User talk:Davin Bacon

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Bacon 1 Davin L. Bacon Mr. Richard Swanson Advanced English May 16, 2008 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein A journal entry from then General Dwight D. Eisenhower made on June 11th 1943: “General Montgomery is a very able, dynamic type of army commander. I personally think that the only thing he needs is a strong immediate commander. He loves the limelight but in seeking it, it is possible that he does so only because of the effect upon his own soldiers, who are certainly devoted to him. I have great confidence in him as a combat commander. He is intelligent, a good talker, and has a flare for showmanship. Like all other senior British officers, he has been most loyal - personally and officially - and has shown no disposition whatsoever to overstep the bounds imposed by allied unity of command.” Montgomery was born in Kennington, London in 1887, he was the fourth child of nine to an Anglican parish priest by the name of Henry Montgomery. His family soon inherited his grandfather’s estate but could not afford to pay the £13,000 mortgage. Henry was shortly there after Bacon 2 made Bishop of Tasmania, this came as a financial relief to the family (“People & Events...”). While in Tasmania, his father spent long periods of time in the outlying regions of the colony and was away frequently. While away his wife would give the children “constant” beating, then ignoring them most of the time. The young Bernard rebelled against his miserable childhood, and never forgot it. Montgomery’s mother took little interest in her children’s education other than to have tutors brought across from England. During this time Montgomery became a bit of a bully, he recalled this period in his life later: "I was a dreadful little boy, I don't suppose anybody would put up with my sort of behavior these days,” (“Bernard Montgomery...”). The Family would return home for a conference in 1887, Bernard and a brother were to be educated at The King’s School in Canterbury before returning to Australia later that year. In 1901 Montgomery Sr. was made a secretary in the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, with that job change the family returned to London. Bernard went to St. Paul’s school, and later the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst. During his time in the academy Montgomery set a fellow cadet on fire during a dispute and was almost expelled for the incident. In 1908 he joined the 1st Battalion of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment in 1908, first seeing service in India until 1913 (“Bernard Montgomery...”). In august of 1914 World War One broke out, that mouth Montgomery and his regiment arrived in France. He saw service during the retreat from Mons. At Meteren, near the Belgian border on 13th October 1914 he was shot through the right lung by a sniper and was injured seriously. A grave was dug in preparation for his death; he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order for gallant leadership (“Bernard Montgomery...”). Montgomery recovered in early 1915, during that time he was appointed to be brigade-major training Kitchener's New Army and returned to the Western Front in early 1916 as an operations staff officer during the battles of the Somme, Arras, and Passchendaele. Montgomery served at the battles of the Lys and Chemin-des-Dames before finishing the war as General Staff Officer 1. Between the wars Montgomery was made a commander of a battalion in the British Army of the Rhine, before reverting to his substantive rank of captain (“Field Marshal Bernard...”). He then attended the army's Staff College at Camberley, before being appointed brigade-major in the 17th Infantry Brigade at the end of 1920. The brigade was stationed in County Cork during the Anglo-Irish War. A cousin of Montgomery's, Lt. Col. Hugh Montgomery, had been assassinated by the IRA in 1920. Though Montgomery was effective, he did not employ methods as brutal as those of his contemporary in Cork, Arthur Percival. On his arrival he urged units of his brigade that their "behaviour must be beyond reproach" although later he stated that it "never bothered me a bit how many houses were burnt". IRA officer Tom Barry said that he "behaved with great correctness" (“Bernard Montgomery...”). By late in the campaign it had became clear to Montgomery that the only solution to the conflict would be the withdraw of all British forces. In 1923, after the establishment of the Irish Free State and during the Irish Civil War, Montgomery wrote to Arthur Percival that “In order to win a war of that sort you must be ruthless" and 20th century democratic Britain would not do that, so "the only way therefore was to give them [the Irish] some form of self-government and let them squash the rebellion themselves" (“Montgomery, Bernard Law”). With the end of the Anglo-Irish war in 1921 Montgomery was posted to the Territorial 49th Division. He returned to the 1st Royal Warwickshires in 1925 as a company commander, before becoming an instructor at the Staff College, Camberley and a major. In 1927, he met and married Elizabeth Carver, a widow, and a son, David, was born in August 1928. Montgomery became lieutenant-colonel of the 1st Battalion of The Royal Warwickshire Regiment in 1931, and saw service in Palestine, Egypt, and India. He was promoted to full colonel and became an instructor at the Indian Army Staff College in Quetta, India (“Bernard Montgomery...”). In 1937 he became commanding officer of the 9th Infantry Brigade, with the rank of brigadier, but that year also saw tragedy for him. His marriage had been a very happy and loving one, but his wife was bitten by an insect while on holiday in the resort town of Burnham-on-Sea. The bite became infected, and his wife died in his arms from septicaemia following an amputation. The loss devastated Montgomery, but he through himself back into his work immediately after the funeral (“Bernard Montgomery...”). In 1938, he organized an amphibious landing exercise that impressed the commander-in-chief General Wavell. He was promoted to major-general and took command of the 8th Infantry Division in Palestine. There he quashed an Arab revolt before returning in July of 1939 to Britain to command the 3rd Infantry Division (Bekket, Ian F. W.). Britain declared war on Germany on 3rd September 1939. The 3rd Division was deployed to Belgium as part of the British Expeditionary Force. Montgomery predicted a disaster similar to that in 1914, and so spent the Phony War (the early months of the war which saw relatively no fighting) training his troops for tactical retreat. The