The Unknown Field Marshal

Rodney Atwood outlines the contributions made by Sir Archibald Montgomery-Massingberd and challenges his reputation as a reactionary military leader.

Sir Archibald Armar Montgomery-Massingberd (1871-1947) was Chief of Staff of the British Fourth Army from 1915 to 1918.

From 1933 to 1935, he served as Chief of the Imperial General Staff, preparing the British Army for European conflict. In this role, he played a leading part in organising an armoured division which would serve extensively in the Second World War. He retired in 1936.

Montgomery-Massingberd has sometimes been depicted as reactionary because of his early opposition to the use of tanks. However, in this talk, historian and author Rodney Atwood demonstrates the substantial contibutions he made to the Allied victory in the First World War, alongside General Sir Henry Rawlinson.