What role did Bernard Montgomery play in World War 2?
He trained and commanded the best British division in France in 1939, he commanded the South-Eastern sector of the British defenses until he was assigned to the 8th Army. He did take part in the planning of the Dieppe raid but recommened it be abandonned when the Navy didn't give it full support and was still opposing the plan when he was assigned to Africa.He won a clear defensive victory at the battle of Alam Halfa and followed that up with the decisive victory of 2nd El Alamein. He advanced 720 miles across the desert in 20 days in persuit of Rommel and defeated him again at the battle of Medinine and he defeated the Afrika Korp again at the Mareth Line but Rommel had already been sent home after the defeat at Medinine.He took part in the invasion of Sicily and was involved in the hardest fighting there. He personally opposed Operation Baytown but was forced to put it into effect and was proved right in his fears as the Germans refused to fight him and simply employed effective delaying actions which resulted in the operation becoming pointless. He advanced up Italy and breached the Gustav line before weather forced him to abandon his breach.He was then reassigned to command the Normandy Invasion. He chaned the plan from a two beach landing followed by a dash to Caen then a sweep to Cherbourg to a five beach landing with a holding action on the left followed by break out on the right. He was the main force behind the preparations for the invasion and worked tirelessly to get everyone up to scratch. He was assigned to be Allied Ground Forces Commander in charge of both British/Commonwealth and American forces during the Battle for Normandy.His general strategic plan for Normady unfolded 90% to the way he wanted it to but the tactics had to change to make it work. People generally accuse him of messing up in Nomandy because things changed from the initial plan on a Tactical level but when looking at it from a Strategical level not much changed at all.Before Eisenhower took over Monty tried to close the Faliase Gap but Omar Bradley, without informing or consulting Monty, halted Patton at Argentan when Monty had ordered Patton to charged for Chambois then Patton decided taking Paris was a better use of his time than finishing of the Germand and went east without orders to do so.Monty met Eisenhower and told him that if he wanted the war to end quickly in Europe then Ike couldn't command the ground forces. Ike had no experience and him being more or less and amatuer would be a hinderance to the Allied. Monty wanted to be Ground Force Commander himself but was not ignorant of the changed in power int he Allies and stated that if a British commander could not be the Ground Forces commander he would willingly serve under Bradley. Eisenhower dissmissed this suggestion with little thought and subsequently split the Allied forces into three different forces and sent them off with three different tactical objectives and thus split the allied manpower.Monty came up with the concept of Market Garden and was its main proponent but its planning was actually don by Frederick Browning and Lewis Brereton. Nevertheless it was Monty's failures but it was not a catarostrophic one. The Hurtgen Forrest Offensive and the Battle for Metz were both bigger wastes of time, manpower and resources than Market Garden was and offered results no better than Market Garden did when they had concluded.Monty assigned the Canadians to clear he Scheldt Estruary but underestimated the size of the task at hand and realized too late to avert the situation that hWhen the battle of the Bulge took place Bradley became completely isolated from the northern half of his Army Group and the American Commanders lost control there. Eisenhower assigned Monty to command the Northern half of the battle to bring order back to it and that is what he did. He rearanged the front andrestored communication to all parts of the Allied forces there and thus brought order from the chaos. His press conference that followed was not truly insulting to the American soldiers or Eisenhower but the ommision of Bradley and Patton from the speech coupled with the implied criticism of losing control of the battle lead to Bradley and Patton taking great offense to it and the rise of much bad blood between American and Monty in many years to come.Thereafter Monty commanded the norther part of the invasion of Germand and took the accepted the surrender of troops opposing him. He finished the war as the most successful and well known British commander of the conflict but having made many powerful enemies but of British/Commonwealth commanders and Americans and they wasted little time in dragging his reputation through the mud and belittling his accomplishments once the war was over.He successfully led British forces to victory over the Nazis .
