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Indeed but I feel there was no excuse for the top brass, many of whom had been combat pilots during WWI, insisting on peacetime fighter tactics that were more suited to air displays than combat. They were still insisting on these tactics during the BoB. The more experienced squadron commanders defied orders & followed the Luftwaffe's example, honed by the fighting in Spain but using similar tactics to those learned 20 years earlier during WWI.

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Everyone suffered like that in the First World War. It's just that offensives such as the Somme and the Battles of Ypres cloud the British view so we miss travisties such as Verdun...

And Bjorn, in all wars, sometimes the only option is a frontal assault. No one has ever mounted one by choice as even the most lowly of generals know a flanking attack will be more successful.

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I must have missed that part. I can't comment either way as I didn't watch the whole series. What I saw of it seemed reasonably accurate but I can't comment on that either as I wasn't there at the time..

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The more I learn about it the more I'm appalled at the behaviour of a few very senior officers criticising their own colleagues for their own benefit. This was pure jealousy & spite for the sake of glory & power for themselves with no thought of their country or the men serving under them. There are several instances of this in the RAF during WWII. I'm sure this is not restricted to the one service or the one nationality.

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If you wish to debate this further I think it deserves a topic of its own in the History forum.

I can't comment on the others but in Montgomery's defence & whatever else he might have been he had the reputation of putting his men first. They knew this & respected him for it. Market Garden was a daring plan that could have shortened the war & saved many 1,000s of lives on both sides if it had succeeded. The problem was that it was hastily planned & needed the full cooperation of all involved. The supply lines were stretched to the limit & although help was within a few miles they had to stand helplessly by & watch. I know this as my late father-in-law was with XXX Corps & he told me their tanks simply ran out of fuel & could go no further. The weather also played its part which is not unusual in this sort of operation. The D-Day invasion itself had been postponed for a couple of days for the same reasons. This could have easily ruined the whole operation which had taken months, if not years, of careful preparation.

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Montgomery was indeed a stuffy character & also very stubborn, Not an easy man to get on with at all. His concern for his men was the main reason he & Patton didn't see eye to eye & that's an understatement.

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Patton & Montgomery were expected to cooperate & it would obviously have been much better if they'd at least respected each other. I understand that the reverse was true & Patton always accused Montgomery of being too cautious when he wanted him to forge ahead whatever the risks involved as he would have done himself. Monty would have none of it & this was the cause of more disagreements between them. I don't know a great deal about 'Old Blood & Guts' as he was known but from what I've read about him this nickname was not undeserved. I could be quite wrong but get the impression he didn't care as much about his men's welfare as Monty did. It never made any sense to me that two completely opposite personalities with outsized egos who couldn't stand the sight of each other were put in charge of the biggest combined operation in history, or how it managed to succeed despite this.