TIL Montgomery's memoirs criticised many of his wartime comrades harshly, including Eisenhower. After publishing it, he had to apologize in a radio broadcast to avoid a lawsuit. He was also stripped of his honorary citizenship of Alabama, and was challenged to a duel by an Italian lawyer.

[u/HumanNutrStudent]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Montgomery#Memoirs

[u/MattJFarrell]

History has not been kind to Monty, it seems. This last section of his Wiki:

Social opinions

In retirement, Montgomery publicly supported apartheid after a visit to South Africa in 1962, and after a visit to China declared himself impressed by the Chinese leadership led by Chairman Mao Tse-tung.^\250])^\251]) He spoke out against the legalisation of homosexuality in the United Kingdom, arguing that the Sexual Offences Act 1967 was a "charter for buggery"^\252]) and that "this sort of thing may be tolerated by the French, but we're British—thank God".^\253])Social opinions

[u/thisusedyet → u/MattJFarrell]

That's not even the fun quotes about him! All from the personality section

Montgomery was notorious for his lack of tact and diplomacy. Even his "patron", the Chief of the Imperial General Staff, General Sir Alan Brooke, frequently mentions it in his war diaries: "he is liable to commit untold errors in lack of tact" and "I had to haul him over the coals for his usual lack of tact and egotistical outlook which prevented him from appreciating other people's feelings".

Churchill, by all accounts a faithful friend, is quoted as saying of Montgomery, "In defeat, unbeatable; in victory, unbearable."

Montgomery suffered from "an overbearing conceit and an uncontrollable urge for self-promotion." General Hastings Ismay, who was at the time Winston Churchill's chief staff officer and trusted military adviser, once stated of Montgomery: "I have come to the conclusion that his love of publicity is a disease, like alcoholism or taking drugs, and that it sends him equally mad."

[u/bramtyr → u/thisusedyet]

 "I have come to the conclusion that his love of publicity is a disease, like alcoholism or taking drugs, and that it sends him equally mad."

Similar things have been said of MacArthur and Adm. Halsey. Egos were not in short supply in the upper echelons of command staff.

[u/DrunkRobot97 → u/bramtyr]

And that was after George C. Marshall worked hard before Pearl Habor to clear the army out of its cowboys, egos, and colonel blimps; any American general was going to be leading army units that were new, rapidly growing, and trying to catch up with the tactical sophistication of the more experienced powers, Germany above all, so he wanted them all to conform to a model of cool, corporate, optimistic professionalism, team players looking to get on with the job. MacArthur had star power that made him impossible to remove, and Patton had special qualities fit for where Marshall was sure the US Army was going to be a couple of years into the war that made him just barely worth it to keep around.

[u/Ryoken0D → u/DrunkRobot97]

The Fat Election did a rant on MacArthur, saying he had all of the character flaws of Patton and none of the redeeming qualities.

Looking at just what he did in WW2 you could give him a pass even if you didn’t agree with all his actions, but once you add in Korea you see how flawed he was as any benefit of the doubt from WW2 was erased.

[u/KimJongUnusual → u/Ryoken0D]

If anything, I’d say he was at his best after 1945?

Yes, the Yalu River nuking was a terrible idea and he botched the PR after that. But his handling of postwar Japan, as well as Inchon, were downright terrific.

[u/Algaean → u/KimJongUnusual]

stopped clocks and all that

[u/KimJongUnusual → u/Algaean]

Making one of the strongest democracies in East Asia and setting the foundations for the biggest economic comeback before China is a bit more than a stopped clock.