Miles Dempsey

Sir Miles Christopher Dempsey
General Sir Miles Dempsey
Nickname	"Lucky" or "Bimbo"
Born	15 December 1896(1896-12-15) New Brighton, Wallasey, Cheshire
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
Commands held	5th Infantry Brigade (30 Jan 1934 - 23 Feb 1936) 1st Battalion, The Royal Berkshire Regiment (11 Feb 1938 - 19 Nov 1939) 13th Infantry Brigade (20 Nov 1939 - 18 Jul 1940) 46th Infantry Division (15 Jun 1941 - 28 Oct 1941) 42nd (East Lancashire) Infantry Division (29 Oct 1941 - 11 Dec 1942) (redesignated on 1 Nov 1941 as 42nd Armoured Division) XIII Corps (12 Dec 1942 - 24 Jan 1944) 2nd Army (26 Jan 1944 - 8 Aug 1945) 14th Army (9 Aug 1945 - 1945) Commander in Chief, Allied Land Forces, South East Asia (1945–1946) Commander in Chief, Middle East Land Forces (1946–1947)
Battles/wars	First World War Second World War
Awards	GBE (2 Jan 1956) KBE (5 Jul 1945) KCB (29 Jun 1944 CB (14 Oct 1943) DSO (11 Jul 1940) MC (3 Jun 1919) LM (Commander) (12 April 1945)[1] DSM (US) (16 Jan 1948) Grand Officer of the Order of Léopold with Palm & Croix de Guerre 1940 with Palm (Belgium) (16 Jan 1947) Knight Grand Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau with Swords (Netherlands) (20 Jan 1947)
Other work	Aide de Camp General to the King (1946–1947) Colonel Commandant, Corps of Royal Military Police (13 Mar 1947-1957) Colonel, The Royal Berkshire Regiment (Princess Charlotte of Wales's) (22 Nov 1946 - 22 Nov 1956) Honorary Colonel, AAC, Special Air Service (Territorial Army) (29 Jan 1948-?) Colonel Commandant, Special Air Service (21 Feb 1951 - 1960) Deputy Lieutenant, Berkshire (24 Oct 1950-?) Commander in Chief (designate), UK Land Forces (1951–1956) Chairman, Racecourse Betting Control Board (1947–1951) Director of H. & G. Simonds (Chairman 1953-1963) Deputy Chairman, Courage, Barclay & Simonds Ltd {1961 - 1966) Chairman, Greene, King & Sons Ltd, 1955-...

General Sir Miles Christopher Dempsey, GBE, KCB, DSO, MC (15 December 1896 - 5 June 1969) was commander of the British Second Army during the D-Day landings in the Second World War. He was a career soldier who made his reputation in active service.

Early life

Dempsey was a descendant of the Gaelic-Irish Ó Díomasaigh family of Clann Máel Ugra (Clanmailer, aka Cenél Maoilughra), a sept of the Laigin people, and founders of the Kingdom of Uí Failghe. The senior line of the family were Viscount Clanmalier. His father, A.F. Dempsey of Hoylake, Cheshire, was the Clan Chief of the Ó Díomasaigh sept. Dempsey was educated at Shrewsbury School where he captained the first eleven in 1914 and then attended the Royal Military College, Sandhurst.

First World War and inter-war years

After graduating from Sandhurst Military Academy in 1915, Dempsey joined the Royal Berkshire Regiment. He served on the Western Front in France during the First World War, where he was awarded the Military Cross for bravery. In 1919, Dempsey played 2 first-class cricket matches for Sussex against Oxford University and Northamptonshire.^[2] Between 1926 and 1932, he also played Minor Counties Championship cricket for Berkshire.^[3]

Second World War

By the start of the Second World War, Dempsey had reached the rank of lieutenant-colonel and commanded the 13th Infantry Brigade of the British Expeditionary Force in France. In common with other Allied units, his brigade was forced back to Dunkirk, where it provided part of the rear-guard for the evacuation. For his part in the evacuation, Dempsey was awarded the Distinguished Service Order.

