Editing Bernard Montgomery (section)

===North Africa and Italy===

====Montgomery's early command====
{{See also|North African campaign|Western Desert campaign|Tunisia campaign|Italian campaign (World War II)}}
[[File:Bernard Law Montgomery 1942.jpg|thumb|Montgomery in a [[M3 Lee|Grant]] tank in North Africa, November 1942]]

In 1942, a new field commander was required in the Middle East, where Auchinleck was fulfilling both the role of C-in-C of [[Middle East Command]] and commander [[Eighth Army (United Kingdom)|Eighth Army]]. He had stabilised the Allied position at the [[First Battle of El Alamein]], but after a visit in August 1942, the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, replaced him as C-in-C with General [[Harold Alexander, 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis|Sir Harold Alexander]] and [[William Gott]] as commander of the Eighth Army in the [[Western Desert Campaign|Western Desert]]. However, after Gott was killed flying back to [[Cairo]], Churchill was persuaded by Brooke, who by this time was [[Chief of the General Staff (United Kingdom)|Chief of the Imperial General Staff]] (CIGS), to appoint Montgomery, who had only just been nominated to replace Alexander, as commander of the [[First Army (United Kingdom)|British First Army]] for [[Operation Torch]], the invasion of [[French North Africa]].<ref>{{harvnb|Playfair|Flynn|Molony|Gleave|2004c|pp=367–369}}</ref>

A story, probably apocryphal but popular at the time, is that the appointment caused Montgomery to remark that "After having an easy war, things have now got much more difficult." A colleague is supposed to have told him to cheer up—at which point Montgomery said "I'm not talking about me, I'm talking about [[Erwin Rommel|Rommel]]!"<ref>Churchill, p. 420. According to J. Toland, ''Battle: The Story of the Bulge'', 1959, p. 157, this conversation was with Churchill's chief military assistant, General [[Hastings Ismay, 1st Baron Ismay|Ismay]], beginning with Montgomery saying to Ismay, "It's a sad thing that a professional soldier can reach the peak of generalship and then suffer a reverse which ruins his career."</ref>

Montgomery's assumption of command transformed the fighting spirit and abilities of the Eighth Army.<ref name="Playfair370">{{harvnb|Playfair|Flynn|Molony|Gleave|2004c|p=370}}</ref> Taking command on 13 August 1942, he immediately became a whirlwind of activity. He ordered the creation of the [[X Corps (United Kingdom)|X Corps]], which contained all armoured divisions, to fight alongside his [[XXX Corps (United Kingdom)|XXX Corps]], which was all infantry divisions. This arrangement differed from the German Panzer Corps: one of Rommel's Panzer Corps combined infantry, armour and artillery units under one corps commander. The only common commander for Montgomery's all-infantry and all-armour corps was the Eighth Army Commander himself. Writing post-war the English historian [[Correlli Barnett]] commented that Montgomery's solution "was in every way opposite to Auchinleck's and in every way wrong, for it carried the existing dangerous separatism still further."<ref>{{harvnb|Barnett|1983|p=281}}</ref> Montgomery reinforced the {{convert|30|mi|km}} long front line at El Alamein, something that would take two months to accomplish. He asked Alexander to send him two new British divisions ([[51st (Highland) Division|51st Highland]] and [[44th (Home Counties) Division|44th Home Counties]]) that were then arriving in Egypt and were scheduled to be deployed in defence of the Nile Delta. He moved his field HQ to Burg al Arab, close to the Air Force command post in order to better coordinate combined operations.<ref name="Playfair370"/>

Montgomery was determined that the army, navy and air forces should fight their battles in a unified, focused manner according to a detailed plan. He ordered immediate reinforcement of the vital heights of Alam Halfa, just behind his own lines, expecting the German commander, Erwin Rommel, to attack with the heights as his objective, something that Rommel soon did. Montgomery ordered all contingency plans for retreat to be destroyed. "I have cancelled the plan for withdrawal. If we are attacked, then there will be no retreat. If we cannot stay here alive, then we will stay here dead",<ref name="Moorehead118-127">{{harvnb|Moorehead|1973|pp=118–127}}</ref> he told his officers at the first meeting he held with them in the desert, though, in fact, Auchinleck had no plans to withdraw from the strong defensive position he had chosen and established at El Alamein.{{sfn|Caddick-Adams|2012|p=461}}

[[File:The British Army in North Africa 1942 E15787.jpg|thumb|left|Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery, the new commander of the British Eighth Army, and Lieutenant-General [[Brian Horrocks]], the new GOC XIII Corps, discussing troop dispositions at 22nd Armoured Brigade HQ, 20 August 1942. The brigade commander, Brigadier [[George Philip Bradley Roberts|George Roberts]] is on the right (in beret).]]

