Churchill and Monty meet for the first time

The principal events that I am writing about took place 82 years ago, during the first week of July 1940. The single most significant date was July 3, the day on which British ships fired on their former French allies. I want to share a brief story with you from the day before.

Winston Churchill spent the afternoon and part of the evening of Tuesday July 2 with Bernard Montgomery, who was then a Major General in command of the Third Division of the British Expeditionary Force. (Montgomery would be promoted to Field Marshall a short time after the Allies’ invasion of Normandy four years later).

Churchill with Montgomery in Normandy, July 1944

This was the first meeting between Churchill and “Monty.” The mercurial British general was wary of politicians. “I considered that they were largely responsible for our troubles.” He sensed, however, that Churchill was unlike anyone else in politics. Montgomery was aware of, and admired, Churchill’s warnings during the nineteen-thirties about the danger of Adolf Hitler’s virulent interference in European affairs. He also appreciated Churchill’s frequent criticism of Britain’s lackadaisical preparation for the likely war.

The Prime Minister and the general met at Steyning in West Sussex. Montgomery’s men enacted an exercise at a small airfield to demonstrate how they would counterattack if that base had been captured by German forces. Montgomery noted: “He was delighted, especially by the action of the Bren-gun carrier platoon of the battalion.” The open, tread-driven, armored, tank-like vehicles naturally appealed to Churchill’s enthusiasm for innovation and speed.

Churchill was invigorated by the day’s events and the distraction from thoughts of the next day’s expected ruthless confrontation. He invited Montgomery to join him, his wife Clementine, and other members of his party for dinner at the Royal Albion Hotel in Brighton.

Churchill was astonished when drinks were ordered and Montgomery asked only for water. When Churchill suggested that he might enjoy a stronger beverage, Montgomery (as he wrote in his autobiography) told the Prime Minister: “I neither drank nor smoked and was 100 percent fit.” Montgomery recounted that Churchill replied that “he both drank and smoked and was 200 percent fit.”

I love that man.

Thanks for reading.