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Patton, Montgomery, Rommel: Masters of War. By Terry Brighton. New York: Crown Publishing Group, 2008. 448 pages. $30.00. Reviewed by COL (Ret.) Cole C. Kingseed, former Professor of History at the US Military Academy, and writer and consultant.
During World War II, Germany, Great Britain, and the United States each produced a battle captain who stood above the rest: Erwin Rommel, Bernard Montgomery, and George Patton. All three displayed varied traits of overpowering egotism, publicity-seeking, and military genius, and were personally flawed in their own right. Each commander viewed combat as a personal contest against his adversary and quite often against his senior headquarters.
In exploring the role of ego in war, Terry Brighton, the curator of the Queen's Royal Lancers Regimental Museum, meshes these diverse personalities into a well-written, lucid, triple biography that appeals more to the general reader than the serious student of military history. Set against the backdrop of the large tank battles in North Africa, Sicily, and northwest Europe, Patton, Montgomery, Rommel: Masters of War is the story of three remarkable military commanders.
Brighton sees more similarities among the three generals than differences. With the exception of a minor skirmish in northern Mexico in 1916 in which Patton shot three guerrillas by his own count, these future commanders received their baptism by fire during the Great War. They emerged from that conflict, however, with different perspectives, opines Brighton. While Patton and Rommel demonstrated a genius for forward action, Montgomery earned his battle spurs as a staff officer, convinced that future battles would be won or lost at headquarters before the engagement if the...