That's an easy pattern to recognize, though most military historians feel differently. Remember, he defeated Rommel in North Africa - Rommel has been quoted saying, "The war in the desert ceased to be a game when Montgomery took over."There seems to be a lot of Montgomery and fail here.
Yah, I wanted to be there this year for the 70th (was in Normandy last year for there 69th) - will definitely make it soon, likely next year.CA, if you haven't done so, you should head to the museum in NOLA next June 6. A buddy & I did that on the 65th anniversary, & there were a couple hundred DDay Vets there. This year, we went back, & there were VERY few. Got to visit w/ a guy from the 82nd & 101st airborne Divs, plus a Higgins boat driver among others. Awesome in the truest sense of the word.
He also was known for the "Montgomery Cocktail"That's an easy pattern to recognize, though most military historians feel differently. Remember, he defeated Rommel in North Africa - Rommel has been quoted saying, "The war in the desert ceased to be a game when Montgomery took over."
The reality is Montgomery was a genius 'big picture' guy - his meticulous planning sometimes meant he KNEW he was sending men into a no-win situation, but if that meant allowing other parts of the front to be more successful, it was a sacrifice worth making. For example, without Operation Spring tying up Rommel and his Panzer divisions in the eastern side of Normandy, Operation Cobra likely would have been far less successful. And Caen was not only the largest city in Normandy, but was the only wall the Germans had to keep the Allied's from driving straight into Paris.
Normandy is worth a visit. Caen is a modern city (because it had to be almost completely rebuilt), Omaha Beach is awe-inspiring and the American cemetery. Sainte-Mère-Église has the American Airborne Museum (and they still have a paratrooper mannequin hanging from the church steeple). Pegasus Bridge is interesting. The British Airborne Museum is there. Utah, Sword, Juneau and Gold are all appropriately commemorated. The Mulberries are still there at Gold. Normandy is just different from the rest of the Frenchmen. Normandy is cleaner and more orderly than other parts of France.I appreciate the effort it's taking to post this. I pray our country never forgets the sacrifice, bravery, and commitment to a cause that it took to win this war. Going to Normandy is on my bucket list, for sure.[/URL]
Hitler wishes to counterattack in the Cotentin peninsula, but General von Kluge (commander of the German forces in Normandy) is convinced that attacking under such conditions is useless and that a retreat to behind the Seine river is absolutely necessary. However, von Kluge does not contradict his Fuhrer, who has decided to launch a vast operation overnight (tonight). The Germans join a maximum number of units together in the area of Mortain, including some aircraft taken from the Russian front, and they prepare for the counterattack.
Hitler, as was usual late in the war, was micromanaging from the Wolf's Lair.Breakout and Pursuit said:He (Hitler) made available sixty Panther tanks still held in reserve east of Paris and released to Kluge eighty Mark IV tanks and all the armored cars of the 11th Panzer Division, which was moving northward from southern France toward Normandy. These troops were to reinforce the counterattack.