Decision in Normandy. De Este

[Carl Schwamberger]

(a Google scan so the maps are either missing or not well scanned)

Google books are turning out to be the equivalent of paperback second runs. Incomplete; missing bibliography, annexes, maps, photos, and even blocks of texts. The cyber world had a lot of promise four decades ago.

[Tom from Cornwall]

I looked at Montgomery’s letters of the time and it seems that “Wild Oats” was only tentatively planned. It looks like there was a discussion about creating the conditions in which it would have been a feasible operation, that Leigh Mallory’s opposition basically killed it anyway, and that German resistance prevented the achievement of conditions which would have made it feasible. So basically tentative contingency planning which wouldn’t have led to an outcome even if LM had been supportive.

It’s interesting, given LM’s opposition to the US airborne landings on D-Day, that he was consistently resistant to airborne operations - did that change as the summer wore on?

Regards

Tom