General Sir Miles Christopher Dempsey (1896-1969): 'Not A Popular Leader'
Oct 2005, Vol. 150, No. 5
By Peter Caddick-Adams
‘Bimbo’ Dempsey, General Officer Commanding of the British Second Army, 1944-45, was a quiet and unassuming man who has all but lapsed into military obscurity. Kenneth Macksey has observed that it is an interesting reflection that all the corps in Dempsey’s Second British Army were commanded by men who had commanded a corps before he had. Compared to them, Dempsey’s achievement as an army commander for the whole of the North West European campaign was immense, yet it is astonishing that at the time of writing no biography exists of him. Alas, in many detailed works dealing with the British Army’s involvement in the Second World War, Dempsey’s name is remarkable for its absence. Yet few can match the rise from battalion commander in September 1939 to army commander in January 1944. His identity remained obscure even to his own Second Army troops in Normandy. Therefore, it is now high time that the achievement of this important figure is reassessed and examined.
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By Peter Caddick-Adams
‘Bimbo’ Dempsey, General Officer Commanding of the British Second Army, 1944-45, was a quiet and unassuming man who has all but lapsed into military obscurity. Kenneth Macksey has observed that it is an interesting reflection that all the corps in Dempsey’s Second British Army were commanded by men who had commanded a corps before he had. Compared to them, Dempsey’s achievement as an army commander for the whole of the North West European campaign was immense, yet it is astonishing that at the time of writing no biography exists of him. Alas, in many detailed works dealing with the British Army’s involvement in the Second World War, Dempsey’s name is remarkable for its absence. Yet few can match the rise from battalion commander in September 1939 to army commander in January 1944. His identity remained obscure even to his own Second Army troops in Normandy. Therefore, it is now high time that the achievement of this important figure is reassessed and examined.
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