History AFatherToHisMen / RealLife

** Ulysses S. Grant's final message to the Union Army Veterans was "I love you all as if you were my children." In the early stages of the Civil War, he was the last person aboard a transport ship during a retreat - actually having to jump onto it - because he went back to try and find troops who hadn't made it (they were cut off and many managed to retreat along a different path).

** William Tecumseh Sherman, of the United States, was known to his troops as "Uncle Billy," although he was known to the people of Georgia by much less printable names.

** Ulysses S. Grant's final message to the Union Army Veterans was "I love you all as if you were my children."

** Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt. Throughout ''Barbarossa'' and ''Taifun'' Army Group South's logistical situation was weak because of the size of its forces and poor east-west railway connections. During ''Taifun'' Runstedt simply did not have the logistical strength to occupy the Donbass with anything more than a handful of divisions, and these on a metaphorical shoestring, but occupy it they did. However, when the Soviets began their winter counter-offensive to re-take the Donbass with more than 200,000 troops (but precious little armour) he chose to retreat rather than allow his (fewer than 50,000) men in the region to be surrounded and inevitably forced to surrender. In doing so he disobeyed Hitler's 'Stand Fast' order, which required that all captured territory to be held (largely on the grounds that retreating through blizzard conditions with inadequate clothing and equipment would be considerably worse for the troops' health than holing up in 'requisitioned' Soviet houses). Although Runstedt's situation was quite different to that faced by Army Group Centre - which felt the brunt of the winter chill, had critically overextended itself, and was threatened with annihilation - -[[SlaveToPR Hitler had little choice but to remove the man who had disobeyed a Fuhrer Directive without for permission to do so first or apologising for it]]. This happened again shortly after the invasion of Normandy when Rundstedt screamed "Make Peace, you fools!" at Hitler and others discussing response.

* UsefulNotes/GeorgeWashington was not just America's first president, but also one of her most beloved generals. He would camp with the men and share in their struggles, and would put himself into the thick of fights to keep morale up. He also built up camaraderie with a lot of the younger officers, especially AlexanderHamiltion and Marquis De Lafayette, to where he literally became an adopted father figure to them. By war's end, he would be able to talk his officers out of a planned coup by directly appealing to them with a letter from Congress about their overdue pay: Washington pulled out reading glasses and admitted that in the course of the war he had "gone blind" in service to the country. ManlyTears ensued.

** General Heinz Guderian, self-proclaimed 'inventor' of blitzkrieg who shot to fame in the post-war period through his association with Manstein and Sir Basil Liddel hart, willingly fought in person on the front lines to get a sense of conditions,[[Unreliablenarrator claimed that he furiously with Hitler to ensure his men's welfare]] (third parties do agree that they had argued on occasion, which Hitler tolerated out of respect and because of the strength of their friendship), and during his time as a panzer division commander he had manned the machine gun of his command vehicle and helped his men blast their way through a Polish roadblock. Like his personal friend and fellow 'blitzkrieg'-inventor, Erich von Manstein, he claimed that he had ignored orders to kill commissars and commandos and kill civilians in reprisals. While Guderian was acquitted, more recently evidence has come to light showing that he (like Manstein) was as guilty of all these things as pretty much everyone else who served in the eastern Theatre. After his acquittal [[UsefulNotes/WeAreNotTheWehrmacht Guderian was employed as a consultant of sorts for the revived West German army.]]

*** Manstein's concern for his men was such that it was no surprise when researchers recently uncovered telegrams in which he argued with ''the Schutzstaffel''. Why? Well, [[WhamLine said men had just helped one of their Einsatzgruppen units shoot a whole bunch of Jews, so they deserved their fair share of the dead Jews' property.]] More specifically, their watches. His men could really use the watches to help co-ordinate their operations, which were more complex, time-dependent, and important to the war effort than the Schutzstaffel's. Given that Manstein was imprisoned for his role in UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust and other war crimes, but released early to [[UsefulNotes/WeAreNotTheWehrmacht help found the Bundeswehr]], it seems doubtful that things would have been any different if the evidence which has emerged since then had been available.

*** Manstein's concern for his men was such that it was no surprise when researchers recently uncovered telegrams in which he argued with ''the Schutzstaffel'' that they should be giving watches to some of his men. Why? Well, [[WhamLine said men had just helped one of their Einsatzgruppen units shoot a whole bunch of Jews, so they deserved their fair share of the dead Jews' property.]] Moreover his men could really use the watches to help co-ordinate their (more complex, time-dependent, and important to the war effort) operations. Given that Manstein was imprisoned for his role in UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust and other war crimes, but released early to [[UsefulNotes/WeAreNotTheWehrmacht help found the Bundeswehr]], it seems doubtful that things would have been any different if the evidence which has emerged since then had been available.

