Miles Dempsey

General Sir Miles Christopher Dempsey, (15 December 1896 – 5 June 1969) was a senior British Army officer who served in both world wars. During the Second World War he commanded the Second Army in north west Europe. A highly professional and dedicated career soldier who made his reputation in active service, Miles Dempsey was highly thought of by both his subordinates and superiors, most notably Bernard Montgomery, but is not well known.

A 1915 graduate of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, Dempsey was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Royal Berkshire Regiment. As a junior officer, he fought on the Western Front during the First World War, where he was wounded, and was awarded the Military Cross. After the war he served in Iraq during the Iraqi revolt of 1920, in Iran during the Russian Civil War, and in India.

During the Second World War Dempsey formed a close relationship with Montgomery. He commanded the 13th Brigade in the Battle of France in 1940, and then spent the next two years training troops in England. He commanded the Eighth Army's XIII Corps in the Allied invasions of Sicily and Italy in 1943. He commanded the Second Army during the Battle of Normandy and made rapid advances in the subsequent campaign in Northern France and Belgium.

After the war he commanded the Fourteenth Army in the Far East, and the Middle East Command during the Greek Civil War and the Palestine Emergency. He retired from the Army in 1947, and was involved in horse racing. He bred and raced his own horses, and was Chairman of the Racecourse Betting Control Board from 1947 to 1951.

Early life and military career

Miles Christopher Dempsey was born in New Brighton, Wallasey, Cheshire, on 15 December 1896, the third and youngest son of Arthur Francis, a marine insurance broker, and his wife Margaret Maud De La Fosse, the daughter of Major-General Henry De La Fosse. Dempsey was the descendant of a clan in County Offaly and County Laois in Ireland. His ancestor Terence O'Dempsey had been knighted on the field of battle by Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex on 22 May 1599, and was created Viscount Clanmalier in 1631. Maximilian O'Dempsey, 3rd Viscount Clanmalier, was loyal to the Catholic King James II and, as a result, was attainted, and the family lost all their lands in 1691. Dempsey's branch of the family left Ireland and by the mid-19th century had settled in Cheshire.

When Dempsey was six years old, his father killed himself, after which the family moved to Crawley in Sussex. Dempsey was educated at Shrewsbury School, entering there in 1911, where he captained the first eleven cricket team in the 1914 season when they did not lose a match. He was also a school and house monitor, and played in the second eleven football team. He also attended Officers' Training Corps camp at Rugeley, reaching the rank of sergeant by 1914. The Great War broke out in August of that year, and in October he left Shrewsbury to enter the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, at the age of 17. He graduated in February 1915 and was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the Royal Berkshire Regiment.

Promoted to lieutenant in August, Dempsey attended training courses until he reached the age of 19 and was eligible to proceed overseas. He served on the Western Front with the 1st Battalion, Royal Berkshires, from June 1916 onwards. The battalion was part of the 99th Brigade of the 2nd Division. Dempsey, serving as a platoon commander in D Company, first saw action during the Battle of Delville Wood in late July 1916, part of the larger Somme offensive. The battalion, although successful, suffered heavy casualties, including eight officers, and was relieved in the line and saw little further fighting that year. Dempsey was promoted to acting captain and assumed command of D Company, and later B Company. In November the battalion took part in an assault on Munich Trench, near the River Serre. As at Delville Wood earlier in the year, the assault was successful but with heavy losses, although Dempsey again remained unscathed, and soon returned to England for home leave. On 8 February 1917 he became the adjutant of the battalion.

Following attacks near Miraumont and then Oppy in April, the battalion, badly understrength, remained in a quiet sector of the front for most of the year, and was temporarily merged with the 23rd (Service) Battalion, Royal Fusiliers. Dempsey was posted as a staff officer at II Corps headquarters (HQ), before returning to the 1st Royal Berkshires, this time in command of A Company. In late November the battalion attacked Bourlon Wood as part of the Battle of Cambrai.

