Eric Dorman-Smith
Encyclopedia
Eric Edward Dorman-Smith (24 July 1895 – 11 May 1969), later de-Anglicised to Eric Edward Dorman O'Gowan, was a British Army
soldier
who served with distinction in World War I
, and then seems to have become something of a bête noire to the British military establishment because of his lively mind, and unorthodox intelligence.
Between the wars, he was active in trying to change the culture of the army, as a trusted assistant and adviser to people such as Wavell and Liddell Hart but he also made a number of enemies who later became influential figures. His service record in World War II
is shrouded in controversy: either he was essential in advising Auchinleck
and, by implication, Montgomery
in how best to defend Egypt against the Axis forces or he was a malign influence who weakened the command structure of the army. He was an unusual soldier. Not many of his contemporaries were as well-versed in philosophy, the Classics, poetry, literature, current affairs, genealogy, ancient history and, above all, military history. He had a wide-ranging intellect but was, above all, loyal to those people in whom he had placed his trust - especially Auchinleck
, whose reputation he was always eager to defend whenever Montgomery
, Churchill, Alanbrooke, Alexander
or their biographers ventured into print. In view of how short a time he was on active service during World War II, it is noteworthy that he is still regarded as a controversial figure in many histories of the war in Egypt and in the memoirs and biographies of people involved.
, County Cavan
, Ireland,. He was received into the Catholic church 4 days after his birth as a result of his mother's pleading. His younger brothers Victor and Reggie were, however, baptized Protestant, so there is a sense in which Eric was always the outsider. His best friend as child in Cootehill was John Charles McQuaid
, the local doctor's son, and later Catholic Archbishop of Dublin
.
At the age of 12, he was sent to St Anthony's Catholic school in Eastbourne, Sussex into a class of boys who had known each other for four years. His Cavan accent and buck teeth made him stick out and, in the effort to modify his accent, he developed a stutter. While he was there, his parents moved to Maidenhead in England and, after a year, he was moved to a local school called Lambrook - a Protestant establishment attended by his younger brothers - whereupon his stutter vanished.
In 1910, he went to Uppingham School
, Rutland
, where he befriended Brian Horrocks
. His father insisted that he take the entrance exam for Sandhurst
in December 1912 and he scored 6969/12600, being placed 69th in the order of merit, thus obtaining one of the 172 available places . Horrocks
also succeeded, ranked 171. After two terms, he passed out in exemplary fashion - leaving Horrocks
to complete a third term - achieving 515/600 in military history, and 2031/2800 in general military subjects. His overall score was 7976/10,500, placing him tenth. He was commissioned lieutenant in the 1st Battalion of the Northumberland Fusiliers. During his schooldays he showed that he had strong principles, in particular there were episodes of casual anti-semitism towards friends of his that he took steps to prevent. He gained his nickname "Chink" on his first night in the officers' mess when his fellow subaltern Richard Vachell noted his resemblance to the Chinkara antelope mascot that the regiment had had to leave behind when they moved back to England from India. In a strange irony, the Northumberland Fusiliers had originally been founded from Irish followers of the Prince of Orange
in 1694, before he became William III, whereas his own ancestors had fought on the other side.
. He was wounded in the retreat. Later that year he was involved in the battles of Messines, Armentières and Ypres and received another wound on 9 December. In May 1915 the battalion was involved in fighting at Railway Wood near Ypres. Although he had received a shrapnel wound and four lesser injuries from rifle bullets, he organised, under heavy fire, a withdrawal of the survivors of his regiment, for which he was awarded one of the first batch of the Military Cross
. After a difficult period of convalescence, he was sent to teach trench warfare to new recruits and in January 1917 he was posted to the Northern School of Instruction. He returned to active service in July 1917 and, at the age of 22, he was temporarily appointed Acting-Major in the 10th Battalion. In the autumn of 1917, he was posted to the Italian Piave Front on attachment to the 68th Infantry Brigade School. He finished the war in Genoa, recovering from an attack of gastroenteritis, with a star added to his MC and having received three mentions in despatches. On his discharge from hospital he was appointed Commandant of the British Troops and sent to Milan. His war experiences had convinced him that military training needed to be totally revised.
In Milan in 3 November 1918 he met Ernest Hemingway
, who had been wounded at the Italian front and decorated with the Italian Silver Medal of Bravery
while serving with the Red Cross. Although they enjoyed spending time in each other's company and became close friends, after Hemingway left Milan on January 1919, it was 3 years before they met again.
