Colossal Cracks: Montgomery's 21st Army Group in Northwest Europe, 1944-45

by Stephen Ashley Hart

The Allied campaign for Northwest Europe as seen from a British and Canadian perspective A reinterpretation of the British Army's conduct in the crucial 1944-45 Northwest Europe campaign, this work examines the "Colossal Cracks" operational technique employed by Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery's Anglo-Canadian 21st Army Group. Rooted in concerns about morale and casualties, "Colossal Cracks" was a cautious, firepower-laden approach that involved the concentration of massive force at points of German weakness. Hart argues that Montgomery and his two senior subordinates handled this formation more effectively than some scholars have suggested and that "Colossal Cracks" represented the most appropriate weapon the British Army could develop under the circumstances.

Genres: Military History, Nonfiction, World War II

256 pages, Paperback

First published May 30, 2000

About the author

See also works published as Stephen A. Hart

Reviews

[TheIron Paw · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author provides a valuable perspective on the 21st Army Group in the NW Europe campaign. Generally, historians have criticized Montgomery's conduct of the campaign as overly cautious; however this book explains the rationale behind his approach, defining it as thoroughly appropriate. The book is marred however by an overly academic and ponderous writing style and some careless proofreading. It could have been considerably improved by eliminating a great deal of redundancy and adding more detail of the various operations (which the author seems to assume we know in detail). Canadian readers will find the descriptions of the Canadian generals rather interesting.

[Carl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ashley Hart breaks down why Montgomery and the 21st Army Group fought the way it did during the Normandy campaign and the advance across Western Europe. He details the operational technique, dubbed Colossal Cracks, that was governed by various factors including casualty conservation, moral, and the geopolitical situation Britain was attempting to be in when the war ended. Ashley Hart breaks down the technique step by step, provides case studies, and also highlights the crucial roles Henry Crerar and Miles Dempsey played. The work in particular destroys the arguments made by Carlo D'Este that the British left large numbers of troops at home while allowing the American military to pay the price of liberating Western Europe, in addition to the arguments made over the last few decades that Montgomery was unnecessarily and overly cautious. This is a must read if you want to understand how and why the British military fought the Northwest Europe campaign the way they did.