Monty's Iron Sides From The Normandy Beaches To Bremen With The 3rd Division

The original 3rd Division was formed in 1809 in Portugal by Wellington, and its most famous commander of those early days (1810-1814) was Thomas Picton who was known, among other things, for wearing a top hat as uniform headdress. His most illustrious successor was Montgomery who, when commanding the Eighth Army in N Africa, encountered an open Australian truck whose driver was stark naked except for a top hat. As he drove past Montgomery he solemnly doffed his hat, and following this experience Monty issued his one and only instruction regarding dress: 'Top hats will not be worn!' Picton would not have approved. During the Great War the 3rd Division became known as the 'Iron Division' and on the outbreak of WWII the newly appointed GOC, Montgomery, told his troops that the division was 'going to be known as the 'Iron Division' in this war.' This is the story of the division from the Normandy Beaches on D Day; it was the only division in the BLA (British Liberation Army) to participate in the fighting all the way from the beaches to VE Day, finishing the war in Bremen. The author, who has written several WWII divisional histories, follows the successful formula adopted for those histories by drawing on contributions from officers and men of the various units that fought in the division. During the NW Europe campaign the division suffered 15,000 casualties, 2,536 of them dead.

Patrick Delaforce
Hardcover with d/w 214pp Alan Sutton Publishing 1995 1st Ed

Fine/Near Fine, price-clipped