[wagglebee]

Monty was an incredible military leader, his main problem in history though will always be the impression that he was a condescending pompous ass.

[Morgan's Raider]

"Hell, I know I'm a prima donna. I admit it. The problem with Monty is he WON'T admit it".-
George S. Patton

"My country can not afford the luxury of another Montgomery success".-
Prince Bernard of the Netherlands, on hearing of Montgomery proclaimng the disastrous Operation Market-Garden an unqualified success.

[Captain Peter Blood]

That may be true. All I can say is that reading Hamilton's biography on him gave me different view of him than what I had of him, particularly the portrayal of him in "Patton".

After watching that movie so many times I now have to look at it in a much different way after reading Carlo De Este's book on Patton and finding out that Gen. Bradley could not stand him and had the last laugh, in a way, as he was technical adviser to the film.

Monty was a true military genius and worked hard to prepare his men for every battle. I highly recommend Nigel Hamilton's massive biography, it is well worth the read.

Monty waited many years to write his autobiography of his time in W.W. II, he was never happy with what Eisenhower, Bedell Smith and some of the others wrote in their memoirs. As a consequence Monty wrote a number of things that in his mind were to set the truth straight. The end result was that he and Eisenhower never spoke again and a number of others also never forgave him his bluntness as well as the fact that he was a Prima Donna, but so were a number of others. Too many egos and not enough room for them all.

I will be very interested in seeing what the take is with the A&E movie tomorrow night on Ike with Tom Selleck.

[rock58seg]

But then he really deserves both perceptions.