Miles Dempsey

Sir Miles Dempsey
Lieutenant General Miles Dempsey in April 1944
Nickname(s)	"Lucky" "Bimbo"
Born	(1896-12-15)15 December 1896 New Brighton, Wallasey
Died	5 June 1969(1969-06-05) (aged 72) Yattendon, Berkshire
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service / branch	British Army
Years of service	1915–1947
Rank	General
Unit	Royal Berkshire Regiment
Commands	Middle East Land Forces (1946–47) Allied Land Forces, South East Asia (1945–46) Fourteenth Army (1945) Second Army (1944–45) XIII Corps (1942–44) 42nd Armoured Division (1941–42) 42nd (East Lancashire) Infantry Division (1941) 46th Infantry Division (1941) 13th Infantry Brigade (1939–40) 1st Battalion, Royal Berkshire Regiment (1938–39)
Battles / wars	First World War Second World War
Awards	Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire Distinguished Service Order Military Cross Mentioned in Despatches (4) Army Distinguished Service Medal (United States) Commander of the Legion of Merit (United States) Grand Officer of the Order of Leopold with Palm (Belgium) Croix de guerre with Palm (Belgium) Knight Grand Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau with Swords (Netherlands)

General Sir Miles Christopher Dempsey, GBE, KCB, DSO, MC (15 December 1896 – 5 June 1969) was a senior British Army officer who served in both World Wars. During the Second World War he had a close relationship with Bernard Montgomery and commanded XIII Corps for the invasions of Sicily and Italy. He later commanded the British Second Army during the Battle of Normandy and made notably rapid advances in the subsequent campaign in Northern France and Belgium. Dempsey was the first British Army commander to cross the Rhine. A career infantryman who made his reputation in active service, he remains relatively unknown.

Early life

Dempsey was born in Cheshire in 1896 and was educated at Shrewsbury School where he captained the first eleven Cricket team in 1914. On leaving Shrewsbury he attended the Royal Military College, Sandhurst during the First World War.

He is the descendant of a powerful clan in Offaly and Laois in Ireland with a very long history. His ancestor Terence O'Dempsey, Viscount Clanmalier, was loyal to the Catholic King James II and, as a result, lost all his lands in 1691. Dempsey's branch of the family then left Ireland for Cheshire.

First World War

During the First World War Dempsey, aged just 17, volunteered for the British Army and, after graduating from the Royal Military College, Sandhurst in February 1915, six months after the outbreak of war, was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the Royal Berkshire Regiment. Promoted to lieutenant in August 1915, he served on the Western Front with the 1st Battalion, Royal Berkshires, from June 1916 onwards. The battalion was a Regular Army unit that, as part of the 6th Brigade of the 2nd Division (although by the time of Dempsey's arrival the battalion had been transferred to the 99th Brigade of the same division), had been one of the first units of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) to be sent overseas and was stationed in billets away from the trenches in the Béthune sector. 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 in its role, had suffered heavy casualties, including 8 officers, and was relieved in the line and saw little further fighting throughout the 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. In February 1917 he became the adjutant of the battalion. Following attacks near Miraumont and then Oppy, during which Lance Corporal James Welch was awarded the Victoria Cross, the battalion, badly understrength, thereafter 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 soon posted as a staff officer at II Corps 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 La Vacquerie with Dempsey commanding 'D' Company. Dempsey, along with 10 officers and 250 other ranks, was wounded and later evacuated to England, where he had a lung removed. Returning to the battalion in 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 11 November 1918. By then the battalion was at Escarmain. He was awarded the Military Cross which was gazetted in the King's Birthday Honours list in June 1919.

Between the wars

After the war, in 1919, Dempsey played two first-class cricket matches for Sussex against Oxford University and Northamptonshire. Between 1926 and 1932, he also played Minor Counties Championship cricket for Berkshire.