*** Manstein's concern for his men was such that it was no surprise when researchers recently uncovered telegrams in which he argued with ''the Schutzstaffel'' that they should be giving watches to some of his men. Why? [[WhamLine Well, said men had just helped one of their Einsatzgruppen units kill a bunch of Jews, so they deserved their fair share of the dead Jews' property.]] Moreover his men could really use the watches to help co-ordinate their operations. Given that Manstein was already imprisoned for his role in UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust and other war crimes, and released early to [[UsefulNotes/WeAreNotTheWehrmacht help found the Bundeswehr]], one wonders if the outcome of his trial would have been any different if the evidence of his guilt which has emerged since then had been presented at the trial.

*** Manstein's concern for his men was such that it was no surprise when researchers recently uncovered telegrams in which he argued with ''the Schutzstaffel'' that they should be giving watches to some of his men. Why? [[WhamLine Well, said men had just helped them kill a bunch of Jews, so they deserved their fair share of the dead Jews' property.]] Moreover his men could really use the watches to help co-ordinate their operations. Given that Manstein was already imprisoned for his role in UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust and other war crimes, and released early to [[UsefulNotes/WeAreNotTheWehrmacht help found the Bundeswehr]], one wonders if the outcome of his trial would have been any different if the evidence of his guilt which has emerged since then had been presented at the trial.

** ''Generalfeldmaschall'' Erich von Manstein was considered one of these, as well as a MemeticBadass to the men under him. Indeed, one reason the troops in Stalingrad fought on for so long was because, when they were surrounded, he sent them a telegram reading: "Hold on. I'm going to hack you out there. Manstein." He would have too, if Hitler had let Paulus break out towards his relief effort (which was headed by General Hermann "Papa" Hoth, another example).
** General Heinz Guderian, inventor of blitzkrieg, willingly fought in person on the front lines to get a sense of conditions, arguing furiously with Hitler to ensure his men's welfare, and at one point manned the machine gun of his command vehicle and blasted his way through a Polish roadblock that his men were unable to clear. Like his personal friend and fellow blitzkrieg-inventor, Erich von Manstein, he ignored orders to kill commissars on capture and ignore war crimes committed by his soldiers in Russia; but his behavior in Poland was more shady, with his soldiers looting in Brest-Litovsk. After the war, the Poles and Russians wanted him hanged for war crimes, but he was acquitted on all charges by the Nuremberg Tribunals and went on to act as a consultant of sorts for the revived West German army.

* Hitler's almost-last general of WW2 - Gotthardt Heinrici - led the last-ditch defence outside Berlin that halted a massive Red Army in its tracks and possibly prolonged the war by up to a month.[[note]] Heinrici's stubborn defence of the Seelow Heights nearly caused Zhukov to be sacked from command by Stalin. He was finally forced to retreat by a second Russina army outflanking him in the south, opening up the road to Berlin.[[/note]] Known - affectionately - as "der Giftzwerg"[[note]] The Poison Dwarf[[/note]] by his men, and something of an acerbic general, he routinely ignored Hitler's insane orders to hold every inch of ground and fought an inventive and inspired mobile defence designed to save the lives of as many of his men as possible.

** Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt. Realizing that his army simply did not have the strength to sustain an attack on Moscow in the dead of December, he choose to ignore Hitler's personal threats and pulled his Army Group back. He was sacked within days, only to be sent instead on leave when Hitler realized he had just fired his most experienced officer. This happened again shortly after the invasion of Normandy when Rundstedt screamed "Make Peace, you fools!" at Hitler and others discussing response.

* Hitler's almost-last general of WW2 - Gotthardt Heinrici - led the last-ditch defence outside Berlin that halted a massive Red Army in its tracks and possibly prolonged the war by up to a month.[[note]] Heinrici's stubborn defence of the Seelow Heights nearly caused Zhukov to be sacked from command by Stalin. He was finally forced to retreat by a second Russina army outflanking him in the south, opening up the road to Berlin.[[/note]] Known - affectionately - as "der Giftzwerg"[[note]] The Poison Dwarf[[/note]] by his men, and something of an acerbic general, he routinely ignored Hitler's insane orders to hold every inch of ground and fought an inventive and inspired mobile defence designed to save the lives of as many of his men as possible

* In World War I, Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck, a BlueBlood Prussian general who led two thousand black African troops in perhaps the most successful guerilla campaign ever, driving the British and Portuguese out of Deutsch-Ostafrika and [[RefugeInAudacity even ''invading'' enemy territory while hopelessly outnumbered.]] He appointed black officers (unheard of in a colonial European army, although it wasn't as if he had any hope of getting new German ones) and learned to speak their language fluently ("We are all Africans here.") Forced to cut rations as the British wore him down, most of his men stayed loyal and fought on rather than desert. After the war, he [[TheMenFirst gave his men signed certificates so they could secure their back-pay]] from the ruined Imperial German government. By the time they were finally payed in 1964, many of them had lost said certificates but were able to prove their identity by performing the German Manual of Arms, which they still remembered thanks to his strict drill and discipline.

