Montgomery seized command two days earlier than authorized by his C-in-C and began a “historic transformation of a beaten body of men into the legendary Eighth Army that fought its way from Alamein to Tunisia between August 1942 and May 1943.” (ODNB) North Africa and the Eighth Army proved the perfect milieu for Montgomery’s “messianic vitality and vanity”. Churchill acceded to General Bernard Montgomery in Gott’s stead.

However, Gott was killed on 7 August flying back to Cairo. Churchill flew to Cairo on 1 August to assess command, replacing Middle East Commander-in-Chief Claude Auchinleck with General Harold Alexander and appointing General Gott to command the Eighth Army. In July 1942, British troops checked Rommel’s forces in the First Battle of El Alamein, but Allied momentum then stalled. Nearly two and a half millennia after Thucydides discussed the unpredictable role of chance in war, Bernard Law Montgomery (1886-1976) and the Eighth Army found one another in North Africa. This photograph is housed in a removable, archival mylar sleeve within a rigid, crimson cloth folder. Condition of the image is very good, the image distinct and unfaded with trivial wear confined to extremities and minimal surface scratches visible only under raking light. Note the black beret with its two badges.” Camera Press parenthetically credits “IWM” at the end of the caption and IWM holds this image in its archives, attributing the photograph to Major Geoffrey Keating of the No. The original, typed Camera Press caption is titled “World Famous Soldier to Retire: MONTY IN THE WESTERN DESERT” and reads “This picture shows General Sir Bernard Montgomery, as he was in 1942, watching the progress of the famous battle of El Alamein – turning point in the struggle for North Africa. The verso bears the ink stamp copyright of “Camera Press Ltd.” of London. The print measures 8 x 10 inches (20.3 x 25.4 cm). First used in North Africa in 1942, Grant tanks earned the nickname “Egypt’s last hope” in the defensive victory at Alam Halfa, Montgomery’s first in command of the Eighth Army. This signed photograph shows then-Lieutenant General Bernard Montgomery “in the turret of his Grant command tank at El Alamein, 5 November 1942.” (Imperial War Museum) This image is signed and dated in two lines of blue ink at the upper left “Montgomery of Alamein | 22-5-72”. Image captured by Major Geoffrey Keating, No.

Military tank names copyrighted