Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of El Alamein (17 November 1887 in London – 24 March 1976) was a British military officer during the Second World War. Nicknamed "Monty", the quality of his soldiers allowed him some victories, although some officers considered him incompetent.
Youth
Montgomery was born in Kennington, London in 1887. He was the 4th child of an Anglo-Irish family of 9 children. His father, the Reverend Henry Montgomery was an Anglican priest. His family moved from Moville in County Donegal near Derry in Northern Ireland to settle in New Park. Montgomery considered himself a native of Ireland and County Donegal. In 1889, the Montgomery family followed the father abroad when he was appointed Bishop of Tasmania. His father was a gentle man but rarely present at home because of his professional obligations. Mrs. Montgomery beat her children and managed the family savings with a master hand. Montgomery later said he had an unhappy childhood with many conflicts with his mother. He quickly became the "black sheep" of the family.
In 1901 Bishop Montgomery became secretary of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel and the family returned to London. Young Bernard was sent to St Paul's School and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. He was almost expelled following an altercation with a student during which the two interveners fought with incandescent pokers. He was incorporated in 1908 into the 1st Battalion of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. He performed his first service in India, then under British rule, in 1913.
First World War
World War I broke out in August 1914, and that same month Montgomery was sent to France with his regiment. He arrived at the time of the retreat from the battle of Mons during which half of the men of his battalion were killed, wounded or taken prisoner. In Méteren on October 13, 1914, not far from the Belgian border, he was hit by sniper fire during the Allied counter-offensive. Seriously injured in the right lung, he was already considered condemned and his grave had been dug. He gradually recovered from his wounds and was drafted into a Kitchener's New Army training brigade in early 1915. In 1916 he was sent back to the Western Front as a general staff officer. operations in the Somme, Arras and Passchendaele. During this period he was under the command of General Herbert Plumer and was responsible for the training of the men of the 9th Corps. Thanks to Montgomery's training, rehearsals, and the combination of artillery with infantry, Plumer's troops reached their objectives with minimal casualties.
Montgomery participated in the Battle of the Lys and the Third Battle of the Aisne (Battle of Chemin Des Dames) before ending the war with the rank of Level 1 Officer of the General Staff and Chief of the staff of the British 47th Division (2nd London) with the temporary rank of lieutenant-colonel. A 1918 photograph shows the then little-known Lt. Col. Montgomery standing opposite Winston Churchill during a parade.
Montgomery received the insignia of the Distinguished Service Order for his effective and courageous leadership.
Between the Wars
After the war, Lieutenant-Colonel Montgomery commanded a battalion of the British Army of the Rhine before regaining his captaincy. He wrote pamphlets and training manuals in which he shared his experience and lessons learned during the war. He enrolled at Staff College, Camberley before becoming Major of the 17th Infantry Brigade in late 1920. The Brigade was based in County Cork during the Irish Civil War. A cousin of Montgomery had notably been assassinated by the IRA in 1920 (see the Cairo gang). Montgomery took a significant part in the conflict. Effective, he did not, however, employ methods as expeditious and brutal as those of Arthur Percival. Upon his arrival, Montgomery required the units of his brigade to behave "beyond reproach." He later admitted, however, that he "didn't mind knowing the number of burned houses" (referring to a government directive that the houses of people suspected of being IRA members or sympathizers are set on fire). IRA officer Tom Barry said of Montgomery that he behaved in a "very correct manner".
Montgomery gradually realized that the conflict was moving to Britain's detriment and that troop withdrawal seemed to be the only way out. In 1923, after the establishment of the Irish Free State and during the Irish Civil War, Montgomery wrote Percival that "to win a war of this kind you must be ruthless" and that twentieth-century democratic Britain century was not ready to implement this kind of strategy. He added that the “only way (out of this) was to give them (the Irish) some kind of government and let them put down the rebellion themselves”.
