Microsoft Close Combat manual Bernard L. Montgomery

144Close Combat

behind schedule. On October 25, Monty personally intervenes in the battle to make sure that the advance is vigorous. The British have more men, tanks, and ammunition, as well as dominance of the airspace over the battlefield. By the end of the day the British have lost 250 tanks, but the Germans have only 40 tanks left. When the British renew the offensive against the middle of the German lines, there are again heavy losses among the British tanks, but these are losses they can absorb. On November 2, Rommel sends a message to Berlin stating that he cannot prevent a breakout and must withdraw. By November 6, the Battle of El Alamein is over; the Germans are retreating west toward Libya. The Eighth Army destroys hundreds of tanks, takes 30,000 prisoners, and captures 1,000 guns while suffering only 13,500 casualties and losing 150 tanks. By November 19, the Eighth has pushed the Germans back 600 miles.

Bernard L. Montgomery

(1887-1976). Montgomery was one of the greatest— and most difficult—of the Allied commanders in World War II, best known for his

successes in North Africa and for the major role he played in the Allied invasion of Europe.

Montgomery joined the British army in 1908, was severely wounded in 1914, and finished the First World War as a captain. His almost monastic devotion to the science of war was counterbalanced by an arrogant and abrasive personality. His egocentricity made him almost incapable of the kind of cooperation on which the Allied war effort depended, but his own men loved the flamboyant “Monty,” who knew how to talk to them soldier-to-soldier in terms they could understand.

In 1942 Montgomery took command of the British Eighth Army in North Africa. His army was soon receiving modern equipment and ample reinforcements, while his opponent, German General Erwin Rommel, had rapidly advanced beyond his own supply line. Mont- gomery dealt defeats to Rommel’s forces at El Alamein in Egypt, and eventually drove Axis

forces from Libya and Tunisia. His success at El Alamein was the first major British victory of the war. It made Montgomery’s reputation, won him promotion to Field Marshal, and in 1946 was commemorated in the title bestowed on him, “First Viscount Montgomery of Alamein.”

Under Eisenhower’s command, Montgomery led forces in Sicily and Italy, and in January 1944 he was recalled to England to help in the planning of Operation Overlord, the D-Day invasion. He forcefully made the case for a larger, more powerful initial assault. For the Overlord invasion Montgomery was named operational commander in charge of Allied ground forces. His protracted effort to take Caen reinforced the view of some that Montgomery was overcau- tious, and the failure of his ill-fated attempt to seize a bridgehead at Arnehm in Holland (Operation Market-Garden) further tarnished his reputation. His role in the Ardennes campaign and the subsequent crossing of the Rhine again demonstrated his ability, but Montgomery’s tendency to lecture even his superiors, and his inclination to rewrite history in order to prove himself right, have diminished his rightfully earned reputation as one of the great Allied commanders.