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| Thread ID: 68135 | 2006-04-19 02:29:00 | Brigadier attacks the John Wayne generals | Scouse (83) | PC World Chat |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 447462 | 2006-04-20 05:39:00 | You have to remember that Montgonery was in WW1. He didn't like the idea of losing 60000 men in one day. He was cautious because he had seen what happens when you charge machine guns. If all the generals had spent less time fighting each other rather than the other side ... |
Graham L (2) | ||
| 447463 | 2006-04-20 06:11:00 | Wonder what Churchill thought of Monty. In Churchills second World War memoirs, Monty can do no wrong, even the Market Garden disaster becomes a "victory", remember the Airborn Division was all but wiped out , 17,000 casualities and prisoners. From a letter to Field Marshall Smuts " As regards Arnhem, I think you have got the position a little out of focus. The battle was a decided victory, but the leading division, asking, quite rightly for more, was given a chop. I have not been afflicted by any feeling of disappointment over this, and am glad our commanders are capable of running this kind of risk." But he also said this about him: "Montgomery’s behavior was a source of embarrassment many times. Churchill once said that Monty was, “In defeat, indomitable, in victory, insufferable.” When Montgomery was in hot water for dining with Von Thoma, a defeated German general in N. Africa, Churchill told the House of Commons, “Poor Von Thoma. I, too, have dined with Montgomery.” Edit: Grahams' point is well taken, indeed I mentioned the same thing earlier, but it affected Monty maybe too much. |
Terry Porritt (14) | ||
| 447464 | 2006-04-20 06:58:00 | Did Churchill have a way with words or what? | Cicero (40) | ||
| 447465 | 2006-04-20 07:58:00 | Did Churchill have a way with words or what? Yes, but not in the same way as Dubya, Der Fuehrer's Face (archive.wfmu.org:5555) |
Terry Porritt (14) | ||
| 447466 | 2006-04-20 08:30:00 | Thanks all you what I can only imagine are older jokers for your insights into all this war stuff. My dad was in WW2, North Africa, Crete, Germany as POW for the rest of it. It all makes sense to me and it's good to hear these views. This is a new history eh, over the net? | mark c (247) | ||
| 447467 | 2006-04-20 09:56:00 | Terr can be described as an old joker,for myself,I am 21. | Cicero (40) | ||
| 447468 | 2006-04-20 10:36:00 | Hi Marc c. A wee google on "Churchill Montgomery" explains a lot. Small matter I would like to point out - I posted about a British Officer's comments. Winnie immediately responded by changing him to an English officer....... Many of the senior command when I was in the British Army were Scots who responded well to being considered British, but.......... Just thinking out loud. | Scouse (83) | ||
| 447469 | 2006-04-20 12:01:00 | Why can't people live up to ones expectations,I used to like the idea of Monty being the best,sod the silly sod I say. | Cicero (40) | ||
| 447470 | 2006-04-20 23:01:00 | Why can't people live up to ones expectations,I used to like the idea of Monty being the best,sod the silly sod I say. It is easy for armchair tacticians (like myself) to pontificate, especially when retired :) Monty is without doubt a British national hero, but he was controversial at the time, not just in retrospect. I think it was his manner, that caused the major problems, after all, mistakes are made in war, and after the event it can always be pointed out how things could have been done better. He wasn't Churchills first choice to take over from Auchinleck, indeed many think that Auchinleck had done all the preparatary work for Monty, and should never have been given the boot. Then there are those who say Monty should not have let Rommel escape at El Alamein. Historian Corelli Barnet was one to query the Monty legend back around 1960. www.colin-smith.info The other side of the picture is the biographies by Nigel Hamilton, who despite acknowledging all Montys faults reckoned he was one of the best tacticians Britain ever had. Monty: : The Battles of Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery (Hardcover) by Nigel Hamilton www.amazon.com Interesting to read the review of the book by Townsend, an American, that just about sums up the widely held American view of Monty. |
Terry Porritt (14) | ||
| 447471 | 2006-04-20 23:35:00 | You may be a tolerable war tactician T,pity your economic tactics are so abysmal. | Cicero (40) | ||
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