In 1923, Montgomery joined the Territorial Army in the 49th (West Riding) Infantry Division. He returned to the 1st Royal Warwickshire Regiment and commanded a company as a captain before becoming an instructor at Staff College, Camberley and then a major. He met a widow, Elizabeth Carver and married in 1927. In August 1928, a boy was born from their union. Montgomery became a Lieutenant-Colonel of the Royal 1st Battalion, Warwickshire Regiment in 1931. He served in Palestine, Egypt and India. Appointed Colonel and Instructor at the Indian Army Staff College in Quetta, India.
As was the case throughout his career, Montgomery drew the ire of his superiors for his arrogance and dictatorial ways, as well as for his disregard for convention when it went against military efficiency. . For example, he set up a brothel for his battalion, an establishment regularly inspected by a military doctor, for the "horizontal refreshment" of his soldiers rather than having to force them to go to irregular brothels.
His father died in 1932 in Molville. In 1937, Montgomery became commanding officer of the 9th Infantry Brigade. But this year was also dramatic for him. His wife was bitten by an insect while they were on holiday in Burnham-on-Sea. The wound became infected, she had to undergo an amputation but succumbed to sepsis. Devastated by the death of his wife, Brigadier Montgomery insisted against all odds on resuming his work immediately after the funeral.
In 1938 he organized an amphibious operation combined with landing exercises. These demonstrations impressed the new Commander-in-Chief of the Southern Commander, General Archibald Wavell. Montgomery was promoted to the rank of major general and placed in command of the 8th Infantry Division in Palestine. There he suppressed the Arab revolt before returning, ill, in July 1939 to Great Britain, to take command of the 3rd Infantry Division (Iron).
World War II
Britain declared war on Germany on September 3, 1939. The 3rd Division was deployed to Belgium as part of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF). Montgomery predicted a disaster similar to that of 1914 and spent much time training his troops during the Phoney War. He favored tactical training rather than offensive operations. He was again at the heart of criticism because of his position vis-à-vis the sexuality of soldiers. His rigor in training paid off when the Germans began their invasion of the Netherlands on May 10, 1940. His 3rd Division advanced to the Dyle River and retreated to Dunkirk with great professionalism. The losses were very limited. During Operation Dynamo to evacuate the 330,000-member expeditionary force to Britain, Montgomery assumed command of the British 2nd Corps.
Upon his return, Montgomery aroused the hostility of the War Office because of his outspoken views about the management of the expeditionary force. Relegated to the rank of division commander, with an appointment to the Order of the Bath, he was promoted to lieutenant-general in July 1940. Placed at the head of the 5th British corps, he began a long quarrel with the commander-in-chief of the command of the south, Claude Auchinleck. In April 1941 he commanded the 12th Corps and in December 1941 he renamed the Southeastern Command to the Southeastern Army to promote the offensive spirit. During this period he developed and applied his ideas to his soldiers, culminating in Exercise Tiger in May 1942 which involved 100,000 personnel.
Campaigns in North Africa and Italy
In 1942, a new field commander was needed in the Middle East, the theater of operations where Auchinleck was commander-in-chief. Auchinleck had stabilized the Allied positions at El-Alamein but Winston Churchill decided, following a visit in August 1942, to replace him with Harold Alexander. Alan Brooke persuaded the prime minister to appoint Montgomery as commander of the British 8th Army engaged in the campaign in North Africa. Churchill's favorite candidate was William Gott but the suitor was killed on his return from Cairo.
Auchinleck and his staff did not appreciate Montgomery's methods of command, but he succeeded in renovating the functioning of the 8th Army. He seized command two days earlier than planned (August 13, 1942) and decided to immediately reinforce the strategic position of Alam Halfa. He consolidated the command of the air and ground forces into a single entity and ordered the destruction of all documents and plans relating to a possible retreat. When Brooke and Alexander visited headquarters on August 19, they were very surprised by the new atmosphere created by Montgomery.
Montgomery managed to transform the morale of the troops but he had to denigrate Auchinleck in return. He made sure to appear as often as possible within the troop, often visiting his units in order to make himself known. Prior to Montgomery's arrival, Eighth Army units tended to work separately and fight their own battles. Montgomery decided to put an end to this disorganization and made sure that the units pulled on the same cord.
