2/8: The Commanders: The Leadership Journeys of George Patton, Bernard Montgomery, and Erwin Rommel by Lloyd Clark (Author)
The John Batchelor Show
John Batchelor
4.5 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 10 December 2022
⏱️ 9 minutes
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2/8: The Commanders: The Leadership Journeys of George Patton, Bernard Montgomery, and Erwin Rommel by Lloyd Clark (Author)
https://www.amazon.com/Commanders-Leadership-Journeys-Bernard-Montgomery/dp/0802160220/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
Born in the two decades prior to World War I, George Patton, Bernard Montgomery, and Erwin Rommel became among the most recognized and successful military leaders of the 20th century. However, as acclaimed military historian Lloyd Clark reveals in his penetrating and insightful braided chronicle of their lives, they charted very different, often interrupted, paths to their ultimate leadership positions commanding hundreds of thousands of troops during World War II and celebrated as heroes in the United States, Britain, and Germany.
Patton was born into a military family and from an early age felt he was destined for glory; following a disjointed childhood, Montgomery found purpose and direction in a military academy; Rommel’s father was a former officer, so his pursuit of a military career was logical. Having ascended to the middle ranks, each faced battle for the first time in World War I, a searing experience that greatly influenced their future approach to war and leadership. When war broke out again in 1939, Montgomery and Rommel were immediately engaged, while Patton chafed until the U.S. joined the Allies in 1942 and the three men, by then generals, collided in North Africa in 1943, and then again, climactically, in France after D-Day in 1944.
Weaving letters, diary extracts, official reports, and other documents into his original narrative, recounting dramatic battles as they developed on the ground and at headquarters, Clark also explores the controversies that swirled around Patton, Montgomery, and Rommel throughout their careers, sometimes threatening to derail them. Ultimately, however, their unique abilities to bridge the space between leader and led cemented their legendary reputations.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Maybe your stamps are on the table next to the birthday card you forgot to send. |
| 0:03.9 | Or in that random drawer full of pens, pennies and paperclips. |
| 0:07.8 | Or stuck to your fridge behind a do-list and a magnet from Malaga. |
| 0:11.2 | Or maybe just maybe, then neatly placed in a completely sensible spot. |
| 0:16.1 | After the 31st of January 2023, regular stamps without a barcode will no longer be valid. |
| 0:21.5 | So if you know where your old ones are, this is your last chance to use them up. |
| 0:25.0 | Or you can swap them. |
| 0:26.4 | For more info visit RoyalMail.com slash barcoded stamps. |
| 0:56.4 | Expeditionary Force led by John Pershing in New Mexico. |
| 1:01.6 | What's striking about this with all the time they had on their hands is that Patton wound |
| 1:06.1 | up making what he called a vehicle attack on one of Pancho v.s. |
| 1:14.6 | Lieutenant's Julio Cardanis. |
| 1:17.1 | And surprising to me, Professor, at this point Patton has this imagination that I'm going |
| 1:23.5 | to be hero. |
| 1:25.0 | And he kills the man. |
| 1:27.0 | He shoots him dead. |
| 1:28.4 | He launches the attack. |
| 1:30.5 | Did the death in any way show up in his writing to his parents at this time? |
| 1:35.6 | Did he pause about it? |
| 1:37.6 | Shooting a man is different than imagining it. |
| 1:41.0 | I don't think it prayed on his mind at all. |
| 1:46.1 | This is a man who, from his first days in the Army, sought action, sought to be a hero |
... |
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