On 12 March 1918, as the Germans prepared to launch their Spring Offensive, they laid down a heavy mustard gas barrage on Dempsey's battalion, which was now at Lavacquerie with Dempsey commanding D Company. Dempsey, along with 10 officers and 250 other ranks, was gassed and later evacuated to England, where he had a lung removed. He returned to the battalion on 6 July, where, with the tide of the war having turned, the 1st Royal Berkshires took part in the Hundred Days Offensive until the war ended on with the armistice of 11 November 1918. Dempsey served as adjutant again from 5 October to 4 November. Dempsey was mentioned in despatches on 8 November 1918, and awarded the Military Cross, which was gazetted in the King's Birthday Honours list on 3 June 1919.

Between the wars

After the war ended the 1st Royal Berkshires served in the Allied occupation of the Rhineland. On 16 February 1919 Dempsey returned to the UK on leave. During the summer he played two first-class cricket matches for Sussex against Oxford University and Northamptonshire. The 1st Battalion was re-formed at Chiseldon Camp in Wiltshire in June. In September it was sent to Iraq, where it helped suppress the Iraqi revolt of 1920. In August 1920, the battalion moved to Iran, where it formed part of North Persia Force (Norperforce) in the Russian Civil War. While his battalion was stationed in Iran, Dempsey took up Pelmanism. In late 1921 it moved again, this time to Bareilly, India, and Dempsey took over C Company, but in 1922 he returned to England for his first leave in almost three years. He went back to India later in the year before returning to England again in 1923, this time to take up an appointment at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst.

While at Sandhurst Dempsey commanded No. 1 Platoon of No. 1 Company, which was commanded by Major Richard O'Connor, who was later to serve under Dempsey. Dempsey remained in this post until 1927, when he returned to duties with his regiment. This time he was posted to the 2nd Battalion, which was serving in Germany as part of the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR). Dempsey took over B Company, and spent a large amount of his time travelling, mainly by bicycle, around Europe, visiting old battlefields of old wars, as well as likely scenes of battle in any future conflicts. The 2nd Battalion returned to the UK in 1928. Between 1926 and 1932, he also played Minor Counties Championship cricket for Berkshire. He also played football and hockey.

In January 1930 Dempsey was admitted to the Staff College, Camberley, graduating in December 1931. His fellow students in the Junior Division included numerous future general officers, including William Gott, George Hopkinson, George Symes, Maurice Chilton, Walter Mallaby, Stuart Rawlins and John Nichols. The Senior Division attending from 1929 to 1930 included Neil Ritchie, Herbert Lumsden, George Erskine, Ivor Hughes, Reginald Denning, Harold Redman and Ian Playfair, while in Dempsey's second year, the Junior Division, attending from 1931 to 1932, included Brian Horrocks, Sidney Kirkman, Frank Simpson, Joseph Baillon, Arthur Dowler, Thomas Rees, Keith Arbuthnott and Cameron Nicholson. The instructors in Dempsey's first year included Henry Maitland Wilson and Trafford Leigh-Mallory. Boy Browning was the college adjutant. Nearly all of these men were to achieve high rank in the upcoming war.

Enjoying his time at the Staff College, Dempsey captained the college cricket team. He also excelled at equitation, beating Gott in the point-to-point competition. Students worked in syndicates; Dempsey's chose to study the August 1914 Battle of Gumbinnen. They toured the battlefield with ''Hauptmann'' Anton Reichard von Mauchenheim genannt Bechtolsheim, a German Army officer who had been on two months' secondment to the British Army in 1930. The syndicate noted the influence that poor communications had on the outcome of the battle, and speculated as to how armoured fighting vehicles might have been employed had they existed at the time.

Completion of the course at Camberley was normally followed by a staff posting to allow the graduate to practise his skills, and Dempsey's first posting after Camberley was as a General Staff Officer Grade 3 (GSO3) on the staff of the Military Secretary, Major-General Sidney Clive. Dempsey was responsible for the careers and assignments of all officers below the rank of colonel, with access to their annual confidential reports. Dempsey, who was promoted to major on 22 September 1932, held this post until late January 1934, when he handed over to Brian Horrocks upon receiving an appointment as brigade major of the 5th Infantry Brigade.

