Montgomery of Alamein

FIELD MARSHAL BERNARD LAW MONTGOMERY OF ALAMEIN (KG GCB DSO PC) d1976. British Army Officer nicknamed Monty and The Spartan General. During WW2, he commanded the Eighth Army from August 1942 in the Western Desert until the final Allied victory in Tunisia. This command included the Battle of El Alamein, a turning point in the Western Desert Campaign. He subsequently commanded the Eighth Army during the Allied invasion of Sicily and then during the Allied invasion of Italy. He was in command of all Allied ground forces during Operation Overlord from the initial landings until after the Battle of Normanby. He then continued in command of the 21st Army Group for the rest of the campaign in North West Europe. As such he was the principal field commander for the failed airbourne attempt to bridge the Rhine at Arnhem and the Allied Rhine Crossing. On 4th May 1945, he took the German surrender at Luneberg Heath in northern Germany. After the war he became Commander-in-Chief of the British Army of The Rhine (BAOR) in Germany and then Chief of The Imperial General Staff. He died aged 88 in 1976.