* WWII - Eisenhower vs. Montgomery. Soldier of Democracy, a Biography of Dwight Eisenhower by Ken

* WWII - Eisenhower vs. Montgomery. Soldier of Democracy, a Biography of Dwight Eisenhower by Kenneth S. Davis, 1st ed., New York, 1945, ownership signature of Sir Patrick Ashley Cooper to half-title and again in pencil to title (‘“Queen Mary” at Sea, Nov. 1945’), map endpapers, orig. cloth, a little rubbed, 8vo, together with three autograph letters to Cooper from Sir Ronald Weekes (31st December 1945?), 2 pp., Field Marshall Montgomery, Headquarters, British Army of the Rhine, 24th January 1946, 4 pp., and Viscount Alanbrooke, 31st December 1949, 6 pp., the first tipped on to front pastedown at upper margin, second tipped on to front f.e.p. with a gummed paper slip attaching the two sheets, the third loose, all 8vo. All three letters are letters of thanks to Ashley Cooper for lending them the book and while each writer enjoyed the book and felt it had merits, they all believe that the British are not given enough credit and that Eisenhower’s abilities and achievements are exaggerated. The letter from Montgomery is marked private and reads in full: ‘Dear Cooper, thank you so very much for lending me this book. I have been laid up with influenza and have read it in bed with great interest. It is a great pity that the author in his endeavours to “write up” Ike has found in necessary to decry everything British. A British author might well reply that all Eisenhower’s fighting was handled for him by British Commanders: which is literally true. It was only when Ike, flushed by victory, descended from the lofty perch of a Supreme Commander and took tactical command himself of the armies, that our troubles began. The author is indeed ungenerous to British soldiers throughout his book; he even blames them for the fact that some Germans escaped from the Falaise pocket! For his remarks about myself, I care nothing; I could refute everything he says by written evidence; but his ungenerous attitude to British arms is a pity as some British author is bound to write a counter-blast: which would be a worse pity! Ike was a great Supreme Commander, and should be recognised as such. But in order to assign to him qualities that he does not possess, the author has had to put an entirely false complexion on many things. It would be perfectly simple to prove this “false complexion” but this must never be done. Of one thing I am convinced: we and America have got to come together, definitely, conclusively, and perpetually. Once we can achieve this, all will be well in the world. I think it can be achieved if we set about it in the right way. But we shall achieve nothing if we start emitting boohs about each other. All this is of course private. Thank you again for letting me read the book. Yours sincerely, B.L. Montgomery, Field-Marshall’. (4)