Miles Dempsey

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, in the Kingdom of Uí Failghe. The senior line of the family were Viscount Clanmalier in the Peerage of Ireland (created 1631, extinct 1691). Dempsey was educated at Shrewsbury School where he also captained the first eleven Cricket team in 1914. On leaving Shrewsbury he 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 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, 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 mi to the north before linking up with U.S. troops at Salerno.

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 a battle of attrition during which the Anglo-Canadian forces were frustrated by determined German resistance. This fighting forced the transfer of vital German units away from the eventual U.S. break-out. Second Army 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 2nd army, King George VI knighted Dempsey on the battlefield.



The Second Army 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 General Keitel and Admiral 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 Lüneberg 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 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 August 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 Coolamber, County Westmeath, Ireland. The Ó Raghallaigh sept come from an area of Ireland located just to the north of the O'Dempsey lands. 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.

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.

Ranks

 * Second Lieutenant (17 February 1915)
 * Lieutenant (8 August 1915)
 * Acting Captain (28 July-22 August 1916; 30 November 1916 – 8 February 1917; 20 July 1917 – 15 July 1918; 24 July 1918 – 19 May 1921)
 * Captain (20 May 1921)
 * Major (22 September 1932)
 * Lieutenant-Colonel (11 February 1938)
 * Actg. Colonel; Actg. Brigadier (20 November 1939 – 19 May 1940)
 * Temp. Colonel (20 May 1940 – 10 August 1941)
 * Temp. Brigadier (20 May 1940 – 14 June 1942)
 * Actg. Major-General (15 June 1941 – 14 June 1942)
 * Colonel (11 August 1941, seniority 11 February)
 * Temp. Major-General (15 June 1942 – 11 December 1943)
 * Actg. Lieutenant-General (12 December 1942 – 11 December 1943)
 * War Substantive Major-General (12 December 1943)
 * Temp. Lieutenant-General (12 December 1943 – 1 January 1945)
 * Major-General (27 April 1944)
 * Lieutenant-General (2 January 1945)
 * Actg. General (28 June-13 October 1946)
 * General (14 October 1946)

Retired 22 August 1947

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, 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).