Montgomery and Colossal Cracks: The 21st Army Group in Northwest Europe, 1944-45

A reinterpretation of the British Army’s conduct in the crucial 1944-45 Northwest Europe campaign. It systematically examines the Colossal Cracks operational technique employed by Montgomery’s Anglo-Canadian 21st Army Group and demonstrates the key significance that morale and casualty concerns exerted on this technique. It also explores the methods of army commanders Dempsey and Crerar. The author suggests that Montgomery and his two senior subordinates handled this formation more effectively than some scholars have suggested. In fact Colossal Cracks , the concentration of massive force at a point of German weakness, represented the most appropriate weapon the 1944 British Army could develop under the circumstances.