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 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.