Bernard Montgomery Archives

Bernard Montgomery

American Tank Destroyers at El Guettar

By Christopher Miskimon

In the early morning hours of March 23, 1943, the U.S. 1st Infantry Division was preparing to attack. Read more

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill inspects Polish troops at Tentsmuir, Scotland, in October 1940. To Churchill’s right is Polish leader in exile Wladyslaw Sikorski.

Bernard Montgomery

Stanislaw Sosabowski: Poland’s Premier Paratrooper

By Tom Aiello, Ph.D

Stanislaw Sosabowski started his military career in the anti-Hapsburg Polish underground movement in 1907, served in the Austrian Army in World War I, and rose to the command of the Polish Parachute Brigade in World War II. Read more

Bernard Montgomery

Red Ball Express: The Legendary Lifeline

By Michael D. Hull

August 1944 saw a rosy mood of optimism and self-deception sweep through the Allied high command in France as a result of the sudden, dramatic end to the campaign in Normandy. Read more

Bernard Montgomery

Leclerc and Liberation

By Michael D. Hull

After the humiliating fall of France in June 1940, two impassioned patriots—a general and an infantry captain—refused to accept defeat and determined, against all odds, to exact retribution from the German invaders. Read more

Bernard Montgomery

“Is Paris Burning?” Liberating the City of Light

By Kelly Bell

By the late summer of 1944, the Third Reich was almost surrounded. Two years earlier Adolf Hitler had ground 10 European countries under his heel along with vast expanses of North Africa and Soviet Russia. Read more

Lieutenant General Brian Horrocks, standing second from right, studies a map while conferring with officers aboard a universal carrier at the Europa Docks in Bremen, Germany, on April 27, 1945.

Bernard Montgomery

Brian G. Horrocks: Bernard Montgomery’s Frontline General

By Michael D. Hull

A big challenge faced Maj. Gen. Brian G. Horrocks, an infantryman, when he was cross-posted to take command of the British Army’s 9th Armored Division in March 1942. Read more

Bernard Montgomery

Means of Grace, Hope of Glory

By Robert Barr Smith

They carried no weapons, only holy books and rudimentary vestments, a crucifix or a Star of David and sometimes a little Communion kit. Read more

Bernard Montgomery

Operation Plunder: Crossing the Rhine

By David Lippman

“I am busy getting ready for the next battle,” Field Marshal Sir Bernard Law Montgomery wrote his son David in early March 1945. Read more

Several of them arriving aboard a jeep, troopers of the 101st Airborne Division enter the important Norman town of Carentan on June 14, 1944. The fighting at Carentan was heavy, and the Americans withstood several German counterattacks.

Bernard Montgomery

Band of Brothers’ Buck Compton: One Man’s Call of Duty

By Flint Whitlock

Thanks to the late historian Stephen Ambrose, his book Band of Brothers, and the HBO series of the same title, the legendary, extraordinary exploits of Easy Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR), 101st Airborne Division, have become well known to a whole new generation. Read more

Bernard Montgomery

Nomads of War: The Long Range Desert Group

By John W. Osborn, Jr.

“The problem,” a member said, “is to make yourself so much master over the appalling difficulties of nature—heat, thirst, cold, rain, fatigue—that, overcoming these you yet have physical energy and mental resilience to deal with the greater object, the winning of the war.” Read more

Bernard Montgomery

George S. Patton’s End Run: The Story of His Final Days

By Major General Michael Reynolds

By early 1945, less than a year before General George S. Patton’s mysterious death, Adolf Hitler’s armies were almost exhausted. Read more

Tom Tucker was one of the first men from Patton’s Third Army to cross the Rhine River, the last natural barrier to the heart of Germany.

Bernard Montgomery

Third Army Crosses the Rhine

Although the U.S. First Army had already captured an intact bridge over the river at Remagen, there was still a rivalry between Patton and British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery to cross next. Read more

'Operation Deadstick' entailed an audacious British glider assault to capture two Normandy bridges, one of which was Pegasus Bridge.

Bernard Montgomery

Operation Deadstick: the Capture of ‘Pegasus Bridge’

This article was provided by Martin Cherrett, whose blog, World War II Today, provides a unique way military history enthusiasts can understand and experience the Second World War. Read more

British infantrymen wade through pounding surf onto the invasion beaches of Sicily during the opening phase of Operation Husky.

Bernard Montgomery

George Patton & Bernard Montgomery in Operation Husky

By Maj. Gen. Michael Reynolds

Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily, was the only operation in World War II in which generals Bernard Montgomery and George S. Read more

During Operation Cobra, the first US Army began a high-risk, high-reward bombing mission just weeks after the D-Day invasion.

Bernard Montgomery

Operation Cobra: The High-Risk Follow-Up to the D-Day Invasion

by Brian Todd Carey

On June 6, 1944 the Allies opened the Second Front against Nazi Germany. Concentrated against the beaches of Normandy, Operation Overlord landed 20 army divisions plus support troops on five beaches in anticipation of a breakout across France and toward Berlin. Read more

The contrasting styles of Eisenhower and MacArthur both proved to be war winners during the Second World War. Here's how they compare.

Bernard Montgomery

Eisenhower and MacArthur: an In-Depth Comparison

by Michael Haskew

Two of America’s most famous senior commanders to emerge from World War II were Eisenhower and MacArthur. These officers were largely responsible for command decisions that resulted in Allied victories in the South Pacific and in Europe. Read more