Monty: The Making of a General : 1887-1942

Bernard Law Montgomery was not a sociable fellow. His life was severely restricted to the infantry officer track in an army much more amenable to amiable cavalrymen. But he believed! Eventually, he moved up, and then the Great War came to an end. He was back in the peacetime army, and endured that. But, as part of the BEF of 1940, he shone, and post-Dunkirk, he participated in the major re-building of Britain's army. This is the first of Hamilton's voluminous bio. ( )

Monty, or Bernard, as Hamilton refers to him was paranoid maybe even schizophrenic but was one of the best senior field commanders that the Allies had during WW2. His mental attributes were a likely result from the union of his muzzy minded liberal bishop father and his stern fault finding mother. He was arrogant, mean spirited and utterly ruthless in sacking or managing the transfer of the many incompetents that filled the British officer corps at the start of the war. Monty manipulated shamelessly to get and keep the best of many bad lots as his staff and commanders, Balancing these useful but unpleasant traits, he truly revered and supported the common soldier and worked diligently to ensure their well being.
Montgomery developed rigorous training schedules based upon expected battle scenarios and was not promoted to serious field command until Churchill ran out of other options. Churchill was a great political leader but his frequent and not often successful forays into command choices and tactical decisions seriously compromised British military success at the beginning of the war. The BEF, Singapore and his early CIGS selections were a string of disasters that he and GB barely survived. Hamilton documents Montgomery's rise to command meticulously and extensively with many detailed operational and battle reports. Monty was not a nice person, neither was Patton but they won battles with low casualty rates; capabilities not ofter found in most Allied generals. ( )