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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 940.5421092
EAN num: 9781844153305
ISBN number: 1844153304
Label: Pen and Sword
Manufacturer: Pen and Sword
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 574
Printing Date: 2006-03
Publishing house: Pen and Sword
Sale Popularity Level: 944706
Studio: Pen and Sword
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First published in 1958 Montgomery's memoirs cover the full span of his career very first as a regimental officer in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment and then as a Staff Officer. His choice of the Warwickshires was due to his lack of money. He saw service in India before impressing with his courage, tactical skill and staff ability in the Great War. Despite his tactless uncompromising manner his career flourished between the wars but it was during the retreat to Dunkirk that his true brilliance as a commander revealed itself. The rest is history but in this autobiography we can hear Monty telling his side of the story of the great North African Campaign followed by the even more momentous battles against the enemy - and, sadly, the Allies - as he strove for victory in North West Europe. His interpretation of the great campaign is of huge importance and reveals the deep differences that existed between him and Eisenhower and other leading figures.
His career ended in disappointment and frustration being temperamentally unsuited to Whitehall and the political machinations of NATO.
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Rated by buyers -
"Memoirs" by Field Marshal (The Viscount) Bernard L. Montgomery (of Alamein) is much more than a self-promoting autobiography (there really is only a tad of this), it is a serious piece of historical literature that provides many insights into the man who was one of the most influential and tactically superior battlefield general officers the world produced during the 20th Century (and possible of all recorded modern history). Three obvious examples come to the forefront: First, the reader is treated with enough pre-Second World War information to get a sense for what drove the development of the Master (as his Chief of Staff Freddie De Guingand and others who served with his HQ in Eighth British Army and 21st Army Group referred to him). Second, the reader is treated to a lucid (if post-war and thus potentially tidied) explanation for how and why BLM come the tactical decisions he did during his time as an Army and Army Group commander in WWII and why was he so vocal about his views (often to the detriment of his one posterity). Third and lastly, BLM provides considerable (and oft prophetic) insight into the military structure and stability/instability of postwar Europe and the former Allies of the West (USA, Britain and Commonwealth partners, and other European countries west of the "Iron Curtain") and the East (Russia and satellite countries of the "Eastern Bloc" that formed much of the former Soviet Union).
This reviewer must admit that, while needing to read "Memoirs" as research a his own book project, he was skeptical of how valuable "Memoirs" would be as anything beyond a historical novelty aimed more at `saving face' than being useful as a piece of historical literature. Much of this bias going into this read was based upon representations of "Memoirs" by a variety of noted historical writers. More often than not American historians have painted Monty as a "blow-hard", much greater in legend than reality as a commander. In contrast, British authors have tended to paint Monty as a saviour type, without whom the Allies would have never been able to handily defeat the Germans. Having now read "Memoirs" this reviewer can state that (as he should have expected) much of what has been written based on "Memoirs" has not been altogether fair, dare we say honest. A fair percentage of what has been quoted from "Memoirs" as evidence of Monty's views (whether arrogance or correct assessment of issues) has been unfairly taken out of context. When seen in its entirety "Memoirs" appears not to represent face-saving treatise as many American writers would have us believe, but rather a fairly evenhanded representation of Monty's years in the British military. This is not say that Monty's acknowledged arrogance is missing from his prose - it is there, but rather these `negative' personality traits are balanced against self deprecating revelations. Neither American nor British writers generally mention these latter "balanced revelations" as neither set of writers would benefit from such clarity - the American view of Monty as `puffy legend' would be diminished greatly by a balanced representation, while the British view of Monty as `key Allied saviour' would be weakened by Monty's own admissions of fault and mistake. Now, don't read to far into how much fault or mistake Monty admits to - he certainly takes more credit than blame, but the latter is certainly present in dose. This reviewer is glad that he did not approach the book pre-biased to such an extent that he was unable to see the "forest through the woods"
All in all "Memoirs" is a solid and very important piece of military and historical literature that should be read by any and all students of the Second World War, especially if one already thinks they know the contents of the book based on the filter of others! 4.5 stars when taken with the slight grain of salt that it is an autobiography. Well written and fairly well balanced.
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