Montgomery of Alamein

London: BCA. Very Good/Fair. 1973. Reprint. Hard Cover. 8vo 0297770810 Duust jacket tears with some loss. Black cloth with bright gilt titling on spine. No ownership marks.. xvi + 366 pp. Black and white illustrations. To anyone who lived through the Second World War `The Field Marshal' means only one man - `Monty', Field Marshal Viscount Montgomery of Alamein. His victories in the Western Desert and his flamboyant, eccentric personality made him by the end of the war a national figure and his name a household word. In the judgment of some observers, he was the outstanding battlefield general of the war - the last of the great captains. But others consider him an overrated commander, over-cautious and unimaginative. He was able to claim that he never lost a battle, yet he was often guilty of disastrous errors of judgment, most notably in his dealings with the Americans. Alun Chalfont has set out to discover how this remarkable man rose to the top of a profession committed to many of the civilized virtues which Montgomery conspicuously lacked - tolerance, charm, good Manners and concern for the susceptibilities of others. Lord Chalfont has -ade no attempt to analyse Montgomery's campaigns in depth, but is rather concerned to trace the links between his otechniques of command and his military philosophy on the one hand and his complex, often abrasive character on the other. He has achieved a balanced and objective analysis, in which Montgomery's virtues, already widely advertised by his admirers, are fully recognized; but in which his deficiencies, so often restricted to Officers' Mess gossip and malicious anecdote, are clearly and often startlingly revealed. The figure which emerges is one of the great paradoxes of recent military history - a general loved by his soldiers, feared by his enemies and heartily disliked by many of his contemporaries. .