Montgomery made a great effort to appear before troops as often as possible, frequently visiting various units and making himself known to the men, often arranging for cigarettes to be distributed. Although he still wore a standard British officer's cap on arrival in the desert, he briefly wore an Australian [[slouch hat|broad-brimmed hat]] before switching to wearing the black beret (with the badge of the [[Royal Tank Regiment]] and the British General Officer's [[cap badge]]) for which he became notable. The black beret was offered to him by Jim Fraser while the latter was driving him on an inspection tour.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/may/27/jim-fraser-obituary|title=Jim Fraser obituary|newspaper=The Guardian|date=27 May 2013|access-date=28 May 2013}}</ref> Both Brooke and Alexander were astonished by the transformation in atmosphere when they visited on 19 August, less than a week after Montgomery had taken command.<ref name="Moorehead118-127"/>

Alan Brooke said that Churchill was always impatient for his generals to attack at once, and he wrote that Montgomery was always "my Monty" when Montgomery was out of favour with Churchill. [[Anthony Eden|Eden]] had some late night drinks with Churchill, and Eden said at a meeting of the Chiefs of Staff the next day (29 October 1942) that the Middle East offensive was "petering out". Alanbrooke had told Churchill "fairly plainly" what he thought of Eden's ability to judge the tactical situation from a distance, and was supported at the Chiefs of Staff meeting by [[Jan Smuts|Smuts]].{{sfn|Alanbrooke|2001|pp=}}

====First battles with Rommel====
[[File:General Montgomery with his puppies "Hitler" and "Rommel" at his mobile headquarters in Normandy, 6 July 1944. Behind can be seen his cage of canaries which also travelled with him. B6542.jpg|thumbnail|right|General Montgomery with his pets, the puppies "Hitler" (left) and "Rommel", and a cage of canaries which also travelled with him (at Blay, his second HQ in France in July 1944)]]

Rommel attempted to turn the left flank of the Eighth Army at the [[Battle of Alam el Halfa]] from 31 August 1942. The German/Italian armoured corps infantry attack was stopped in very heavy fighting. Rommel's forces had to withdraw urgently lest their retreat through the British minefields be cut off.<ref>{{harvnb|Churchill|1986|pp=546–548}}</ref> Montgomery was criticised for not counter-attacking the retreating forces immediately, but he felt strongly that his methodical build-up of British forces was not yet ready. A hasty counter-attack risked ruining his strategy for an offensive on his own terms in late October, planning for which had begun soon after he took command.<ref>{{harvnb|Playfair|Flynn|Molony|Gleave|2004c|p=388}}</ref> He was confirmed in the permanent rank of lieutenant-general in mid-October.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=35746|page=4481|supp=y|date=13 October 1942}}</ref>

The conquest of Libya was essential for airfields to support [[Malta]] and to threaten the rear of Axis forces opposing Operation Torch. Montgomery prepared meticulously for the new offensive after convincing Churchill that the time was not being wasted. (Churchill sent a telegram to Alexander on 23 September 1942 which began, "We are in your hands and of course a victorious battle makes amends for much delay."<ref>{{harvnb|Churchill|1986|p=588}}</ref>) He was determined not to fight until he thought there had been sufficient preparation for a decisive victory, and put into action his beliefs with the gathering of resources, detailed planning, the training of troops—especially in clearing minefields and fighting at night<ref>{{harvnb|Playfair|Flynn|Molony|Gleave|2004d|pp=13–14}}</ref>—and in the use of 252<ref>{{harvnb|Playfair|Flynn|Molony|Gleave|2004d|p=9}}</ref> of the latest American-built [[Sherman tank]]s, 90 [[M7 Priest]] self-propelled howitzers, and making a personal visit to every unit involved in the offensive. By the time the offensive was ready in late October, Eighth Army had 231,000 men on its ration strength.<ref>{{harvnb|Playfair|Flynn|Molony|Gleave|2004d|p=16}}</ref>

