A Civilian
While it is fair enough to knock Churchill on a number of areas
where he took direct control of British military policy,
- the commitment of POW & Repulse to Singapore without
a carrier escort,
- the involvement in Greece which turned a won position
in North Africa against the Italians into another two years
of hard fighting,
On the other hand the Norway campaign could be viewed as
a pyrric victory for the Germans...their navy lost 50% of its
destroyer strength and two major surface combatants - which
made Sealion improbable. While the Allies gained the Norwegian
shipping fleet which made a significant difference to the
Battle of the Atlantic.
As for Churchill pressing attacks in the desert, a lot of that
has to be due to him reading Ultra reports with Rommel saying
the Africa Korps had only ten running tanks, while his theatre
generals are telling him the Germans have hundreds of AFV's
so they can't attack...you can see his point of view!
If you compare him with Stalin / Hitler, both made a far worse
hash of leading their country in wartime.
I'll go with Scud-u-Like the right leader for the time but
not a military genius,
-- Andrew