In December 1942 he was promoted to lieutenant-general and commanded XIII Corps in the Eighth Army during the North African Campaign. He subsequently helped to plan the invasion of Sicily and led the assault on Sicily in 1943. Dempsey later led the invasion of Italy across the Strait of Messina, in which his troops advanced more than 300 miles (480 km) to the north before linking up with U.S. troops at Salerno.

Dempsey (right) with 21st Army Group commander Bernard Montgomery (centre), and First United States Army commander Omar Bradley (left), 10 June 1944.

In North Africa, Sicily and Italy, Dempsey had gained a reputation for his expertise in combined operations. This prompted Bernard Montgomery, his commanding officer in North Africa and Sicily, to select him to command the Second Army in January 1944. The Second Army was the main British force (although it also included Canadian forces) involved in the D-Day landings, making successful assaults at Gold, Juno and Sword beaches.

The successful assaults were followed by an attritional battle during which the Anglo-Canadian forces were frustrated by determined German defence. This in its turn, however, forced the committal and wearing down of vital German units away from the eventual U.S. breakout. Second Army made a rapid advance across northern France into Belgium, liberating Brussels and Antwerp in September 1944. On the 15th of October 1944, during a visit to the 2nd army by King George VI, Miles Dempsey was Knighted on the battlefield by the King.

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

The Rhine was crossed on March 23, 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.^[4] In May, Dempsey's men captured Bremen, Hamburg and Kiel. At 11.00AM on the 3rd of 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 General Keitel and Donitz 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 Luneberg Heath.

Miles Dempsey was considered to be a highly competent officer. He asserted a very effective control over 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.

After the end of the war in Europe, Miles Dempsey was appointed to the command of the Fourteenth Army and GOC in C Malaya Command^[5] and then Land Force Commander, South East Asia. The Japanese surrendered shortly afterwards. Within his command were 123,000 British and Dutch prisoners and nearly 750,000 captured Japanese.

Post-war

In 1946 he was appointed British Commander in Chief of Middle East Land Forces. He was made a General in 1946.

Dempsey retired from the British Army in July 1947. In 1950, he was given a 'shadow' appointment as Commander In Chief, British Home forces. He was Colonel Commandant of the Royal Military police, the Special Air Service (1951–1960) and the Royal Berkshire Regiment.

In 1948, Dempsey married Viola O'Reilly, the youngest daughter of Captain Percy O'Reilly of Colamber, County Westmeath, Ireland. The O'Reilly sept come from an area of Ireland located just to the north of the O'Dempsey lands. They 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 1st non-family chairman) and Deputy Chairman of Courage.

Miles Dempsey died in Yattendon, Berkshire in 1969 at the age of 72, exactly twenty five years to the day after the initial landings in Normandy on D Day.

Tributes

• In September 1944, 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,^[6] 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).

See also

Media related to Miles Dempsey at Wikimedia Commons

References

1. ^ London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 37027. p. 1947. 1945-04-10.
2. ^ First-Class Matches played by Miles Dempsey
3. ^ Minor Counties Championship Matches played by Miles Dempsey
4. ^ "The Illustrated London News 1945", iln.org.uk. Retrieved 19 September 2009.
5. ^ Army Commands
6. ^ Caen map, La Poste, 1993.

Military offices
Preceded by Brian Horrocks	GOC XIII Corps December 1942–December 1943	Succeeded by Sidney Kirkman
Preceded by Kenneth Anderson	GOC-in-C Second Army January 1944–August 1945	Succeeded by Post Disbanded
Preceded by Under Japanese Control	GOC Malaya Command November 1945–December 1945	Succeeded by Sir Frank Messervy
Preceded by New Post	C-in-C Middle East Land Forces 1946–1947	Succeeded by Sir John Crocker