The decisive battle against the Third Reich - #941 - Chapter 938 Command Power

“I don’t think this is a good idea, General Patton!” Montgomery objected: “Because as we all know, Route 69 in the north is obviously a more suitable direction for the attack.”

“I did not say that it is not suitable for attack, Marshal!” Patton replied: “I just said that we should attack from both directions at the same time!”

“No, we should concentrate the two armies together, that is, attack from the north!” Montgomery replied: “Because in this way we will have more advantages in the armored forces and end the war faster. This is very important to the Allies. It is the optimal strategy. In addition, we need a single commander to take charge of the ground forces attacking Germany from the Seine…to be commanded by one person from beginning to end, because in this way they can form a force!”

“No, this is nonsense!”

“This is ridiculous!”

…

Montgomery’s words immediately met with a burst of opposition from the American officers. Even the British officers looked at each other, because anyone with a little military knowledge knew that Montgomery’s reasons were far-fetched… The front of the attack was not wide, and the two armies were squeezed in. In one direction of attack, it would be a nightmare.

Even the British Army’s “Market Garden” operation has illustrated this. Too many troops cannot be deployed in the direction of Route 69, so concentrating two armies will not form more advantages at all, as Montgomery said… The war was almost over, by which time the other army would have to rest in the rear without being able to play any role.

But this is actually what Montgomery hopes. Montgomery does not want to give Patton any chance to stand out. Therefore, he once again used the power in his hands to serve the public good for personal gain.

Everyone knows this. Montgomery has been doing this since the U.S. military landed in North Africa. During the Battle of Sicily, Montgomery even ordered the U.S. military to stop attacking and let the British army pass through the U.S. defense zone and replace the U.S. offensive position to harvest the fruits of victory. .

If what he did before was quite covert, then this time it was naked and completely unreasonable.

So much so that even Montgomery’s chief of staff, also known as Major General “Freddy” DeGangamp, expressed his opposition to this afterwards: “We have always believed that fighting the enemy should not concentrate all the power on one fist, but Two hands should be used, because only then the enemy will not know which fist will deliver the fatal blow, or both!”

Of course, Degangan would not say that at the meeting.

But the British officers didn’t know what to say to support Montgomery’s obviously wrong strategy, so they all sat in their chairs in embarrassment.

General Patton was stunned for a while because he did not expect that Montgomery would be so shameless and that as a senior commander, he would make such a suggestion that was contrary to common sense.

“Okay!” General Patton replied: “If you think two armies are needed in the north, then it will definitely not be the 3rd Army! The 3rd Army will still continue to attack the Metz Pass!”

“Sorry, General!” Montgomery replied: “I don’t think we have enough fuel and supplies to support three armies, so…”

Montgomery spread his hands helplessly.

General Patton knew what this meant, which meant that the Third Army would once again be out of fuel because of Montgomery’s ridiculous excuse.

Therefore, General Patton could only turn his attention to Eisenhower.

Eisenhower was not a fool. He knew Montgomery’s little calculation, so of course he sided with General Patton.

“The American public will never support this approach!” Eisenhower said: “Public opinion will win the war!”

Standing in front of a map, Montgomery clasped his hands behind his back and replied arrogantly: “As long as we can win this war and give victory to the people, they won’t care who wins it or how it’s won!”

What Montgomery said is a bit ridiculous. The people really don’t care who wins, but the soldiers do, the country cares, and the eyes of the world also care.

It’s even true that Montgomery was the one who cared most, otherwise he wouldn’t have tried every means to suppress Patton in order to pocket the victory alone.

Eisenhower felt very powerless.

The reason is that although he is named Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Forces, he actually does not have much power in his hands.

This is partly because Montgomery is a field marshal, a rank equivalent to Eisenhower’s four-star general according to the agreement between the British and American Allied Forces.

In other words, Montgomery was on an equal footing with Eisenhower in terms of military rank, which is disgusting…Churchill’s promotion of Montgomery to field marshal was obviously to allow him to seize power.

On the other hand, Eisenhower was a civilian while Montgomery had rich combat experience, so many times Montgomery’s plans counted. Eisenhower could not even question Montgomery’s strategy without knowing what military theory to use.

However, a certain celebrity on the modern Internet actually pretended to be very knowledgeable and said that “German Eisenhower is very good at fighting”… In fact, to put it nicely, Eisenhow was coordinating the relationship between Britain and the United States, and to put it worse, he was just a person who broke up the fight. .

Therefore, Eisenhower thought about it and finally decided to make concessions.

“You will get two armies, Marshal Montgomery!” Eisenhower said: “I will transfer the US 1st Army to the northern Ardennes area to cooperate with the British 2nd Army! But at the same time, the 3rd Army will also move towards the Metz Pass. attack!”

“Maybe you don’t understand, General!” Montgomery said, “We don’t have that many supplies…”

“This is my problem!” Eisenhower interrupted Montgomery: “Leave the supply problem to me. Since you think that two armies can win in the north, and General Patton believes that as long as there are sufficient supplies and two routes You can win by attacking at the same time… So now, I will satisfy both of your requirements at the same time. I will wait and see what result you can give me!”

Montgomery couldn’t help but be stunned after hearing this.

After a pause, he added: “Well, General, regarding the attack, we need to appoint a single commander…”

Montgomery believed that the only commander who should do his part was him. He had the highest military rank and had combat experience. No one was more qualified than him. So in fact, Montgomery was forcing Eisenhower to hand over the command completely to him.

“I think you are right, Marshal Montgomery!” Eisenhower replied: “The offense does require unified command, so I decided…that I would personally assume this position!”

Montgomery was disappointed once again, but this was actually not surprising at all, because Montgomery’s Sima Zhao’s ambition was well known, and Eisenhower would not be stupid enough to hand over all command to him.