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@irishseven100 Says:
I wish the brits would like to have a go at us Americans for a third time. LOL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@ukmediawarrior Says:
Got some facts wrong here, Simon. Monty was not overall commander of D-Day. D-Day, or at least the landing of troops, was called Operation Neptune under the command of the British, Admiral Ramsey. Once ashore Monty had control and had told his superiors Caan would fall on day one. Instead it fell over a month later. Monty, always the one to grasp political victory from the jaws of a military defeat swiftly changed his story to say he had always intended for his forces to hold down the Germans at Caan to let the Americans break out, lol.
It wasn't the British who wanted to attack through Belgium and Holland into the Rhur, it was just Monty's plan that initially Ike refused, but after Monty went off to Churchill and complained political pressure was brought to bear on Ike who changed his mind. Despite several warning from the Dutch Resistance and the Allied Armies own recon flights that the Germans were a much bigger threat than had been initially assumed, the operation pushed on as no one wanted to tell Monty no. It wasn't lack of supplies that had damned the operation, it could never have succeeded in the first place.
@peterseamer2489 Says:
you speak too fast.
@SuperGreatSphinx Says:
EIRENE
THE GODDESS OF PEACE
@irishseven100 Says:
@Bullet-Tooth-Tony- America was saved by France and Spain in The Revolutionary War, and 1812 War. WOW I did not know that !!!!..I go to Europe almost every year. In Europe as in America the British are known as loudmouthed, arrogant, patronizing, egotistic, snobs. So it is great fun to Trigger you people, a Race of arrogant pathological LIARS. Thank you my boy with providing me with a bit of proper Sport, but i grow weary of this nonsense. So this will be my final post. OH one last thing now that we Americans can no longer on France and Spain to save us, should We be worried that the British will try for a third time to take back it"s Colonies??????????????/
@bigwoody4704 Says:
Monty didn't direct crap on D-Day what a good little fauntleroy yes man you are simon. Adml.Ramsay did with 200 other officers planning many from the Pacific where the GIs where making amphibious landing almost daily. The only thing Bernard knew about beaches as you know is running the other way. Bernard did have 6 months to plan CAEN and ran it into the sand immediately - after 1st getting stuck on the beach.
Monty didn't hold down crap the German Panzers not bernard decided wher they would go.Bernard predicted a day one break out
*Decision in Normandy,by Carlo D'este,p.80 HQ 21 Army Group,14 April 1944 ,B.L. Montgomery, CiC ."the whole of aggressive tactics would be to retain the initiative ourselves and to cause alarm in the minds of the enemy. To be successful, such tactics must be adopted on D-Day; to wait till D plus 1 would be to lose the opportunity, and also to lose the initiative."*
*OVERLORLD, D-Day and the Battle for Normandy, by Max Hastings,p.228 Churchill denounced Montgomery to Brooke - remembering his bold declarations at the St Paul's briefing about rapid armored thrusts and the urgent need to "peg out claims inland" he felt these intentions had been betrayed*
*Decision in Normandy,by Carlo D'este,p.197* The Germans never understood why Montgomery failed to press his advantage. Of the period around June 10th Gen Fritz Kraemer wrote: *it is still incomprehensible why the enemy exerted himself with assaults in the direction of Caen and did not make a powerful drive to exploit the open Gap on either side of Bayeux. The enemy left a favorable opportunity slip.*
*Decision in Normandy,by Carlo D'este,p.202 Nothing what so ever in Monty's D-Day plans notes or speeches ever alluded to holding on to the left permitting Bradley to take Cherbourg and break out on the right.*
*The Battle for Normandy by Antony Beevor,p229, Montgomery liked to keep objectives vague,often with metaphors, so if there was a breakout he could claim credit for it and if the operation ran into the sand he could say that they had simply been tying down the German forces to help out the Americans. IT was not of course Montgomery who determined this state of affairs but the Germans who sent their Panzer Divisions*
*Decision in Normandy,by Carlo D'este,p.171 Not surprisingly nowhere in Dempsey's diary or notes for this period is there any mention what so ever of a British strategy of attracting and pinning down Rommel's reserves*
*Decision in Normandy,by Carlo D'este,p.204 Brigadier Edgar "Billy" Williams was a brilliant scholar and an Oxford don. For nearly 3 years he was Montgomery's senior intelligence officer and privy to all of his plans. "we did not expect the bulk of German armor against 21st Army Group. Monty tries to change the story"*
*Decision in Normandy,by Carlo D'este,p.210. Brigadier E.J.Foord Deputy G-2 of SHAEF told Liddell Hart,recorded in 1946 "Foord thinks that it was only when Monty failed to make progress in the Caen sector that it was always been realized that the bulk of the German forces would tend to be drawn in the Caen sector but he never heard any theory to draw them in there deliberately.*
*Decision in Normandy,by Carlo D'este,p.247 SHAEF and COSSAC Planning Officer, Brigadier Kenneth G. McLean is quoted as calling Monty a "big cheat" in his claims: "for Montgomery to say that he was holding the Germans so Bradley could break out was absolute rubbish and a complete fabrication that only developed after he was stopped outside of Caen"*
@diogocatalano9557 Says:
Spartan ? He was very proud to use a Rolls Royce all the time !
