Who was the better general, Patton or Montgomery?
There is no settled answer, and it comes down to style. Montgomery delivered the bigger set-piece victory at El Alamein and held the higher rank. Patton produced the most dramatic drives of the Western campaign, across France and to the relief of Bastogne. Montgomery rarely lost; Patton rarely stopped.
They were the two most famous Western Allied generals of the war, and rivals as much as comrades. George Patton drove his armies with speed and aggression; Bernard Montgomery won by careful planning. They served the same cause under Eisenhower, yet competed and clashed from Sicily to the heart of Germany. Here they are, side by side.
Head to head
| George Patton | Bernard Montgomery | |
|---|---|---|
| Lived | 1885 to 19451 | 1887 to 1976 |
| Role | American general, Third Army | British field marshal, 21st Army Group |
| Famous for | The breakout across France, 1944 | El Alamein, 1942 |
| Method | Speed, aggression and relentless pursuit | Careful planning and set-piece battles |
| Great moment | Relief of Bastogne in the Battle of the Bulge2 | Victory over Rommel at El Alamein3 |
| Friction | The race to Messina in Sicily, 19434 | Command of the Normandy ground battle |
| Reputation | America's fighting general | The general who beat Rommel |
Patton: America's fighting general
George Patton was the most aggressive American commander of the war. He drove the Third Army across France in 1944 at breakneck speed, then turned it north in days to relieve the besieged town of Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge. Bold and outspoken, he believed in attack above all, which made him feared by the enemy and, at times, a problem for his own superiors.5
Montgomery: the methodical victor
Bernard Montgomery made his name beating Rommel at El Alamein in 1942, then commanded the Allied ground forces in the Normandy landings. Careful, confident and often cautious, he insisted on overwhelming preparation before he struck, a method that rarely lost but that frustrated faster-moving commanders like Patton.6
Side by side: the record, 1942 to 1945
The table at the top sets out who they were. This one sets out what they did, year by year, as the official histories record it. The same war, often the same months, and two very different ways of fighting it.
| Patton | Montgomery | |
|---|---|---|
| 1942 | Commands the Western Task Force that lands in French Morocco on 8 November and takes Casablanca7 | Stops Rommel's last offensive in Egypt at Alam Halfa, broken off on 3 to 5 September, then opens El Alamein on 23 October8 |
| Early 1943 | Takes over the beaten US II Corps on 6 March; at El Guettar on 23 March his men stop the 10th Panzer Division9 | Beats Rommel's attack at Médenine on 6 March, Rommel's last battle in Tunisia10 |
| Sicily, 1943 | Palermo surrenders to his troops on 22 July; his patrols are in Messina on the evening of 16 August, and by 07:00 on 17 August his generals hold the ridge above the city11 | His Eighth Army is given the main task up the east coast; a British column reaches the edge of Messina the same morning12 |
| 1944 | Third Army becomes operational at noon on 1 August and is across the Moselle in force by 14 September13 | Allied ground commander in Normandy until Eisenhower takes over; field marshal from 1 September; Arnhem ends in withdrawal on 25 September14 |
| Winter 1944 to 1945 | Turns north to relieve Bastogne15 | Placed in command of the whole northern front of the Bulge16 |
| 1945 | Crosses the Rhine at Oppenheim on the night of 22 March17 | His set-piece Rhine crossing is scheduled for the night of 23 March18 |
| Worst moment | Slaps two soldiers in army hospitals in Sicily, August 194319 | The press conference of 7 January 1945 that infuriates the Americans20 |
Which of them actually beat Rommel?
