Highest Ranking WWII Allied Casualty

[Scott A. MacKenzie]

Hi everyone

Who was the highest ranking WWII Allied casualty? I mean
those killed in some kind of action and not by the natural causes or
Stalin's execution squads (like so many Soviet generals).
Here are some that I know of:

Lt. Gen. Lesley J. McNair, USA (killed by fratricide
Normandy 1944)
Maj. Gen.(?) Simon B. Bruckner, USA (killed on Okinawa)
a British Major-General killed in North-west Europe
1944-45
Lt. Gen. Lumsden, British, killed by Japanese shell on
US battleship in Pacific.

Thanks in
advance. Scott

--
Scott A. MacKenzie
Flushing, NY

email: samac...@sprynet.com

[pan...@writeme.com]

Scott A. MacKenzie wrote:
>

Lt. Gen. Lesley J. McNair, USA (killed by fratricide Normandy 1944)

This sounds interesting. Got more details?

Howard

[BuckRodgrs]

Well, I don't know if it counts, but I doubt FDR would have had his stroke (or
was it a heart Attack?), and died, if not for all the preasures he faced,
leading the U.S. during the war. Hence it was trhe war that killed him

[Jon Cohen]

There is a US General who is still listed MIA in ETO. Read about him in
either one of Ambrose's book's or Astor's. I believe he was member of AB.
He was seen on the ground, and spoken to.

--
______________________________________________
Jon
To reply, use my link below.
Jon...@Bigfoot.com
ICQ # 948660

"Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please."
Mark Twain

"Just because someone can buy a computer and plug it into the wall doesn't
mean that they themselves are wired up right." - JMS

[Jeff Joyce]

Lt.Gen. Simon B. Buckner was commander of the U.S. Tenth Army when he was
killed during the Okinawa campaign on 18 Jun 45. I believe LtGen McNair was
senior to Lt.Gen. Buckner.

Jeff J.

Scott A. MacKenzie wrote in message <6ts6e8$h8i$1...@nntp6.u.washington.edu>...
>...Who was the highest ranking WWII Allied casualty...Lt. Gen. Lesley J.

McNair, USA (killed by fratricide

>Normandy 1944)...Maj. Gen.(?) Simon B. Bruckner, USA (killed on Okinawa)

[Connal Townsend]

In article <6ts6e8$h8i$1...@nntp6.u.washington.edu>, "Scott A. MacKenzie"
<samac...@spamfreesprynet.com> wrote:

> Hi everyone
>
> Who was the highest ranking WWII Allied casualty? I mean
> those killed in some kind of action and not by the natural causes or
> Stalin's execution squads (like so many Soviet generals).
> Here are some that I know of:

> Lt. Gen. Lesley J. McNair, USA (killed by fratricide Normandy 1944)

> Maj. Gen.(?) Simon B. Bruckner, USA (killed on Okinawa)

> a British Major-General killed in North-west Europe 1944-45
> Lt. Gen. Lumsden, British, killed by Japanese shell on
> US battleship in Pacific.

These are all relatively junior officers. Try these for size.

Four Star Rank

Air Chief Marshall Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory KCB DSO (1892-1944) (RAF) -
killed air crash at sea on way to S.E. Asia following appointment as
AOC-in-C. Died aged 52.

Admiral Sir Tom Spencer Vaughan Phillips KCB (1888-1941) (Royal Navy) -
killed in sinking of HMS "Prince of Wales2 by Japanese bombers 10
December. Died aged 53.

Admiral Sir Bertram Home Ramsay KCB KBE (1883-1945) killed in plane crash
whilst taking off at Toussus-le-Noble, near Paris, January 1945. Died aged
62.

and others at Three Star Rank

Lieutenant General William Henry Ewart "Strafer" Gott CB DSO (1897-1942) -
(British Army) shot down in air craft returning to Cairo after being
appointed GOC 8th Army, August 1942. Died aged 45.

Lieutenant General V.V. Pope (xxxx-xxxx) - (British Army) died in air
crash shortly after assuming command of XXXth Corps in the Western Desert

Air Marshal Sir Francis John Linnell (xxxx-1944) - (Royal Air Force)
killed in action 3rd November 1944.

[Ehrlich606]

>In article <6ts6e8$h8i$1...@nntp6.u.washington.edu>, "Scott A. MacKenzie"
><samac...@spamfreesprynet.com> wrote:
>
>These are all relatively junior officers. Try these for size.

>Four Star Rank

Excellent Post! But don't forget the Polish General Sikorski, whose death was
probably the most important of all, regardless of his "star" rank.

[Ehrlich606]

>
>Hi everyone

Just before the end of the war, American General Maurice Rose was captured by
some German privates in Germany (he had wandered into their lines). He was
shot while being disarmed.

Since he was Jewish, it was rumored that he was shot for that reason, but the
versions I have heard (e.g., John Toland, 100 Days) suggest that that was not
the case.

I have also heard that in retaliation a number of German POW's were shot,
again, I have no confirmation of that.

