Before the current resurgence in the love of history, I searched in vain for this book in countless new and old book stores. Every new city we went to, I would look for it. I had heard the American viewpoint on Montgomery, I had read Patton's version, but I wanted to hear Montgomery's version. As a Christmas present, there it was under my tree one year, and I devoured it in several days, even though it is incredibly detailed.
After reading the book, I felt I understood the man, the forces, the secret drives that made the General who he was.
He had a rather cold, lonely childhood, and was an aloof, intelligent loner.
The Battle of Dunkirk was the point at which he could no longer tolerate those he felt inferior to him, regardless of his rank. The absurdities of the waste of manpower of machinery, the inefficiencies of command by family name became clear to him. Here Montgomery rose to his highest success, a man who's destiny and abilities were matched by fortune to the time. He succeeded in defying the befuddled outranking superiors, took control, and performed brilliantly at El-Almein, a battle won almost exclusively by his strategic flanking movements.
El-Almein; however, became the soothsayer to his Achilles heel....his extreme egotism.
After El-Almein, he felt himself invincible and always correct regardless of the consequences for his men or the battle. His main focus after El-Almein was to preserve his legacy and reputation and to take credit for any favorable action by anyone, anywhere.
He was personally responsible for one of the two largest largest European debacles of the war: the Bridge Too Far. (The other being the inexperienced Eisenhower's debacle at the Kasserine Pass.) By sheer force of will, against the advise and counsel of many others, Montgomery forced an ill-conceived plan of the largest paratrooper drop in history with poor supplies, lack of artillary support, and a sheer waste of some of the finest men available. Even when it was evident that his plans were horribly inadequate, he refused to allow a strategic withdrawal, abandoning troops to their fate.
Whether politically correct to say or not, it seemed quite evident from the book that there was a strong presence of homosexuality in Montgomery's inner circle. Whether Montgomery was gay, bi, or neuter is impossible to say, and the fact that he procreated is irrelevant.
What is sad is that with his sycophantic inner circle, he could not be dissuaded from ill-conceived plans. He became the McClellan of World War II, sitting with troops that could have been used elsewhere, squandering supplies that could have been put to use for Patton.
Any other General would have been replaced after the fiasco of Operation Market-Garden. MONTGOMERY would have replaced any general of his that had carried out such an ill-conceived plan, then refused to halt when it was evident it was an abject failure.
Read the accounts of the Paratroopers who had to fight the actual battle, the SNAFU's they encountered, the hostility they received when they reasonably requested to withdraw and you have visions of Montgomery in the far distant rear echelons in his bunker, oblivious to the world. Montgomery went so far as to REFUSE to allow his sleep to be interrupted for important phone calls, reasoning that all he had to do was to plan a battle, but battles are vacillating beasts that require the presence of their commanders. Patton's brilliance in Sicily was his front-line presence, and therefore knowledge of the strategic changes that needed to be made.
With Montgomery's star tarnished by Market-Garden, Patton and Eisenhower were able to forge forward and accomplish what they were able to do at their best.
Argument has been made that Montgomery's bogging down after D-Day, and his Operation Market-Garden fiasco allowed the more Sourthern Patton to consolidate his positions, but then one wonders where was Monty when Bastogne was besieged and when Omaha beach was overwhelmed.
When I finally was able to read his version, instead of the American-written versions, I was dismayed that he was even pettier and self-centered than even the Americans realized.
Post-War, Monty was awarded the position of Chief of Staff, and felt it was due him as a royal coronation. He WAS the hero of El Alamein, but he was a one-note, one-battle, egomaniac hero who cost many lives needlessly.

Most vivid and accurate account of world war II war through the eyes and mminds of a brillliant strategist and a great humanitarian.

This and its predecessors are books for all seasons about a man for all seasons. We all owe our lives to him. It is a book for the hard working and the pampered, for nations that cut funds for their Veterans Administrations like the United States has almost continually done, and for parents who wonder how much more to pamper their little darlings so that they will be loved as fathers and mothers. Montgomery beat the best that Hitler could send against him and us, and he did the same wherever he was sent. His expertise was strategy, not politics, not taking advantage of interns or skipping out on his wife. We need a few more like him.