Sorry to restart a thread, but I don't see Antoine Capet's von Thoma thread on my browser.
Antoine wrote: "Does any List Member know the authority for the words below attributed to Churchill in anthologies which do not quote their sources : 'I sympathize with General von Thoma : defeated, humiliated, in captivity, and dinner with Montgomery.' (After General von Thoma's defeat and capture at El Alamein on 4 November 1942.)" Johan Arve wrote: "The quote is included -- without reference -- on Wikipedia's page on von Thoma. I believe Montgomery believed that late nights, liquor and tobacco was bad for the body and thus avoided them." ======== There is no attribution because the remark does not appear in Churchill's canon. It is probably one of those cynical inventions created by somebody to mock Montgomery's abstentious habits, who was ignorant of the fact that Churchill himself dined with Montgomery many times, and enjoyed his company. Churchill was apparently impressed by one remark of von Thoma (Rommel's deputy in North Africa), since he quotes it twice in his WW2 memoirs (Volumes 4 and 5). The following is from "Closing the Ring" (London: Cassell, 1951) 48-49: At this time Hitler made a crowning error in strategy and war direction. The defection of Italy, the victorious advance of Russia, and the evident preparations for a cross-Channel attack by Britain and the United States should have led him to concentrate and develop the most powerful German army as a central reserve. In this way only could he use the high qualities of the German command and fighting troops, and at the same time take full advantage of the central position which he occupied, with its interior lines and remarkable communications. As General von Thoma said while a prisoner of war in our charge, "Our only chance is to create a situation where we can use the Army." Hitler, as I have pointed out in an earlier volume, had in fact made a spider's web and forgotten the spider. He tried to hold everything he had won. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "ChurchillChat" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/churchillchat?hl=en. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
