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144
Close 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.