The brigade, commanded by Brigadier Victor Fortune (Francis Nosworthy from 1935), formed part of the 2nd Division, then commanded by Major-General Archibald Wavell. It was serving in Aldershot Command and took part in numerous large-scale military manoeuvres throughout Dempsey's time as brigade major. After handing over again to Brian Horrocks in February 1936, Dempsey returned to the 1st Battalion of his regiment, taking command of HQ Company. The 1st Battalion was now stationed in Shorncliffe, Kent, as part of the 10th Brigade of the 4th Division. Shortly after Dempsey's return, Lieutenant Colonel Eric Miles assumed command.

The following year Dempsey attended a brief course at the Senior Officers' School at Sheerness, before being posted to South Africa, where he served as a General Staff Officer Grade 2 (GSO2) with the Defence Forces of the Union of South Africa at the South African Army College at Roberts Heights near Pretoria, a posting which he enjoyed. Relinquishing that post in late January 1938, he returned to England soon after to succeed Miles as Commanding Officer (CO) of the 1st Battalion, Royal Berkshires, and received a promotion to lieutenant colonel on 11 February 1938. The battalion, still with the 10th Brigade, was both lacking in modern equipment and severely understrength, although, with the possibility of another war in Europe, the situation slowly changed and new equipment and reservists began arriving.

Second World War

Belgium and France

In October 1938 Dempsey's battalion moved to Blackdown Army Camp, transferring from Brigadier Evelyn Barker's 10th Brigade to Brigadier Noel Irwin's 6th Brigade, and becoming part of the 2nd Division once more. Soon after the start of the Second World War in September 1939, Dempsey, with his battalion, was sent to France as part of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF).

In November Dempsey was promoted to the acting rank of brigadier, and assumed command of the 13th Infantry Brigade in place of Brigadier Henry Willcox, who had been one of Dempsey's instructors at the Staff College in the 1930s. Aged just 42, he was one of the youngest brigadiers in the British Army. The brigade formed part of Major-General Harold Franklyn's 5th Division, although the division was still not fully formed and so the brigade was sent to France as an independent formation two months before, and had spent most of its time on guard duties in the BEF's rear areas. The brigade, together with the 15th Infantry Brigade, under Brigadier Horatio Berney-Ficklin, and the 17th Infantry Brigade, under Brigadier Montagu Stopford, re-joined the 5th Division when the division HQ arrived in late December. The 5th Division then became part of Lieutenant-General Alan Brooke's II Corps.

The brigade saw action in May 1940 in the retreat from the River Dyle and fought in the major defensive battle on the River Scarpe. When the Belgian Army surrendered in late May the brigade took part in the holding battle of the Ypres–Comines Canal allowing Major-General Bernard Montgomery's 3rd Infantry Division to cross their rear and secure the gap created by the Belgian collapse. In the subsequent retreat to Dunkirk the brigade provided part of the rearguard for the BEF during the Dunkirk evacuation before being evacuated over the beaches itself. By the time the 13th Brigade returned to England it was reduced to less than 500 men, out of an original strength of nearly 3,000. For his services in France, Dempsey was mentioned in despatches and made a companion of the Distinguished Service Order in July, which was presented to him by Franklyn. Soon after, Franklyn was replaced by Berney-Ficklin.

In July Dempsey took up the appointment of Brigadier General Staff (BGS) to the Canadian Corps. As the senior staff officer of the new corps, he oversaw its training. He held this position until 15 June 1941, when he was promoted to the acting rank of major-general, and given command of the 46th Infantry Division. Four months later he assumed command of the 42nd (East Lancashire) Infantry Division, which was in the process of converting to an armoured division. This required him to implement a huge training programme. The 125th and 126th Infantry Brigades were converted into the 10th and 11th Armoured Brigades respectively, and their infantry battalions re-roled as regiments of the Royal Armoured Corps. Further challenges were presented in May 1942 when the establishment of British armoured divisions was altered to team an armoured brigade with an infantry brigade instead of having two armoured brigades. The 10th and 11th Armoured Brigades were withdrawn from the division and replaced by 30th Armoured Brigade and 71st Infantry Brigade. By the end of the year Dempsey had become well-versed in the direction of combined armoured and infantry formations as well as an experienced trainer of troops.

