Vice-Minister of the Navy

Commander-in-Chief, First Fleet

Commander-in-Chief, Combined Fleet

| The plane carrying him was shot down in 1943.  |

* Pacific Ocean theatre of World War II
* Attack on Pearl Harbor
* Battle of Midway
* Solomon Islands campaign
* Invasion of Tulagi (May 1942)
* Guadalcanal Campaign
* Battle of Savo Island
* Battle of the Eastern Solomons
* Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands
* Naval Battle of Guadalcanal
* Battle of Rennell Island
* Operation Ke
* Operation I-Go

Commander of the 7 December 1941 Attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Japanese Navy 1939–1943. Isoroku Yamamoto, was killed on Bougainville Island when his transport bomber aircraft was shot down by United States Army Air Forces fighter aircraft operating from Kukum Field on Guadalcanal.[1]
Mineichi Koga |  | Fleet Admiral | Order of the Rising Sun | Vice Chief of the Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff

Commander, 2nd Fleet

Commander-in-Chief, China Area Fleet

Commander-in-Chief, Combined Fleet

| Killed in plane crash 1944.  |

* Pacific Ocean theatre of World War II
* Battle of Hong Kong
* Bombing of Rabaul (November 1943)

Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Japanese Navy 1943–1944.[1]
Soemu Toyoda |  | Admiral | Order of the Rising Sun | Commander-in-Chief, 4th Fleet

Commander-in-Chief, 2nd Fleet

Commander-in-Chief, Kure Naval District

Commander-in-Chief, Yokosuka Naval District

Chief of Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff

| Died in 1957 at the age of 73.  |

* Supreme War Council
* Pacific War

Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Japanese Navy 1944–1945, Chief of staff of the Navy 1945.[1]
Chūichi Nagumo |  | Admiral | Order of the Rising Sun | Commander-in-Chief, 1st Air Fleet

Commander-in-Chief, 3rd Fleet

Commander-in-Chief, Sasebo Naval District

Commander-in-Chief, Kure Naval District

Commander-in-Chief, 1st Fleet

Commander-in-Chief of Central Pacific Area Fleet and 14th Air Fleet

| Committed suicide in 1944 during the battle of Saipan.  |

* Attack on Pearl Harbor
* Indian Ocean raid
* Bombing of Darwin
* Battle of Midway
* Battle of the Eastern Solomons
* Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands
* Battle of Saipan

Torpedo specialist and commander of the Carrier Striking Task Force that attacked Pearl Harbor. Successful raids at Darwin and the Indian Ocean were reversed at the Battle of Midway. Although he had tactical victories in the Guadalcanal campaigns, his battle strength was severely depleted, and was switched to the defence of the Mariana Islands.[1]
Jisaburō Ozawa |  | Vice Admiral | Order of the Sacred Treasure | Commander-in-Chief, Combined Fleet | Died in 1966.  |

* Invasion of Sumatra (1942)
* Battle of Palembang
* Battle of the Philippine Sea
* Battle of Leyte Gulf

Replaced Toyoda in 1945 to become commander-in-chief of the Japanese Combined Fleet[1]

Army: Korechika Anami

#### Hungary

[edit]

Armed Force  | Name  | Highest Rank  | Highest Award  | Commands  | Fate  | Theatres / Battles

|
|
|
|
|
|

Army | Gusztáv Jány |  | Colonel General | Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross | Commander, Hungarian Second Army | Sentenced to death in 1947.  |

* Battle of Voronezh
* Battle of Stalingrad
* Ostrogozhsk–Rossosh Offensive
* Operation Little Saturn

Commanders of the Hungarian Second Army at Battle of Stalingrad.
Dezső László |  | Colonel General | Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross | Commander, Hungarian First Army | Sentenced to death in 1949.  |

* Battle of the Dukla Pass
* Battle of Budapest

Commanders of the Hungarian First Army at Battle of Budapest
Géza Lakatos |  | Colonel General | Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross | Commander, Hungarian First Army

