Monty's forward in "Forward to Victory" encapsulates how he felt about the personal messages that he authored:
”The messages to the Eighth Army trace the journey of that great fighting force from Alamein to the halfway up Italy. Those issued to 21 Army Group trace the course of the campaign in North-West Europe from D-Day, 6 June 1944, when the Allied Force assaulted over the beaches of Normandy, to its arrival on the shores of the Baltic in May 1945. I like to think that these messages did much to foster the spirit and the will-to-win that made our forces such a great and happy family: and so formidable in battle."
[Signed Montgomery of Alamein, Field-Marshal]
June 1946
Please view the "Collections" sub-headings to see the curated groups of messages and related ephemera.
Below is a pdf of a catalogue of the full text from the complete (as far as I can tell) collection of Monty's personal messages, 1942-46. This includes messages from his time as commander of Eighth Army, 21 Army Group and the British Zone of Occupation. If any of you readers know of messages that I have missed, please let me know!
”The messages to the Eighth Army trace the journey of that great fighting force from Alamein to the halfway up Italy. Those issued to 21 Army Group trace the course of the campaign in North-West Europe from D-Day, 6 June 1944, when the Allied Force assaulted over the beaches of Normandy, to its arrival on the shores of the Baltic in May 1945. I like to think that these messages did much to foster the spirit and the will-to-win that made our forces such a great and happy family: and so formidable in battle."
[Signed Montgomery of Alamein, Field-Marshal]
June 1946
Please view the "Collections" sub-headings to see the curated groups of messages and related ephemera.
Below is a pdf of a catalogue of the full text from the complete (as far as I can tell) collection of Monty's personal messages, 1942-46. This includes messages from his time as commander of Eighth Army, 21 Army Group and the British Zone of Occupation. If any of you readers know of messages that I have missed, please let me know!
| catalogue_of_montgomery_messages_42to46.pdf |