Sicily and Italy

On 12 December 1942 Dempsey was promoted to lieutenant-general, and assumed command of XIII Corps, part of the Eighth Army in North Africa, at the request of Montgomery, the Eighth Army commander. Dempsey replaced Horrocks, who took over the X Corps. In his memoirs, Montgomery wrote that Dempsey had been a student of his when he was an instructor at the Staff College, but his memory was faulty; Montgomery left the Staff College in 1929, and Dempsey did not arrive until 1930.

Unlike a division, which had a set structure, a corps was a flexible formation to which divisions and brigades were assigned as necessary. When he arrived in Cairo, Dempsey found all he commanded was a headquarters, because the long lines of communication to Eighth Army's spearhead could only sustain two corps (Horrocks's X Corps and Lieutenant-General Oliver Leese's XXX Corps). Dempsey was therefore employed in the planning of the Allied invasion of Sicily. The overall plan was developed by a staff in Algiers known as Force 141, under Major-General Charles Gairdner. Dempsey temporarily assumed the role of chief of staff of Force 545, the staff responsible for planning the British Eighth Army's part in the operation, until Major-General Francis de Guingand, the Eighth Army chief of staff, could be spared to take over.

Dempsey did not like the plan, which involved separate, dispersed landings. This assumed that the German and Italian response would be slow and weak, and nothing in the British Army's experience of the war thus far supported the expectation that this would be the case. Dempsey wanted the Allied forces to land where they could support each other in the event that a strong and vigorous German response developed. Dempsey took his objections to Montgomery on 13 March 1943, and then to Gairdner five days later. The former agreed with him but the latter did not. De Guingand took over on 17 April, enabling Dempsey to return to command of XIII Corps. De Guingand discussed the plan with Dempsey, agreed with Dempsey's objections, and prepared an appreciation for Montgomery. Montgomery raised their objections with General Harold Alexander, the 15th Army Group commander, on 24 April. After some debate, the Supreme Allied Commander, General Dwight D. Eisenhower accepted Montgomery's revised plan on 3 May.

For the invasion of Sicily, Dempsey's XIII Corps had two infantry divisions, the 5th Division under Berney-Ficklin and the 50th Division under Major-General Sidney Kirkman, and Brigadier John Cecil Currie's 4th Armoured Brigade, which had only two armoured regiments, the 44th Royal Tank Regiment and the 3rd County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters). He was also responsible for the 1st Airborne Division, under Major-General George Hopkinson, which would be dropped by parachute and glider just prior to the amphibious landings. The landings on Sicily on 10 July initially went well, with XIII Corps achieving all its first day objectives, but by 12 July progress slowed after the 5th Division encountered elements of the German Hermann Göring Division. Montgomery and Dempsey attempted to capture Catania using paratroops and commandos. This operation was only partially successful, and Catania was not taken. Dempsey suggested an amphibious operation, but this was rejected by Montgomery in favour of switching the main axis of the Eighth Army's advance inland to the west of Mount Etna. On 3 August Dempsey relieved Berney-Ficklin of his command. His performance had impressed neither Dempsey nor Montgomery, and the latter was happy to replace him with another protégé, Major-General Gerard Bucknall.

