languages of Allied and Axis commanders

Discussions on the personalities of the Wehrmacht and of the organizations not covered in the other sections. Hosted by askropp and Frech.
Post Reply
User avatar
Beppo Schmidt
Member
Posts: 4324
Joined: 14 May 2003, 03:05
Location: Ohio, USA

languages of Allied and Axis commanders

#1

Post by Beppo Schmidt » 15 May 2003, 22:22

What can anyone tell me about what languages these people were able to speak?

Bernard Montgomery
Georgi Zhukov
Ivan Koniev
Erwin Rommel
Winston Churchill
Josef Goebbels
Heinrich Himmler
Gerd von Rundstedt
Albert Kesselring
Dwight Eisenhower
Alfred Jodl
Karl Doenitz
Top
User avatar
hohenstaufen
Member
Posts: 53
Joined: 15 Oct 2002, 18:07
Location: United Kingdom

#2

Post by hohenstaufen » 16 May 2003, 00:04

Simple!

Montgomery-English
Zhukov-Russian
Koniev-Russian
Rommel-German
Churchill-English
Goebbels-German
Himmler-German
von Rundstedt-German
Kesselring-German
Eisenhower-English
Jodl & Doenitz-German

Hope this helps!!!
Top
Top
User avatar
Beppo Schmidt
Member
Posts: 4324
Joined: 14 May 2003, 03:05
Location: Ohio, USA

#3

Post by Beppo Schmidt » 16 May 2003, 00:30

oh, very helpful :lol:

perhaps i should have specified:

what languages were they able to speak *besides* their native language?
Top
User avatar
Gen. Erwin Rommel
Member
Posts: 532
Joined: 06 Apr 2003, 23:54
Location: Portugal

#4

Post by Gen. Erwin Rommel » 16 May 2003, 18:12

Thats a very interesting question but i dont know how to anser it.
Top
gabriel pagliarani
Member
Posts: 1583
Joined: 01 Aug 2002, 04:11
Location: ITALY

#5

Post by gabriel pagliarani » 17 May 2003, 10:35

Eisenhower surely was able to speak French.
best regards.
Top
User avatar
Gen. Erwin Rommel
Member
Posts: 532
Joined: 06 Apr 2003, 23:54
Location: Portugal

#6

Post by Gen. Erwin Rommel » 18 May 2003, 01:58

Why you say Eisenhower was able to speak French?? His Parents were German, so i think he could be able to speak a bit German, but can someone tell me about the other people on the list?
Top
User avatar
Simon
Member
Posts: 611
Joined: 03 Apr 2002, 13:42
Location: Sweden

#7

Post by Simon » 18 May 2003, 13:48

Himmler could only speak german...
Top
User avatar
Beppo Schmidt
Member
Posts: 4324
Joined: 14 May 2003, 03:05
Location: Ohio, USA

#8

Post by Beppo Schmidt » 19 May 2003, 00:14

Eisenhower's parents were of German descent, but they weren't actually 'Germans'. He was descended from Hans Eisenhauer who arrived in America in 1741, so if his German ancestry was that far back I don't know if he had any knowledge of German or not...
Top
User avatar
Beppo Schmidt
Member
Posts: 4324
Joined: 14 May 2003, 03:05
Location: Ohio, USA

#9

Post by Beppo Schmidt » 19 May 2003, 00:17

doesn't it seem like the aristocratic people on this list, like Winston Churchill or Gerd von Rundstedt, would probably have learned French, or in von Rundstedt's case, maybe English too? i read this american commander's account of the capture of von Rundstedt, and von Rundstedt spoke to him, but it didn't specifiy if he spoke English or the American understood German or there was an interpreter or what.
Top
User avatar
redcoat
Member
Posts: 1361
Joined: 03 Mar 2003, 22:54
Location: Stockport, England

#10

Post by redcoat » 20 May 2003, 13:44

Winston Churchill did speak some french, but how well I'm not sure
Top
User avatar
AHLF
Member
Posts: 1811
Joined: 30 Aug 2002, 20:16
Location: Ashdod

#11

Post by AHLF » 20 May 2003, 19:18

About Zhukov- he was non-intelligent, uneducated man, who knew russian and only russian.
Top
User avatar
Eightball
Member
Posts: 669
Joined: 13 Sep 2002, 23:37
Location: Oslo, Norway

#12

Post by Eightball » 21 May 2003, 01:26

AHLF wrote:About Zhukov- he was non-intelligent, uneducated man, who knew russian and only russian.
What kind of intelligence are you talking about when you say he was non-intelligent?
Top
User avatar
AHLF
Member
Posts: 1811
Joined: 30 Aug 2002, 20:16
Location: Ashdod

#13

Post by AHLF » 21 May 2003, 18:24

Eightball wrote:
AHLF wrote:About Zhukov- he was non-intelligent, uneducated man, who knew russian and only russian.
What kind of intelligence are you talking about when you say he was non-intelligent?
Basic and military intelligence. He was rude to his soldiers, and really liked to humiliate people, especially subordinating generals. Moreover, he had no military abilities. Modern researches show, that he won battles only when had manpower superiority and technical superiority. Besides, Zhukov himself never planned any serious victorius advance of the red army, this was up to his assistants to plan it.
Top
Post Reply

Return to “The Dieter Zinke Axis Biographical Research Section”