Commander, Hungarian Second Army

Prime Minister of Hungary

| Died in 1967, Australia at the age of 77.  |

* militarily organized corps

Was a colonel general in the Hungarian Army during World War II who served briefly as Prime Minister of Hungary, under governor Miklós Horthy from 29 August 1944, until 15 October 1944.
Ferenc Szombathelyi |  | Colonel General | Order of Merit of the Kingdom of Hungary | Chief of General Staff of the Royal Hungarian Army | Died in 1946.  |

* Operation Barbarossa
* Hungarian occupation of Yugoslav territories

Served as Chief of Army Staff of the Royal Hungarian Army.
Ferenc Feketehalmy-Czeydner |  | Colonel General | Order of Merit of the Kingdom of Hungary | Commanding General, V Corps | Died in 1946.  |

* Hungarian occupation of Yugoslav territories

Had a significant role in the Novi Sad massacre.
Béla Miklós |  | Colonel General | Order of Vitéz | Commander, Hungarian First Army

Prime Minister of Hungary

| Died in 1948.  |

* Operation Panzerfaust

Commanded the Hungarian First Army. He supported leaving the Axis powers and joining the Red Army.

#### Thailand

[edit]

Armed Force  | Name  | Highest Rank  | Highest Award  | Commands  | Fate  | Theatres / Battles

|
|
|
|
|
|

Army | Plaek Phibunsongkhram |  | Field marshal | Order of the Nine Gems | Commander of the Royal Thai Army

Prime Minister of Thailand

Minister of Defence

| Later ousted after the defeat of the Japanese, only to return to power in 1948 and become prime minister until 1957.  |

* South-East Asian theatre of World War II
* French-Thai War
* Japanese invasion of Thailand
* Malayan Campaign
* Burma Campaign

Prime Minister and dictator of Thailand during the war, eventually commanding the Royal Thai Armed Forces during the French-Thai War.
Charun Rattanakun Seriroengrit |  | Lieutenant general | Order of the Crown of Thailand | Commander, Phayap Army | Commander of an infantry battalion and took part in the invasion and occupation of the Shan States in Burma.  |

* Franco-Thai War
* Japanese conquest of Burma
* Burma Campaign

Commander of Phayap Army during the Pacific War.

#### Romania

[edit]

Armed Force  | Name  | Highest Rank  | Highest Award  | Commands  | Fate  | Theatres / Battles

|
|
|
|
|
|

Army | Ion Antonescu |  | Marshal of Romania | Order of Michael the Brave | Prime Minister of Romania

Conducător of Romania

Minister of War of Romania

Commander-in-Chief of Romanian Armed Forces

| Executed in 1946.  |

* Eastern Front (World War II)
* Operation München
* Second Jassy–Kishinev Offensive

Took control of Romania when Carol II abdicated and established a fascist dictatorship with the Iron Guard Party. Acted as Commander-in-Chief of the Romanian Army and Conducător of Romania, recapturing Bessarabia and northern Bucovina, then appointed himself marshal. When his forces were decimated at the Battle of Stalingrad, he started negotiating for peace [citation needed]. His career ended in 1944 when he was arrested by King Michael, who signed an armistice with the Allies.[1]
Petre Dumitrescu |  | General | Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves | General Officer Commanding, Romanian Third Army | Died in 1950 after a bout with cancer.  |

* Eastern Front (World War II)
* Operation München
* Battle of Stalingrad
* Dnieper–Carpathian Offensive
* First Jassy–Kishinev Offensive
* Second Jassy–Kishinev Offensive

Commanded the Romanian First Army between 1940 and 1941. Commanded the Romanian Third Army between 1941 and 1944.
Constantin Constantinescu-Claps |  | General | Order of Michael the Brave | General Officer Commanding, Romanian Fourth Army | Died in 1961.  |

* Eastern Front (World War II)
* Battle of Stalingrad

Commanded the Romanian Fourth Army between 1941 and 1943.
Gheorghe Avramescu |  | General | German Cross in Gold | General Officer Commanding, 10th Division

