Bernard Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein: Quotes about war

Bernard Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein was British Army officer, Commander of Allied forces at the Battle of El Alamein. Explore interesting quotes on war.
Bernard Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein: 18 quotes9 likes

“The United States has broken the second rule of war. That is: don't go fighting with your land army on the mainland in Asia. Rule One is, don't march on Moscow. I developed those two rules myself.”

Bernard Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein

Interview, 2 July, 1968; quoted in New York Times, 3 July, 1968, p. 6.

“Rule 1, on page 1 of the book of war, is: "Do not march on Moscow". Various people have tried it, Napoleon and Hitler, and it is no good. That is the first rule. I do not know whether your Lordships will know Rule 2 of war. It is: "Do not go fighting with your land armies in China."”

Bernard Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein

It is a vast country, with no clearly defined objectives. <br class="br">In the House of Lords, 30 May 1962 ( Hansard, Col. 227 http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/lords/1962/may/30/the-army-estimates#S5LV0241P0-00791)

“There were many reasons why we did not gain complete success at Arnhem. The following in my view were the main ones. First. The operation was not regarded at Supreme Headquarters as the spearhead of a major Allied movement on the northern flank designed to isolate, and finally to occupy, the Ruhr - the one objective in the West which the Germans could not afford to lose. There is no doubt in my mind that Eisenhower always wanted to give priority to the northern thrust and to scale down the southern one. He ordered this to be done, and he thought that it was being done. It was not being done. Second. The airborne forces at Arnhem were dropped too far away from the vital objective - the bridge. It was some hours before they reached it. I take the blame for this mistake. I should have ordered Second Army and 1st Airborne Corps to arrange that at least one complete Parachute Brigade was dropped quite close to the bridge, so that it could have been captured in a matter of minutes and its defence soundly organised with time to spare. I did not do so. Third. The weather. This turned against us after the first day and we could not carry out much of the later airborne programme. But weather is always an uncertain factor, in war and in peace. This uncertainty we all accepted. It could only have been offset, and the operation made a certainty, by allotting additional resources to the project, so that it became an Allied and not merely a British project. Fourth. The 2nd S. S. Panzer Corps was refitting in the Arnhem area, having limped up there after its mauling in Normandy. We knew it was there. But we were wrong in supposing that it could not fight effectively; its battle state was far beyond our expectation. It was quickly brought into action against the 1st Airborne Division.”

Bernard Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein

Concerning Operation Market Garden in his autobiography, 'The Memoirs of Field Marshal Montgomery' (1958)

“The frightful casualties appalled me. The so-called "good fighting generals" of the war appeared to me to be those who had a complete disregard for human life. There were of course exceptions and I suppose one was Plumer; I had only once seen him and I had never spoken to him.”

Bernard Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein

Regarding the generals of the First World War. 1 http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/2WWmontgomery.htm