Second World War

By the start of the Second World War in September 1939, Dempsey had reached the rank of lieutenant colonel and was commanding officer (CO) of the 1st Battalion, Royal Berkshire Regiment. In November he was promoted to command of the 13th Infantry Brigade, which, together with the 15th and 17th Infantry Brigades, formed part of the 5th Infantry Division, itself part of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in France. The division was commanded by Major General Harold Franklyn. In May 1940 the brigade saw action on the retreat from the River Dyle and then 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 on the Ypres-Comines canal allowing 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 rear-guard for the BEF during the Dunkirk evacuation. By the time the 13th Brigade returned to England it was reduced to a strength of less than 500 men, out of an original strength of nearly 3,000. For his services in France, Dempsey was awarded the Distinguished Service Order in July 1940, which was presented to him personally by the division commander, Major General Franklyn.

Brigadier Miles Dempsey and his staff, with their mascot 'Tiny' at Wervicq, France.

In July 1940 Dempsey took up the appointment of Brigadier General Staff (BGS) to the Canadian Corps until June 1941 when he was appointed acting Major-General to command 46th Infantry Division and then 42nd Infantry Division four months later which was converting to an armoured division. requiring him to implement a huge training programme. 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 rather than two armoured brigades. 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.

In December 1942 Dempsey was promoted to lieutenant general to command XIII Corps of the British Eighth Army in North Africa. Montgomery, the Eighth Army commander, had first spotted Dempsey's potential when he had been one of his students at Staff College. On arrival in Cairo Dempsey found his Corps HQ in reserve because the long lines of communication to Eighth Army's spearhead could only sustain two corps (XXX Corps and X Corps). Dempsey was therefore employed in the planning of the invasion of Sicily and led his Corps in the assault on Sicily in July 1943. In August Demsey's HQ was withdrawn to reserve to plan Operation Baytown, Eighth Army's part in the invasion of Italy across the Strait of Messina. Although his Corps' landing on 3 September was unopposed, 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 300 miles (480 km) to the north to link up with American troops at Salerno. Allied forces then commenced to fight their way northward with US 5th Army to the west and Eighth Army to the East of Italy's Apennine Mountain spine.

Half length portrait of Lieutenant General Dempsey taken at his desk, April 1944.

In North Africa, 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 21st Army Group for the forthcoming D-Day landings, to select Dempsey to command the British Second Army. The Second Army was the main British force (although it also included Canadian Army units) involved in the landings, making successful assaults at Gold, Juno and Sword beaches on 6 June 1944.

Lieutenant General Miles Dempsey (right) with 21st Army Group commander, General Sir Bernard Montgomery (centre), and U.S. First Army commander, Lieutenant General Omar Bradley (left), 10 June 1944.

The successful assaults were followed by 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 sector facilitating the breakout further west in July by George Patton's Third Army. The Second Army then made a rapid advance across northern France into Belgium, liberating Brussels and Antwerp in September 1944. On 15 October 1944, during a visit to the Second Army, King George VI knighted Dempsey on the battlefield. Because of the fast and successful advance over more than 200 miles in a week Dempsey got the nickname of "Two Hundred Miles” Dempsey.

Second Army's XXX Corps took part in Operation Market Garden, the failed attempt to secure an early crossing of the River Rhine in September 1944. Airborne troops secured a succession of canal and river crossings to enable XXX Corps to reach the Lower Rhine at Arnhem and wheel right into Germany. Intelligence had not detected the presence of unexpected German formations in the area and resistance proved greater than expected frustrating XXX Corps attempts to reach its final objective.

Dempsey crossing the Rhine in a small boat, March 1945.

The Second Army, with XII and XXX Corps in the vanguard and II Canadian Corps under command and VIII Corps in reserve eventually crossed the Rhine on 23 March 1945, and Dempsey was the first British Army commander to do so. On 7 April 1945, The Illustrated London News carried a full front page of a specially commissioned portrait painting of Dempsey by artist Arthur Pan. In May, Dempsey's men captured Bremen, Hamburg and Kiel. At 11.00 am on 3 May, a delegation of senior German officers led by General Admiral von Friedeberg arrived at Dempsey's Tac HQ and after questioning it appeared that Friedeberg was a representative of Field Marshall Keitel and Grand Admiral Dönitz who wished to surrender. In typical fashion Dempsey sent them on their way to report to Montgomery which led to the formal surrender the next day at Lüneberg Heath.