German Afrika Korps commander Erwin Rommel tried to surround the 8th Army at the Battle of Alam Halfa on August 31, 1942. The work of Ultra cryptanalysts had confirmed Rommel's intentions, and Montgomery was right. by ordering the defense of the allied positions. Rommel was halted in his offensive with very few casualties but Montgomery did not attack the retreating Germans as they left Egypt. He was criticized for this decision but argued that the 8th Army was unable to launch a mobile offensive against mechanized, fluid and still formidable German forces despite their losses. During operations in North Africa, one of its units had particularly distinguished itself, the 7th Armored Division, nicknamed "the rats of the desert".
The reconquest of North Africa was essential to install airfields from which support on Malta and Operation Torch could be launched. Ignoring Churchill's request for a quick set-up, Montgomery deployed the infrastructure conscientiously in order to carry out the offensive in the best conditions. He did not want to jump into the fight hastily and preferred to be sure that he could achieve victory. He applied the methods that had proven themselves:accumulation of resources, advanced planning, training of units for night combat and assaults with 300 Sherman tanks as well as the psychological aspect with frequent meetings with the troops.
The Second Battle of El Alamein began on October 23, 1942 and ended 12 days later with, for the first time in the war, a significant Allied victory over the Germans on land. Montgomery correctly predicts the duration of the battle and the number of casualties (13,500). Montgomery was knighted to the Order of the Bath and promoted to general. The 8th Army took advantage of this to advance as the Germans retreated hundreds of miles towards Tunisia. The event marked a turning point in North Africa and showed that the Germans were no longer invincible. Montgomery retained the initiative, using his army's superiority when necessary. He dislodged Rommel from each of his successive positions. On March 6, 1943 as part of Operation Capri, Rommel's massive attack on a highly extended British 8th Army at Medenine was a failure. From March 20 to 27, on the Mareth line, Montgomery encountered more sustained opposition than expected. He adopted another strategy by attacking the Germans from the rear with support from the RAF fighter-bombers operating at low altitude. This campaign showed that victory was at the same time at the psychological level (sickness and absenteeism were eliminated from the 8th Army), on the cooperative level with the Air Force and the Army, on the logistics plan with well-thought-out facilities and precise planning with clear orders during operations.
The next major Allied attack was the invasion of Sicily (Operation Husky). The notorious tensions between Montgomery and the American high command began at this time. Montgomery questioned the plan of the Allied invasion and by necessity, the American generals Patton and Bradley did not appreciate this incursion of the British general in their strategy. Although they recognized Montgomery's qualities as a general, the Americans had difficulty working with his very expansive personality.
Montgomery continued to command the 8th Army during the landing in Italy, but he abhorred the lack of coordination, the scattering of efforts, and tactics he considered unnecessarily complicated. On December 23, he preferred to withdraw from the decision-making team for the Italian campaign.
Normandy
Montgomery returned to Britain to resume command of the 21st Army Group which included all Allied ground forces that were to take part in Operation Overlord, the invasion of Normandy. The plans for this major operation had been prepared for two years, in particular by the staff of the Supreme Allied Commander (COSSAC). Montgomery quickly came to the conclusion that the COSSAC plan was too limited, and he argued vigorously for the addition of two divisions to the three originally planned. As in North Africa, he often visited his units to ensure the morale of the troops and the quality of the instruction. Montgomery was the brother-in-law of Percy Hobart, a British military engineer and commander of the 79th Armored Division in charge of developing Hobart's Funnies, a series of tanks for military engineering. Hobart demonstrated the tanks to Eisenhower and Montgomery in early 1944. On April 7 and May 15, 1944, Montgomery presented his strategy for the invasion to St Paul's School. As commander of the Allied ground invasion forces, he had planned a 90-day battle, ending when the troops had reached the Seine by pivoting around Caen taken by the Allies, with the British and Canadian armies taking over the offensive. and the US Army advancing east.
