After reading Monty's speech to all the senior officers and commanders in 21st Army Group before D-Day I thought I'd have a look for it on the net but it doesn't seem to be written anywhere as a source of reference so I thought I'd type it up on here. Monty says, Before I launch troops into battle , I make a point of speaking personally to all senior officers down to the rank of lieutenant-colonel rank inclusive. In this way, I can get my ideas across and ensure a and ensure a common line of approach to the problem that lies ahead of us; and at a final talk like this one I can emphasis certain essential features, and give you some points to pass onto your men. Infact , I use these occasions in order to influence the armies, to instill confidence, and thus win the battle. The speech I would like to talk to you today on the following subjects: A The Pat- Very briefly. B The present state of the war. C The future prospects. D The task immediately confronting us. E Basic essentials for success. The Past We have been through some very bad times in this war. In our darkest days, we stood alone against the combined might of the Axis powers; we suffered some great shocks and some bad disasters. But we stood firm- on the defensive, but striking blows where we could. Then America joined us; but that great nation was not immediately ready to strike heavy blows, and required time to develop her strength. The two of us -America and the British Empire- gradually began to fight back. Slowly but surely and relentlessly, the lost ground was recovered and we began to pass from the defensive to the offensive. Since that time we have been working on the same strategy. This has been: A To clear the enemy out of Africa. B To knock Italy out of the war and open the Mediterranean for our shipping. C To bring Turkey into the war. D To defeat Germany while containing Japan. This has been the broad strategy of the Allies and we have stuck to it and never wavered. We are now about to reap the harvest. Present state of the war. How do we stand today? Of the four basic points in our strategy, the first two are acheived. A The Germans are out of Africa B Italy is out of the war and the Meditteranean is open for our shipping. These are great achievements, of which we may well be proud - and we are. We failed in the third point. Turkey has not reacted in the way we hoped. But the Allies have done so well in other directions that it has not mattered over much; and the day may well come when Turkey will regret her present attitude, and will wish she had come in with the Allies- who are now going to win. We are now about to embark on the final phase of the fouth point:To defeat Germany; this is the crux of the whole matter. After 4 1/2 years of war the Allies have by hard fighting on sea, land and in the air, worked themselves into a posistion where they cannot lose. That is a ver good posistion to reach in any contest; but the good player is never content 'to draw' - he wants to win. And so now we must win, and defeat Germany. And while doing that we are doing more than contain Japan. That country is now definately on the defensive and, in the South-West Pacific, the American and Austrailian forces are gradually working their way towards the Philippines and Formosa, and are killing great numbers of Japanese in the process. Future prospects Germany is now fighting on three fronts: in Russia, in Italy, and in the Balkans. Soon she will have a fourth front- in Western Europe. She cannot do this successfully. She has a large number of divisions, but they are all weak and below strength. Everything is in the shop window; there is nothing 'in the kitty'. Her cities and industries are being devastated by bombing; this will continue on an ever-increasing tempo all this year; by next winter, there will be little left of more important cities. The Allies have the initiative and Germany is ringed round; she is about to be attacked from Russia, from the Meditteranean front, and from England; and all the time the bombing will go on relentlessly. A ver great deal depends on the success of our operations. If they succeed, I consider that Germany will then begin to crack. They will succeed ; and the bombing will go on, everyday and around the clock. Germany will not be able to stand it. If we do our stuff properly and no mistakes are made, then I believe that Germany will be out of the war this year. And Japan will be finished within six months after we have put Germany out. Our immediate Task But the essential condition is that the Second Front should be a great success. And that brings me to my next point. When the times comes for us to operate on the Continent, no one will claim that our task will be easy. The enemy is in prepared posistions; he has protected his beaches with obstacles; we cannot gain close contact and recce his posistion carefully, so as to examine the problem and ensure we have the right solution. There are, and there are bound to be, many unkown hazards. He has reserves positioned for counter-attack. We have a long sea journey, and at the end of it we will have to land on a enemy coast in the face of determined opposition. During all this, there is bound to be a certain lose of cohesion in assaulting units; and even reserves coming ashore will require a little time to collect themselves. The enemy will know every inch of the ground; we shall be operating in a strange country. But we have certain very great assets, and they are the ones that matter. We have the initiative; the enemy does not know when or where we shall land. We have great fire-power to support our intial landing, from the sea and from the air. We have a good and simple plan. We have well-trained troops, who are spoiling for a fight. We have available to us on shore, the whole of the Allied air power in England, and this air power will continue to support our operations and to bomb Germany. Its strength is terrific. There are some 4,500 fighters and fighter-bombers; and about 6,000 bombers of all types. Nothing has ever been seen like this before. Unkown hazards must have no terrors for us. We have first class engineers, and evry type of