Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Military history/News/April 2024/Book reviews

Patton and Montgomery

Re the review of the second book on Patton, the reason why Patton attacked Metz was because he was starved of fuel by Ike who indulged Monty’s obsession with “Market Garden”. Patton only got 25,390 gallons, 1/8 of what he asked for! He had planned to leap the Moselle, bypass Metz and head for the Rhenish cities of Mainz and Mannheim deep in the Third Reich. This is from “To VE-Day Through German Eyes: The Final Defeat of Nazi Germany” by Jonathan Trigg (2020) who also says Monty delayed capturing the Scheldt Estuary by Canadian troops for the same reason, letting the Germans build up their forces in Walcheren, so meaning more Canadian casualties. And also delaying the opening of the Port of Antwerp because Monty thought that French Channel ports would become available. But they were defended as ‘Fortresses” on Hitler’s orders, and were largely destroyed when captured (unlike Antwerp). A RN admiral had warned that the Port of Antwerp would be “as much use as Timbuktoo” without the approaches. Trigg thinks that WWII in Europe could have ended in late 1944 rather than 1945 ! Trigg also wrote “D-Day through German eyes: How the Wehrmacht lost France” (2019) and books on the Eastern Front. John Wilson (Wellington, New Zealand)


 * No fuel was diverted from Patton to Montgomery for Market Garden, and no supplies from the Americans to the British except for those to support the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions. Ample stocks of fuel were still available in Normandy; the problem was moving them forward. Movement of fuel by road consumes fuel, so deliveries are logarithmic; and pipeline construction and railway rehabilitation could not keep pace. See Ruppenthal, Logistic Support of the Armies and other sources in the Wikipedia article on the subject. Eisenhower was not too concerned about a drive towards the Rhenish cities of Mainz and Mannheim, as they were not major objectives and not in the heart of Germany.


 * Antwerp was captured in a brilliant coup de main by the 11th Armoured Division, aided by the Belgian resistance, who guided it past the German defences. Capturing the port facilities intact was valuable; rehabilitating the port if it had been demolished like Cherbourg or Le Havre would have been a major undertaking. Montgomery gave the task of clearing the Channel ports to the First Canadian Army. Admiral Bertram Ramsay was correct in pointing to the need to clear the approaches, but this could not be done without a full-scale set-piece attack. The port was intended for use by the British; the Americans were supposed to use the Brittany ports. Montgomery did not immediately require it, so he was not too concerned. In September they decided to use the Channel ports earmarked for British use. That the task of clearing the Scheldt was too great for the First Canadian Army slowly became apparent, and in mid-October - a fortnight after Market Garden - Eisenhower ordered Montgomery to concentrate on opening the Scheldt.


 * Antwerp would not have been needed if the war had ended in 1944. There was a moment of euphoria in August, with the Wehrmacht in retreat on all fronts, when it was hoped that Germany would throw in the towel, as it had done in November 1918. But there was no way the the Allies or the Soviets could have ended the war on the battlefield in 1944. Hawkeye7   (discuss)  00:58, 3 May 2024 (UTC)