“But Monty was jealous of Patton’s headlines, and wanted a big splash.”
So very true.
If Monty had cleared the approaches to Antwerp it would have been a HUGE headline for him. But Montgomery wanted to eat up miles like Patton was doing. Problem was Monty didn’t have Pattons drive and imagination.
For some reason Ike and Montgomery both thought that opening more French ports was the answer. Unfortunately Ike was unable to say no to Monty.
It was rumored that Monty was holding Ike’s affair with his British driver over his head. Others thought it was his go along to get along way of doing things.
from wiki:
“Before D-Day, to disrupt German logistics efforts, the Allies spent considerable effort in bombing the French rail network, although aware this would also affect their own operations in the event of a breakout. The plan of Overlord had foreseen this, and it called for the exploitation of the ports in Brittany to move the supply points forward as the armies moved.
By August, supply sources for the armies were still limited to the original invasion beaches, the nearby deep water port of Cherbourg at the tip of the Cotentin peninsula, and some minor ports in Normandy. Although over-the-beach supply operations outperformed expectations, September saw deteriorating weather and rising seas, and the end of their usefulness was clearly in sight. Additional deepwater ports were therefore required; Cherbourg was useful, but it was far from the front. The Brittany ports, still occupied by stiff German resistance, were equally unsuitable as they were situated along the western coast of France and were overcome by the rapid Allied advance toward the east.
On 4 September, Montgomery’s troops captured the massive port of Antwerp virtually intact, but the Scheldt Estuary leading to it was still under German control. Some argued that the capture of Le Havre and Antwerp made the original plan of clearing French ports further south unnecessary. Antwerp could have been opened sooner by the Canadian Army if Montgomery had given priority to clearing the approaches, but Eisenhower and Montgomery persisted with the original plans to capture many of the French ports.
The failure to open the harbours in Antwerp has been called “one of the greatest tactical mistakes of the war”.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Market_Garden