Taking a page from Smitten Eagle,

I would also suggest we not limit this to land comanders:

Nimitz as the best of the US Naval commanders

George Kenney as one of the most adaptive air generals

Hugh Dowding as the right Air Marshall at the critical time for the RAF

Bomber Harris as the juggernaut behind RAF Bomber Command and really the model for LeMay, especially when the latter went to the Pacific

Doenitz because he was the only German naval commander who really grasped the war at sea and nearly won it despite Hitler

And back to ground commanders, one that will undoubtedly draw screams.....Montgomery at the particular place and time of his emergence as a leading commander in North Africa as an offset to Churchill's near constant involvement in all military affairs (much good, much bad). It took an ego as large as Montgomery's to offset Churchill.

Tom