====El Alamein====
[[File:El Alamein 1942 - British infantry.jpg|thumb|left|Men of the [[9th Division (Australia)|9th Australian Division]] in a posed photograph during the [[Second Battle of El Alamein]]]]<!-- Do not confuse this photo (E 18474) with another (E 18908). -->

The [[Second Battle of El Alamein]] began on 23 October 1942, and ended 12 days later with one of the first large-scale, decisive Allied land victories of the war. Montgomery correctly predicted both the length of the battle and the number of casualties (13,500).<ref>{{harvnb|Playfair|Flynn|Molony|Gleave|2004d|p=78}}</ref>

Historian Correlli Barnett has pointed out that the rain also fell on the Germans, and that the weather is therefore an inadequate explanation for the failure to exploit the breakthrough,<ref>{{harvnb|Barnett|1983|p=290}}</ref> but nevertheless the Battle of El Alamein had been a great success. Over 30,000 [[Prisoner of war|prisoners of war]] were taken,<ref>{{harvnb|Playfair|Flynn|Molony|Gleave|2004d|p=79}}</ref> including the German second-in-command, [[Ritter von Thoma|General von Thoma]], as well as eight other general officers.<ref>{{harvnb|Moorehead|1973|pp=140–41}}</ref>

====Tunisia====
[[File:The Campaign in North Africa 1940-1943- Personalities E22271.jpg|thumb|right|The British Prime Minister [[Winston Churchill]] with military leaders during his visit to Tripoli. The group includes: Lieutenant-General [[Oliver Leese|Sir Oliver Leese]], General [[Harold Alexander, 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis|Sir Harold Alexander]], General [[Alan Brooke, 1st Viscount Alanbrooke|Sir Alan Brooke]] and General Sir Bernard Montgomery.]]

Montgomery was advanced to [[Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath|KCB]] and promoted to full general.<ref name="KCB+Gen"/> He kept the initiative, applying superior strength when it suited him, forcing Rommel out of each successive defensive position. On 6 March 1943, Rommel's attack on the over-extended Eighth Army at [[Medenine]] ([[Operation Capri]]) with the largest concentration of German armour in North Africa was successfully repulsed.<ref>Stout (1956), [https://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-WH2Medi-c11-3.html Chapter 11 – Tunisia. The Battle of Medenine]</ref> At the [[Mareth Line]], 20 to 27 March, when Montgomery encountered fiercer frontal opposition than he had anticipated, he switched his major effort into an outflanking inland pincer, backed by low-flying [[Royal Air Force|RAF]] fighter-bomber support.<ref name=odnb>{{cite ODNB|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/31460?docPos=1|title=Bernard Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein|access-date=1 July 2012|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/31460|year=2004}}</ref> For his role in North Africa he was awarded the [[Legion of Merit]] by the United States government in the rank of Chief Commander.<ref name="LM"/>

====Sicily====
[[File:Gen. Bernard Law Montgomery and Lt. Gen. George S. Patton, Jr.,.jpg|thumb|left|Montgomery visits Patton in Palermo, Sicily, July 1943.]]

The next major Allied attack was the [[Allied invasion of Sicily]] (Operation Husky). Montgomery considered the initial plans for the Allied invasion, which had been agreed in principle by [[General (United States)|General]] [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]], the [[Supreme Allied Commander]] [[Allied Forces Headquarters]], and General Alexander, the [[15th Army Group]] commander, to be unworkable because of the dispersion of effort. He managed to have the plans recast to concentrate the Allied forces, having [[Lieutenant general (United States)|Lieutenant General]] [[George S. Patton|George Patton]]'s [[Seventh United States Army|US Seventh Army]] land in the Gulf of Gela (on the Eighth Army's left flank, which landed around [[Syracuse, Sicily|Syracuse]] in the south-east of Sicily) rather than near [[Palermo]] in the west and north of Sicily.<ref>{{harvnb|Mead|2007|p=306}}</ref> Inter-Allied tensions grew as the American commanders, Patton and [[Omar Bradley]] (then commanding [[II Corps (United States)|US II Corps]] under Patton), took umbrage at what they saw as Montgomery's attitudes and boastfulness.<ref name=odnb/> However, while they were considered three of the greatest soldiers of their time, due to their competitiveness they were renowned for "squabbling like three schoolgirls" thanks to their "bitchiness", "whining to their superiors" and "showing off".<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Roberts|first=Andrew|title=Generals at War|url=https://www.weeklystandard.com/andrew-roberts/generals-at-war|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181025070930/https://www.weeklystandard.com/andrew-roberts/generals-at-war|url-status=dead|archive-date=25 October 2018|date=30 May 2005|magazine=Weekly Standard|access-date=25 October 2018}}</ref>