@irishseven100 Says:
The Truth bout Dunkirk is----Did the French save the British at Dunkirk? It’s a bit simplistic to write it that way, but not entirely wrong. The rearguard that made the Dunkirk evacuation possible was not only French soldiers, but it was mostly French soldiers.What would be wrong, would be to pretend that during the evacuation, French and British soldiers fought “together, as equals, side by side”, despite what several answers to this question say. See for instance, Henrey Bradley's answer, which is worth a read even though it does not give a fair view of the proportions at stake.Here’s what’s missing in Henrey’s answer:
The timing leaves no doubt Brits were given priority. French soldiers had to wait for their turn:
Evacuation was decided on 26 May 1940 by the British alone. At that moment the French military HQ was not expecting that decision and were instead planning a counter-attack in Arras. Eden specifically ordered the head of the British Expeditionary Force, Lord Gort, not to tell the French and the Belgian about the evacuation.
Evacuation was initially planned for only 2 days, and only for Brits.
During the first 4 days (from 26th to 29th May), only Brits were evacuated. French soldiers were turned down.
The first French soldiers were evacuated only on the 5th day, on 30th May, after more than 70,000 Brit soldiers had already been evacuated.
Only on the 6th day (31st May), Churchill ordered to treat equally all soldiers, French and Brits alike (see .
The British rearguard was evacuated on the 8th day (2nd June). The soldiers evacuated after that and before the Germans took over Dunkirk on the morning of 4th June were only French. The French rearguard was not evacuated, they were all captured.
Final numbers leave not doubt French and Brits were not “equals, side by side” :
The 400,000 allied forces on 26th May were about half-half between French and Brits (200,000 each)
Almost all Brit soldiers were evacuated, only 2 thirds of French soldiers were evacuated (about 200,000 vs about 140,000).
Less than 5,000 Brit soldiers lost their lives protecting the evacuation. More than 15,000 French soldiers died.
Almost no Brit soldier was captured. Almost all the 35,000 captured soldiers were French.
Now, one can make an argument that the Brits were not right to give priority to their own soldiers.
On the other hand, it’s just wrong to pretend that the evacuation was equal. It’s plain wrong to pretend that the stories of French being turned down on the mole or sacrificing their lives to allow the Brits to evacuate are false or anecdotal. These stories represent the reality of what happened.
[Addition] Some hysterical Brits don’t like my answer, as it hurts their prejudices. I have already answered the same comments several times, so I will add them here :
The “tone” of my answer is not biased, since my answer has no “tone”. It’s just facts. I see guys like Henrey and others like to add some poetic flourish to their answer. I don’t.
I have zero hatred against the English. Actually, I reckon that in the past, the French and the English were for several centuries essentially the same people. But that was long ago. As for my feelings towards the English, it’s been already a few years now that I don’t have any. I couldn’t care less.
Some English guys have an interesting (although misinformed) argument : “Yes, French soldiers were disadvantaged in the Dunkirk evacuation, but that’s because of inept French commanders. Not because of a decision of British commanders”.
Indeed, in London, Churchill paid a lot of attention to the equal treatment of the French. I did mention that in my answer (see UK war cabinet decision of 31st May 1940 to evacuate French in equal numbers).
But up until the 31st of May, and even after that, on the field in Dunkirk, the attitude of the British commander Lord Gort was unabashedly in favor of British soldiers and against the French. There are many actions from Gort, before and after Dunkirk, that give plenty of reasons to French commanders not to trust the Brits. For the sake of this answer, I will show just one : Gort did not write “we want to embark French soldiers but their officers don’t let them”. He wrote “every Frenchman embarked is at cost of one Englishman”. See his secret telegram to the War Office on 29 May below :
14.3K viewsView upvote Like i said the British are Masters at rewriting history , and generally a Race of LIARS> This is my last response, and this is THE TRUTH>
@MrDangerman6969 Says:
I'm Australian, he was in command of our troops in North Africa. They sailed halfway around the world to fight a battle that we believed the allies must win. We all need to do our part.
Hero of mine.
@randomaccount-dq1jq Says:
Alot of this is like listening to a military verion of Sheldon Cooper, i'd be extremely suprised if he didnt havr high functioning aspergers.
@SammyNeedsAnAlibi Says:
Monty was an opportunist and remains the ONLY person on rhe planet who thinks "Market Garden" was a success...
