Disputed Monty quote...

Field Marshall Montgomery is supposedly quoted as saying...

"Give me 20 Divisions of American soldiers, and I will breech Europe. Give me 15 consisting of Englishmen, and I will advance to the borders of Berlin. Give me two divisions of those marvellous fighting Boers, and I will remove Germany from the face of the earth".

It's plausible that he may have said this. Boer soldiers fought in N Africa with Montgomery.

Unfortunately, it appears most sources for the quote are dubious/unconfirmed.

Anyone come across this before or know anything about it s authenticity?

I checked on the History of General Dan Pienaar - a cousin of my Grandmother whom throughout her life she stated that he was murdered by the English who fought under Montgomery in North Afica as Commander of the SA troops.   His quotes include the following:-

When answering an English general under which he fought in the present Ethiopia:   "Voertsek General".

 "Rommel will not get to Alexandria, he will not get the Canal, and he will never dine in Cairo - unless as a tourist."

 "You know the three things I hate in this world—British lords, British generals and these bloody Guards!"  he told Brigadier E. P. Hartshorn

Pretty sure they're nonsense but there's this one as well.

"The Americans fight for a free world, the English mostly for honour and glory and medals, the French and Canadians decide too late that they have to participate. The Italians are too scared to fight; the Russians have no choice. The Germans for the Fatherland. The Boers? Those sons of bitches fight for the hell of it."

American General, George "Guts and Glory" Patton

Doesn't appear to be any evidence supporting the quote. Then again when it comes to World War 2, there is much amount of myths and legend surrounding certain events and people.

@ceradyne

Not wanting to skew the thread off topic but haven't the Tories been in power for the last few years? 

As for Patton's quote, its somewhat misleading. The French declared war on Germany the same day as Britain did and Canada was just 6 days later. It was America who came in late. The poor old Italians are often maligned as completely incompetent half wits. Its true the Italian WW2 war effort was lamentable, Italian troops where badly le d, badly equipped and not as committed to the war as the other powers. The Italian war industry was also quite poor. But the Italian troops themselves proved themselves quite brave on numerous occasions. Rommel believed the Italians fought well (as long as they where under German command), time and again the Italians fought enemies who had superior equipment and mobility. Italian tankers had to fight in tank they new offered no protection from British AT fire. The British reported on occasion's the accuracy of Italian artillery fire was highly accurate and was hitting there targets but they shells where prone to not detonating. On the Eastern Front their was an occasion the Italians when surrounded by the Russians and to survive they launched mass human wave assaults against the Russians taking heavy losses but breaking through the encirclement and leading several German units to safety. So I wouldn't call the typical Italian of WW2 era scared.

But if your implying the last few years in the UK haven't been good, then surely the Tories must take a substantial amount of the blame. They have been in power for 10 years at this point, how much slack are they entitled too?

FML....

There's always one.

Alright sorry for going off topic. I stand by my opinion on Patton's quote though.

Amusing scene from film "Patton" where he beats Monty in arriving at Messina first.

https://youtu.be/UwJ73LJ7qp4

Quite funny.

Regarding declaring war against Germany and the Canadian Forces entering the war six days later.

Canada is always reluctant to go on the offense even during wartime until certain standards are met.

1. The country that they are going to war with must have Telephone/Light poles place vertically and at even spacing.

2. All defending troops of the possible invaded country must be issued with handcuffs.

3. Finally, only Canadian troops who are able to stand for prolonged periods and smile will be despatched.

The third criteria is to ensure that the troops are able to stand handcuffed to the poles prior to having their photographs snapped. 

So you can now understand why the Canadian Department of Defence is always six days late.

Remember Bosnia....... they were the only country that met all those standards.

As again load shedding interrupted so I'm up at sparrows.

Irrespective of our feelings and ignorance of what it was like in the trenches in the WW1 and in the second global war,burning tanks and to mowed down on beaches as a young kid before you even fired a shot and many other horrors of Stalingrad and Leningrad we must remember all the brave effort of all our allies instead of showing the disrespect of total insensitivity to those who were victims on all and both sides..

Canadians were heroes and their efforts were one of the most admirable.

There were heroes amongst all the allies, never forget that, the list is endless.

Mankind had back bone and toughness to even pay the supreme sacrifice to what appeared to be right.

Cannot say that today.

Just remember it was a combined effort, without each other we would have not made it.

Also spare a thought for our enemy too which comprised of the cream of German nation forced to become the bad boys or shot as cowards (by that abomination Hitler and his thugs) that too in times of ignorance weren't lacking in back bone and also gave their bodies and lives most for a lost cause but mostly in sheer ignorance and fear of both their families and selves.

We just have no idea of what it was like.

Monty and the whole British nation were great, so were the many allies from USA, USSR, Canada, Australia, South Africa, NZ and others such as the French Resistance.

I must tell you this one about the Canadians though.   In the 2nd world war the then Princes Juliana of the Netherlands was sent to Canada as a refugee to safeguard the succession of the Dutch Monarchy - while Queen Wilhelmina  and Prince Bernhard remained in London.  The Canadian troops were the major ones involved in the freeing of the Netherlands where they lost about 4000 men.   

After the war Queen Juliana sent the Canadians 100 000 tulip bulbs in appreciation - with a request that part of it be planted in the Hospital Garden where she gave birth to her daughter Princess Margriet,   After that the Canadians  got 20 000 tulip bulbs every year for the rest of her life,  Princess Margriet is still an honorary Colonel in one of the Canadian brigades,

A question to AJH - is their still a tulip industry in Canada?           

I guess I am missing your point...care to enlighten me?