DZ Season 064 Part 14. End the War in 44 – Only Human – Monty 8 – Monty’s Letter Too Far.

A good commander surrounds himself with the most talented people to make it easier to achieve his mission. The goals that Eisenhower and Monty wanted to achieve were very different and are reflected in the men they chose to surround  themselves with. Monty’s Chief of Staff was "Freddie" de Guingand. He’d filled that role in the 8th Army when Monty first took command of it on 15thAugust 1942. He was a staff officer when Monty arrived and was not certain he would. Out with the old, in with the new. Fortunately there was a history between them. Monty knew and respected him going back to 1922. Nigel Hamilton in The Battles of Field Marshal Montgomery, gives this little detail of de Guingand that was, in December 1944, going to save Monty’s skin:

De Guingand was a man few could dislike, with tremendous joie de vivre, an immensely fertile mind — and a natural charm which Monty did not, himself, possess.

Tag words: Eisenhower; "Freddie" de Guingand; Monty; Montgomery; Nigel Hamilton; The Battles of Field Marshal Montgomery; Carlo d’Este; Russell Weigley; Eisenhower’s Lieutenants; Battle of the Bulge; Bradley; David Irving; The War Between the Generals; Lt. Cdr. Harry C. Butcher; Bedell Smith; Marshall; Churchill; Roosevelt;