Monty and Rommel: Parallel Lives

This is the story of two men with electrifying personal qualities who, between them, altered our understanding of leadership in battle.Peter Caddick Adams traces Montgomery and Rommel's lives from their provincial upbringings, through to them facing each other across the trenches in the First World War, and to North Africa and Europe in the second.

Both Montgomery and Rommel were on the periphery of the military establishment; both were in part creations of the propaganda of their own and that of their superiors. They were alike in many ways and they represent the first time military commanders proactively and systematically used (and were used by) the media as they came to prominence in the North Africa campaign.

This book explores and compares their tactical talents and their personalities in battle. They each added something special to their respective commands. Rommel's performance with the 7th Panzer in 1940 was inspired. Montgomery is a gift for leadership gurus in the way he took over a demoralised Eighth Army in August 1942 and lead it to victory just two months later - he brought with him an extraordinary personal charisma not just 300 new American Sherman tanks. Both commanders also gave trusted subordinates room to use their initiative. And Caddick Adams explores their natural instinctive feel for combat - the German term for this (there is no direct translation) is fingerspitengefuhl.