Monty and the Canadian Army

Review
"John A. English has written a masterful account of Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery’s relationship with the Canadian Army. He argues, convincingly, that Monty grabbed the army ‘by the scruff of the neck and taught it how to fight effectively,’ allowing it to play a major role in the victorious campaign of northwest Europe, and indeed, thereafter. Prodigious research combined with a clear and engaging writing style make this an outstanding work." -- Phillip S. Meilinger, Col. USAF (ret) and author of Thoughts on War
"John A. English is one of the few Canadian military historians with a large international following. This book – shaped by his thirty-seven years of military service and incredibly thorough research in Canadian, British, and American archives – brings Montgomery’s impact on Canada’s soldiers into the full light of day. Monty and the Canadian Army will add immeasurably to English’s scholarly reputation and should be read by everyone interested in the Second World War." -- J.L. Granatstein, author of Canada’s Army: Waging War and Keeping the Peace
General Bernard Law Montgomery, affectionately known as "Monty," exerted an influence on the Canadian Army more lasting than that of any other Second World War commander. In 1942 he assumed responsibility for the exercise and training of Canadian formations in England, and by the end of the war Canada’s field army was second to none in the practical exercise of combined arms.
In Monty and the Canadian Army, John A. English analyses the way Montgomery’s operational influence continued to permeate the Canadian Army. For years, the Canadian Army remained a highly professional force largely because it was commanded at almost every lower level by "Monty men" steeped in the Montgomery method. The era of the Canadian Army headed by such men ceased with the integration and unification of Canada’s armed forces in 1964.
The embrace of Montgomery by Canadian soldiers stands in marked contrast to largely negative perceptions held by Americans. Monty and the Canadian Army aims to correct such perceptions, which are mostly superficial and more often than not wrong, and addresses the anomaly of how this gifted general, one of the greatest field commanders of the Second World War, managed to win over other North American troops.