[abb]

We all knew the Monty/Ike thing was bumpy, but it becomes clear when reading all the inside stuff that Monty was insufferable. He resented Ike being in charge, and went out of his way to cause problems.

Remember, during the Bulge, he started up his crap about a single ground command. And this after he didn’t lift a finger to help Bastogne. Patton saved the day.

Ike should have run Monty’s ass off after Arnhem.

[colorado tanker]

We'll find out soon enough, but without doing any research my recollection is Monty will try to have Ike fired and Ike will come close to relieving him. I remember something about some senior Brits forcing Monty to cool it to save his bacon. Or something like that.

Yes, it is very eye opening to see just how insufferable he was.

Monty was quite the anti-Semite too. In some museum I saw the letter he wrote trying to get the British Army to take Haifa from the Jews after they occupied it in the 1948 war, because the UN plan awarded it to the Arabs. A real piece of work, that guy.

[henkster]

Ike could have avoided a lot of the Monty troubles after Market-Garden, and particularly during the Bulge if he’d just listened to me.

Bradley’s 12th Army Group should have comprised Hodges’ 1st and Simpson’s 9th Armies, operating north of the Ardennes. This allows Bradley to concentrate his attention there and act as an equal rank counterweight to Monty.

Devers’ 6th Army Group would comprise Patton’s 3rd and Patch’s 7th Armies, and they could have worked together to clear Lorraine and drive into the Saar, instead of fighting disjointed campaigns for divergent objectives.

But Ike was stubborn and wouldn’t listen to me. Because I hadn’t been born yet, I guess.