NATIONAL HERO

Wairarapa Times-Age, 14 April 1943, Page 3

NATIONAL HERO

GENERAL MONTGOMERY POPULAR WITH SOLDIERS AND CIVILIANS. STORIES OF HIS AUSTERE WAY OF LIFE. (Special P.A. Correspondent.) (Received This Day, 9.25 a.m.) LONDON, April 13. A week rarely goes by nowadays without some personal reference in the newspapers to General Montgomery, who has become a national hero. No other general in this war has captured the public imagination to such an extent. It is not too much to say that he ranks second today to Mr Churchill in public esteem. The reason for this is not difficult to find. It is not only because of his series of victories, but also because he has carried but everything he said he would. There are a number of stories now being told about him. He is said to be an austere Cromwellian, who does not drink or smoke and keeps rigid hours. This is said to be the background for an amusing telegram from General Alexander. When General Montgomery took over from. General Auchinleck, he learned that General Alexander was paying.a visit to the forward positions, so he sent General Alexander this telegram: “I presume you will stay with me.” General Alexander replied: “Not within fifty miles”—knowing too well General Montgomery’s Spartan way of life. Another story, indicating General Montgomery’s sureness of himself and his plans, tells how a messenger came to his caravan when Rommel attacked our positions before the Mareth Line, early in March. 'General Montgomery snapped: “Go away, I dont’ want to be bothered. I’m going to bed,” and he did. He had made all arrangements to deal with Rommel’s attacks, and they were carried out, most effectively, while he slept. Reports declare that he is a hero to the Eighth Army, which thinks the world of him.