Monty: Final Years of the Field-Marshal, 1944-1976
The third and last volume of Hamilton's massive biography of Field Marshal Montgomery is even more interesting than its predecessors. It covers the period after the victory in Normandy when Monty was promoted to field marshal; the disaster of Arnhem (for which he deserves most of the blame); his feud with Ike and his low opinion of American generalship. Eisenhower had assumed the dual role of supreme commander. Monty wanted the ground commander job for himself and felt that Ike was unequal to the supreme commander job. The last half of the book details Monty's years as commander of the British zone in Germany and chief of the Imperial General Staff, and his part in the dissolution of the British Empire. By then Monty was an old man, and it would be charitable to ignore some of his decisions. For every comprehensive World War II collection. Stanley Itkin, Hillside P.L., New Hyde Park, N.Y.Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.