HAIG AND MONTGOMERY – A COMPARISON, PART TWO After ten months in Palestine Montgomery was appointed to command 3 Division in the UK, in August 1939, and when war broke out the British Expeditionary Force, commanded by General Lord Gort – ‘when dealing with Montgomery one must remember that he is not quite a gentleman’ – crossed to Europe with Montgomery’s division in 2 Corps commanded by his old Staff College colleague Lieutenant General Alan Brooke. The ‘miracle of Dunkirk’ was nothing of the sort: it was the culmination of a national humiliation, when the British and French were defeated by a better led, better trained and better motivated German army. Montgomery performed as well as any divisional commander could have, although he made a large number of then junior enemies by sacking majors and captains whom he considered not up to the job, and advising the sacking of some not under his command. In some cases he was undoubtedly right, but in others his decisions were based on a perfunctory meeting engendering instant dislike of the victim.
HAIG AND MONTGOMERY, A COMPARISON - PART TWO
HAIG AND MONTGOMERY, A COMPARISON - PART TWO
HAIG AND MONTGOMERY, A COMPARISON - PART TWO
HAIG AND MONTGOMERY – A COMPARISON, PART TWO After ten months in Palestine Montgomery was appointed to command 3 Division in the UK, in August 1939, and when war broke out the British Expeditionary Force, commanded by General Lord Gort – ‘when dealing with Montgomery one must remember that he is not quite a gentleman’ – crossed to Europe with Montgomery’s division in 2 Corps commanded by his old Staff College colleague Lieutenant General Alan Brooke. The ‘miracle of Dunkirk’ was nothing of the sort: it was the culmination of a national humiliation, when the British and French were defeated by a better led, better trained and better motivated German army. Montgomery performed as well as any divisional commander could have, although he made a large number of then junior enemies by sacking majors and captains whom he considered not up to the job, and advising the sacking of some not under his command. In some cases he was undoubtedly right, but in others his decisions were based on a perfunctory meeting engendering instant dislike of the victim.