Patton, Montgomery, Rommel

Starred review from September 7, 2009
In WWII the U.S., Great Britain and Germany each produced a ground commander who stood out from the rest and who has come to define their countries' respective ways of war. Brighton combines archival and published sources with his experience as curator of the Queen's Royal Lancers Museum to compare these three men of war: George Patton, Bernard Law Montgomery and Erwin Rommel. All were showmen. All had “wollen egos... easily bruised.” And all possessed “an unrivaled enthusiasm for combat.” Montgomery emerges as not only a battle manager but a battle captain ready to stay the course and accept the accompanying losses. Rommel's will took a different form, responding directly to the new demands of armored warfare. He took chances against odds and against orders—and his willpower overcame the risks from the enemy and the inertia imposed from his superiors. The “rollicking, mocking” Patton epitomized the dash of the cavalry in his willingness to dare, then dare again, pursuing outcomes that could not be calculated in advance. Clausewitz called audacity essential for greatness. Brighton demonstrates it in action, moving into the top rank of general audience military writers with this effervescent, perceptive triple biography. 4 maps.

September 1, 2009
Linked biography of three flamboyant World War II generals who often but not invariably deserved their fame.

British military historian Brighton (Hell Riders: The Truth about the Charge of the Light Brigade, 2004, etc.) has no trouble pointing out parallels. George S. Patton (1885–1945), Bernard Montgomery (1887–1976) and Erwin Rommel (1891–1944) all served in World War I, impressed superiors and received severe wounds. All suffered through two decades of peace, yearning for another war and continuing to impress those in command who could tolerate their egotism. Unlike many previous biographers, Brighton does not gloss over the men's unpleasant personal qualities. All held unsympathetic, reactionary political opinions. Patton ordered vicious attacks on the Washington bonus marchers in 1932; Montgomery brutally suppressed rebellions in Ireland and Palestine; Rommel adored Hitler until late in the war. All became darlings of their nation's media for frivolous but also important reasons. Rommel was a charismatic, aggressive commander who knew how to use tanks at a time when his opponents didn't. However, the North African campaign was always a sideshow to the real action on the Eastern Front, where 50 times as many soldiers were fighting the Red Army; Rommel's 1941–42 victories provided morale-boosting headlines to distract the German public from the impending debacle in Russia. Equally charismatic but rarely aggressive, Montgomery believed in meticulous planning, eschewing risky, Rommel-style battlefield improvisation. This overwhelmed Rommel at El Alamein, but slow, careful preparation did not work as well later, and Montgomery's disdain for Americans made him widely unpopular. U.S. generals tended to be cautious, so Patton's intense belligerence—and contempt for the English—provoked controversy throughout his career, but his was the proper strategy for a nation with an enormous material advantage over the enemy, and superiors knew his value.

Intelligent, insightful and perceptive.

(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

Starred review from October 15, 2009
Of the stars that shone bright during World War II, none burned much brighter than Gen. George Patton and Field Marshals Bernard Montgomery and Erwin Rommel. Brighton (The Queen's Royal Lancers' Museum; "Hell Riders: The Truth About the Charge of the Light Brigade") brings these three not so different warriors together against the backdrop of the tank battles of the war. All three men had similar backgrounds, militarily speaking, having gone to their respective military academies and served in World War I, where they developed their aptitudes for war. Brighton shows how during the period between the wars, each refined his skills, which included reading one another's published treatises on the subject of mobile warfare. The author pulls no punches in revealing their flaws as well. Very highly recommended.

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 15, 2009
Famous World War II generals Patton, Montgomery, and Rommel boast definitive biographies (respectively authored by Carlo dEste, Nigel Hamilton, and David Fraser), so Brighton condenses their survival of World War I wounds, then pits them in the WWII battles they directed against each other. With his eye on historical disputes about their generalship, Brighton concentrates on Montgomery and Rommels face-offs in North Africa in 194243 and in Normandy in 1944. Patton, who, despite the script of the movie Patton, never fought Rommel commander-on-commander, seems a third wheel, but he had sufficient friction with Montgomery to oversupply Brighton with material for debating the abilities of the Allied commanders. The curator of a British military museum, Brighton proves to be no patriotic partisan of Montgomery; as for Patton, Brighton talks about anecdotes behind the profane reputation. Apparently, Brighton is most impressed with Rommel, whose ascent to prominence on the strength of his victories of 194042 precedes a narrative of Rommels disenchantment with Hitler and implication in the 1944 coup attempt against the Nazi government. Brighton delivers personality-driven history well suited to readers starting to scope out WWII.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)