Youngest Allied Generals and Field Marshals

Jeremy Chan · Post by **Jeremy Chan** » 07 Oct 2003 10:33

Does anyone know who were the youngest Allied officers who received a General officer rank, and who was the youngest Field Marshal among the Allied nations? I know that the Soviet had very young generals, some in their 30s?

Tomster · Post by **Tomster** » 07 Oct 2003 21:27

From memory I know General I.D. Cherniakovskii was the Red Army's youngest Front commander ever. He wasn't even 40 yrs old.

Steen Ammentorp · Post by **Steen Ammentorp** » 08 Oct 2003 07:31

The Soviets had, as already mentioned, a number of very young generals. Some of the youngest would be:

Maj-Gen A.R. Belov (born 1923)
Maj-Gen S.S. Bronevski (born 1923)

This is of cause army generals, and it should be remembered that air force generals had a tendency to be even younger.

Also the British Commonwealth nations had some young generals i.e.:

Maj-Gen G. Kitching (born 1910)(Cdn)

This was due to rapid expansion of their armed forces during WWII.

Kind Regards
Steen Ammentorp
The Generals of World War II

ChristopherPerrien · Post by **ChristopherPerrien** » 08 Oct 2003 07:34

For America it could be that traitor "Macarthur".

Jeremy Chan · Post by **Jeremy Chan** » 08 Oct 2003 07:54

Do you mean douglas MacArthur? ARE YOU JOKING??? MacArthur was born in 1880! He may have been the youngest major-general when promoted to that rank, but not in WW2. And what's this bull about him being a traitor?
Surely the Soviets couldn't have been 'alone' among the Allies with young generals? We have Wingate and Kitching for the British, weren't there more?

ChristopherPerrien · Post by **ChristopherPerrien** » 08 Oct 2003 08:25

Colonel SteelFist wrote:Do you mean douglas MacArthur? ARE YOU JOKING??? MacArthur was born in 1880! He may have been the youngest major-general when promoted to that rank, but not in WW2. And what's this bull about him being a traitor?
Surely the Soviets couldn't have been 'alone' among the Allies with young generals? We have Wingate and Kitching for the British, weren't there more?

No, I am not joking about "Dugout Doug". He obeyed the wishes of the president of the Phillipines and did not start offensive actions against the Japs as he was ordered to do so by the US government immediately after the Pearl Harbor attack. This caused a loss of air power for his forces and the later loss of American territory and a whole lot of American casualties. That is treason. Even better he was paid to do so!!!!

I suggest a book "Days of Infamy" by John Costello.

He was the oldest general except for maybe Patton. but if I remember right he was the youngest person to make general which happened in WWI. Some of our flying generals may have made it sooner in WWII , I have forgotten a good bit of WWII trivia.

James Patrick · Post by **James Patrick** » 08 Oct 2003 16:14

US Army:
Major General James Gavin (1907-1990)
Brigadier General (postumously) William Darby (1911-1945)

US Army Air Force:
Curtis Lemay (1906-1990)

Steen Ammentorp · Post by **Steen Ammentorp** » 08 Oct 2003 16:53

The youngest US general or flag officer during WWII was Richard C. Sanders, USAAF. Promoted to Brigadier General in June 1944 at the age of 28.

Kind Regards
Steen Ammentorp
The Generals of World War II

hummel1981 · Post by **hummel1981** » 11 Oct 2003 14:10

ChristopherPerrien wrote:
Colonel SteelFist wrote:Do you mean douglas MacArthur? ARE YOU JOKING??? MacArthur was born in 1880! He may have been the youngest major-general when promoted to that rank, but not in WW2. And what's this bull about him being a traitor?
Surely the Soviets couldn't have been 'alone' among the Allies with young generals? We have Wingate and Kitching for the British, weren't there more?
No, I am not joking about "Dugout Doug". He obeyed the wishes of the president of the Phillipines and did not start offensive actions against the Japs as he was ordered to do so by the US government immediately after the Pearl Harbor attack. This caused a loss of air power for his forces and the later loss of American territory and a whole lot of American casualties. That is treason. Even better he was paid to do so!!!!

