National Library News
November 1998
Vol. 30, no. 11

From the Rare Book Collection...

by Michel Brisebois,
Rare Book Librarian, Research and Information Services


Field Marshal Montgomery.

Eighth Army. El Alamein to the River Sangro. [Berlin, Germany]: Printing and Stationery Services, British Army of the Rhine, January 1946. 158 p. Publisher’s binding of blue leatherette with gilt title and crest on upper cover.

In this month of November, Remembrance Day celebrates the role and the memory of Canadian soldiers in wartime as well as in peacetime. Field Marshal Montgomery’s book was chosen with this in mind.

El Alamein to the River Sangro, although a privately printed and distributed publication, would not normally be included in the Rare Book Collection (another copy is in the National Library stacks) since it was disseminated widely to institutions and libraries in many countries. But this is a very special copy that must be preserved in the Rare Book Collection. It bears the following inscription on the fly-leaf: To: Mr Mackenzie King with admiration and high regard. I shall always remember with pride that the fighting men from Canada served under my command during the operations described in these pages. B.L. Montgomery Field Marshal. Berlin 6-1-46.

The First Canadian Infantry Division of the First Canadian Army played a major role in the Sicilian and Italian campaigns as part of the Eighth Army. This work describes in detail the military operations of the Eighth Army under Montgomery’s command: the North African campaign from El Alamein (August 13, 1942) to the capture of Tunis (May 12, 1943), followed by the invasion and capture of Sicily from mid-July to mid-August 1943, and, finally, the invasion of mainland Italy, and the advance to the River Sangro from the beginning of September to the end of December 1943. This first-person account, focusing on strategy and troop movements, is enhanced with 16 large, folding, coloured maps.

The son of a clergyman, Montgomery was a military man all his life. Trained at Sandhurst, he took part in the First World War and saw action at Ypres (where he was wounded), and at the Battle of the Somme. Between the two wars, he occupied various postings in a number of countries. During the French campaign, he participated in the evacuation of Dunkirk, but his claim to fame remains the North African campaign. His defeat of Rommel at El Alamein was one of the turning points of the war. After leaving Italy, he took part in the Normandy campaign and the invasion of Holland, which became the subject of Normandy to the Baltic, published in April 1946. His first visit to Canada was in August 1946, where he consulted on military matters with William Lyon Mackenzie King, and later with U.S. president Harry Truman south of the border.

Two other books by Montgomery, also inscribed to the former prime minister, are housed in the Rare Book Collection: Ten Chapters, 1942 to 1945 (Berlin: 1945) and A Collection of Field Marshal Montgomery’s Personal Messages to 21 Army Group. Normandy to the Baltic, 6 June 1944-8 May 1945 (Berlin: 1945). The former, a facsimile of his personal autograph book, is inscribed To The Prime Minister of Canada whose troops played no small part in many of the events recorded in these chapters.

The National Library of Canada is fortunate to have in its holdings a number of books from Laurier House and many from the personal libraries of Sir Wilfrid Laurier and William Lyon Mackenzie King.

Copyright. The National Library of Canada. (Revised: 1998-11-21).