General Officer Commanding, Mountain Corps

General Officer Commanding, III Corps

General Officer Commanding, VI Corps

General Officer Commanding, 4th Army

| Died in 1945.  |

* Eastern Front (World War II)

Commanded the Romanian Mountain Corps between 1941 and 1943. Commanded the Romanian Fourth Army between 1944 and 1945.
Ioan Mihail Racoviță |  | General | Order of Michael the Brave | General Officer Commanding, Romanian Cavalry Corps

General Officer Commanding, Romanian Fourth Army

Minister of Defense of Romania

| Died in 1954.  |

* Eastern Front (World War II)

Commanded the Romanian Cavalry Corps between 1941 and 1943. Commanded the Romanian Mechanized Troops between 1943 and 1944.
Vasile Atanasiu |  | General | Order of the White Lion | General Officer Commanding, 1st Romanian Army | Died in 1964.  |

* Eastern Front (World War II)
* Prague Offensive

Commanded the 3rd Army Corps in the liberation of Bessarabia, the battle for the beachhead of Albiţa on the Prut River, the advance to the Dniester at Tiraspol between 1941 and 1943. Commanded the Romanian First Army in 1945, in the battles on the Czechoslovakian front in the Javorina, between the rivers Hron and Morava and thereafter in Bohemia.
Mihail Lascăr |  | General | Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves |  | Died in 1959.  |

* Eastern Front (World War II)
* Crimean Campaign
* Battle of Stalingrad

Commanded the 1st Mixed Mountain Brigade, an elite unit of the Romanian Third Army between 1941 and 1942. Commanded the 6th Division of the Romanian Third Army in 1942. Was taken prisoner at the Battle of Stalingrad and became commander of the Romanian Fourth Army in 1945.
Constantin Sănătescu |  | General |  | General Officer Commanding, 4th Army Corps

General Officer Commanding, Romanian Fourth Army

Chief of the Romanian General Staff

| Died in 1948.  |

* Eastern Front (World War II)

Commanded the 4th Army Corps between 1941 and 1943. Commanded the Romanian Fourth Army between 1943 and 1944. Major participant in the 1944 Romanian coup d'état.
Constantin Nicolescu |  | Lieutenant General | Order of Michael the Brave | Minister of Defense of Romania | Died in 1972.  |

* Eastern Front (World War II)

Commanded the Bucharest Military between 1941 and 1943. Commanded the 4th Army Corps between 1943 and 1944. Was among the generals who prepared the King Michael Coup, and from November 1944 until the abolition of the monarchy in December 1947 served as head of the royal household.
Corneliu Dragalina |  | Lieutenant General | Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross | Governor-General of Bukovina | Died in 1949.  |

* Eastern Front (World War II)

Commanded the 6th Army Corps between 1940 and 1943.
Ioan Dumitrache |  | Major General | Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross | General Officer Commanding, 2nd Mountain Division

General Officer Commanding, Mountain Corps

| Died in 1977.  |

* Eastern Front (World War II)

Commanded the 2nd Mountain Division between 1942 and 1944. Was promoted to major general in 1944 and commanded the Romanian Mountain Corps.
Gheorghe Manoliu |  | Major General | Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross | General Officer Commanding, 4th Mountain Division  | Died in 1974.  |

* Eastern Front (World War II)

Commanded the 4th Mountain Division between 1940 and 1942. Was promoted to major general in 1943 and commanded the 4th Army Corps.
Emanoil Bârzotescu |  | Major General | Order of the Crown (Romania) | General Officer Commanding, 1st Division

General Officer Commanding, 6th Corps

| Died in 1968.  |

* Eastern Front (World War II)

Commanded the 1st Infantry Division between 1940 and 1942. Retired in 1942 and was recalled in 1945. Commanded the 6th Crops Area in 1945.
Dumitru Dămăceanu |  | Brigadier General | Order of Michael the Brave | General Officer Commanding, 10th Roșiori Cavalry Regiment

