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The War List: Great Tank Commanders

By Jon Guttman Originally published by MHQ magazine. Published Online: February 10, 2012

German tank commander Captain Michael Wittmann (Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-

299-1802-08; Photo: Scheck)

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Led most lethal tank attack

Capt. Michael Wittmann, German, World War II

Credited with dest roying 138 tanks, 132 antitank guns, and uncounted o ther

vehicles on t he Russian f ront and at Normandy, SS-Hauptsturmfhrer Wittmann

is best known for his rampage against the British 7th Armored Division o utside

Villers-Bocage in June 1944, devastating as many as 14 tanks, 2 antitank guns,

and 15 other vehicles in 15 minutes. He was f inally cornered and killed in his

Tiger I tank by f ive British or Canadian Shermans o n August 8, 1944.

Top tank commander in modern history

Lt. Zwi Greengold, Israeli, Yom Kippur War

During the Batt le of Golan Heights in 1973, "Zwicka" Greengold of the 188th "Barak" (Lightning) Brigade

organized a small scratch f orce that prevented two large Syrian armored f ormations f rom breaking through

Israeli lines. Commanding f rom a series o f a half dozen Centurion tanks as each was knocked out ,

Greengold f ought f or 20 hours, destroying between 20 and 40 Syrian vehicles before dropping to the

ground, wounded, burned, and exhausted, with the words, "I can't anymore." He was awarded the Itur

HaGvura, Israel's highest medal of valor.

World War II's top tank strategist

Marshal Georgy Zhukov, Russian

Zhukov made his mark using tanks to f lank and annihilate the Japanese 23rd Division at Khalkin Gol in

August 1939, as Japan at tempted to expand its co ntro l f rom occupied Manchuria int o Soviet Mongo lia. He

went on to integrate armor into the Red Army and win the war's greatest land campaigns, including Moscow

(1941), Stalingrad (1942), Kursk (1943), lif ting the siege of Leningrad (1944), Operation Bagration (1944),

and taking Berlin (1945).

Top tank ace in history

Sgt. Kurt Knispel, German, World War II

Advancing f rom loader to gunner t o commander in Panzer IVs, Tigers, and Tiger IIs on the Russian f rontand in Normandy, Hungary, and Moravia, Knispel was o f f icially credited with 168 Allied tanks destroyed

including a T-34 hit at almost two miles awaymore tanks than any other tanker ever. He was killed in

action on April 28, 1945, at age 23, just days bef ore Germany surrendered.

Invented modern armored combined-arms doctrine

Lt. Gen. John Monash, Australian, World War I

As commander o f Aust ralian Corps, Monash def tly integrated well-coordinated art illery barrages, armor of

the British 5th Tank Brigade, airplanes (for close support and to t ransport supplies to his f ront - line forces),

and a reinforcing complement o f American troops to t ake the French village of Le Hamel on July 4, 1918, in

a surprising setback to the advancing Germans.

Father of armored blitzkrieg

Gen. Heinz Guderian, German, World War II

Putt ing Monash's combined-arms mechanized tact ics and postwar theory into high-speed practice,

Guderian synthesized the blitzkrieg strategy that helped Germany overrun Poland in 1939. At the Meuse

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River in 1940 he ignored orders to halt and thrust deep into France. Ironically, following victories in Russia,

he los t his f ield command af ter prudently retreating befo re the Soviet counterat tack outs ide Moscow in

1941.

Superb f ield commander of armored f orces

Maj. Gen. Stanislaw Maczek, Polish, World War II

Maczek was the only Allied commander to lead armored units f rom the s tart of the warin Poland in 1939

to the end. Among o ther f eats , in 1944 he commanded the Polish 1st Armored Division of II Canadian Corps

that played a key role in closing the Falaise Pocket at Chambois. He topped of f his distinguished career bycapturing Wilhelmshaven in May 1945.

Top U.S. tank commander in the war

Lt. Col. Creighton Abrams, American, World War II

I'm supposed to be the best t ank commander in the Army," Patt on once said, "but I have one peerAbe

Abrams." Leading the 37th Tank Battalion f rom the f ront, Abrams and the crew of his own M4 Sherman tank,

Thunderbolt, are est imated to have dest royed about 50 German armored f ighting vehicles.

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