During the intense fighting of the Battle of Normandy which lasted two and a half months, Montgomery failed to follow the original plan, but a series of improvised offensives carried out under his command resulted in one of the greatest German defeats on the western front of Europe. The campaign launched by Montgomery was intended to harass and wear down the enemy. This strategy was followed until the middle of July. The occupation of the Cotentin peninsula and other offensives to the east made it possible to secure Caen and concentrate German armor in this region. Operation Cobra made it possible to break through the German lines and encircle the Wehrmacht.
Advance on the Rhine
The growing presence of American troops in the European theater (2 divisions out of 5 on the day of the landing, 72 out of 85 in 1945) made it politically impossible to exclusively British manage the command of land forces. When operations in Normandy ended, General Eisenhower himself assumed command of the ground forces along with the role of Supreme Commander. Montgomery for his part continued in command of the 21st Army Group, which now consisted mainly of British and Canadians. The general accepted with difficulty this change of situation, even if this decision was prior to the landing. Churchill had somehow compensated Montgomery by appointing him field marshal.
Montgomery succeeded in persuading Eisenhower on the operations to be carried out in Germany:a strategy based on a breakthrough of a draft in the direction of the Ruhr in September 1944 (Operation Market Garden). If Eisenhower had rallied to the marshal's cause, George Patton had been much more reserved. This battle was one of the most unusual for Montgomery:the offensive was too daring and poorly planned. It was a failure with the destruction of the 1st Airborne Division at Arnhem and the death of several thousand Dutch civilians. In total, 10,000 Allied soldiers perished during the operation, 8,000 were captured or went missing. The Marshal's attention having been fixed on the operation in the Ruhr, he passed to the background the essential task of clearing the banks and the region of the Scheldt during the capture of Antwerp. Montgomery's group was ordered to concentrate on this objective so that the port of Antwerp would be opened.
After the destruction of Arnhem and the evacuation of the population, Dutch civilians had to endure the terrible winter that followed. Although Operation Market Garden was a disaster and an appalling waste of men, Montgomery will always refuse to acknowledge it. He even said that this operation was 90% a success.
When the surprise attack in the Ardennes began on December 16, 1944 with the Battle of the Bulge, the front of the 12th US Army Group was split. The American First Army was pushed back north of the German troops. The group's commander, General Omar Bradley, was in Luxembourg south of the breakthrough, and command of the First Army became problematic. Montgomery was the commander closest to action, and on December 20 Eisenhower (then at Versailles) urgently transferred command of the US 1st Army (led by Courtney Hodges) and US 9th Army (commanded by William Hood Simpson) in Montgomery. Bradley resented this decision for nationalistic reasons.
Montgomery took the opportunity and visited the commanders of the various units. He set up a communications network and assigned a reserve role to the British 30th Corps. The American defenses were reorganized north of the front, and he ordered the evacuation of Saint-Vith. The German commander of the 5th Panzer Army, Hasso von Manteuffel says:
“The operations of the 1st US Army had materialized in a series of individual actions. Montgomery's contribution to correcting the situation was to transform these series of isolated actions into a coherent battle following a clear and well-defined plan. It was his refusal to engage in premature and iterative counterattacks that allowed the Americans to pool their reserves and frustrate the Germans in their attempts to extend the breakthrough.
Eisenhower had asked Montgomery to launch the offensive on January 1 in order to meet Patton's army from the south and trap the Germans. But Montgomery refused to launch the infantry, which he considered insufficiently trained, into a snowstorm and an area which he considered unattractive from a strategic point of view. He did not launch the attack until January 3, by which time the German troops had already managed to escape. Most of the American military thought he would have done better to send in the troops, but everyone knew that the marshal hated reckless offensives. After the battle, the US 1st Army returned to the 12th Army Group. As for US 9th Army, it remained in Montgomery's 21st Group until it crossed the Rhine.
