Adored by the ordinary soldiers who served under him and the hero Britain needed in the “Darkest Hour” of its long history, Montgomery was also often hated by his peers, his superiors and his allies.
Our brilliant documentary will explain why this was so by providing the most revealing insights ever into this complex, brilliant and infuriating man. Newly declassified revelations, testimony from the world's greatest military historians and thinkers, the frequently witty words of the Field Marshal himself and those of his admirers and enemies will accompany awesome images of Montgomery at work and at war to deliver History’s Verdict on Monty.
Rarely explored aspects of his life will be uncovered: his childhood as the son of a Bishop and a mother who didn’t love him. His near death experiences in the battlefields of the Great War. His campaign against the IRA in the 1920s, which gained him the respect of the Republicans he fought. His textbook fighting retreat to Dunkirk in 1940 in the midst of the chaos of the Fall of France. His victories in the deserts of Africa, Sicily, France, and the humiliation of Arnhem. We witness how Montgomery’s talent for planning, training and strategy was matched by his talent for self-publicity and alienating his colleagues.
We look at his family life, his career after the war and his retirement. His religious beliefs and his enigmatic sexuality.
All of these shaped the “Master of the Battlefield” – the man who accepted the surrender of the Third Reich’s greatest generals on Luneburg Heath in 1945.
