[Sarge]

Its always interested me that Monty was apparently slated for his Normandy campaign. The basic premise was that the British sat brewing tea while the US got on with the battle.

In reality Monty achieved all that he set out to do in Normandy. His plan was for a 90 day battle and it went roughly according to the plan. Sure, some of his ststements regarding Caen in particular did him no good, but he was the overall Commander of all Allied forces until the breakout when Ike took overall command.

There was a huge political campaign against him by both US and British commanders which he did himself no favours by various political statements of his own.

However his plan always was to hold the main German strength tight up against the British sector while allowing the US front to build up enough strength to break out.

I think history has been a little unkind to Monty who was not in my opinion a particularly likeable person, but that shouldn't take anything away from his achievements.