Originally Posted by redcoat

Before Normandy, Monty was warned by the British government that there was a manpower shortage, and that he had to be careful with casualties, as there would be difficulty in replacing them. In fact a number of British units had to be disbanded after Normandy, due to these shortages.


ps, re WW1,
Monty fought on the Somme. He was badly wounded in the chest, and was forced to hide under the body of one of his own men for nearly 24 hours in no-mans land to avoid capture.
He swore after that, if he was in charge, he would never let any troops go into battle as untrained, ill-equipped and badly supported as they were in that battle.

Monty did have a high regard for the men under his command, much more so than the impression given by 'Old Blood and Guts' Patton. Mind you it's hard to get any worse than some of the WW1 command decisions by the British Army.

Any eg. of the WWI commands of the British Army?

[quote=Reiben]
The western front was regarded as a rest area for german units to refit after the eastern front. But the units did contain a core of battle experienced troops. To call the elite units low quality is a diservice if not totally untrue. Certainly there was low quality units in France but there were quality units too. Besides often those units in France went back to the eastern front to fight the soviets. It is also worth pointing out that although the germans were expecting an invasion and need to protect their western front.



Yes, there were quality units such as the Das Reich Panzer Division but really not enough to go round.

Most of the German armoured units were in the wrong place on D-Day.

It is interesting to note that captured Russian prisoners were used in German units on D-Day. Just shows what a critical manpower problem they had at the time.

Monty and Patton by mid 1944 (fortunately for the Allies) were not facing the Germans at their very best.

Originally Posted by Strongbow

It is interesting to note that captured Russian prisoners were used in German units on D-Day. Just shows what a critical manpower problem they had at the time.

The conflict on the Eastern Front bled both armies almost white. What is not generally known is how critically low the Red Army was on manpower too. For example, in 1943 and 1944 alone the Red Army lost 14,736,144 men from its ranks, including 4,076,320 men KIA/MIA or made POW (figures taken from G.F. Krivosheev, "Soviet Casualties and Combat Losses").

Overall, the Red Army lost over 29 million men in the Great Patriotic War.

Those are absolutely staggering figures. I think it shows where the war was really won in WW2.

Will That is because of the tactics used by the USSR!

Originally Posted by zander_0633

Will That is because of the tactics used by the USSR!

You think? How much do you know about the tactics of the Red Army in WW2?

This is getting a little off-topic anyway.

Ok, Back on track ! I think Even Rommel is better than him!

Originally Posted by zander_0633

Ok, Back on track ! I think Even Rommel is better than him!

You mean the very same Rommel that never won a single battle against Monty.

yes
1

Yes, General Montgomery was a flaming *** ****!