General Officer Commanding, Capital Military Command

| Died in 1978.  |

* Eastern Front (World War II)

Commanded the 10th Cavalry Regiment between 1941 and 1942. Chief of Staff in Bucharest Military between 1942 and 1944. Major participant in King Michael's Coup of 1944.
Leonard Mociulschi |  | Brigadier General | Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross |  | Died in 1979.  |

* Eastern Front (World War II)

Commanded the 1st Mixed Mountain Brigade, an elite unit of the Romanian Third Army between 1940 and 1941. Commanded the 3rd Mixed Mountain Brigade between 1942 and 1943.
Corneliu Teodorini |  | Brigadier General | Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves |  | Died in 1976.  |

* Eastern Front (World War II)

Commanded the 6th Cavalry Regiment.
Navy | Horia Macellariu |  | Rear Admiral | Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross | Commander-in-Chief, Black Sea Fleet  | Died in 1989.  |

* Black Sea Campaigns (1941–44)
* Operation Achse
* Evacuation of the Crimea

Commanded the Royal Romanian Navy's Black Sea Fleet between 1941 and 1944.

#### Slovakia

[edit]

Armed Force  | Name  | Highest Rank  | Highest Award  | Commands  | Fate  | Theatres / Battles

|
|
|
|
|
|

Army | Ferdinand Čatloš |  | Major General |  | General Officer Commanding, Field Army Bernolák

Minister of Defence of Slovakia

| Was briefly imprisoned, set free in 1948, died in 1972.  |

* Invasion of Poland
* Eastern Front (World War II)
* Slovak National Uprising

Slovakian Minister of Defence and Chief General Staff.

#### Bulgaria

[edit]

Air force Stoyan Stoyanov

### Others

[edit]

#### Finland

[edit]

Armed Force  | Name  | Highest Rank  | Highest Award  | Commands  | Fate  | Theatres / Battles

|
|
|
|
|
|

Army | Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim |  | Marshal of Finland | Grand Cross of the Order of the Cross of Liberty | Commander-in-Chief of the Finnish Defence Forces

President of Finland

| Succeeded Risto Ryti as President of Finland. Died in 1951  |

* Winter War
* Battle of Summa
* Continuation War
* Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive
* Eastern Front (World War II)
* Operation Barbarossa
* Siege of Leningrad

Was Commander-in-Chief of Finnish army during World War II. Organised the Mannerheim Line in the Karelian Peninsula.[1]
Karl Lennart Oesch |  | Lieutenant General | Mannerheim Cross | Commander, II Corps

Commander, IV Corps

| Died in 1978  |

* Finnish reconquest of the Karelian Isthmus (1941)
* Eastern Front (World War II)
* Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive
* Battle of Tienhaara
* Battle of Tali-Ihantala

An influential Finnish general. II Corps and III Corps of the Finnish ground forces were under his command at the end of the Continuation War.
Ruben Lagus |  | Lieutenant General | Mannerheim Cross | Commander, Finnish Armoured Division | Died in 1959.  |

* Winter War
* Continuation War
* Lapland War
* Battle of Taipaleenkylä
* Battle of Ylimaa
* Battle of Rovaniemi

Commanded the Finnish Armoured Division (Panssaridivisioona) during the Lapland War.
Erik Heinrichs |  | General | Mannerheim Cross | Commander, III Corps

Commander, Army of the Isthmus

Commander, Army of Karelia

| Died in 1965.  |

* Winter War
* Continuation War
* Battle of Taipale

Commanded the Army of Karelia and the Army of the Isthmus.
Vilho Nenonen |  | General | Mannerheim Cross |  | Died in 1960.  |

* Winter War
* Continuation War

He was extremely influential in the development of the Finnish Army's artillery. The trajectory calculation formulas he developed are still in use today by modern artillery.
Paavo Talvela |  | General | Mannerheim Cross | Commander, IV Corps

Commander, III Corps

Commander, VI Corps

| Died in 1973.  |

* Winter War
* Battle of Tolvajärvi
* Continuation War
* Finnish reconquest of Ladoga Karelia (1941)

He commanded the Finnish III Corps in the Winter War from February 1940 to the end of the Winter War.

