SIX OF MONTY'S MEN

More than any other WWII commander, Field Marshal Montgomery divides opinion. This fascinating book uniquely approaches the legend through his relationship with six of the men who worked closely with him. Montgomery was famous for looking after his men, seeing those under his command as an extended family, and central to this were the officers who acted as intermediaries. John Harding was the one who achieved the greatest heights in his profession, rising to Field Marshal, and unlike the others he was not privately educated. During WWI he had been wounded at Gallipoli and he entered WWII with the Somerset Light Infantry. Eton-educated Oliver Leese, renowned for his colourful language, joined the Coldstream Guards, receiving a DSO on the Somme. He was serving in India in 1939 and was involved in the capture of Mandalay. The most flamboyant character was Francis de Guingand, son of a refugee, who was educated at Ampleforth and Sandhurst, very successful with women and a compulsive gambler. These three were well-known to Monty before World War II, but the other three were relative outsiders. Brian Gwynne Horrocks, an elegant and aloof character who trained the White Russian resistance after the Russian revolution, initially commented unfavourably on Monty's legendary unorthodoxy, saying it was "always a deadly crime in military circles". Horrocks has been cast as the villain at Arnhem for not coming to the parachutists' aid, but even the Germans admitted that the British drop was too far from the target. Charles Richardson, with a first-class Cambridge degree and from a military family, joined the Royal Engineers, and "Pip" Roberts became one of the army's most experienced tank commanders. 226pp, maps, black and white photos.