What kind of question this!? I believe in English you call this "moving of goalposts" yes? "Field Marshal", what rank is that? A rank of Hitler's lapdogs, and British scoundrels! We may only have met only handful of times, but I well remember you Montgomery. What fool at Guard of Horses saw fit to give you commission, let alone a command? Perhaps you made for good lieutenant once, but a "Field Marshal"? I laugh! You lacked even most basic understanding of large scale operations. I remember it well when you had effrontery to claim El Alamein was great a victory at that of Stalingrad! I may have held tongue then, but inside I seethed! You piss on the bravery and honor of Soviet soldier with such comparison! You betray your ignorance of what true strategic operations entail! El Alamein... You command barely 200,000 men, just single Army, and portray it as greatest victory of war when steamrolling a Fascist roadbump of insignificant numbers. Such insolence!

Stalingrad, let me tell you of Stalingrad! It a clash of a million men! It multiple armies arrayed for battle! It was fight for survival. Fight for soul of Motherland. It was triumph over the Hitlerite hoards! It a true victory unequaled in annals of history. And you compare your sandbox game to it. You know nothing of war. You are nothing compared to Marshal of Soviet Union G..K. Zhukov, true vanquisher of German hoards. I have never lost battle^1 . You? I have seen studies of "Market Garden". I have seen your hubris. You have lost battle. You have never even won battle worth mentioning.

^1: ^^^While ^^^the ^^^Marshal ^^^who ^^^never ^^^lost ^^^a ^^^battle ^^^was ^^^indeed ^^^Zhukov's ^^^sobriquet, ^^^it ^^^is ^^^certainly ^^^an ^^^inaccurate ^^^one. ^^^While ^^^one ^^^can ^^^debate ^^^a ^^^few ^^^other ^^^encounters, ^^^the ^^^disastrous ^^^Operation ^^^Mars ^^^was ^^^planned ^^^and ^^^executed ^^^by ^^^Zhukov ^^^and ^^^in ^^^no ^^^way ^^^labeled ^^^anything ^^^other ^^^than ^^^an ^^^adamant ^^^defeat, ^^^which ^^^Zhukov ^^^attempting ^^^to ^^^save ^^^face ^^^by ^^^simply ^^^shoveling ^^^more ^^^men ^^^and ^^^material ^^^into ^^^the ^^^grinder ^^^without ^^^success. ^^^Information ^^^was ^^^near ^^^totally ^^^suppressed, ^^^and ^^^it ^^^was ^^^essentially ^^^unknown ^^^for ^^^several ^^^decades ^^^after ^^^the ^^^war ^^^.David ^^^Glantz's ^^^"Zhukov's ^^^Greatest ^^^Defeat" ^^^is ^^^the ^^^best ^^^study ^^^of ^^^the ^^^battle, ^^^although ^^^it ^^^should ^^^be ^^^noted ^^^that ^^^after ^^^its ^^^publication, ^^^information ^^^was ^^^uncovered ^^^which ^^^pointed ^^^to ^^^Stalin ^^^himself ^^^ordering ^^^information ^^^leaked ^^^on ^^^the ^^^operation ^^^in ^^^order ^^^to ^^^draw ^^^attention ^^^there ^^^and ^^^ensure ^^^the ^^^success ^^^of ^^^the ^^^complimentary ^^^Operation ^^^Uranus, ^^^but ^^^further ^^^that ^^^Zhukov ^^^was ^^^never ^^^informed ^^^of ^^^this ^^^development. ^^^Slim ^^^excuse ^^^though, ^^^as ^^^Zhukov ^^^got ^^^a ^^^royal ^^^ass-kicking ^^^regardless.

I'd like to suggest that the participants in this discussion familiarise themselves with the rules. Personal insults are not allowed on this sub, and anecdotal evidence is unacceptable, even from field marshals. Please provide more reliable sources in the future, thank you.

Bernie Montgomery, a Field Marshal? Must be joking. Stout lad, I'll grant, earned his DSO, but Plumer tells me he'll never amount to anything. Competent. Good staff man. Well in with the Royal Fusiliers in the Rhine, now, I think, but I trust that's the last we'll hear of him. With the war over, I've no doubt he'll have to give staff college a miss and will be lucky to retire as a captain. Rotten luck, damnable &c.

As to the question, it would not become a gentleman to answer it too enthusiastically. I have no wish to boast, and shall not err in rating my own modest contributions too highly. History shall have its own tale to tell, and I will say only that I expect it to be quite the tale indeed. The great European war just concluded has already begun to pass into history, and the many volumes already being written by learned men like Mr. Fortescue, Sir Arthur and Sir Henry will no doubt stand the test of time. I expect I shall add my own volume to this growing number before much time has passed, though for now I must turn my attention to the welfare of my men -- had never thought the Empire could be so ungrateful to her bravest sons, damned scandal, incredible.

So, while I will not answer your question in the affirmative, I shall not hesitate in offering suggestions as to who is not the finest field marshal in history. We need only look across the Channel to the hangdog faces and drooping tails of the Falkenhayns, the Ludendorffs -- even the latecomer pup-Emperor of the Austrians. History shall not be kind to men who started a war only to lose it.

