Bernard Law Montgomery (November 17, 1887 – March 24, 1976)

He seemed a handsome man in his youth. Bernard Montgomery went on to become a Field Marshal and commander of the troops in WWII against Rommel in Africa. I was tempted to compare his charts with James Blunt, but thought better of it, since Montgomery was still alive when Blunt was born.

What I was hoping, and expecting, to see was some connection between Mars and the Midheaven. But because I do not know if this birth time is accurate, I wonder if the original compiler saw the potential of a Yod connecting these points and went for it. There are three inconjuncts.

Moon Inconjunct Neptune

People with this aspect often hide their real feelings and make sacrifices for others that they do not really want to make. Then they resent the person who asked for the sacrifice. You must learn to tell people how you really feel; if you do not, you have only yourself to blame for what happens. You must learn to accept that you are responsible for your own life. Do not act as if you are the victim of strong forces that you can’t control, because you can control them.

Mars Inconjunct Midheaven

This aspect can mean that you have mixed feelings about all authority figures, including your parents. You may feel that you have to violate rules laid down by your parents in order to get your way.This is a significant problem, because if it continues into adulthood, you will have great difficulties with employers. Therefore it is very important that your parents teach you how to express your self-assertive drives without going against their teachings. Unfortunately it is impossible to state how that should be done, because the conflict between self-will, on one hand, and self-denial and work, on the other, is different for each person.

Jupiter Inconjunct Midheaven

The problem with this aspect is to find a balance between, on the one hand, expressing yourself creatively, perhaps artistically, and having a good time, on the other hand, getting ahead in life, learning the ways of the world and finding an acceptable role in society. You know you will have to make sacrifices in order to accomplish anything of value.

A Telling Detail…Re: Marriage

In 1927, he met and married Elizabeth (Betty) Carver, née Hobart. She was the sister of the future Second World War commander Major-General Sir Percy Hobart. Betty Carver had two sons in their early teens, John and Dick, from her first marriage to Oswald Carver. Dick Carver later wrote that it had been “a very brave thing” for Montgomery to take on a widow with two children. Montgomery’s son, David, was born in August 1928.

While on holiday in Burnham-on-Sea in 1937, Betty suffered an insect bite which became infected, and she died in her husband’s arms from septicaemia following amputation of her leg. The loss devastated Montgomery, who was then serving as a brigadier, but he insisted on throwing himself back into his work immediately after the funeral. Montgomery’s marriage had been extremely happy. Much of his correspondence with his wife was destroyed when his quarters at Portsmouth were bombed during the Second World War. After Montgomery’s death, John Carver wrote that his mother had arguably done the country a favour by keeping his personal oddities—his extreme single-mindedness, and his intolerance of and suspicion of the motives of others—within reasonable bounds long enough for him to have a chance of attaining high command

Wikipedia

Conclusions

The whole Mars/Midheaven connection seems to be a standard aspect for most military men in the modern era. I looked again at Old Blood and Guts, and wasn’t surprised to see his Mars in opposition to the Midheaven.And, yes, even my birth chart contains a conjunction between Mars and the Midheaven (in Libra), but Mars is in the 9th House, not the 10th. That’s probably why I didn’t go into the military, although my first wife wanted me to.

Even peaceful warriors need to understand this…