====Italy====
[[File:Montgomery E010786478-v8.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Wartime photograph of General Montgomery with his [[Miles Messenger]] aircraft (location and date unknown)]]

[[File:The Campaign in Italy, September-december 1943- the Allied Advance To the Gustav Line- Personalities NA10338.jpg|thumb|left|From left to right: [[Freddie de Guingand]], [[Harry Broadhurst]], Montgomery, [[Bernard Freyberg, 1st Baron Freyberg|Sir Bernard Freyberg]], [[Miles Dempsey]] and [[Charles Walter Allfrey|Charles Allfrey]]]]

Montgomery's Eighth Army was then fully involved in the [[Allied invasion of Italy]] in early September 1943, becoming the first of the Allied forces to land in [[Western Europe]].{{sfn|Mead|2007|p=306}} Led by Lieutenant General Sir [[Miles Dempsey]]'s XIII Corps, the Eighth Army landed on the toe of Italy in [[Operation Baytown]] on 3 September, four years to the day after Britain declared war on Germany. They encountered little enemy resistance.<ref name=heath217>{{harvnb|Heathcote|1999|p=217}}</ref> The Germans had made the decision to fall back and did what they could to stall the Eighth Army's advance, including blowing up bridges, laying mines, and setting up booby-traps. All of these slowed the Army's advance north on the awful [[Italian roads]], although it was Montgomery who was later much criticised for the lack of progress.{{sfn|Mead|2007|p=306}} On 9 September the [[1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom)|British 1st Airborne Division]] landed at the key port of [[Taranto]] in the heel of Italy as part of [[Operation Slapstick]], capturing the port unopposed.<ref name=heath217/> On the same day the [[United States Army North|U.S. Fifth Army]] under Lieutenant General [[Mark W. Clark]] (which actually contained a large number of British troops) landed at [[Salerno]], near [[Naples]], as part of [[Operation Avalanche]] but soon found itself fighting for its very existence with the Germans launching several determined counterattacks to try and push the Allies back into the sea, with Montgomery's men being too far away to provide any real assistance.{{sfn|Mead|2007|p=306}} The situation was tense over the next few days but the two armies (both of which formed the 15th Army Group under General Alexander) finally began to meet on 16 September, by which time the crisis at Salerno was virtually over.{{sfn|Mead|2007|p=306}}

[[File:Speech by Montgomery to 21st Army corp.jpg|thumb|upright|The time has come to deal the enemy a terrific blow ...]]

Clark's Fifth Army then began to advance to the west of the [[Apennine Mountains]] while Montgomery, with Lieutenant General [[Charles Walter Allfrey|Charles Allfrey]]'s V Corps having arrived to reinforce Dempsey's XIII Corps, advanced to the east. The [[Foggia Airfield Complex|Foggia airfields]] soon fell to Allfrey's V Corps, but the Germans fought hard in the defence of [[Termoli]] and [[Biferno]].{{sfn|Mead|2007|p=306}} Movement soon came to an almost complete halt in the early part of November when the Eighth Army came up against a new defensive line established by the Germans on the [[Sangro|River Sangro]], which was to be the scene of much bitter and heavy fighting  for the next month. While some ground was gained, it was often at the expense of heavy casualties and the Germans always managed to retreat to new defensive positions.{{sfn|Mead|2007|p=306}}

Montgomery abhorred what he considered to be a lack of coordination, a dispersion of effort, a strategic muddle and a lack of opportunism in the [[Italian campaign (World War II)|Allied campaign in Italy]], describing the whole affair as a "dog's breakfast".<ref name=odnb/>