MONTGOMERY (OF ALAMEIN, OF HINDHEAD), BERNARD LAW ...

born Nov. 17, 1887, London, Eng. died March 24, 1976, near Alton, Hampshire byname Monty British field marshal and one of the outstanding Allied commanders in World War II. Of Ulster stock, Montgomery was educated at St. Paul's School, London, and the Royal Military Academy (Sandhurst). He distinguished himself during World War I and remained in the army, acquiring a reputation as an efficient and tough leader. Early in World War II he led a division in France, and after the evacuation of Allied troops at Dunkirk he commanded the southeastern section of England in anticipation of a German invasion. In August 1942, Winston Churchill appointed him commander of the British 8th Army in North Africa, which had recently been defeated and pushed back to Egypt by Rommel. Restoring morale and building up a superiority in men and matriel, a procedure he was to follow throughout his career, Montgomery contained the German offensive and forced Rommel to retreat from Egypt after the Battle of el-Alamein (November 1942). Montgomery then pursued the German armies across North Africa to their final surrender in Tunisia in May 1943. He shared major responsibility in the successful Allied invasion of Sicily (July 1943) and led his 8th Army steadily up the east coast of Italy until called to lead the Allied invasion of France in 1944. He was first knighted (K.C.B.) in 1942. Under the command of General Dwight D. Eisenhower, with whom he was to have numerous personal conflicts, Montgomery conducted the Normandy invasion (June 6, 1944). Promoted to the rank of field marshal, he led the British and Canadian 21st Army group to victory across northern France, Belgium, The Netherlands, and northern Germany, finally receiving the surrender of the German northern armies on May 4, 1945, on Lneburg Heath. Following World War II, Montgomery was made a knight of the garter and was created a viscount in 1946. He commanded the British Army of the Rhine and served as chief of the imperial general staff from 1946 to 1948. He became chairman of the permanent defense organization of the Western European Union (194851) and then deputy commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Supreme Headquarters, Allied Powers in Europe (195158). Among a number of theoretical and historical treatises on warfare, he wrote his Memoirs (1958) and The Path to Leadership (1961). Montgomery was always a cautious, thorough strategist, often to the point of overpreparing his moves and exasperating the patience of fellow Allied commanders. He insisted on the complete readiness of both men and matriel before any attempted strike, a policy that yielded steady, if slow, successes and ensured his popularity with his troops.