After the end of the war in Europe, Miles Dempsey was appointed to the command of the British Fourteenth Army and GOC in C Malaya Command and then Land Force Commander, South East Asia. By the time he had arrived however, the war in the East was also over. Within his command were 123,000 British and Dutch prisoners and nearly 750,000 captured Japanese.

Miles Dempsey, although modest and unassuming, was considered to be a highly competent officer. He asserted a very effective control over the British Second Army without taking the limelight. This was despite the stalemate in Normandy and the failure to advance beyond Antwerp and thus ensure that German forces remained isolated. He was claimed by military historian Carlo D'Este to be:

A career infantryman, Dempsey was an ardent student of military history and during the interwar period had frequently visited Europe to study its battlefields firsthand. Blessed with an active and incisive mind, a phenomenal memory and a unique skill in reading maps, Dempsey would soon leave his army staff in awe over his ability to remember everything he saw on a map, to bring a landscape literally to life in his mind even though he had never actually seen it. This talent proved particularly important during the crucial battles around Caen in June and July 1944. Dempsey was considered the Eighth Army's best expert in combined operations and, as he grew in experience, Montgomery soon recognized his potential for army command. The two men shared many qualities, including a disdain for paperwork and a determination, based on their First World War experiences, never to waste their soldiers lives.

Post-war

In 1946 he was appointed British Commander in Chief of Middle East Land Forces. He was made a General in October 1946 and was appointed to the ceremonial post of Aide de Camp general to the King. Dempsey retired from the British Army in August 1947. In 1950, he was given a 'shadow' appointment as Commander In Chief, British Home forces. He held the ceremonial posts of Colonel Commandant of the Royal Military Police, as well as the Special Air Service (1951–1960) and Colonel of the Princess Charlotte of Wales Royal Berkshire Regiment.

In 1948, Dempsey married Viola O'Reilly, the youngest daughter of Captain Percy O'Reilly of Coolamber, County Westmeath, Ireland. The couple lived at "The Old Vicarage", Greenham, Newbury, Berkshire, and later rented "Coombe House", Yattendon, Berkshire. When the former house was requisitioned as part of the US Airforce base, President Eisenhower personally arranged compensation to be paid to his friend and wartime colleague.

He was Chairman of the Race Course Betting Board, H&G Simonds, Greene King and Sons (the first non-family chairman) and Deputy Chairman of Courage Ltd. Dempsey declined to write any memoirs about his military experiences. He ordered that his diaries be burned.

Death

After returning to England from visiting a nephew in Kenya, Dempsey was diagnosed with cancer. He died soon afterwards, on 4 June 1969, at the age of 72, almost exactly 25 years since the Normandy landings. He is buried at Yattendon churchyard, Berkshire.

Tributes

• In September 1944, Sir Miles Dempsey was made an honorary citizen of the city of Caen in Normandy, France.
• Around 1990, a street in Caen (avenue Général Dempsey) was named after him, in a district close to the Mémorial pour la Paix museum, where many of the streets commemorate personalities linked with the Second World War. The street links the avenue Maréchal Montgomery to the avenue Amiral Mountbatten.
• In the Dutch town of Langenboom a street was named after him (Dempseystraat).
• In the small Belgian town of Hamont-Achel, General Sir Miles Dempsey and his Second Army held their headquarters here, from September 1944 until April 1945. In honour, the street was named after him Generaal Dempseylaan.
• In Singapore, Dempsey Hill and Dempsey Road are named after him.

Bibliography

• D'Este, Carlo (2004) [1983]. Decision in Normandy: The Real Story of Montgomery and the Allied Campaign. London: Penguin. ISBN 0-14-101761-9. OCLC 44772546. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Mead, Richard (2007). Churchill's Lions. Stroud, Gloucestershire: Spellmount. ISBN 978-1-86227-431-0.
• Rostron, Peter (2010). The Military life and times of General Sir Miles Dempsey, Monty's Army Commander. South Yorkshire (England): Pen & Sword Military. ISBN 9781844684885.