Took me awhile to find this topic. Anyway, I have a question for anybody out there that might know the answer(s). I just finished watching a BBC program about the Normandy Invasion. In this film they stated that Montgomery planned the invasion and that he was in charge of all ground forces, both British, Canadian and American. It goes on to say that "all objectives were met', which is only partially true as I recall hearing....I though that taking Caen by D plus 9 was also one of those objectives and that was certainly not accomplished.
Another claim that I would question is about the reason why the British under Monty's control were given the assignment of "decoying" the German's armored divisions to head towards Caen was because Monty didn't think the Americans had enough combat experience to handle this job, therefore they was given the task of "breaking out" in order to cut off the Germans that were being "held" in Caen by the British.
This point really has nothing to do with the average foot sloggers of all the Allied nations, who performed their duties bravely, but it seemed more like a counter-punch by the BBC to some American historians who have been very critical of Monty in the past, like the late Steven Ambrose. I would genuinely like to know who was in charge on D-Day, as I had assumed for many years that it was Ike, since his title was "Supreme Allied Commander."
Dogdaddy