I suggest a book "Days of Infamy" by John Costello.

He was the oldest general except for maybe Patton. but if I remember right he was the youngest person to make general which happened in WWI. Some of our flying generals may have made it sooner in WWII , I have forgotten a good bit of WWII trivia.

Sometimes the Commander of the forces present in the situation, has better decisions then the gov't who are 100's of miles away ...

What do you think would have happened if he took the offensive with the outdated military supplies he had at the time and lack of manpower?

By defending he held the japs at bay long enough to make a difference. Leading an offensive at that time, i think would have been suicidel. Either way we were going to loose territory, but i believe he saved more lives by defending rather than attacking ...

ChristopherPerrien · Post by **ChristopherPerrien** » 11 Oct 2003 15:47

Dam lost a half page post

By defending he held the japs at bay long enough to make a difference. Leading an offensive at that time, i think would have been suicidel. Either way we were going to loose territory, but i believe he saved more lives by defending rather than attacking ...

Bullshit,

Why don't you research how a so-called military genius can be caught by suprised a day after the war started? Or how an airforce can be destroyed on the ground DAYS later.

I suppose B-17's and P-40's were outdated in 1941.

Why did our planes not premptively bomb the Japanese airfields on Formosa , instead of sitting on airfields in the PHillipines like so many targets, days later?

Why did Macathur accept a multi-million dollar (current$) payment in 1942 from the dis-posed Phillipine government for an UNSUCCESSFUL defence?

Why did Macathur not take any offensive action as ordered by the UNITED STATES against the Japanese?
see above

The first parts of this reply is excusable deriliction of duty
the last part makes it tantamount to TREASON.

Suggest you read up on the battle plans of America being performed directly before Pearl Harbor and the reasons why and for, our Phillipine debacle and why Macathur's questionable actions were swept under the rug.
by our government and the Roosevelt administration.

Jeremy Chan · Post by **Jeremy Chan** » 13 Oct 2003 08:48

If I remember, MacArthur managed to score five Distinguished Service Medals and a statue of himself in Seoul. One musn't forget he held a special attachment with the Phillipines, as his father had served there. Is anyone surprised he wasn't court-martialled?

ChristopherPerrien · Post by **ChristopherPerrien** » 13 Oct 2003 15:55

Colonel SteelFist wrote:One musn't forget he held a special attachment with the Phillipines, as his father had served there. ?

True , his father actually ruled the Phippine sas US Mitary commander .

Is anyone surprised he wasn't court-martialled?

Admiral Kimmel and General Short, Admiral Halsey, and a whole bunch of Battling bastards of Battaan

Jeremy Chan · Post by **Jeremy Chan** » 14 Oct 2003 04:26

ChristopherPerrien wrote:
Colonel SteelFist wrote:.

Is anyone surprised he wasn't court-martialled?
Admiral Kimmel and General Short, Admiral Halsey, and a whole bunch of Battling bastards of Battaan

What about them?

After this, maybe we should return to the topic

?
Part of the topic was 'Youngest Allies Field Marshals. Wasn't Pavel Rotmistrov the youngest Soviet Marshal (Chief Marshal of the Soviet Armed Forces?) (b. 1901)?

ChristopherPerrien · Post by **ChristopherPerrien** » 14 Oct 2003 14:15

Fine with me, you can on talking about Romistrov, etc.

Edward L. Hsiao · Post by **Edward L. Hsiao** » 29 Mar 2004 09:41

Gentlemen,

I think there was a U.S. Army Brigadier General named Dalton who was born in 1910 and was killed in action in the Philippines in 1944. He was a holder of the DSC and the Silver Star. He may had been decorated by the Philippine Government as well. Do you know what year that Casey Vincent was born? He was a fighter ace with six kills against the Japanese Army Air Force. He became a Brigadier General at the age of 29 I think.

With Regards,

Edward

Axis History Forum

Youngest Allied Generals and Field Marshals

Youngest Allied Generals and Field Marshals

Brigadier General Dalton