Reference:4259 Field-Marshall Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, 1947

Large bust of Field-Marshal Viscount Montgomery, uniformed and with beret. A two-line legend around.. Uniface. By Pietro Giampaoli. Bronze, cast. 117 mm. (4.7 inches) in diameter.

Condition: Extremely fine with an attractive patina.

Notes: Field-Marshal Sir Bernard Law, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein (1887-1976), Britain's greatest World War II general, began his military career with the Royal Warwickshire Regiment after graduating from Sandhurst Military Academy in 1908. During the First World War, Montgomery was seriously wounded, left for dead, and later hospitalised in England. He returned to the battlefield and became the chief of staff of the 47th London Division when he was 31. Montgomery's leadership skills were evident during his campaigns in France, but he earned his reputation as a great strategist of World War Two in the North African desert, where Rommel had inflicted serious assaults on British troops. Montgomery took command of the British Eighth Army and halted the German advance at a small railway station known as El Alamein. Subsequently, he released the largest artillery bombardment since the First World War. Montgomery's victory was a turning point in the war, following which the Allies captured the key port of Tripoli, and the Axis forces in North Africa surrendered in May 1943. He was appointed commander of Allied ground forces. When the Germans advanced in the Battle of the Bulge, he was given temporary command of two American armies. His troops thrust across northern Germany to the Baltic, and he headed the British occupation forces in Germany. He was made field marshal in 1944 and viscount in 1946.