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To: EternalVigilance; PapaNew; crazycat; Ecliptic; Homer_J_Simpson
The senior Brit commanders didn't like Monty, either, because he acted like an a-hole to most of them.

But, Brooke liked Monty and got him the Eighth Army command. After Alamein and North Africa he was such a national hero he was guaranteed a senior command.

As we have seen in these threads, after the Battle of the Bulge, Monty was so insubordinate and insulting to Bradley and Ike that Ike had Bedell Smith prepare a cable to Marshall and the Combined Chiefs telling them it was either Ike or Monty, but not both. He wanted Alexander to replace Monty as Commander of the Army Group. Monty's Chief of Staff, General Sir Francis de Guingand, got wind of it and personally pleaded with Ike to have a chance to fix the situation. He presented Monty with a frank letter of apology and assurance of future support and made him sign it, explaining that the Americans felt so strongly about this that not even Churchill could save him.

But Freddy couldn't improve his soldiering, as his ridiculous and embarrassing plan to cross the Rhine showed. He was still behind Bradley and Patton. Even the French got a temporary patrol across before Monty.

23 posted on 03/24/2015 2:12:13 PM PDT by colorado tanker
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To: colorado tanker

My impression of Monty is that he was not a bad general, but he was a bad person.


25 posted on 03/24/2015 2:23:38 PM PDT by henkster (Do I really need a sarcasm tag?)
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To: colorado tanker
ridiculous and embarrassing plan to cross the Rhine

Another screw up? I must have missed the details on that one. I knew he was in the northern section of the front doing something and Page 6 of today's Times says in the War News Summarized that Monty may be preparing "a new offensive", which made me wonder, "How long does it take for this guy to prepare for something?" What happened?

27 posted on 03/24/2015 2:34:07 PM PDT by PapaNew (The grace of God & freedom always win the debate in the forum of ideas over unjust law & government)
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To: colorado tanker

The French could only find one rubber boat at first, so that’s what they used. Quite a contrast with Monty, who need D-Day level resources.


31 posted on 03/24/2015 3:36:56 PM PDT by EternalVigilance
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