Published Aerospace Power Journal - Winter 1997

Monty: The Battles of Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, first condensed edition, by Nigel Hamilton. Random House, 201 East 50th Street, New York 10022, 1994, 653 pages, $30.00.

Monty: The Lonely Leader, 1944­1945 by Alistair Horne with David Montgomery. HarperCollins Publishers, 10 East 53d Street, New York 10022, 1994, 381 pages, $25.00.

Nigel Hamilton and Alistair Horne have placed two more entries in the burgeoning library of World War II historiography as we celebrate the Air Force's 50th anniversary. Both authors took as their subject a man who perhaps was the Allies' most controversial general officer. Hamilton's entry is the condensed version of his official three-volume biography of Bernard Montgomery. The other, written by historian Alistair Horne with the assistance of Monty's son David, is an entirely new work.

The condensed version of the official biography is based on personal diaries, notes, letters, interviews, and official messages. In addition, Hamilton had access to all of Montgomery's personal papers, which the field marshal sold to Hamilton's father after the war. This account reveals a vengeful, brilliant, but boastful man who, it seems, could rarely--if ever--get along with his superiors. Nevertheless, his troops adored him. In his preface to this edition, Hamilton captures the essence of Montgomery:

His legacy to the Allied armies endures today: training, rehearsal, and professionalism in the handling of men and women in a democratic cause--guided by the demand for simplicity, clear aims, frontline leadership and care among commanders to preserve human life as far as possible. Often on the border of madness in his determination to see the right military decision prevail, he was venerated by his troops but often maligned by his allies. . . . Arrogant, vain, boastful, boorish, and bigoted, he wanted to win, in his subsequent celebrity, all the battles he had lost as a child. Lacking magnanimity, he went to his grave embattled, lonely and haunted.

Montgomery was all of these things and more.

Hamilton presents a brief overview of Monty's early and later years in this version but quite properly spends nearly the entire book examining the field marshal's conduct during World War II. Perhaps the book's only failing--as is the case with many condensed books--is that at times the story seems somewhat jerky and disconnected due to the brevity of some of the episodes. However, the author did not intend to write a second edition of his masterful three-volume biography; instead, he sought to bring the full story of this interesting character once again into the public eye.

Horne's chronicle of Montgomery concentrates upon perhaps the most important year in the field marshal's life--1944­45--the last year of the war, from the invasion of Normandy to the surrender of the Third Reich in May. Written as a supplement to earlier works, the book carefully analyzes Monty's strategy and tactics. Perhaps this portrait puts the field marshal's unflattering reputation among Americans into a better perspective. It concentrates upon what is perhaps the climactic battle of the western front--the campaign in Normandy. Even the failure to capture Antwerp and the blunder of "A Bridge Too Far" almost become postscripts. Montgomery dominated the Normandy Campaign; as Bedell Smith (Eisenhower's chief of staff and one of Monty's fiercest critics) said, "I don't know if we could have done it without Monty."

Although I was skeptical about the quality of a condensed version of a three-volume study, Hamilton confined the vast majority of this edition to the World War II years of Montgomery's life, producing a credible, readable version of his monumental biography. In contrast, I expected a good historical study from Horne, the master British historian, and he didn't disappoint me. His Monty, like Hamilton's, is an excellent study of the field marshal. Although I recommend them both, if you want a close, critical analysis of the "crusade in Europe," turn first to Horne.

Maj M. J. Petersen, USAF
Maxwell AFB, Alabama

Disclaimer

The conclusions and opinions expressed in this document are those of the author cultivated in the freedom of expression, academic environment of Air University. They do not reflect the official position of the U.S. Government, Department of Defense, the United States Air Force or the Air University.