#### Burma

[edit]

Armed Force  | Name  | Highest Rank  | Highest Award  | Commands  | Fate  | Theatres / Battles

|
|
|
|
|
|

Army | Aung San |  | Major General | Order of the Star of the Revolution | Leader of the Thirty Comrades | Arranged for the establishment of Burmese independence, assassinated under mysterious circumstances in 1947.  |

* South-East Asian theatre of World War II
* Burma Campaign

Led the Burma National Army and the Anti-Fascist Organisation.

#### Ukraine

[edit]

Armed Force  | Name  | Highest Rank  | Highest Award  | Commands  | Fate  | Theatres / Battles

|
|
|
|
|
|

Army | Roman Shukhevych |  | General | Gold Cross of Combat Merit First Class, the Cross of Merit in gold  | Supreme Commander of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army | Died fighting NKVD forces in Lviv in 1950.  |

* Ukraine anti partisan operations

Supreme commander of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army.

## See also

[edit]

* Allied leaders of World War II
* Axis leaders of World War II

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as at au av aw ax ay az ba bb bc bd be bf bg bh bi bj bk bl bm bn bo bp bq br bs bt bu bv bw bx by I.C.B Dear; M.R.D. Foot (2005). Oxford Companion to the Second World War (paperback ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-280666-6.
2. ^ Lord Ismay (2001). NATO, the first 5 years. NATO archives.
3. ^ C A Portal_P
4. ^ Ossad, Steven L., Command Failures: Lessons Learned from Lloyd R. Fredendall, Army Magazine, March 2003
5. ^ "Fleet Admiral William D. Leahy". NHHC. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
6. ^ "Fleet Admiral Halsey Jr Profile at Naval Historical center". Archived from the original on 6 February 1997. Retrieved 3 January 2007.
7. ^ Youngest General WW1 Archived 15 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine
8. ^ Freyberg - Archives from Italy
9. ^ "He fought to the bitter end". Archived from the original on 15 March 2008.
10. ^ "Décès du Colonel E. Speller, Aide de Camp de S. A. R. Madame la Grande-Duchesse de Luxembourg" (PDF). Grand Duché de Luxembourg Ministére D'État Bulletin D'Information (in French). Vol. 8, no. 12\. Luxembourg: Service information et presse. 29 February 1952. p. 30\. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 August 2016. Retrieved 13 January 2018.
11. ^ Incerti, Corrado. "Borghese: indigestione o veleno?" (PDF). Retrieved 8 December 2014.

* v
* t
* e

World War II

* Outline
* Battles
* Operations
* Leaders
* Allied
* Axis
* Commanders
* Casualties
* Conferences

General|

| Topics|

* Air warfare of World War II
* In Europe
* Blitzkrieg
* Comparative military ranks
* Cryptography
* Declarations of war
* Diplomacy
* Governments in exile
* Home front
* Australian
* United Kingdom
* United States
* Lend-Lease
* Manhattan Project
* British contribution
* Military awards
* Military equipment
* Military production
* Naval history
* Nazi plunder
* Opposition
* Technology
* Allied cooperation
* Mulberry harbour
* Total war
* Strategic bombing
* Puppet states
* Women
* Art and World War II
* Music in World War II
* Weather events during World War II

|

Theaters|

* Asia and Pacific
* China
* South-East Asia
* Pacific
* North and Central Pacific
* South-West Pacific
* Indian Ocean
* Europe
* Western Front
* Eastern Front
* Mediterranean and Middle East
* North Africa
* East Africa
* Italy
* West Africa
* Atlantic
* timeline
* Americas

