Monty

[Brass Rat]

Since we have no forum dedicated to general military subjects I will toss out one or two rhetorical questions here.

1) Had Sir Richard O'Connor not fallen into German hands on 7 Apr 1941 would any of us recognize the name Bernard Montgomery today?

2) Had XXX Corps immediately pushed the attack towards Arnhem upon securing the Nijmegen bridge instead of waiting 18 hours for there own infantry to catch up, could they have made the link with 1st Para before it was too late?
The US 504 PIR who got shot to pieces crossing the river in tiny boats and then flanked the German bridge defenders helping to force a retreat assured the British command on site that his their would lead and destroy the German anti-tank guns. Those 18 hours seemed to really help only the Germans who used the time to tighten the noose on John Frosts 2nd Battalion who were alone at the bridge.

Can you tell how many months I have been watching the military channel since I went on workers comp?

I personally believe that had Sir Richard not been captured, Monty would never been sent to the desert, and would instead have ended up in some staff position and question 2 would be a moot point since Market Garden would not have been attempted.

[DuncaninFrance]

All well and good BUT, as I haven't got access to the programmes you mentioned It is very difficult to comment.

It is easy to criticize in hindsight and I think that's as far as I want to go, there are far too many instances in history that are more easily 'Generald' today

[Brass Rat]

I know, it 's Monday morning quarterbacking.

Sorry, but I have been sitting around the house since late April and I am running out of things to do.

I have always been fascinated with Patton & Montgomery. It's almost as though they are a couple of teenagers out on Saturday night in mom's car fighting over who is going to drive and egging each other on to do bigger and wilder things while not always keeping their eyes on the road.

Market Garden was one of those operations that seems to have fallen victim to the "let's get this over by Christmas" syndrome.

[DuncaninFrance]

I know, it 's Monday morning quarterbacking.

Sorry, but I have been sitting around the house since late April and I am running out of things to do.

You should sign up to Skype and call some people around the world for free - I'll talk to you, honest

[Niner]

I'm not military scholar but I always got the impression that Monty was just wasn't a take charge kind of field general. He could dream up things, convince Eisenhower to go along with him, and send others to do what he dreamed up, but when things went wrong he didn't do anything to fix whatever it was nor seem to realize that things were going wrong. And it seems to me that in war things should always be expected to go against plan and making the corrections is what good generals are supposed to do. Things like the commo problem with the 1st British Airborne from the first day that was never really solved, or getting the British tanks that were supposed to come to the rescue at Arnhem to get a move on before the Brit and Polish airborne troops were nearly wiped out.

Patton was a whole different sort of general from Montgomery seems to me. He commanded the US Third Army, still large numbers of men, but he took responsiblily for whatever operations he was involved with and kept his finger on the pulse of events and could be expected to make adjustments as he saw the need to make them.