Montgomery's allegedly austere personal habits gave rise to a number of disobliging comments and anecdotes. His appalled reaction to the clouds of cigar smoke with which Churchill had filled his tent in the desert was the subject of much amusement, as was Churchill's reply to a questioner in the House of Commons who complained that Montgomery had invited von Thoma, the defeated German general, to dinner in his caravan.

"Poor von Thoma," Churchill said gravely, "I, too, have dined with Montgomery."

--Oxford Book of Military Anecdotes, edited by Max Hastings, Oxford Univ. Press