"Chink" was posted to the Military Landing Staff at Taranto before returning to England as adjutant to the Northumberland Fusiliers. In June 1921, the regiment was posted to his native Ireland as part of the effort to contain the Sinn Fein
rebellion. His battalion was part of the Curragh 5th Division and, from its headquarters in Carlow, its role was to patrol the county of Kilkenny. He discovered that his childhood nurse had married the local IRA brigadier. Apart from one incident where he helped his ex-nurse bury a cache of hand grenades in the grounds of Bellamont Forest prior to a raid by the Black and Tans
, he tried to remain above politics.
In 1924, he left his regiment to become an instructor at Sandhurst. During his time there, he made the acquaintamce of Richard O'Connor
and together they went on a walking tour of the Austro-Italian Alps at the end of 1924.
In 1927, Dorman-Smith sat the entrance examination for the Staff College. In the Strategy paper the examiner, J. F. C. Fuller, awarded him 1000 marks out of a possible 1000. The advantage of attending the Staff College was that, as a result of the 2 year course, it provided a network of 180 high-flying officers for help in subsequent careers. By arriving with such a splash, it is probable that Dorman-Smith became regarded with suspicion by people who would one day be his peers and superior officers.
On 28 December 1928 he passed out Grade A in the top four and publicly burned his lecture notes, including those from Bernard Montgomery. They had already clashed on numerous occasions and "Chink" had also failed to attend his class on The Registering of Personality, which he regarded as unnecessary for the formulation of successful tactics. He then became the first infantryman to hold the post of instructor of tactics at Chatham - the Engineers' equivalent of the Staff College. In 1929 he was commissioned to write a textbook on military tactics, which became an official army handbook Infantry Section, Leaders' Training within two years.
In July 1931 he was appointed Brigade Major to 6th Experimental Brigade at Blackdown
, under Archibald Wavell - along with Richard O'Connor
and Claude Auchinleck
the most significant influences on his career and his most prominent supporters. In 1931, so much of the British Army was serving overseas that only about 500 men were present in the UK. Wavell aimed to increase the mobility of the army and led exercises to this aim in which Dorman-Smith assisted. He also encouraged Dorman-Smith to ignore the standard manuals and devise new tactical approaches.
In 1934, on the recommendation of Richard O'Connor
, he was appointed to the War Office at the rank of lieutenant colonel. He allied himself with Liddell Hart in a crusade against the continued military use of horses. He devised an estimate of British casualties over the first year of any future major war into three categories; 25% caused by enemy action, 25% by indifferent generalship and accidents of war, 50% by the Treasury. It was at that time that he began to clash with Alan Brooke, the epitome of a traditional Horse Artillery officer, with very little interest in the requirements of modern mechanised warfare.
On a return to the Staff College in 1936, Dorman-Smith had to deliver lectures on tactics that he considered outdated. He spent his leisure time devising with Philip Christison
more up-to-date theories of logistics, staff duties and tactical handling, only to be reprimanded by Lord Gort, the Commandant, for taking things too fast.
After 16 months, rather than the customary three years, Dorman-Smith was appointed Colonel of 1st Battalion, Royal Northumberland Fusiliers
, in Egypt. His farewell speech to the Staff College on the succeess of Mussolini's Abyssinian campaign was not well received, probably because of its emphasis on the more-mechanised approach of the Italian Army compared with the British Army. In Egypt, he clashed with his new command about his disregard for polo training and he was far from impressed by their military ability. He tried without success to break down barriers between British and Egyptian companies: probably another campaign that would be held against this unconventional officer.
Late in 1937, he went to Mersa Matruh to re-design the fortifications. His assessment of the terrain was to colour his assessment of Neil Ritchie
's generalship when facing Rommel
's assault in 1942. He also seems to have realised that Alamein was going to be the decisive battleground for Egypt.
In March 1938 he was offered the post of Director of Military Training for India - a major-general appointment - and he left Egypt in May. The later Regimental History thanks Dorman-Smith for his modernising efforts in helping the Battalion to survive the desert campaign, although it appears that they were glad to see the back of him.
in India, he soon got to know the Commander-in-Chief's loyal aide - 'Bunny' Careless - who developed an antipathy that might have re-surfaced when Dorman-Smith was his brigade commander in Italy in 1944. The occupant of the office next-door to Dorman-Smith was the Deputy Chief, General Staff, Claude Auchinleck
. They became close companions and went on hill-walks before breakfast each day. They developed a plan to transform the Indian Army but the outbreak of the Second World War put paid to them. In January 1940, Auchinleck
was appointed Corps Commander in England. In August of that year, Wavell asked Dorman-Smith to take over command of the Staff College for Palestine at Haifa. Although it meant reverting to the rank of brigadier, Dorman-Smith accepted the post.
and the Western Desert Force
. Dorman-Smith is credited by Correlli Barnett with planning Operation Compass
and with the discovery of a gap in the Italian
lines south of Sidi Barrani
. He was then sent back to Haifa while the Western Desert Force carried out his daring plan with great success.
