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 northwest Europe. A highly professional career soldier who made his reputation in active service, 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. He captained the first eleven cricket team in the 1914 season, when they did not lose a match. He was a school and house monitor, and played in the second eleven football team. He 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. Although successful, the battalion suffered heavy casualties, including eight officers. It was relieved in the line and saw little further fighting that year. Dempsey was promoted to the acting rank of 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 other 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 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, and Dempsey rejoined it. In September it was sent to Iraq, where it helped suppress the Iraqi revolt of 1920. The following August, it 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. 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. Another who he would later encounter, and become great friends with, was Frederick Browning, then a captain and the college's adjutant. 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 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 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. 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 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 served in Aldershot Command and took part in numerous large-scale military manoeuvres throughout Dempsey's time as brigade major. After handing over again to 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 of the 1st Battalion, Royal Berkshires, and received a promotion to lieutenant colonel on 11 February 1938.
The 1st 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. In October 1938 Dempsey's battalion moved to Blackdown Army Camp in Surrey. It was transferred from Brigadier Evelyn Barker's 10th Brigade to Brigadier Noel Irwin's 6th Brigade and became part of the 2nd Division once more.
Second World War Belgium and France