@stanyeaman4824 Says:
A great late friend, an Aussie pilot seconded to the RAF in Egypt just before Alamein. He said everybody in the 8th Army loved and respected him as a truly great leader and soldier. He out-foxed the Desert Fox every time. My friend’s first experience of Monty’s leadership was to witness the execution of a British soldier who had fallen asleep while of sentry duty. Everybody agreed the death sentence was fully justified. Every soldier would do whatever Monty commanded. That was the spirit of his leadership.
@jesusvilla6132 Says:
Not surprised that a British host took it way to easy on this arrogant &&@&&@ at the end of the episode
@NicholasGendeman-qg7vy Says:
20 min video with 18 ads
@robertstrong6798 Says:
I’m British , Monty wasn’t so great , good capable general yes. He beat Rommel by out numbering him badly ! Anyone remember operation market garden ? The true greats beat the odds constantly Alexander , Ceasor , Napoleon
@M_A65 Says:
Montgomery is completely overhyped. Good job you beat the undersupplied, undermanned, and exhausted axis who had far less than he had. When he failed at market garden he just played everyone else. In Sicily Patton showed him up exposing how inept he was. On the western front he spent two months to plan the crossing of a river, while Patton made a fool of him by just crossing under the cover of darkness successfully. His career in WW2 was full of more quagmires and failures than successes.
@victornewman9904 Says:
I love the Monty story of how everyone in Southern Command in 1941 had to do a weekly x-country run. Several staff- officers said that it might kill them. Monty replied that it would be better if they died now, and created space for younger officers to rise, than to die later and leave confusion in combat. I can't imagine an American general laying down this kind of inclusive discipline. They loved their comfort.
@johnbrereton5229 Says:
There are a few mistakes in this video. Normandy wasn't the largest amphibious landing of WW2, Sicily was. Though nearly 133,000 landed in Normandy, 150,000 landed in Sicily from 3000 ships. Also Pattons behaviour there was not what you would expect from an officer, apart from attacking his own soldiers and ordering POWs to be shot in cold blood. Also later Montgomery wanted him to encircle the German troops he had pinning down but Patton ignored his messages and went in the opposite direction to take the capital city of Palermo which was of no tactical importance and so, poorly defended. Later with Montgomery still pushing the Germans up the coastal road he asked Patton to use the only other road on his side of the island to head for Messina and come in behind the Germans and again cut off their retreat . However, by the time he got there, in fact just before the British and despite them fighting their way along the destroyed costal road, the Germans had gone. Patton later claimed he had won the 'Race to Messina' but there was no race Montgomery had asked him to take it, though Patton thought it was a trick, but it wasnt . Eisenhower relieved Patton of his command after Sicily and awarded Monty the highest miltary award he could bestow on a foreign commander. Also Market Garden was actualy proposed by Eisenhower though based on a previous idea of Montys that he had rejected.
@hutch1319 Says:
Can you source your suggestion the 75% of troops were american in overlord?
Based on the figures I've found repeatedly thats not even close to being accurate.
@irishseven100 Says:
Monty was a real Hero especially at Dunkirk.
@xys7536 Says:
Market garden true spectrum. When cornered. Flail wildly Ala market garden
@xys7536 Says:
Market garden true spectrum. When cornered. Flail wildly Ala market garden
@johnhehir508 Says:
The Americans instead of taking the bridge took the high ground,this led to the main failure of operation market garden, Eisenhower effectively with his broad front strategy cost 50,000 Americans their lives in the hurtegen forest
@mikestevanovic5000 Says:
The Spartan General?! Did Montgomery participate in The Peloponnesian War?
@scottjoseph9578 Says:
I'm an American, and Monty was greater than Bradley.
@scottjoseph9578 Says:
What people who criticize Monty in NW Europe fail to realise was that the British Army was a wasting asset very weak in infantry.
See:RAISING CHURCHILL'S ARMY and AND WE SHALL SHOCK THEM.
@billydyer3424 Says:
My Father fought alongside Monty in Middle East, pushing Rommel into the Ocean, He decorated my Father twice 🇬🇧Dad was a Sapper, who went ahead of our Tanks and Troops to locate and often destroy land mines and traps 🪤.
@sallyjones3377 Says:
When a video starts off with bollocks, what's the point of watching?
@metalmonkey0026 Says:
Personally I believe Montgomery to be an overrated egomaniacle twat!
@nickdanger3802 Says:
In Ireland, Montgomery unleashed a scorched earth campaign of utter barbarism. "Personally," he said, "my whole attention was given to defeating the rebels but it never bothered me a bit how many houses were burnt". As far as he was concerned, even civilians were fair game, referring to them in derogatory terms.
