soc.history.war.world-war-ii

And for all of the conversation on this thread, I've still not noted anyone
who identified himself as being a member of the Commonwealth, something the
original poster was looking for. Have they all been struck dumb or was it
that none of them survived the experience of fighting for Monty?


Haydn wrote:
> "David Thornley" wrote:
>
>> Now, if you want comparable positions, try Sicily. I'm more
>> impressed by Patton than Montgomery in Sicily. (In fairness,
>> I don't think it was one of Montgomery's best, while it was
>> closer to being Patton's best.)
>
> An autopilot in stead of both Patton and Montgomery would have achieved
> more
> or less the the same result as the historical outcome of the campaign.
>
> Nay, an autopilot might have performed better than Patton - by giving up
> the
> glitzy Patton ride to Palermo and seriously helping Montgomery by closing
> in
> on the retreating Axis and try bagging some Germans before they could be
> shifted to the east.
>
> Sicily was too small and narrow a theater with too limited maneuver space,
> and too brief a campaign, to let any army commander ability shine. The
> sensible, unimaginative Allied invasion plan didn't open up vast horizons
> of
> operational glory. On both sides, it mostly was a regiment and battalion
> commander battle. The Allies had several good division commanders, none
> awesome. Hube's campaign management was solid - not that he had many
> operational choices - , and culminated in the outstanding Axis evacuation
> over the Straits to the mainland, without comparison the best piece of the
> campaign.
>
> Haydn