Charteris is gesturing frantically for my attention -- he is holding a piece of note-paper with the words "French Nivelle" written on it. Damnation and buggery, John, of course Nivelle was a Frenchman; damned frog nearly cocked up the whole business. Eh -- what's that? Oh! Sir John French AND Robert Nivelle. Well, that's being rather unfair to the frog, isn't it? Nivelle was at least an honourable failure; Sir John is a man utterly incapable of sympathy, insight, or thought -- a whoremonger with a temperament like a bottle of soda water. His damned treasonous suffragette of a sister got the best of his family when she was born and left nothing for Sir John, and you make of that what you will.

As for the insolent bolshevik belching around throughout the rest of this thread, I trust I need not remind you that he, like all his kind, can never be trusted.

Noble gentlemen, far be it from me to deny you all your respective moderate success, but allow me to suggest a more worthy candidate for the title of best General in history: me, Mardonios, son of Gobryas, cousin and brother-in-law and most trusted advisor of Xerxes himself. For none of your petty empires could ever match the glory that is Persia; why should you pretend to have a claim to the title of greatest commander?

After all, who was it that brought low the revolting Yauna who dwell by the sea and those who dwell beyond the sea? I went down to the coast, and settled their affairs, and assessed the tribute they fairly owed to the King. I even let them keep their silly democracies, knowing it would make them grateful to live under the King's protection.

Who was it that seized the cities of the Yauna in Thrace, and the island of Thasos? It was me, Mardonios, master strategist, who made them acknowledge the power of the King, without shedding so much as a drop of blood.

Who was it that persuaded Xerxes to embark upon that greatest and most successful of expeditions, to put a stop to the lies of the Yauna, who refused to obey their King? It was me, Mardonios, who counselled him, and me who led his forces across the Hellespont into Europe, conquering all before me. And when Xerxes set fire to rebellious Athens, he knew that vengeance was sweet.

Do not believe the lies of that filthy Yauna, Herodotos of Halikarnassos! He would have it that I am a liar and deceiver, I, in whose veins runs the blood royal! He would have it that I boasted and snivelled my way into Xerxes' graces and led him to ignoble defeat! Slander! None are more accomplished at managing the King's countless warriors. None are better at leading the horsemen and the archers and the infantry. None have my foresight, my diplomatic acumen, my awareness of the needs of my hungry host. I faced a mighty Yauna army at Plataia, mightier than any that had ever been seen, mightier even than the crack force I commanded, and yet they sustained countless losses and accomplished nothing in eleven days of fruitless campaigning. Against all odds, I was master of that battlefield. None are my equal! No general of the Yauna was ever my equal!

I claim no possession of the title 'best field marshal in history', yet I do wonder why you feel so adamant in desiring it?

You and I have met only briefly, and I was your successor as Chief of the Imperial General Staff despite not being the man that you yourself wanted. I never considered you to be a man of ill thoughts, yet this display of arrogance is quite frankly embarrassing.

Why do we not reach out to our colleagues instead of putting ourselves above them? You and I fought on the same side in the same two war but in two different places; You served in Flanders, I served in Mesopotamia and Gallipoli. We were both wounded in action. You led men to triumph in North Africa and Western Europe, I made sure to stop the Japanese in their tracks and beat them back in Burma. El-Alamein and Caen. Kohima and Meiktila. We were both fortunate to see the end of this long and terrible conflict.

I would hope that you do not mean to look down upon the men who did the fighting out there by putting yourself above them for a title. You and I know that it was not a field marshal who single-handedly defeated the Germans or the Japanese. My boys might have been the 'forgotten army', but I would advise you not to forget their spirit. It was them who won the war, not you and I. We were only as lucky as to be allowed to help them on their way.

We finished waging two wars and now you suddenly feel the need to start a war of words? Can we not put this all behind us? Great Britain need great men, not great arguments.

Bah. These men? Fine Field Marshals? Heh! They were given their soldiers! They were given their equipment! True, they may have risked their lives on the field of battle, or the wrath of political leaders who fail to appreciate the true value of a noble soldier and diplomat in the field, and simply presume that any negotiation with the enemy must be trachery!

Forgive me, I forget myself.

Yet what I said was true! Did any of them raise one hundred thousand men out of their own pocket? They may have led armies of millions, but my army was raised with my own coin! And with an army that I myself created, I drove Mansfeld from Bohemia in totality! I smashed the King of Denmark and seized Jutland. Were it not for the Swedes, I would have built a navy from my own pocket as well, to take Copenhagen and truly end the war in the north. Could that prancing lion have landed, if I--by which I mean His Majesty, the Emperor--had a strong fleet upon the Baltic Coast? No, I say!

And to speak of ability, they all sing praises of the Lion of the North, Gustavus Adolphus, the great King of Sweden. The Diet had pressued to Emperor to order me dismissed, fearful of my prowess and power. I could have lived out my life comfortably in my own palace, content with my service. But Gustavus smashed Tilly at Breitenfeld, and the Emperor--the Emperor himelf I tell you!--had to ask me to return to service, to lead his armies against the northerner rampaging through Germany. Yes, at Lutzen, they drove me from the field, and cost me my Pappenheim, but where Tilly failed, I succeeded. The Lion of the North was dead, and his army stalled. If it were not for my action, would the two Ferdinand's have been so succesful at Nordlingen? I dare say not!

Thus, I say that I should be known as the greatest Field Marshal. I who slew the great King of Sweden, and I who raised the greatest army in Europe out of my own lands and incomes! Surely, these are accomplishments far greater than merely pushing pieces around on a map, like these other men have.

Ha! Monty Monty? The best?

You obviously meant Saint Rommel the White, Lord of the Desert and Defeater of Logistics (praise be upon him).