General Bernard Montgomery, Leader of British Forces, Responds to Congratulations on Victory in the Normandy Campaign After D-Day

When dawn broke on June 7, 1944, the Allies had managed to establish four beachheads in the 24 hours of D-Day. Over the next three weeks, the Allies poured in additional troops and supplies. The goals: the Americans would attempt to seize the port of Cherbourg, while the British, under General Montgomery, would attempt to take the vital junction at Caen. It was hoped that these would be quickly achieved.

However, the British met fierce German resistance and experienced a setback at Villers-Bocage. After a number of days lost to bad weather, they renewed the operation. Over the balance of June, there were British attacks and German counterattacks, with the British making some progress, but unable to achieve a breakthrough. Still, the British drew German tanks corps and troops away from the Americans, enabling the latter to thwart a German counterattack in that sector. The failure of both the German counterattacks against the British and Americans demonstrated that the Allied beachhead in Normandy had become permanent.

British losses prevented a resumption of its attack on Caen until July 8. The Germans were stunned by the massive firepower the British were now bringing on their positions. And despite Hitler’s orders that Caen be held to the last man, German commanders began to withdraw their exhausted troops and weapons. The British took Caen on July 9. On July 18, St. Lo was taken, and the Allied breakout from hedgerow country in Normandy began. German troops were forced to retreat, and the Allies managed to open a major hole in their lines.  Men and tanks poured through this opening. Coutances fell on July 28 and Avranches on July 30. July 1944, therefore, marked a deciding moment in the war, as after this breakthrough Allied forces steamrolled toward Paris and then the German border.  

Herbert Samuel, 1st Viscount Samuel was a British politician who was head of the Liberal Party leader from 1931-35. He was the first Jew to serve as a Cabinet minister, serving as Home Secretary, and to become the leader of a major British political party. He led the Liberals in the House of Lords during the latter part of World War II.

The Germans had a missile program, and by 1944 it was beginning to bear fruit. They developed the V-1 flying bomb, also known as the buzz bomb, an early predecessor of the cruise missile. Designed for terror bombing of London, the V-1 was fired from launch sites along the French and Dutch coasts. The first V-1 was launched at London on June 13, 1944, one week after (and prompted by) the successful Allied landing in Normandy. At its peak, more than one hundred V-1s a day were fired at south-east England, 9,521 in total. Had the Germans had this missile been available earlier in the war, it could have been crucial.

Samuel wrote Montgomery to congratulate him on the great Allied victories, and tell him of the determination of Londoners to carry on despite the buzz bombs, and Montgomery responded. Typed letter signed, on his Headquarters 21 Army Group letterhead, at the front in France, 14 August 1944, to Samuel. “Thank you for your letter of 2nd August and for your kind message of congratulations. I have always known that we in France could be quite certain that you in London would carry on, whate’er betide. I hope it will not be too long before we can lessen the enemy’s power to attack London as he is doing now. I am very glad to hear of the progress you’re making with the Brigadier Kisch Memorial scheme.” His quotation here is from the hymn, “Be not dismayed whate'er betide”.

Brigadier Kisch was Montgomery’s chief engineer in Africa who was killed by a mine during Operation Torch in 1943. Samuel was on a committee to honor Kisch, one of the top ranking Jewish officers in the British Army, and Montgomery was supporting the memorial drive. This letter ended up in the Kisch committee files, and we obtained it from the family of that group’s secretary. It has never before been offered for sale.