When we withdrew from the front line to rest and General Patton's Third Army counterattacked the German Army, General Eisenhower ordered Montgomery's British Army on the northern line to go south and form a pincer offensive to cooperate with General Patton against the German Army. To counterattack, the two armies planned to meet at Hofretz. <-¡·
General Eisenhower's order required Montgomery to cut off the retreat of most of the German troops on the 1st while they were attacking, surround the German troops in the salient, and then annihilate them.
However, Montgomery, who "loved the British soldiers like his own son," said to General Eisenhower: "Our troops are in great difficulty now, and the weather in the north is still snowstorming! Besides, the areas I am attacking are all unimportant strategic positions. The Germans have very few troops! As long as the weather improves a little, my army will definitely destroy the enemy with overwhelming force!"
General Eisenhower said angrily: "This damn arrogant British devil! He must be the one who let the Germans escape!"
Although General Eisenhower sent several urging telegrams, Montgomery found excuses to refuse. Just when General Eisenhower's patience was about to end, finally on January 3, his British regiment unhurriedly attacked Germany. People attack! <
General Patton said privately to his subordinates with a livid face: "This damn bastard! If he were in my hands, I would definitely shoot him!"
No matter what the generals of the US Army think, they can do nothing about Montgomery's powerful backstage. This backstage is not Churchill alone, but actually the entire British society, because Montgomery is the only outstanding senior general in the UK.
Due to the air raids launched by the German army, the US military's air power on the front line suffered heavy losses, and the entire air support for the theater was almost non-existent. Therefore, at the beginning of the offensive, the two armies were strictly separated by a distance of about 40 kilometers in order to cooperate with the operation. , the daily progress is limited to about one kilometer a day, which can be said to be slow progress.
Facing the British and American coalition forces that were outflanking them from behind, the German command immediately ordered the German troops to successfully evacuate the combat area by fighting and withdrawing at the same time. On January 7, 1945, Hitler formally agreed to withdraw troops from the Ardennes. Including his SS Panzer Division. Therefore, Germany ended all offensive operations and shifted to a comprehensive defensive posture.
On the same day that Hitler issued the order to retreat, Montgomery held a press conference in Sonhofen on January 7.
At the crowded press conference, Montgomery stood like a rooster on the podium where he was being interviewed, with an indescribably arrogant look on his face.
In the venue, there was a beautiful reporter with blond hair. It caught Montgomery's attention for no other reason. The staff gently introduced the origin of this woman in his ear. The staff said: "This woman is very famous. She has been received by the President and Congress of the United States. Her name is Anna."
Anna is a restless woman. After staying in China for a few days, I was thinking about the war on the front line, so I went to the European battlefield again. It happened that General Montgomery was going to hold a press conference after confirming the complete withdrawal of the German army. Anna was naturally indispensable for such a major event.
Anna smiled at her partner: "General Montgomery's press conference will definitely be a good show!"
My partner asked curiously: "Why do you say that?"
Anna just said: "General Montgomery is a restless general in the eyes of the top brass of the US military. Do you think this press conference will not be a good show?"
Only then did the partner suddenly realize. Sure enough, when the press conference officially started, a reporter asked: "Excuse me, General. What do you think of the performance of the US military in this counterattack?"
General Montgomery replied: "I admit that the courage and good fighting quality of the American troops played a huge role in this counterattack. And the American soldiers I saw, they are very brave people who fight, every one of them All have the tenacity needed to become a great soldier!¡±
When another reporter asked what factors contributed to the victory of this counterattack, General Montgomery laughed and said: "Our victory is the inevitable result of the unity and cooperation of the entire Allied Forces! In this, because of our unity And winning the battle, winning the battle, winning the war, in our team, the captain is General Eisenhower!¡±
Anna was not interested in these scenes. Anna went straight to the topic and asked General Montgomery: "Excuse me, General, what contribution did the British army make in this counterattack?"
Montgomery was stunned for a moment and said to himself that this woman's question was very tricky, but he had already prepared this question. Montgomery said in a deep tone: "When the war situation began to deteriorate, His Excellency General Eisenhower handed over the command of the northern theater to After that, I redeployed the troops and carried out tenacious resistance against the German army. Due to the desperate blocking of our army, the German army did not occupy;Shut up and don¡¯t answer. Montgomery didn't answer. Naturally, someone wanted to explain that many US military generals pointed their finger at Prime Minister Churchill because it was him who had been protecting Montgomery.
Churchill asked Montgomery privately: "Why?"
Montgomery was still afraid of this old man. He hesitated and said: "Patton's attack from the south is stable but slow and severely damaged. I am just trying to avoid this situation."
Churchill naturally understood what it meant, scolded Montgomery severely, and still accepted the responsibility. Later, Montgomery admitted his mistake and wrote: "I now believe that I should never have held that press conference. The American generals were so disgusted with me that no matter what I said, it was destined to be wrong, so I should say nothing." explain."
General Eisenhower commented on Montgomery in his memoirs: "I doubt that Montgomery ever understood how angry some American generals were. Montgomery's behavior seriously belittled us, and he did not even apologize to the entire U.S. military later. On the contrary To this, the British responded with arrogant contempt and contempt."
Of course, the matter is not over yet. In the subsequent combat operations, some key information about the troops commanded by Montgomery was always lost inexplicably and was mastered by the Germans, causing great losses.
Montgomery naturally knew that he had offended too many people. He hid in the command room and screamed angrily: "This is revenge, this is definitely revenge!"
Facing Montgomery¡¯s anger, although his staff did not dare to say anything, they also believed that Montgomery was an idiot in other aspects except for his military savvy.
Staff commented privately: "This idiot has offended all Americans. The unlucky ones are not our soldiers!"
Montgomery had no intention of commanding the troops for a long time at this time, but racked his brains to suspect the person who framed him. He believed that because a lot of intelligence was only known among senior generals, if no one deliberately leaked it, it would never be leaked to the Germans. People knew this in advance, and in the end he set his sights on the two people who opposed him the most.
"It's him, it must be them! It must be these two damn bastards Patton and Bradley who deliberately leaked all kinds of information about me!" (To be continued.)11; Jue doubted the person who framed him. He believed that because a lot of information was only known among senior generals, if no one deliberately leaked it, the Germans would never know it in advance. In the end, he set his sights on the person who opposed him most. Intense between two people.
"It's him, it must be them! It must be these two damn bastards Patton and Bradley who deliberately leaked all kinds of information about me!" (To be continued.)