IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB 0099 KCLMA Dempsey
Held at: Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, King's College London
Title: DEMPSEY, Gen Sir Miles Christopher (1896-1969)
Date(s): Created 1944-1945
Level of description: Collection (fonds)
Extent: 7 boxes or 0.07 cubic metres
Name of creator(s):
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
Born 1896; educated at Shrewsbury and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst; served in World War One, 1914-1918; commissioned into the Royal Berkshire Regt, 1915; Lt, 1915; served on Western Front, 1916-1918; acting Capt, 1916-1918; Adjutant, 1 Bn, Royal Berkshire Regt, 1917-1918; awarded MC, 1918; acting Capt, 1918-1921; service in Iraq, 1919-1920; Capt, 1921; service with officers Company of Gentleman Cadets, Royal Military College, Sandhurst, 1923-1927; Maj, 1932; Staff Capt, War Office, 1932-1934; Bde Maj, Aldershot Command, 1934-1936; General Staff Officer 2, Defence Forces, Union of South Africa, 1937-1938; Lt Col, 1938; Commanding Officer, 1 Bn, Royal Berkshire Regt, 1939; served in World War Two, 1939-1945; acting Brig, 1939-1940; commanded 13 Infantry Bde, campaign in France and the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) from Dunkirk, 1940; awarded DSO, 1940; Chief of Staff, Canadian Corps, UK, 1940; Col, 1941; acting Maj Gen, 1941; General Officer Commanding 46 (North Midland and West Riding) Div, UK, 1941; General Officer Commanding 42 Armoured Div, UK, 1942; General Officer Commanding 13 Corps, 8 Army, North Africa and the Allied Invasions of Sicily and Italy, 1942-1943; awarded CB, 1943; General Officer Commanding 2 Army, 21 Army Group, Allied Invasion of Normandy and North West Europe campaign, 1944-1945; created KCB, 1944; General Officer Commanding 14 Army in reoccupation of Singapore and Malaya, 1945; created KBE, 1945; Commander-in-Chief, Allied Land Forces, South East Asia, 1945-1946; Gen, 1946; Commander-in-Chief, Middle East, 1946-1947; Aide de Camp General to the King, 1946-1947; retired 1947; Chairman, Racecourse Betting Control Board, 1947-1951; Col, The Royal Berkshire Regt, 1947-1956; Col Commandant, Corps of Royal Military Police, 1947-1957; Deputy Lieutenant, Berkshire, 1950; Commander-in-Chief (designate), UK Land Forces, 1951-1956; Col Commandant, 1 Special Air Service Regt (SAS), 1951-1960; Chairman, H and G Simonds, 1953-1963; Chairman, Greene, King and Sons Limited, 1955-1969; appointed GBE, 1956; Deputy Chairman, Courage, Barclay and Simonds Limited, 1961-1966; died 1969.
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
One volume of 23 typescript 2 Army planning intelligence summaries, dated 28 Jan-20 May 1944, relating to Operation NEPTUNE, the assault phase of Operation OVERLORD, the Allied invasion of Normandy, France, Jun 1944, with 31 aerial photographs of Normandy. Fourteen volumes of 336 typescript 2 Army intelligence summaries, dated 24 May 1944-5 May 1945, relating to the Allied campaign in North West Europe, 1944-1945, with 7 photographs of ice formations in the river Waal, the Netherlands, 1945.
ACCESS AND USE
Language/scripts of material: English
System of arrangement:
Chronologically, within volumes.
Conditions governing access:
Open, subject to signature of reader's undertaking form.
Conditions governing reproduction:
Copies, subject to the condition of the original, may be supplied for research use only. Requests to publish original material should be submitted to the Trustees of the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, attention of the Director of Archive Services.
Physical characteristics:
Finding aids:
Summary guide available on-line at http://www.kcl.ac.uk/lhcma/top.htm, and in hard copy in the Centre's reading room.
ARCHIVAL INFORMATION
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:
Accruals:
Archival history:
Immediate source of acquisition:
Presented to the Centre by Dempsey in 1965.
ALLIED MATERIALS
Existence and location of originals:
Existence and location of copies:
Related material:
The papers of Lt Gen Sir Charles Walter Allfrey include the text of an address to senior officers of 13 Corps, given at Venafro, Italy, Apr 1944 (Ref: Allfrey 4/5), and an annual confidential report on Allfrey by Dempsey, Apr 1947 (Ref: Allfrey 7/2). The papers of Capt Sir Basil Henry Liddell Hart include correspondence with Dempsey, 1951-1963, and obituaries, 1969 (Ref: LH 1/230); notes of interview with Dempsey, 1946, on SHAEF strategy and operations in North West Europe, 1944 (Ref: LH 15/15/130); copies of pre-operational notes by Dempsey for Operation GOODWOOD, 2 Army's assault south east of Caen, France, 18-21 Jul 1944 (LH 15/4/85 and 15/15/97); newspaper cuttings relating to British and Canadian wartime commanders, including Dempsey, 1940-1952 (Ref: LH 15/4/484); newspaper cuttings on Dempsey's appointment as Commander-in-Chief (designate), UK Land Forces, May 1951; notes and correspondence with Dempsey relating to The Tanks: The history of the Royal Tank Regiment by Liddell Hart (Cassell, London, 1959), 1941-1958 (Ref: LH 9/28/33); typescript memorandum by Dempsey, dated 1 Sep 1944, to Lt Gen Frederick Arthur Montague Browning, General Officer Commanding Airborne Corps, on Operation SABOT, the advance from the river Seine to Brussels and Antwerp, Belgium, 3-4 Sep 1944 (LH 9/28/84). The papers of Gen Sir Richard Nugent O'Connor include eight letters to Dempsey relating to the North West Europe campaign and preparations for the invasion of Malaya, 1944-1945 (Ref: O'Connor 5/2-4); letter to O'Connor from Dempsey on the planned removal of Maj Gen Allan Henry Shafto Adair from command of the Guards Armoured Div, Feb 1944 (Ref: O'Connor 5/4/4); Dempsey's obituary from The Times, Jun 1969 (Ref: O'Connor 11/16). The papers of Gen Sir Harold English Pyman include 17 letters from Dempsey, 1946-1963 (Ref: Pyman 6/6). The Public Record Office, Kew, hold military papers relating to Dempsey, 1944-1945 (Ref: WO 285).
Publication note:
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Note:
Decorations: GBE, KCB, DSO, MC
Date(s) of descriptions: Jan 1999