I totally agree that was Monty’s screw up. The only time Monty showed any initiative at all was in Operation MARKET GARDEN and that was a poor plan that was poorly implemented getting a lot of men needlessly killed. Other than that the Brit was timid and often too slow to react to the situation around him. I think the only things that kept him around so long was his first success against an over-extended Rommel and the need by the British people to have a hero.
Market Garden is the premiere example of a plan taking on a life of its own. Two SS Pz. Divs in the area? Nah. Drop zone eight miles from the objective? No big deal.The whole concept of a “blitzkrieg on the fly” [conceived in something like a week or two] and “Montgomery” in the same sentence is an oxymoron.
I’ve always thought Market Garden was Monty’s attempt to: [a] get the lion’s share of supplies and assets for his front, and to [b] finesse Ike out of the Supreme Ground Commander’s slot. Still, he was the best World War I commander the Brits had in World War II. And being Alan-Brooke’s protege didn’t hurt. As for his skills, Corelli Barnett summed him up best as the man to “take a sledgehammer to crack a walnut”.