lol. Who was that - Auckenleck? At any rate, Montgomery's victory at El Alamein is over-rated. He outnumbered Rommel 3 to 1 (at least) in armor, and Rommel was in Germany (ill) for the first part of the set-piece battle (not Rommel's forte). Montgomery was, as you say, a legend in his own mind (dolt?).
Aukenleck was the overall commander; he was also responsible for all of Iran and what is now called Southwest Asia. The Brits had some on-scene guys best forgotten. General Richie was one of the onsite Brit losers.
Montgomery is WITHOUT A DOUBT the most overrated General of all time. One bio of his is grandiously called "Master of the Battlefield."
He couldn't find his tallywhacker with a ten man search party. Yes, Monty had 3:1 superiority in tanks, 2:1 in men, 10:1 in arty and 5:1 in air, or something equally dominant. And then--the Germans ran out of gas!
And this is a great victory!
Pity the Brits for having to put a jerk like this up for best general of the century. He was ineffective in Normandy. Don't start me on Holland. Monty was a butcher as bad as any World War One general.
Walt