Montgomery

Bernard Montgomery emerged from the First World War as a professional soldier determined to impose rigorous training, clear planning and firm control on the formations he commanded. His reputation was made in the Second World War, above all with Eighth Army at El Alamein, before he led major Allied forces in Sicily, Italy, Normandy and north-west Europe. Corrigan traces that career while examining the methods behind Montgomery’s battlefield successes.

The biography also addresses the controversies that followed him: his difficult relations with allies and superiors, his caution, his self-promotion and the disputes surrounding operations after Normandy. Corrigan weighs those criticisms against Montgomery’s strengths as an organiser, trainer and commander, asking how much of the familiar heroic—or hostile—portrait survives when his record is considered campaign by campaign.