General Bernard Law Montgomery's Leadership

As General Bernard Law Montgomery once said, “Leadership is the capacity and will to rally men and women to a common purpose and the character which inspires confidence.” It is the make or break skill factor in a multitude of scenarios. In regard to his conduct in leadership, he was not short of critics, for he was a widely contested person of interest. Despite his critics, Montgomery deserved his praise, because of his extraordinary impact due to his leadership during the Battle of El Alamein, direction of all of the Allied ground troops in Operation Overlord, and assurance of the well-being of his troops. Overall, he provided clarity and hope on the battlefield. Bernard Montgomery served in the army and climbed the ranks. He was born to …show more content…
Montgomery’s leadership is similar to many companies nowadays. He tried his best to guarantee the pique performance from his troops through interactions akin to companies in its attempts to retain employees in affable displays of gratitude. For instance, when his men showed bouts of venereal disease, Montgomery quickly became concerned. He issued a order for his men to pick up condoms, in order to avoid contracting these diseases from the brothels they had frequented. This conduct was seen as inappropriate and “improper nature” by a senior chaplain at the headquarters. In fact he was so charged he “seriously considered sending Monty back” (Brighton 69). The senior chaplain had seen it as prying into their personal matters, and violating the assumed distance that a commander and his troops had. Despite the seemingly negative appraisal of Montgomery, his troops were appreciative of him. The affair had left his men contemplating that “a general who concerned himself with sexual diseases, condoms and brothels could be trusted with their lives” (70). Granted, by showing that he was invested in the sexual health of his men, he was able to establish a stronger bond with his troops. In another case, while he was in charge of the XII Corps in 1941, Monty implemented regular cross country run in order to ensure that his troops were in outstanding shape. The rigorous exercise regimen was seen as a method …show more content…
He has been criticized by critics for “an alleged failure to harry Panzer Army Africa to its destruction” in the aftermath of Alamein. With Rommel’s retreating units, it is important to note it may not have been plausible or even quite possible to mount more attacks. These reprimands are invalid because none of Montgomery’s predecessors with the “exception of O’ Connor in February 1941” were able to perform such a feat. To add to the fact that O’ Connor was able to strike his enemy when they were demoralised, but it is to be noted that “Rommel’s Afrikakorps at least was not demoralised” (Keegan 337). Since that is the case, such a face-off would have been fruitless, and only resulted in more casualties. This is because some of his troops lacked the training, and would not have been able to execute. In addition, Montgomery had no intention to pursue Rommel. As a matter of fact he wrote in his diary prior to the offensive: “Having made a successful break-in, we must not rush madly into the mobile battle… the troops would all get lost” (Brighton 161). With that note in mind, it would not have been advisable for Montgomery to overextend, for he knew the limits of his subordinates. He attributed it to a lack of training, which would have undoubtedly led to a string of chaos. To have gone in knowing that, he would have seen much more reprimands had he decided to. It goes to