Aftermath|

* Chinese Civil War
* Cold War
* Decolonization
* Division of Korea
* First Indochina War
* Expulsion of Germans
* Greek Civil War
* Indonesian National Revolution
* Keelhaul
* Marshall Plan
* Occupation of Germany
* Occupation of Japan
* Osoaviakhim
* Paperclip
* Soviet occupations
* Baltic
* Hungary
* Poland
* Romania
* Territorial changes of Germany
* Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany
* United Nations

War crimes|

* Allied war crimes
* Soviet war crimes
* Atrocities against prisoners of war
* British war crimes
* United States war crimes
* German war crimes
* forced labour
* Wehrmacht war crimes
* The Holocaust
* Aftermath
* Response
* Nuremberg trials
* Italian war crimes
* Japanese war crimes
* Nanjing Massacre
* Unit 731
* Prosecution
* Croatian war crimes
* Genocide of Serbs
* Persecution of Jews
* Romanian war crimes
* Sexual violence
* German military brothels
* Camp brothels
* Rape during the occupation of Germany  / Japan  / Poland  / Manchuria
* Rape during the liberation of France  / Serbia
* Sook Ching
* Comfort women
* Rape of Manila
* Marocchinate

Participants|

| Allies|

* Algeria
* Australia
* Belgium
* Brazil
* Bulgaria (from September 1944)
* Canada
* China
* Cuba
* Czechoslovakia
* Denmark
* Ethiopia
* Eswatini (formerly Swaziland)
* Finland (from September 1944)
* France
* Free France
* Greece
* India
* Italy (from September 1943)
* Liberia
* Luxembourg
* Mexico
* Netherlands
* Newfoundland
* New Zealand
* Norway
* Philippines
* Poland
* Romania (from August 1944)
* Sierra Leone
* South Africa
* Southern Rhodesia
* Soviet Union
* Tuva
* United Kingdom
* British Empire
* United States
* Puerto Rico
* Yugoslavia

|

Axis|

* Albania protectorate
* Bulgaria (until September 1944)
* State of Burma
* Republic of China (Wang Jingwei)
* Independent State of Croatia
* Finland (until September 1944)
* German Reich
* Hungary
* Azad Hind
* Iraq
* Italy (until September 1943)
* Italian Social Republic
* Empire of Japan
* Manchukuo
* Mengjiang
* Philippines
* Romania (until August 1944)
* Slovak Republic
* Thailand
* Vichy France
* Guangzhouwan
* French Indochina
* French Madagascar
* Syria–Lebanon
* French North Africa
* French West Africa
* Collaboration

Neutral|

* Afghanistan
* Andorra
* Bhutan
* Ireland
* Liechtenstein
* Monaco
* Portugal
* San Marino
* Saudi Arabia
* Spain
* Sweden
* Switzerland
* Tibet
* Turkey
* Vatican City
* Yemen

Resistance|

* Albania
* Austria
* Belgium
* Bulgaria
* Czech lands
* Denmark
* Dutch East Indies
* Estonia
* Ethiopia
* France
* Germany
* Greece
* Hong Kong
* Italy
* Japan
* Jews
* Korea
* Korean Liberation Army
* Korean Volunteer Army
* Latvia
* Lithuania
* Luxembourg
* Malaya
* Netherlands
* Northeast China
* Norway
* Philippines
* Poland
* Romania
* Thailand
* Soviet Union
* Slovakia
* Western Ukraine
* Vietnam
* Quốc dân Đảng
* Viet Minh
* Yugoslavia

POWs|

* Finnish prisoners in the Soviet Union
* German prisoners
* Soviet Union
* Azerbaijan
* United States
* United Kingdom
* Italian prisoners in the Soviet Union
* Japanese prisoners
* Soviet Union
* German atrocities against Polish POWs
* Soviet prisoners
* Finland
* atrocities by Germans
* Polish prisoners in the Soviet Union
* Romanian prisoners in the Soviet Union