Air Vice Marshal Harry Broadhurst recalled an incident from the campaign:

On 13 August, towards the end of the campaign, Dempsey's XIII Corps HQ was withdrawn to reserve to plan Operation Baytown, Eighth Army's part in the Allied invasion of Italy across the Strait of Messina. The 50th Division was earmarked to return to the UK, and was replaced by the 1st Canadian Division, under the command of Major-General Guy Simonds, whom Dempsey considered a friend. Although surrender negotiations with the Italians were in progress, intelligence on German and Italian dispositions was sketchy, so the possibility of strong opposition could not be ruled out. Dempsey insisted on an adequate number of landing craft being provided to lift three brigades, along with their logistical support, which delayed the operation until 3 September. Although his corps's landing was unopposed, and subsequent opposition was light, the Germans ensured his progress was slow by destroying bridges and culverts on the only routes through the harsh terrain. It took nearly two weeks to advance more than to the north to link up with the U.S. Fifth Army landing at Salerno as part of Operation Avalanche. Allied forces then commenced to fight their way northward with Fifth Army to the west and Eighth Army to the east of Italy's Apennine Mountain spine. XIII Corps took part in the Moro River Campaign but the severe winter weather precluded any further progress.

North Western Europe

In Sicily and Italy, Montgomery's faith in Dempsey had proved justified and he had also gained a reputation for his expertise in combined operations. This prompted Montgomery, when he left Italy at the end of 1943 to take command of the 21st Army Group for the forthcoming D-Day landings, to select Dempsey to command the Second Army, the main British force involved (although it also included Canadian Army units). Dempsey was not Montgomery's first choice for the assignment; he had recommended that Leese take over the Second Army and Dempsey be given the First Canadian Army. There was no chance that the Canadian government would accept a British officer, and the Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS), Field Marshal Sir Alan Brooke, would not countenance it. Command of the First Canadian Army was given to Canadian Lieutenant-General Harry Crerar. Leese replaced Montgomery in command of the Eighth Army on Alexander's recommendation, and Dempsey was given the Second Army on Montgomery's. Montgomery believed that while Dempsey lacked Leese's ruthlessness and drive, he was cleverer and a better tactician.

Dempsey established his Second Army headquarters at Ashley Gardens in London on 26 January 1944. With his chef of staff, Brigadier Maurice Chilton, who had been part of his syndicate at Camberley, and his naval and air counterparts, Rear Admiral Sir Philip Vian and Broadhurst, Dempsey drew up the detailed plans for the assault on the British and Canadian beaches in Normandy. The Second Army made successful assaults at Gold, Juno and Sword beaches on D-Day, 6 June 1944. Dempsey came ashore that evening and established his tactical headquarters (Tac HQ) at Banville. Like Montgomery, he lived at his Tac HQ, where he maintained a small staff with some aides and liaison officers. It had caravans, radios and some vehicles, and could move at short notice. He had a staff car and an Auster light aircraft, which he called his "whizzer", and used them to move about the battlefield. Main HQ moved to Normandy on 12 June, and opened at Creully, where Montgomery had his 21st Army Group HQ. Although usually located further back than Tac HQ, it was still a field headquarters and did not require accommodation in buildings or fixed signal connections. It contained the operations, intelligence and air support branches.

Where possible, Main HQ was co-located with Broadhurst's No. 83 (Composite) Group RAF and A Squadron of the GHQ Liaison Regiment (known as Phantom). Broadhurst was apprehensive when he found out that he would be Dempsey's opposite number, as their relationship in Italy had been strained, something Broadhurst attributed to Dempsey's inexperience as a corps commander. Broadhurst found that Dempsey had accepted that he had been wrong, and worked on forging the Army and RAF into a successful team. Dempsey seldom made a move without talking to Broadhurst, and the two gradually became friends. Main HQ was presided over by Chilton. Chilton and Dempsey would meet every day, usually at Tac HQ. Chilton later became Deputy Adjutant General at 21st Army Group HQ, and he was replaced as chief of staff by Brigadier Harold "Pete" Pyman on 23 January 1945. Rear HQ was normally situated or so further back and contained the rest of Second Army HQ. It was presided over by the Quartermaster General, Brigadier Geoffrey Hardy-Roberts. In all, Second Army HQ had a strength of 189 officers and 970 other ranks.

The Battle for Caen degenerated into a battle of attrition during which the Anglo-Canadian forces were frustrated by determined German resistance. This fighting drew vital German units including the bulk of their armoured strength to the Caen

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