** Steiner. Yes, that Steiner who is famous because of WebVideo/HitlerRants. He refused the order to launch an attack to throw the Soviets away fom Berlin because he could not get enough men, so he opted to avoid causing unnecessary deaths. He was tried for war crimes at Nuremburg. However, he was exhonorated for all of them by testimony given by his former soldiers.

* LeonTrotsky. When the Russian Civil War broke out, he had the families of some the higher-ranked army members kidnapped and held hostage so they didn't disobey his orders and forced every capable man to combat against the Whites (since the Bolsheviks only controlled the area around Moscow and were forced to fight against over 10 countries). When he was ''not'' doing any of these, he would ride on his CoolTrain (or, depending on the terrain, his CoolCar) to any part of the front that needed his assistance to hand out cigarettes and chocolates and even appear out of nowhere just to raise the morale of the troops. In his autobiography he speaks fondly of the men he worked with and shows great admiration for who they were.

* Another non-military example would be, believe it or not, Gordon Ramsay. He had a staff retention rate of 85% for over a decade back when he was actually in his restaurants instead of on TV. When he left the Aubergine restaurant, almost all the kitchen staff followed him en-masse and the restaurant had to temporarily close. He's nurtured a lot of talented chefs that now run restaurants of their own either within or outside of the Gordon Ramsay empire.

** Heh, I think you mean BRITISH incompetence. The Spanish (whose leaders were allies of France at the time) were VERY compentent in preventing the UK from attacking Spanish colonies in South America, especially in [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_invasions_of_the_R%C3%ADo_de_la_Plata Río de la Plata.]] The British were Spain's ENEMIES at the time and thus were doing everything they could to prevent the UK from succeeding. If anything, the UK was the incompetent one for not handling the situation properly.

* 'Uncle Bill' Slim, commander of the 14th or 'forgotten' British army in Burma. When he was defeated orginally in 1941 and had led his men out on one of the longest retreats of all time, they cheered him as they passed.

** General Helmuth von Pannwitz, who led Cossack volunteers in German service against their former country, was much admired among his men for, among other things, respecting their Russian customs, language, and traditions, being called, among other things, Batka (which I'm told means "father.") Fittingly, after Germany's defeat, he refused to be treated as a German POW by the Soviets and [[HonorBeforeReason instead chose to be tried and executed with other Russian "turncoats" he led]].

** Erwin Rommel is regarded as having been a humane and professional officer. His Afrika Korps was never accused of war crimes, and soldiers captured during his Africa campaign were reported to have been treated humanely. Orders to kill Jewish soldiers, civilians and captured commandos were ignored.

* Blucher [[YoungFrankenstein (*WHINNY*)]]actually called his men "my children" and was called "Father Blucher" by them. The historian David Howarth says that he was able to behave like that largely because he was so old while a younger general would have had to be more distant.

** Most British generals in WW2 had fought with lower rank in the First World War, seeing the battles from the front line. American observers noted - correctly - the extreme reluctance of generals such as BernardLawMontgomery to needlessly expend the lives of their men, and that as often as not this reluctance to repeat the errors and slaughter of the earlier war led to over-caution on the British part.

* NapoleonBonaparte cared a great deal for his men, often working on the front line and living in the same conditions as his men, and going to great lengths to ensure their morale was kept up, as well as frequently praising and rewarding them. The biggest example of this was the aftermath of the Battle of Austerlitz (widely regarded as Napoleon's [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome finest victory]]), where he gave his men great praise, gave rewards of 2 million gold francs to his officers, 200 francs to each of his soldiers, arranged for large pensions for the widows of his fallen men, and personally adopted the war orphans.

* GeorgeWashington was not just America's first president, but also one of her most beloved generals. He would camp with the men and share in their struggles, and would put himself into the thick of fights to keep morale up. He also built up camaraderie with a lot of the younger officers, especially AlexanderHamiltion and Marquis De Lafayette, to where he literally became an adopted father figure to them. By war's end, he would be able to talk his officers out of a planned coup by directly appealing to them with a letter from Congress about their overdue pay: Washington pulled out reading glasses and admitted that in the course of the war he had "gone blind" in service to the country. ManlyTears ensued.

* Alfred the Great was not just this but practically considered the father of the nation of 'England' having united the various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms under one banner. He was noted for his honour and bravery in battle as well as his keen intellect- well known for being the only English monarch to receive the title 'the Great'.

* [[AgentPeacock Philippe I, Duke of Orléans]], was universally admired by his troops for his attention to their needs and his steely bravery on the battlefield. Unfortunately, [[LouisXIV his brother]] got jealous and quickly relieved him of command.
* FrederickTheGreat instituted Prussia's first ever social welfare system for soldiers too injured for work, to save them from lives of begging. They loved him for it. At the Battle of Kolin, all it took was for him to ride in front of the flagging 1st Guards and yell "You damned bastards! You want to live forever?" for them to carry the day for him.
* A non-military example: WaltDisney, combined with HonoraryUncle.