training paid off in 1940 when the Germans began their invasion of the Low Countries. Troops under Montgomery's command withdrew to Dunkirk with great professionalism and returned to Britain with minimal casualties (Bekket, Ian F. W.). In 1940 a new field command was required in the Middle East, and in '42 Montgomery took command of the 8th Army. With his taking of command he ordered all contingency plans for retreat to be destroyed and appeared in front of his troops to explain that they would stand and fight were they where (“Field Marshal Benard...”). On august 30th 1942 German commander Erwin Rommel attempted to encircle the Eighth Army at the Battle of Alam Halfa. Montgomery's reenforcement of the surrounding heights resulted in Rommel's forces being halted and in turn force to retreat (Bekket, Ian F. W.). That October the Battle of El Alamein began, and it ended with the first large scale victory of the allies for the war. This is often sited as a turning point in the war. Amazingly Montgomery predicted both the length of the battle and the number of casualties (“Bernard Montgomery...”). The 8th Army's subsequent advance as the Germans retreated hundreds of miles towards their bases in Tunisia used the logistical and firepower advantages of the British Army while avoiding unnecessary risks. This campaign demonstrated the battle-winning ingredients of morale (sickness and absenteeism were virtually eliminated in the 8th Army), co-operation of all arms including the air forces, first-class logistical back-up and clear-cut orders (“Montgomery, Bernard Law”). In fall of 1943 the invasion of Sicily took place, Montgomery continued to command 8th. tensions arose between Montgomery and U.S. Army General Patton when Montgomery Successfully recast the invasion plans. Montgomery's plans called for Patton's Seventh Army land in the Gulf of Gela on the left flank of Eighth Army rather than at Palermo in the west of Sicily as Patton had wished. Although Patton resented Montgomery, he accepted his skills as a general (“Field Marshal Bernard...”). During the autumn of 1943 Montgomery continued to command 8th during the landings of Italy. Montgomery led the 8th up the toe of Italy. He was criticized for is slowness; with the coming winter, supply lines were cut, air drops made impossible, and Montgomery was more than glad to leave the campaign and return to england to take command of the 21st army group, which consisted of all Allied ground forces that would take part in in the invasion of Normandy. Montgomery was not happy with the planned invasion and called for a 5 division assault rather than the 3 that others had proposed. It was thought that the battle would last 90 days, but as a result of poor weather, that hampered the landing of supplies and men, the battle was extended another month (“Bernard Montgomery...”). With the end of the Normandy Campaign, and the increasing number of U.S. forces in the European Theater it became politically impossible for an Englishmen to be supreme commander. Eisenhower would take command of the ground forces and Montgomery would continue to command the 21st, but it was now much smaller and consisted mostly of British and Canadian troops Montgomery took this personally and was promoted to field marshal by way compensation (“Bernard Montgomery...”). By the winter of 1944 troops under the command of now Field Marshal Montgomery took the vital port city of Antwerp, Belgium. With the beginning of the Battle of the Bulge on December 16th 1944, American forces where cut in two, with most of the commanders to the south, Montgomery was made commander of the forces to the north. Under Montgomery's command the allies were given a chance to regroup and gather supples, this frustrated the Germans and by January 3rd of 1945 Montgomery was on the offensive (Bekket, Ian F. W.). Montgomery's 21st Army Group advanced to, and crossed the Rhine by March of 1945. this lead to the encirclement of the German forces in the Ruhr, Montgomery's role was then made to guard the flank of the American advance. This was altered, to forestall any chance of a Russian advance into Denmark, and the 21st Army Group sealed off the Danish peninsula. On May 4th 1945, Montgomery accepted the surrender of German forces in northern Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands. This was done plainly in a tent without any ceremony. In the same year he was awarded the Order of the Elephant, the highest order in Denmark (Bernard Montgomery...). After the war, Montgomery was created 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein in 1946. He was Chief of the Imperial General Staff from 1946 until 1948. His mother died in 1949; Montgomery did not attend the funeral, claiming he was "too busy". Montgomery was then chairman of the western union's commanders-in-chief committee. He became Eisenhower's deputy in creating the North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces in 1951, continuing to serve until his retirement, aged 71, in 1958 (Bekket, Ian F. W.). After retirement his outspoken views became public and his reputation suffered. He supported apartheid and Chinese communism under Mao Zedong, and argued against the legalization of homosexuality in the United Kingdom, arguing that the Sexual Offences Act 1967 was a "charter for buggery" and that "this sort of thing may be tolerated by the French, but we're British — thank God," (Bernard Montgomery...) Because of these views Montgomery never rose to earldom, or held political office. An official task he insisted on performing in his later years was bearing the Sword of State during the State Opening of Parliament. His increasing frailty raised concerns about his ability to stand for long periods while carrying the heavy weapon. Ultimately, those fears were borne out when he collapsed mid-ceremony in 1968 and did not perform this function again (Bernard Montgomery...). British press often photographed Montgomery cashing his old age pension check at the social security office. Because of his fame, many assumed Montgomery did not need the money. In fact, he had always been a man of modest means and it caused him great anguish that many believed he was taking taxpayer money he did not need (Bernard Montgomery...). Montgomery Died in 1976 at his home in Alton, Hampshire aged 88 years. After a state funeral at St George's Chapel, Windsor, he was buried in the Holy Cross Churchyard. His portrait hangs in the National Portrait Gallery. A statue of Viscount Montgomery can be found outside the Defense Ministry in Whitehall, another statue of Viscount Montgomery can be found in Brussels, Belgium, watching a Montgomery Square (Bernard Montgomery...).