Monty and Dieppe

What if Montgomery, who was the lead planner for Dieppe, was not pulled and sent to North Africa to command the 8th Army? Dieppe being a disaster might have finished his career and left him in obscurity. Who might be choosen in his place for North Africa? What impact would this have had on events from Alamein on?

 

I don´t know the possible general candidates but I learnt from reading about General William Gott that Churchill wanted a general who would be more offensive minded than the previous generals.

Personally I think that the Axis were getting less and less material and supplies and the Allied more and more so the end result was obvious already as Rommel had to stop at El Alamein.

 

When Monty was at Southern Command he(or the planners?) dropped Dieppe. It was revitalized after he left.

Given his style I would imagine the raid being a harder hitting attack, more Naval support plus more effort into the flanking landings, at least one of which was a success.

Alexander would have taken more of a role at Alamein, they might even have kept Auchinleck under his command. After Alam Halfa, which was basically the same plan as the Auk's and the improvement to supply, weapons & manpower the choice of attack zones would be the same as Monty had. (Gott wanted to sweep far to the south below the Qattara Depression and take Siwa and Tobruk from the South) Auks problems would be who to appoint as Corps Commanders as the crew he had, and Monty's choices, proved poor.

 

Bernard Montgomery:

Once all this force was " unsealed " and dispersed, I considered the operation was cancelled and I turned my attention to other matters.

But Combined Operations Headquarters thought otherwise; they decided to revive it and got the scheme approved by the British Chiefs of Staff towards the end of July. When I heard of this I was very upset; I considered that it would no longer be possible to maintain secrecy. Accordingly I wrote to General Paget, C.-in-C. Home Forces, telling him of my anxiety, and recommending that the raid on Dieppe should be considered cancelled "for all time." If it was
considered desirable to raid the Continent, then the objective should not be Dieppe. This advice was disregarded.

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/2WWdieppe.htm

Unfortunately nothing to do with the original question but does this mean it was Lord Mountbatten to be blamed for the awful "mess" in Dieppe then?

 

Reading Robin Neillands´ Dieppe book.

It is interesting to notice that actually "nobody" told to start the mission but like Mr Neillands says, the mere fact that Mountbatten was not sacked means the higher levels knew about the operation and probably wanted it.

 

Was it Major-General John Hamilton "Ham" Roberts who was blamed for the failed operation (or not) in the end? Thanx for the info!

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On Dieppe: " This is the first time " Hitler says " that the British have had the courtesy to cross the sea to offer the enemy a complete sample of their weapons!"

http://www.usswashington.com/dl19au42.htm

Also by Hitler: " We must realize that we are not alone in learning a lesson from Dieppe. The British have also learned. We must reckon with a totally different mode of attack and at quite a different place."

 

Canadians Lost to many Lives over this!

 

From Neillands book:

" The traditional scapegoat has been Major-General Roberts, largely because at the pre-raid briefing he alleged that Jubilee would be a piece of cake ".

Evidence to support this allegiation is scanty, but for years after the raid a piece of cake was sent anonymously to Roberts on 19th August...

 

http://www.ospreypublishing.com/content1.php/cid=101

So it was the Lord after all...??