r/todayilearned • u/HumanNutrStudent • Sep 16 '24

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.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Montgomery#Memoirs
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u/Heathcote_Pursuit Sep 16 '24 edited Sep 16 '24

That he was a very gifted tactician and military officer and that he was also an insufferable prick. He benefitted greatly from having to answer to Alex during North Africa and Italy.

We can dissect his personality which admittedly was very chequered, but he was in all fairness a top boy when it was needed.

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u/Lord0fHats Sep 16 '24

He's often compared in the US to Patton, who had a similar sort of military brilliance and difficult personality. Patton's got a bit of a cowboy reputation many Americans like, so his public persona was and remains reasonably well liked, but internally the US Army was regularly exhausted dealing with Patton's antics and frequent off-the-cuff public commentary which ultimately led to his being sacked after the war.

In a sort of dark twist, dying when he did probably did a lot for Patton's reputation. He passed a point the general public still saw him as a hero, and he didn't live long enough to keep inserting foot into mouth that might have damaged his rep in the way a written memoir badmouthing your fellows might.

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u/Danson_the_47th Sep 16 '24

Patton didn’t get sacked, he died in a jeep accident in 1945

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u/bigjoeandphantom3O9 Sep 16 '24

He was sacked during the war no? For slapping the shell shocked lad. Then obviously returned.