There was, perhaps, only one person who could put up with Monty’s abrasive personality. That was General Sir Alan Brooke, the head of the British Army. But at times, even he couldn’t stand Monty. He regularly complained about Montgomery in his diaries, writing, "I had to haul him over the coals for his usual lack of tact and egotistical outlook".
Following WWII, Montgomery held a number of high-ranking positions, but he never quite exerted as much influence as he wanted to—and he only had himself and his own bad attitude to blame. As one of his detractors put it, "I have come to the conclusion that his love of publicity is a disease[...]and that it sends him equally mad".
Towards the end of his life, Montgomery adopted controversial opinions that betrayed the fact that he had, maybe, outlived his usefulness. He was an outspoken supporter of apartheid in South Africa and an opponent of gay rights. He famously said, "this sort of thing [homosexuality] may be tolerated by the French, but we’re British—thank God".
@janjantimalsina1465 Says:
👍
@TheWord-LaPalabra Says:
I take pride having a very calm and cool composure during any argument or fight, I don't even hit back when in fights where I'm hit, but I find myself wanting to punch you in the face about every minute with that smug talk you have. Sorry just being real.
@AudieHolland Says:
The lowest point to which Montgomery stooped was when he blamed the failure of Market Garden on General Sosabowski and his Free Polish Forces.
@ehrldawg Says:
*Best general since Wellington* . Thats quit a compliment.
@briandoss9232 Says:
Well. Got the job done.
@gareoke Says:
Omg whoTF do you lot think you are? Monty was a coward, he was cautious, blah blah blah.He didnt do this he didnt do that??? He was strategical and unwilling to sacrifice the soldiers that he respected unless he was confident the result would be worth the sacrifice. He didnt have an unlimited supply of men and hardware. That is not cowardice that is strategy.... Imbesiles.
@1987MartinT Says:
I don't have the rose-coloured view of Montgomery that a lot of British have. Nor the rose-coloured view of Patton that a lot of Americans do. Both were brilliant military leaders, but neither was perfect. They both deserve praise for what they did right, and criticism for what they did wrong. And they were both some of the most pompous, arrogant, egotistical peacocks in world history.
@JACKSONLEWISOFCANADA Says:
Monty had a bad personality but without him, the war could very well have had a faster and reversed ending....
@quantumperception Says:
So Monty had a teenis/weenis!
@mirkobirko-1435 Says:
LEFT KNEE UNDER AS PORTUGESE PUTLER WOULD DO
@williamwest9204 Says:
Eisenhowers favoritism for Montgomery and omar over patton is what drug the war on longer than it needed too
@jamesmattoon1559 Says:
He was only good because of all the poop that came before him!
@williamsherman1942 Says:
Monty was incompetent, arrogant and a shitty team-player. That’s all i have to say
@bigwoody4704 Says:
*Decision in Normandy, by Carlo D'este,p.80 HQ 21 Army Group,14 April 1944 ,B.L. Montgomery, CiC "the whole of aggressive tactics would be to retain the initiative ourselves and to cause alarm in the minds of the enemy To be successful, such tactics must be adopted on D-Day; to wait till D plus 1 would be to lose the opportunity, and also to lose the initiative*
@daphneporter856 Says:
Haven't started, but as a Canadian I came here in anger to learn about this butt hole. I wonder if I will see him in a different way when I'm done.
@hhorsley6264 Says:
Monty is not well remembered in the US because he questioned the legend of their great hero; Ike was the glamourous soldier who became US president. What Monty said in his books was not as controversial as people realise, he did not criticise Ike. He said that he had disagreed with him and would have done things differently.
Monty had known what it was to be the young officer taking men over the top into battle in a way Ike (the career staff officer) never did. That mattered to Monty (and many other senior officers) more than most realise. BUT Monty did enjoy too much the fact that the way the war turned vindicated his concerns about how Europe would be divided up after the war. This was the real hot potato.
To be fair however what the Americans said and what they did about Monty were two different things, both during and after the war they trusted Monty completely, both on the battlefield and more importantly when he was Deputy Supreme Commander at NATO.
@lobehold2263 Says:
It's pretty amazing what a good women can do to a man like Montgomery. My uncle was a hard man with a cruel side, due to the environment he grew up in. When he met his now wife and married her, he completely changed. I am not joking when it was really weird at first to always see him smile and genuinely content. He could have outbursts, but she always kept him in line with nothing more than love and care.
The majority of women may have not had power or privilege like men. But the good women who were positive influences on some of the most powerful men in history cannot be understated.
@wendyraines8011 Says:
D Day was the largest SUCESSFUL amphib landing. Kublai Kahn's was almost triple the size of Overlord.
@bigwoody4704 Says:
Monty was along for the ride,he failed in sicily/Italy that is why the crown called him home. Then ran into the sand at CaenSorry Simon not one of your better efforts but i watched the whole thing anyway and still gave the thumbs up
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