Timeline|

| Prelude|

* Africa
* Second Italo-Ethiopian War
* Asia
* Second Sino-Japanese War
* Battles of Khalkhin Gol
* Europe
* Remilitarisation of the Rhineland
* Anschluss
* Munich Agreement
* Occupation of Czechoslovakia
* Operation Himmler
* Italian invasion of Albania

|

1939|

* Invasion of Poland
* Battle of the Atlantic
* Phoney War
* First Battle of Changsha
* Battle of South Guangxi
* Winter War
* 1939–1940 Winter Offensive

1940|

* Norwegian campaign
* German invasion of Denmark
* Battle of Zaoyang–Yichang
* German invasion of Luxembourg
* German invasion of the Netherlands
* German invasion of Belgium
* Battle of France
* Dunkirk evacuation
* Battle of Britain
* Battle of the Mediterranean
* North Africa
* West Africa
* British Somaliland
* Hundred Regiments Offensive
* Baltic states
* Eastern Romania
* Japanese invasion of French Indochina
* Italian invasion of Greece
* Compass

1941|

* Battle of South Henan
* Battle of Shanggao
* Invasion of Yugoslavia
* German invasion of Greece
* Battle of Crete
* Anglo-Iraqi War
* Battle of South Shanxi
* Syria–Lebanon campaign
* East African campaign
* Invasion of the Soviet Union
* Summer War
* Finland (Silver Fox)
* Lithuania
* Battle of Kiev
* Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran
* Second Battle of Changsha
* Siege of Leningrad
* Battle of Moscow
* Bombing of Gorky
* Siege of Sevastopol
* Attack on Pearl Harbor
* Japanese invasion of Thailand
* Fall of Hong Kong
* Fall of the Philippines
* Battle of Guam
* Battle of Wake Island
* Malayan campaign
* Battle of Borneo
* Japanese invasion of Burma
* Third Battle of Changsha
* Greek famine of 1941–1944

1942|

* Fall of Singapore
* Battle of the Java Sea
* St Nazaire Raid
* Battle of Christmas Island
* Battle of the Coral Sea
* Battle of Madagascar
* Zhejiang-Jiangxi campaign
* Battle of Gazala
* Battle of Dutch Harbor
* Battle of Midway
* Aleutian Islands campaign
* Kiska
* Attu
* Blue
* First Battle of El Alamein
* Battle of Stalingrad
* Kokoda Track campaign
* Rzhev
* Jubilee
* Second Battle of El Alamein
* Guadalcanal campaign
* Torch
* Chinese famine of 1942–1943

1943|

* Black May
* Tunisian campaign
* Battle of West Hubei
* Battle of Attu
* Bombing of Gorky
* Battle of Kursk
* Allied invasion of Sicily
* Smolensk
* Solomon Islands campaign
* Cottage
* Battle of the Dnieper
* Allied invasion of Italy
* Armistice of Cassibile
* Burma
* Northern Burma and Western Yunnan
* Changde
* Second Battle of Kiev
* Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign
* Tarawa
* Makin
* Bengal famine of 1943

1944|

* Tempest
* Monte Cassino / Anzio
* Korsun–Cherkassy
* Narva
* U-Go
* Imphal
* Ichi-Go
* Kohima
* Overlord
* Neptune
* Mariana and Palau
* Bagration
* Western Ukraine
* Second Battle of Guam
* Tannenberg Line
* Warsaw Uprising
* Eastern Romania
* Liberation of Paris
* Dragoon
* Gothic Line
* Belgrade offensive
* Battle of San Marino
* Lapland
* Market Garden
* Estonia
* Crossbow
* Pointblank
* Vietnamese famine of 1944–1945
* Philippines (1944–1945)
* Leyte
* Syrmian Front
* Hungary
* Budapest
* Burma (1944–1945)
* Ardennes
* Bodenplatte
* Dutch famine of 1944–1945

1945|

* Vistula–Oder
* Battle of Manila
* Battle of Iwo Jima
* Indochina
* Vienna offensive
* Project Hula
* Western invasion of Germany
* Bratislava–Brno offensive
* Battle of Okinawa
* Second Guangxi campaign
* West Hunan
* Italy (Spring 1945)
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