[Phil Pomerantz]

Gen McNair went to the front to observe the effects of the carpet bombing at
the start of the Cobra Offensive
I think he was with the 30th ID. His pary was hit by some short rounds. I
thuink there were as many as
120 casualties in the area his group was in

Phil
pan...@writeme.com wrote in message
<6tu00g$19me$1...@nntp6.u.washington.edu>...

>Scott A. MacKenzie wrote:
>>
>
>Lt. Gen. Lesley J. McNair, USA (killed by fratricide Normandy 1944)
>
>

[Peter Beeston]

The highest ranking Allied officer to die in combat was Admiral Tom Philips
who went down with HMS PRINCE OF WALES.

Peter Beeston

[SueFranSS]

>Excellent Post! But don't forget the Polish >General Sikorski, whose death
was
>probably the most important of all, regardless >of his "star" rank.

Forgive my ignorance. What is it that makes Sikorski's death so significant?

Sue

[David Thornley]

In article <6ts6e8$h8i$1...@nntp6.u.washington.edu>,
Scott A. MacKenzie <samac...@spamfreesprynet.com> wrote:

>Hi everyone

>
> Who was the highest ranking WWII Allied casualty? I mean
>those killed in some kind of action and not by the natural causes or
>Stalin's execution squads (like so many Soviet generals).

Colonel-General Kirponos was killed in the Kiev encirclement. I'm
not sure about rank equivalence between the West and the Soviets,
but I think that's about four-star rank. (A pity for the Soviet
Union: he was the best of the Front commanders when the war
started.)

--
David H. Thornley | These opinions are mine. I
da...@thornley.net | do give them freely to those
http://www.thornley.net/~thornley/david/ | who run too slowly. O-

[Connal Townsend]

In article <6u3db4$1gca$1...@nntp6.u.washington.edu>, "Peter Beeston"
<io...@halenet.com.au> wrote:

> The highest ranking Allied officer to die in combat was Admiral Tom Philips
> who went down with HMS PRINCE OF WALES.
>
> Peter Beeston

This is correct. The other two British officers of equal rank killed on
active service (as opposed to killed in action) were:

Air Chief Marshall Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory KCB DSO (1892-1944) (RAF) -
killed air crash at sea on way to S.E. Asia following appointment as
AOC-in-C. Died aged 52.

Admiral Sir Bertram Home Ramsay KCB KBE (1883-1945) killed in plane crash

whilst taking off at Toussus-le-Noble, near Paris, January 1945. Died aged
62.

No American officers of 4 star **** rank were killed in action or were
killed while on active service as far as I can tell. A complete list of
all American officers of general or flag rank who died during the War are
contained in Appendix II of R. Manning Ancell and Christine M. Miller "The
Biographical Dictionary of WWII Generals and Flag Officers" (Greenwood
Press, 1996.

This thread keeps on throwing up discussion about Lieutenant Generals and
Rear and Vice Admirals. The question was "highest rank". American Generals
and Admirals just don't rank in this discussion. They had the smarts to
stay alive.

[polo]

Ehrlich606 wrote:
>
> >In article <6ts6e8$h8i$1...@nntp6.u.washington.edu>, "Scott A. MacKenzie"
> ><samac...@spamfreesprynet.com> wrote:
> >

> >These are all relatively junior officers. Try these for size.
>
> >Four Star Rank
>

> Excellent Post! But don't forget the Polish General Sikorski, whose death was> probably the most important of all, regardless of his "star" rank.

Gee were there no British Generals killed? Or were they outranked
by the Americans because they were British??

How about Adolph Hitler???? Benito Mussolini????

[Pawel Krzepisz]

Speaking of the Polish, let me see 15000 polish officers executed by the
eastern 'allies'!!

[john melville]

Lt. General Leslie McNair, who had been a key trainer of the U. S. Army
before the war, was killed 25 July, 1944. This was the opening of COBRA,
Bradley's attempt to break out of the beachhead. McNair was visiting the
front, and was last seen diving into a foxhole while 2400 allied planes
began dropping bombs on the german positions. His bodie was recovered
late that afternoon. American casualties were 111 killed and more than
500 wounded in the bombing. The three divisions in the attack gained at
most 1300 yds.
McNair was commander of Army Ground Forces, one of the highest ranking
officers in the US Army.

john

[Ehrlich606]

In article <6u5u6l$vh8$1...@nntp6.u.washington.edu>, suef...@aol.com (SueFranSS)
writes:

>
>>Excellent Post! But don't forget the Polish >General Sikorski, whose death
>was
>>probably the most important of all, regardless >of his "star" rank.
>
>

>Forgive my ignorance. What is it that makes Sikorski's death so significant?
>
>Sue
>
>

Sikorsky's death was important because it signalled the transfer of power from
expatriate Poles from the republicans in Britain to the communists in the
Soviet Union. He died three months after the Katyn Forest massacre was
announced by the Germans, and he was one of the few to express the view that it
was indeed a Soviet atrocity.