History has forgotten Lieutenant General Sir Frederick Morgan, yet without Morgan there would have been no D-Day. In the development and execute of the operational plan that was to become OVERLORD, Lieutenant General Morgan faced numerous challenges, the most pressing being the inability of American and British political and military senior leaders to agree to a common strategy for the defeat of Germany. Morgan also faced challenges with a lack of resources to support what was to become the primary mission of the Allies, the return to the Continent. Finally, Morgan dealt with personalities, such as Dwight D. Eisenhower and Bernard L. Montgomery, who assumed responsibility for OVERLORD and in the case of Montgomery summarily dismissed all of Morgan's efforts. Despite all these challenges, Morgan produced a plan for OVERLORD that was fundamentally followed on June 6, 1944.
Field Marshal Viscount Montgomery of Alamein has attracted the attention of countless historians over the last 70 years but, despite this coverage, views of his character remain controversial and contradictory. His younger brother Brian, himself a successful soldier, enters the fray with this charming and revealing book examining the background of this legendary military commander. He provides a fascinating account of the influences of Montys family genes together with a wealth of unknown details about his career. His grandfather, Sir Robert Montgomery, played a key role in crushing the Indian Mutiny and his adventures have intriguing parallels with those of Montys two generations later. Dean Farrar, his maternal grandfather, was a powerful Victorian educational and religious figure (Headmaster of Marlborough College and Dean of Canterbury) and author of the iconic Eric, or Little by Little. The author examines in the most entertaining and frank manner Montys idiosyncratic character traits; his opposition to tradition, his Nelsonian approach to rules and regulations, his ruthlessness and determination and his unfashionable views on the absolute necessity for self publicity and the most intensive training to get the maximum from his subordinates, down to the most junior levels.
Miles Dempsey, Commander of the British Second Army in the invasion of Europe 1944-45, is almost unknown to the general public. Yet his part in Britains contribution to that campaign was second only to Montgomerys in importance. Dempsey survived two and a half years of bitter fighting as an infantry officer on the Western Front before accompanying his beloved Royal Berkshire Regiment in the little-known North West Persia campaign of 1920-21. In six years he rose from Major to command over half a million men in the largest combined operation in history, and led them to victory a year later.Based on sources which include some of Dempseys previously unpublished work and the views of those who knew him, the book traces his career as a soldier of rare distinction, a talented sportsman and a man of huge charm and shrewd intellect, dedicated to his beloved regiment and ever mindful of the lives of his soldiers. Peter Rostron examines his methods of command and his relationships with Montgomery, his Corps commanders, the Americans and the RAF. It highlights his crucial role in the Dunkirk evacuation, the training of the Canadian Army, and the invasion of Sicily, Italy, and North West Europe, and analyses why his army performed so brilliantly on D Day. Lasly, Rostron examines his contribution to the campaign in Europe, focussing on the controversial operations of EPSOM, GOODWOOD, Arnhem and the Rhine Crossing.
When you arrived at work today, what was on your to-do list? On 6 February 1944, this landed on the desk of General George C. Marshall, Chief of Staff of the United States Army, a request from General Dwight D Eisenhower, Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in Europe: 'Count up all the divisions that will be in the Mediterranean, including two newly arrived U.S. divisions, consider the requirements in Italy in view of the mountain masses north of Rome, and then consider what influence on your problem a sizable number of divisions, heavily engaged or advancing rapidly in southern France, will have on OVERLORD.' It puts that late delivery or forgotten invoice into perspective. Eyes Only is not a history of the campaigns that swept across Europe between June 1944 and May 1945 – it is military command at its rawest, in real time and with no benefit of hindsight. It follows the planning, execution and aftermath of the campaigns through the highest security level day-to-day correspondence between the two Generals; the ' Eyes Only' cables. These candid words passed over their desks between December 1943 and December 1945, here fully annotated with background information. The cables start with the fraught six-month planning period for D-Day, followed by the establishment of the beachhead and the exhilarating advance across France. A difficult winter followed, culminating in attack and counterattack in the Ardennes. As Germany's collapse became imminent, attention focused on how to conclude the war without coming into conflict with the Soviet Army. After V-E Day, the problems of occupying Germany, de-Nazification, redeployment and humanitarian efforts are all on the agenda. Messages from the key politicians – Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin – are included. The two Generals have to deal with differences between the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the British Chiefs of Staff, the effect of the Mediterranean battles on the Western Front campaign — and of course 'man management' of figures such as Patton, Montgomery and de Gaulle. Judge for yourself how two of the United States' greatest military leaders dealt with the burden of command in the eye of the storm of history.