In January 1941, Wavell again asked him to report to O'Connor and assess the progress of the campaign in order to distill what could be learned from its success. He stayed with the army until, in early February, the Italian Tenth Army surrendered near Benghazi. O'Connor sent him back to Cairo to ask Wavell's permission to advance on Tripoli but, in the meantime, Churchill had instructed Wavell to send troops to the aid of Greece, thus effectively ending Operation Compass. "Chink" returned to Haifa on 13 February.
In April 1941, he was temporarily appointed Brigadier General Staff and watched from a distance while Rommel won back all the territory that O'Connor had gained and the Allied forces were pushed out of the Balkans and Greece. He personally conveyed several messages to General Freyberg who was preparing the defence of Crete. His temporary appointment ended at the end of May and he again returned to the Staff College in Haifa. When the news arrived that Wavell was going to be replaced by Auchinleck in July, Dorman-Smith probably thought that he stood a chance of getting a permanent role closer to the action but no job offer was made. By December, he had made up his mind to retire from the army. He had a meeting with Auchinleck and was appointed Liaison Officer for Persia and Iraq. Although he realised that was a meaningless sinecure, he stayed on. In February 1942, Auchinleck sent him to assess the condition of the Eighth Army under Ritchie. His conclusion, which was shared by everyone he consulted, was that Ritchie should be replaced but Auchinleck took no action. After a few more unproductive months in which he again offered his resignation - which Auchinleck tore up - and he worked on a proposal for a Higher Command School with Smuts, he was offered, on 8 May, a choice of major-general positions: an unspecified role under Wavell in India or Deputy Chief of the General Staff in Cairo. "Chink" accepted the latter.
Until August 6, 1942, when he was sacked, Dorman-Smith, a full colonel but holding the acting rank of major-general, served as chief of staff to Sir Claude Auchinleck
, Commander-in-Chief Middle East and later Field-Marshal. Auchinleck
took over personal command of the Eighth Army on 24 June after the failure of Neil Ritchie
to provide effective resistance to Rommel
's forces and took Dorman-Smith along to act as his staff officer. Dorman-Smith's innovative use of intelligence derived from Ultra
decrypts led them to formulate tactics based on systematic attacks on the weakpoints of the German forces, notably the Italian formations, which proved very successful in slowing down and finally disrupting the German advance. However, the stream of bad news from this war zone in the weeks prior to Auchinleck
's assumption of personal command had led to a crisis of confidence in Whitehall. Churchill and Alan Brooke visited Cairo in August 1942 to take stock of the situation for themselves. They were not impressed by Auchinleck
's poor grasp of public relations work and decided that a change of command was required. In addition, Brooke
had spoken to his former protégé Ritchie
and various other senior officers whom he knew personally from his days with the horse artillery and had come to the conclusion that Dorman-Smith was acting as an evil genius over Auchinleck
: "I was beginning to be suspicious that "Chink Dorman-Smith, one of his staff officers, was beginning to exercise far too much influence on him (Auchinleck). Dorman-Smith had a most fertile brain, continually producing new ideas, some of which (not many) were good and the rest useless". This diary entry was written in January 1942, however, at a time when Dorman-Smith had little access to Auchinleck and had spent more time in Haifa than in Cairo. Clearly, he had upset a number of people with access to Brooke's ear. Brooke himself was not amongst his admirers and there seems to have been a build-up of antipathy until he was finally dismissed.
Dorman-Smith never held any important military positions after this date. He reverted to the rank of brigadier on September 11, 1942 and shortly after was appointed to command the Welsh 160th Brigade in Kent, preparing for the invasion of France. Another unfortunate meeting took place on November 20, when Churchill paid a visit to the Division and invited "Chink" to the official lunch party. Dorman-Smith got into an argument with Churchill and gave him a patronising lecture on military tactics. In May 1943, a try-out for the invasion of France, Exercise Spartan, took place and although his brigade performed well, there was no official recognition. To compound his misfortune, on November 11, 1943, he learned that his new corps commander was going to be Neil Ritchie
. He wrote to his divisional commander requesting that he be moved to a new post and on November 21 he was ordered to vacate his command and stay on leave of absence until further notice, although his divisional commander made it clear that this was in no way a reflection on his efficiency. On March 30, 1944, he learned that he was to be given a brigade to command in Italy. He was sacked again after it was alleged that his battalion commanders complained about his leadership. His divisional superior declared him 'unfit for brigade command'.