mechanical and special equipment. All we need is a very robust mentality; as difficulties appear, so they must be tackled and stamped on. What we have to do is blast our way on shore, and gain ground inland quickly so that we secure a good and firm lodgement area before the enemy has time to bring his reserves into action against us. The violence, speed and power of our initial assault must carry everything before it. The enemy reserves will be closely watched from the air; when they sacrifice concealment and begin to move, they will be bombed and shot-up from the air, without ceasing, and enemy reserve units will be in poor shape when they reach the battle area. Basic essentials for success I would now like to give you a few points which I regard as terribly important. Obviously, such points should be few in number, since everything cannot be considered important. I consider that compliance with the following points is essential for success. Allied solidarity We are a great team of Allies, British and American. There must be throughout this team a friendly spirit; we must have confidence in each other. As a British General, I regard it as a honour to serve under American Command; General Eisenhower is captain of the team and I am proud to serve under him. And I regard it as a great honour to have American troops serving under my command. When we visit each other, there should be only one idea; and that is- how can I help the other chap. Let us have no suspicion and no petty jealousy. Let us have, throughout, complete mutal confidence and goodwill, all pulling together as one great team. Offensive eagerness This is vital. Once on land and the battle starts, we must be offensive, and more offensive, and ever more offensive as the hours go by. We must call on the soldiers for an all-out effort. Every officer and man must have only one idea, and that is to peg our claims inland, and to penetrate quickly and deeply into enemy territory. After a long sea voyage and a landing followed by fighting, a reaction sets in and officers and men are often inclined to let up and relax. This is fatal; senior officers must prevent it at all costs on D-Day and on the following days. The first few days will be the vital ones; it is in those days that the battle will be won, and it is in those days it could well be lost. Great energy and 'drive' will be required from all senior officers and commanders. I consider that once the beaches are in our possession, success will largely depend on our ability to concentrate our armour and push fairly strong armoured columns rapidly inland to secure important ground or communication centres. Such columns will form firm bases in enemy territory from which to form develop offensive actions in all directions. Such actions will tend to throw the enemy off his balance and will enable our build-up through th ebeaches to proceed undisturbed; it will cut the ground from under the armoured counter-attack. Offensive eagerness is not only neccessary in the soldier; and especially in the senior officers and commander. Inaction, and a defensive mentality, are criminal in any officer-however senior. Enthusiasm Every officer and man must be enthusiastic for the fight and have the light of battle in his eyes. We must send our soldiers into this encounter completely on their toes; they must be imbued with that infectious optimisim that comes from physical well-being and absolute conviction in a great and righteous cause. Confidence I want you and every soldier to know that I have complete and absolute confidence in the successful outcome of the operations that will shortly begin. With stout hearts, and with enthusiasim for the contest, let us go forward, to victory. An all out effort Everyone must go all out. And, as we enter battle, let us recall the words of a famous soldier, spoken many years ago: 'He either fears his fate too much, Or his deserts are small, Who dare not put it into touch To win or lose it all' Good luck to each one of you. And good hunting on the mainland of Europe. General Sir Bernard L. Montgomery Commander, Allied Land Forces
As fas as speeches go I must say I found this utterly thought provoking and quite inspirational in places. It makes me wonder what it must have been like sat in some theatre or a field waiting to embark on one of histories greatess battles and listening to Monty deliver it. Cheers Andy
I always thought it was a very precise and well thought out speech, no flowery rhetoric, just to the point, a bit like the man himself.
I always thought it was a very precise and well thought out speech, no flowery rhetoric, just to the point, a bit like the man himself. Gotthard, I have to agree with you. Monty may not have been liked by a lot of people, but he did command respect from those who served with him under his command. Regards Tom
I find the words totally thought provoking 'He either fears his fate too much, Or his deserts are small, Who dare not put it to the touch To win or lose it all" If you're not frightened, you probably have no great future to lose - is my take on it? Paul
I have another speech from Monty which was given out to the troops before D-Day. I'm not sure if it was meant to be a compact version or what but it is equally stirring. I'm attaching a copy of it accordingly. It comes from my Dad's war souvenirs. I've tracked down Monty speaking it on Youtube though it has been slightly abridged. On the reverse of the printed speech is a poem by Byron, which I'm also attaching. After 3 years' work on Dad's memoirs, I'm finally getting them published by Pen and Sword in May. I have created a companion web site to the book and am gradually building it up to broaden Dad's story with background such as famous war time speeches - to view several youtube extracts Click here Thanks for putting Monty's full speech up. Paul
This speech echoes the one he gave before El Alamein when he had sorted out the 8th Army after the rout from "The Gazala Gallop" and the defensive victory at Wadi Al Halfa. He said that he would " knock Rommel for six" out of Africa - and he did just that ! Didn't realise he was such a bad speller though ! Cheers
