The Grave of a Field Marshall

[LUCKYSTRIKE]

Last weekend I visited Binstead Village in Hampshire (UK) to pay my respects at the Graveside of
1st Viscount Bernard Law Montgomery of Alamein. KG GCB DSO Field Marshall.
I took my camera along to share the pictures with the forum. Binstead is a small historic Village with many ancient houses. Montgomery lived out the remainder of his life in Froyle mill near the village.
I include a few good pictures of the man, the church, his grave and the only WW2 war grave in the cemetery for JA Baynton REME this is near to Monty's.
If you ever have the chance to visit its a nice spot with a good view of Hampshire rolling hills and downland.
From memory one of the poppy wreaths is from the (NVA) Normandy Veterans Association but sadly I can't remember the other.
LUCKYSTRIKE

[LUCKYSTRIKE]

I attached a picture of one of the two WW1 graves in the cemetery by mistake. Here is J A Bayntons grave.
LUCKYSTRIKE

[Paul D]

Great post mate thanks for that

[William]

I read his biography and it was quite interesting. He suspected there would be a cold war and proposed that the Germans assist the French, English and Americans to move as far into Germany as quickly as possible, to minimize the amount of territory the Russians wound up with......I was also touched by his chosen post-war picture in retirement.....which was him pushing an old fashioned reel mower to cut his lawn at the cottage he lived in. Not what you would expect an egomaniac to select. I think most of the voices against him were wrong after all....his stature grows as time passes, while his critics fade away.

[Scout]

I read his biography and it was quite interesting. He suspected there would be a cold war and proposed that the Germans assist the French, English and Americans to move as far into Germany as quickly as possible, to minimize the amount of territory the Russians wound up with......I was also touched by his chosen post-war picture in retirement.....which was him pushing an old fashioned reel mower to cut his lawn at the cottage he lived in. Not what you would expect an egomaniac to select. I think most of the voices against him were wrong after all....his stature grows as time passes, while his critics fade away.

Whilst he did a bang up job in the desert, he did sit on his hands for quite a while in Caen.

[Paul D]

Scout,

Caen can never be described as Monty sitting on his hands, it was grinding attritional combat in an ideal defensive Battle area against most of the best German Armoured units in the west, despite the overall plan for a swift breakout from the Beachhead realistically the Battles around Caen were always going to happen the way they did.

regards

Paul

[Scout]

Scout,

Caen can never be described as Monty sitting on his hands, it was grinding attritional combat in an ideal defensive Battle area against most of the best German Armoured units in the west, despite the overall plan for a swift breakout from the Beachhead realistically the Battles around Caen were always going to happen the way they did.

regards

Paul

Guess it was just the spirit of Patton speaking then

[Paul D]

Must have been mate

To be honest i think that the way things happened in Normandy was the right way round , Patton was always going to be the man to exploit the breakthrough when it came and take full advantage with 3rd Army whilst Monty was better suited to the slogging match around Caen if it had been the other way round the Allies might have been in a right mess !!

cheers

Paul

[hassiman]

For me, other than his humongus ego, Monty's be failure was Market Garden. He was informed of the massive troop ( Panzer Division on R&R) presence in the area three days before the beginning of the operation yet he chose to press ahead anyway. This hugeky wrong headed decison resulted in the needless loss of many lives.
Watch the great film "Theirs Is The Glory" Probably the best WW2 film ever done. Shot in the original locations with the men that survived the battle and using the real German Tanks... before they were cut up for scrap.

[davejb]

Dont forget that Monty wasnt the only commander to ignore the facts being presented to him, if there had been more objections raised by all concerned perhaps the operation might have been postponed , unfortunately there were many who didnt speak up or didnt want to rock the boat, then there were the planners who decided where the drops would be, the communication failures, the resupply of equipment and ammunition, all of these helped to earn the title of a bridge too far, it was a very ambitious plan but had it paid off would no doubt have shortened the war to some degree