Monty
Sir: Montgomery did not tell a lie (Philip Warner, Books, 5 July).
As Adjutant to the RASC in Cairo Area in 1942 I had to discuss with my Colonel, the late Colonel W. L. Bain OBE, each morning the plans for the retreat to the Gaza Strip on the borders of Palestine. This involved blowing up all military in- stallations in Abbassia, outside Cairo, so that they should not fall into the hands of the enemy.
I still remember the morning when I went as usual into his office to open the safe and go through them as we did every morning.
He said: 'We can't go through them any more. I got up and burnt them last night.'
Astonished I asked: 'Surely we didn't get as drunk as that in the Turf Club, did we?'
He replied: 'No, John. Churchill has sent out a new general and those are his instructions. He says: "I'm not retreating, I'm advancing."' That new general was Montgomery.
John Waller
21 Lyndhurst Road, Hove, Sussex
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