His group advanced to the Rhine with Operations Veritable and Grenade in February 1945. After the carefully conducted Operation Plunder (crossing the Rhine) on March 24 and the encirclement of German Army Group B in the Ruhr, the Montgomery's role was to secure the flank of the American advance. This vision was reworked to get ahead of the Soviet troops heading towards Denmark. The 21st Group was ordered to occupy Hamburg and Rostock, thus preventing the Red Army from seizing the Danish peninsula.
On May 4, 1945, in Lünenburg, Montgomery received the German delegation bringing the official capitulation of the forces of the 3rd Reich in northern Germany, Denmark and Holland. The event took place in a tent without any particular ceremony.
Post-war
After the World War in 1946, Montgomery received the title of Viscount Montgomery of Alamein. He was Chief of the Imperial General Staff from 1946 to 1948 but this function did not suit him since it was politicized. Montgomery continued to maintain links with the Royal Regiment, and was elevated to the honorary rank of Colonel of the Regiment in 1947. His mother died in 1949 but Montgomery did not attend her funeral as he was "too busy".
Appointed supreme commander or chairman of the committee of the union of western commanders-in-chief, he was an effective inspector-general and set up useful exercises but was overwhelmed by the political dimension of this mandate. Montgomery became deputy supreme commander of the Atlantic forces in Europe from 1951 to 1958, a function he held alongside Eisenhower and which made it possible to set up NATO. He retired in 1958.
Between 1951 and 1966, Montgomery was president of the rectorship of St John's School in Leatherhead, Surrey. In 1953, the Hamilton Board of Education in Hamilton, Canada wrote to Field Marshal Montgomery asking permission to name a new school east of town in his honor. The Viscount Montgomery Elementary project billed itself as the most modern school in North America when the cornerstone was laid on March 14, 1951. The school opened on April 18, 1953, with Montgomery in the audience of 10 000 people. He declared during his speech:"Keep Well", referring to the motto of his family's coat of arms.
Montgomery referred to this school as his "beloved school" and visited it on 5 occasions, the last time in 1960. During his last appearance, Montgomery told the students:
“Let’s make Viscount Montgomery School the best in Hamilton, the best in Ontario, the best in Canada. I do not associate myself with anything that is not good. It is up to you to see all that is good in this school. It is up to the students not only to be the best in school but also in their behavior outside the Viscount. Education is not only about getting you through exams and getting you a job, but also about developing your brain so that it can teach you how to put facts together and get things done. »
Controversies
Prior to his retirement, Montgomery's outspoken opinions on certain subjects, such as race, were often officially censored. After he retired from military affairs, these statements became public, which affected his reputation. His memoirs were considered arrogant and only serving to establish his personality and his actions. He criticized many companions he had known during the war in very harsh terms, including Eisenhower, whom he accused, among other things, of having prolonged the war for a year because of his incompetence. These accusations put an end to their friendship. Montgomery also applauds apartheid and Mao Zedong's regime. He argued against the legalization of homosexuality in the United Kingdom, arguing that the Sexual Offenses Act 1967 was a "charter for buggery" and that "this sort of thing was perhaps tolerated in France, but we are British, Thank God ! .
Perhaps partly because of the scandals, Montgomery was never knighted "earldom" (unlike his contemporaries like Harold Alexander, Louis Mountbatten and Archibald Wavell). An official task that he absolutely wanted to honor during his last years was that of carrying the Sword of State (literally "the sword of the state") during the opening of parliament. Arriving at an advanced age, some wondered if he was really able to stand for long periods with such a heavy weapon. These fears were confirmed when he fainted during the ceremony in 1968. He permanently ceased his public activities following this incident.
End of life
The British press had found an ideal subject in Montgomery. Journalists photographed the former marshal collecting his pension at the local social security office. Because of his notoriety, many believed that Montgomery was destitute and a waste of public money. In fact, Montgomery had always been a modest man and he was hurt that public opinion did not judge him as such.
His home was also broken into. Despite appearing on television to demand the return of her possessions, mostly of sentimental value, these items were never found.
He died in 1976 at his home in Alton, Hampshire and was buried in Holy Cross Cemetery in Binsted after a state funeral at St George's Chapel, Windsor.