DISCUSSIONS

thegeniusmartin said

At Normandie he claimed that it was his plan to "delay" the Germans at Caen! That wasnt true, and in the countr attack in Ardennerna he said that it was he who deafeted the Germans. Thats not true either, it was the yanks and Patton who manage to deafeted the jerrys!

Nice to see you read the article I posted. Not! If you had you would have realised it has dealt with all of your assertions.

Caen was decided as a goal, not an objective, for D-Day. Instructions were issued on the possibility of its capture or not. If it was not to be captured the Allied forces were to take different action. With the presence of 21st Panzer Division Caen was too unrealistic an objective. The reason why the town was so important was that it had strategic value in being a gateway to the Seine, Paris and beyond. Thus, this is where the German forces would concentrate allowing the American forces in the west of France to begin the long encirclement east. Of course, this took a long time to materialise. Furthermore, the failure to take Caen was not a setback as the Monty snipers like to argue. Monty faced the majority of German forces at this time. Indeed, in the American sector in the west the Germans only had 140 tanks available whereas at Caen the Germans had over 700 tanks available. When the Americans were preparing for Operation Cobra Rommel strengthened his forces in the west but the balance remained the same. Montgomery faced the bulk of the German forces and with the limited resources available to the British Army he had to make sure he had the best advantage available. Allied strategy did not fail. They did however fail to anticipate the terrain and the effect it would have on limiting mobile warfare; they also expected the Germans to do the sensible thing and retreat instead of holding every bit of ground as Hitler ordered. This battle of attrition was not dictated by Montgomery but by the unexpected tenacity of the German defenders.

The objective Montgomery was trying to achieve at Caen was to eliminate German offensive power while tying down as much of their forces. This was so the Allies could create the best possible opportunity for Bradley to punch through the German defences in the west or as Monty put it; "all the activities in the eastern flank are designed to help the forces in the west while ensuring a firm bastion is kept in the east." Yes, it was in order to delay the Germans as you put it. Montgomery knew what he was doing.

Operation Goodwood, launched by Monty on the 18th July, was a strategic victory for the Allied forces. Even though the German gun ridge remained all of the objectives were basically met when the operation had to be cancelled on the 20th due to poor weather. Goodwood had exhausted the German armour formations in the area and stopped any from moving west. In addition, two Panzer Divisions that had been ordered to the west were recalled. The objective to pin the majority of German armour around Caen and wear them down was achieved. At the time Von Kluge wrote that, "...the moment has drawn near when this front...will break."

Unfortunately Bradley had to hold his offensive due to a lack of supplies. Eisenhower was furious at them for what he thought was a lack of vigour. Eisenhower did not understand the situation. He was not a combat general. He failed to grasp what Montgomery was trying to do and failed to grasp the supply and weather situations which delayed operations.

Richard Overy summed up the situation very well in his book, Why the Allies Won:

"In the end Eisenhower did nothing to interfere with Montgomery's handling of the situation but the myth took root that Montgomery had failed in Normandy and had to be rescued by go-getting Americans. The truth could not have been more different. The delays to the breakout were unavoidable. Bradley could not punch decisively without supplies; once he was provisioned nothing could be done about the weather. British and Canadian forces fought against the bulk of German armoured divisions in France, against bitter resistance and with a declining rate of reinforcement. But when the breakout finally came, the long weeks of attrition around Caen bore out Montgomery's aims. The victory in Normandy was secured in the grim, unglamorous erosion of German fighting power in June and July."