Only one of them. Montgomery fought Rommel three times and won all three. At Alam Halfa, Rommel's attack of 30 to 31 August 1942 ran into a defense the British had prepared because they had correctly foreseen his plan, and it was broken off on 3 to 5 September. At El Alamein the offensive opened on 23 October; Rommel was on sick leave and flew back to take command after his deputy, General Stumme, died in action. The third meeting, at Médenine on 6 March 1943, was Rommel's own spoiling attack on the Eighth Army, and the official US Army history calls it his last battle in Tunisia.21
Patton never got the chance. He took command of the US II Corps on 6 March 1943, the day of Médenine, and Rommel left Tunisia on 9 March, never to return. His departure was kept secret, and for weeks the Allies still believed they were fighting him. So when Patton's corps stopped the 10th Panzer Division at El Guettar on 23 March, it was not Rommel's battle. In Normandy the timing failed again: Rommel was badly injured on 17 July 1944, when an Allied plane strafed his staff car, two weeks before Patton's Third Army went into action. The full story of that near miss is in Patton vs Rommel.22
Sicily, Arnhem and the Rhine: where the rivalry was real
The rivalry had a structure, not just a temperament. In the plan for Sicily, General Alexander gave Montgomery's Eighth Army the main task, the drive on Messina, and told Patton's Seventh Army to protect its flank and rear, because he was convinced the Eighth Army was better qualified for the job. Patton swung west and took Palermo, then turned east once Messina, in the official history's words, was "up for grabs." "The British have the bear by the tail in the Messina Peninsula and we may have to go in and help," he said. From then on he was, in his own phrase, "trying to win a horse race to the last big town."23
In September 1944 the argument moved to supplies. Montgomery wanted everything put behind one northern thrust, and on 21 September he wrote to Eisenhower: "I have always said stop the right and go on with the left but the right has been allowed to go on so far that it has outstripped its maintenance." The right was Bradley's army group, and its spearhead was Patton, who, by his own account in his memoirs, exploited every gap in Eisenhower's orders to keep moving. Montgomery's own northern gamble, Market Garden, ended on the night of 25 September, when more than 2,000 men were brought back across the Lower Rhine and some 6,400 were left dead or missing.24
The last round came at the Rhine. Montgomery's crossing was scheduled to begin on the night of 23 March 1945. The official US history says Patton wanted his own crossing for several reasons, "but most of all he wanted it in order to beat Field Marshal Montgomery across the river." His 5th Infantry Division pushed off at Nierstein and Oppenheim about half an hour after 22:00 on 22 March, met no fire at Nierstein and only a half-hour skirmish at Oppenheim, suffered only twenty casualties in the assault crossing, and the news was released at a time "calculated to take some of the luster" from Montgomery's.25
How each handled his worst crisis
Patton's came in Sicily. On 3 August 1943, at the 15th Evacuation Hospital, he slapped a soldier with his gloves and threw him out of the tent; on 10 August, at the 93d Evacuation Hospital, he struck a second man who had been diagnosed with severe shell shock. On 17 August Eisenhower wrote to him that hardness on the battlefield "does not excuse brutality, abuse of the sick, nor exhibition of uncontrollable temper." Patton was told to make amends to the men, and General Lucas, sent to see him, found him "chastened." Eisenhower kept him, but told Marshall: "In no event will I ever advance Patton beyond Army command." That sentence is why Patton never got an army group, and why Bradley, his deputy in Tunisia, ended the war as his superior.26
Montgomery's came after the Bulge. On 7 January 1945 he gave the press a long analysis of the battle, although his staff had tried to stop him or at least tone it down. He praised the American soldier as "a brave fighting man, steady under fire," and the New York Times called it the handsomest tribute ever paid to that soldier. But passages such as "As soon as I saw what was happening I took certain steps myself" read as a claim to have rescued the Americans, and the tone, which his own chief of staff called a "what a good boy am I" attitude, offended Bradley and his generals. The official history concludes that their reaction effectively killed Montgomery's campaign to be given overall command of the land battle.27
The difference is telling. Patton's crisis came from his temper, and he survived it because he was too useful to lose. Montgomery's came from his confidence, and it cost him the one prize he wanted most.
Who was the better general, Patton or Montgomery, on the record?
Montgomery, if the measure is beating first-class opponents: he defeated Rommel three times, at Alam Halfa, El Alamein and Médenine, and Arnhem, in English Heritage's assessment, was his only major failure. Patton wins on speed and exploitation: his Third Army raced across France in 1944 and crossed the Rhine a day before Montgomery.28
Rank and scope point the same way. Montgomery commanded the Allied ground forces in Normandy until Eisenhower took over, and his promotion to field marshal was announced on 1 September 1944, while Eisenhower had already capped Patton at army command. Patton's admirers answer that he was never given the bigger job, and that within an army's reach nobody moved faster. Churchill, for his part, avoided ranking them. Of Eisenhower and his generals he assured Roosevelt in January 1945: "He, Montgomery, Bradley, and Patton are closely knit and it would be a tragedy to break this group which has already for a year given results beyond the dreams of military avarice."29
The verdict
They were rivals on the same side, not enemies, so the question is one of style, not victory over each other. Montgomery delivered the bigger set-piece victory, El Alamein, and held the higher rank; Patton produced the most dramatic drives of the Western campaign, across France and to the relief of Bastogne. Montgomery rarely lost; Patton rarely stopped. Which you rate higher depends on whether you prize the sure thing or the bold stroke.
Compare more in Montgomery vs Rommel and Patton vs Rommel, or meet the field in the greatest military commanders.
About this comparison
Each commander above has a full biography on this site, with its own sources. Judgments of who was "greater" are ours and openly a matter of debate; the facts and dates follow established histories. See our editorial policy.
