Monty's Northern Legion

Monty's desert legions were the immortal Desert Rats (7th Armoured Division), 51st Highland and 50th Northumbrian Divisions. They helped him win at El Alamein and all the North African battles up to the capture of Tunis, and eventually in North West Europe with D-Day and the invasion of the Third Reich. Monty's Northern Legions is the story of two distinguished formations whose origins lay mainly in the north of England.The first is 50th Northumbrian Division, a fine infantry division with three brigades, first blooded at El Alamein, later in Sicily. Monty chose 50th Division to have the dangerous honour of attacking on D-Day in the first wave ashore on 'Gold' Beach. The only VC awarded on D-Day was to Company Sergeant-Major Hollis of the Green Howards. The division fought through the Normandy campaign up towards the German border before it was disbanded in late 1944. After several years in training, 15th Scottish Division's three brigades swept into Normandy in Operation 'Epsom', Monty's first great battle for the vital city of Caen. They fought their way through France and the Low Countries and were one of two assault divisions entrusted to storm across the Rhine in Operation 'Plunder'. This compelling history of two British Army divisions at war follows the successful formula used in the author's previous divisional and battalion histories for Sutton. It is well illustrated with a selection of maps and archive photographs that complement the narrative.