Memoirs of Monty

Hawk-eyed, didactic General Sir Bernard Law Montgomery is the darling of the British public, the despair of the brass-hatted British War Office. Many a tender-skinned staff officer has quoted an apocryphal toast, usually attributed to Winston Churchill: "To General Montgomery! Indomitable in defeat, indefatigable in attack, insufferable in victory!" When Monty turned up in London last week, primed to take command of British ground troops in the invasion of Western Europe, he had again endeared himself to his men if not to the War Office. He had left with them a forthright farewell summary of the Eighth Army's epic record:

Peril in August. "I remember well in August of last year when I came to join the Eighth Army. ... I was told the Eighth was in imminent danger of being attacked by Rommel and that at all costs it was to be preserved and withdrawn down the Alexandria-Cairo road. Plans were actually being worked out to move Army Headquarters back to Cairo. . . The Eighth required somebody to say to it : 'If we are attacked we will fight where we stand -- we will fight hard!' And once that had been said there was no further trouble."

Anxiety in January. "I have had only two anxious moments. . . . The first was on January 15 when we attacked Tripoli. I knew we must get to Tripoli in ten days. ... I knew that if the Germans could hold us we might have to go back a long way. . . . For about one day in that battle, I was slightly anxious. But we got to Tripoli in eight days. The second occasion was when we left Tripoli. . . . About the same time Rommel was attacking the Americans at Gafsa, and we had to do something about it. ... We were very weak and very stretched and it was clear that Rommel was pulling out from in front of the Americans to attack us. ... I think the only thing that saved us was our great air superiority. Rommel attacked and you well remember the result. It was the only time we had to fight a defensive battle since leaving Alamein, and it is interesting to note how everyone had forgotten how. ... I even found generals looking up in their textbooks how to fight a defensive battle."

Speed in Italy. "In the press in England and elsewhere, there have been certain comments about the slowness of the campaign in Italy. . . . This Army landed in Italy on September 3, and by December 3 the Eighth had fought its way over 700 miles of country. I don't call that slow."

End in Sight. "The situation is good. The end of this war is definitely in sight. All we have to do is to have complete trust in our leaders -- leaders of the nations -- and get on with the job. . . . May we meet again soon. ..."

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