[ Barrie Pitt, military historian. ] Typed account, titled 'Monty', of meetings with Field Marshal Montgomery of Alamein, first in Egypt in 1942, and then 'some time in the 1970s'.

4pp., 8vo. In good condition, with light signs of age. A lively and vivid account, as the opening indicates: '"Ah! I see you're a member of my Club!" said the Field Marshal, pointing at my tie: and do you know, despite the fact that I doubt if he had set foot in Carlton House Terrace - or any of our subsequent addresses, - more than half a dozen times, he still managed to give the impression by the way he said "My Club!" that, if not actually a Founder Member, he was at least a popular and highly-respected Savage, and that my standing with him was increased by my own membership of an organisation which included himself. | "Anyway," he said, turning to our mutual host Basil Liddell Hart, "what's he doing here and why have you invited him?" - this, I might point out, in Basil's own house! | Basil then explained to him that I had written books on the First World War and was about to start one on the Second, and that I was interested to know the Field Marshal's opinion on the relative merits of the two groups of generals. | "Right!" he said. "Come over to Bentley tomorrow morning and we'll talk about it. Can't stop now. Well Basil, give my love to Kathleen and stop bullying her! She's much too good for you!" and with a curt "Eleven o'clock, don't be late!" to me, he was off.' Pitt gives the Field Marshal's terse evaluations of various generals, and notes that he 'giggled' when reminded of his DSO. 'He gave me lunch - salad with a bottle of light ale for me and lemonade for him, and then he showed me around the main rooms with his trophies - the solid silver coach and six horses from Birmingham, the huge silver Crusader sword from Syria and the curved golden Saracen sword from the sheiks of the Trucial States. And, of course, the beautiful Field Marshal's baton. | "What security system do you have for all this stuff?" I asked. "It must be worth a fortune!" | "None!" he said. "There's always someone here - and anyway, no-one would ever burgle me!" And, tragically, he really believed it!' A second visit, with his son, on leave from the RAF, is described, leading Pitt to a reminiscence of his first encounter with Montgomery, while on active service in Egypt in 1942: 'I have never forgotten my first sight of Monty - short, compact, the rather bird-like head thrown slightly back, clear grey eyes staring straight into mine, stirring uneasy thoughts of sins of omission and commission of which he couldn't possibly have known. Then he was past, but to our increasing wonderment, he then repeated the performance along the second and rear lines.'