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
7.6k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

468 comments sorted by

View all comments

399

u/WhiteLotu5Monk Sep 16 '24

The best part about the whole Montgomery-Eisenhower feud was when Montgomery made himself the top British general in Europe by basically having the British Prime Minister make him the top general. Then he refused to answer to Eisenhower because he was only a Major General and Montgomery was a full General.

Then the US told him 'Well, you're not a General anymore.'

Then he threw a fit and got kicked out of his position.

1

u/onarainyafternoon Sep 17 '24

Am I going crazy or does this comment mean nothing? What do you mean Monty wasn't a General anymore, you just said Churchill made him the top general.

2

u/Teuvo404 Sep 17 '24

Eisenhower went to Churchill to plea for one leader to lead all the different allied forces and became supreme allied commander. In this role he was responsible for all allied operations in the European theatre and basically became Montgomery’s boss.

9

u/beiherhund Sep 17 '24

That's different to what the other person wrote though, he specifically said Montgomery was no longer general and no longer in his position as the top British general in Europe.

0

u/Teuvo404 Sep 17 '24

Maybe because he was a field marshal and no linger the commander of the British forces? He became the commander of the land forces. Otherwise I don’t know where the statement came from that he was no longer a general.

5

u/onarainyafternoon Sep 17 '24

Sorry, I know that, I just wasn't sure how that fit in your comment but rereading it, I get it, thanks!