The circumstances behind his demotion are controversial. He was in command of 3 battalions. James Hackett wrote in 1984 that he was summoned by the divisional commander to give his opinion of his superior officer, a procedure that annoyed and offended him. He, therefore is unlikely to have complained about Dorman-Smith. Neither of the other 2 officers left accounts of the episode. The only evidence rests on the report of the divisional commander which is tainted by inaccuracies in that at least one of the 3 officers did not lay a complaint. The truth is that the divisional commander Penney seems to have borne a grudge against Dorman-Smith that might have dated from their time together at the Staff College in 1928. Greacen's biography includes a summary of the differences between the three accounts of this episode made by Penney on various occasions.
held on to the seat for the Conservatives. "Chink" retired to Dublin. Eve joined him in November 1945 and gave birth to Christopher on 10 May 1946 and Rionagh in December 1947. He began to study in the library at University College, Dublin, after his application to read for a degree was rejected.
Throughout his military career, Dorman-Smith had retained contacts with Ireland. He did not inherit Bellamont Forest until his father died in March 1948 and his parents had long ceased to reside there, leading to the estate becoming very run-down by the time he took it over, but he paid regular visits during the 1920s and 30s. The estate was situated 11 miles from the Ulster border and so, at times, it became a place of interest to the Republicans. During one of Dorman-Smith's stays, Eamonn de Valera who seems to have been interested in learning of "Chink's" views on the state of the Irish army made an informal and unannounced visit. During his time at the Staff College in 1927-8, two Irish Army officers paid an official visit - after rebukes from the UK for visiting Fort Leavenworth
in the USA. Montgomery
, the senior lecturer, ordered a boycott so the welcoming party consisted only of the Commandant and Dorman-Smith. This was, perhaps, another fateful disagreement with Montgomery
.
In 1950, he joined Clann na Poblachta, a new party led by Sean MacBride
, who had been an IRA officer in Carlow during Chink's posting there. His ties and allegiance to the UK were fading fast. In May 1951 he stood for election to the Dail as an independent candidate, since Clann were already supporting another candidate, but received very few votes. He later became an IRA advisor to the IRA Executive during the 1950s Border Campaign
.
His first contact with the IRA seems to have been in the aftermath of their raid on the Gough Barracks in Armagh on 12 June 1954. Chief of Staff Tony Magan
and the Adjutant-General Charlie Murphy
visited him for discussions at Bellamont Forest. In July 1954, he spoke at a reunification rally in Manchester, making it clear that he was distancing himself from the policies of the UK. He began, however, to grow frustrated at not being made part of the decision-making process of the IRA and when a raid on Omagh went wrong, he began to realise that the IRA did not meet his ideals of efficiency.
During 1955 and 1956, his estate was used as a training-ground by the IRA twice a year at weekends but he was excluded from playing any active role despite his eagerness to assist. There were probably general disccussions about tactics but the IRA held him at arms-length. Ironically, he was probably more eager to wage war than they were, but he took no account of the fact that the IRA was not a national army and could operate on the same scale, with the same inattention to casualties.
He does not appear to have kept these contacts secret. Daphne du Maurier
, wife of his former Sandhurst adjutant "Boy" Browning
, even wrote a story about this side of his life - A Border-Line Case. The British establishment,however, seems to have dismissed him as a harmless crank. On 15 December 1956, after the failure of Operation Harvest and the introduction of the Special Powers Act
, Murphy
and Sean Cronin
visited to convey the message that his usefulness to the IRA cause was over.
He died from stomach cancer on 11 May 1969 at Lisdarne hospital, Cavan.
, he was "...the outstanding soldier of his generation". To others, such as Field Marshal Lord Carver and Alanbrooke
, he was a "sinister influence" and the major cause of Auchinleck's dismissal. Montgomery
called him "a menace". Despite Montgomery's personal antipathy, it is interesting to note that the battle of Alam Halfa was fought on a plan very close to that conceived by Dorman-Smith for Auchinleck and that Montgomery made skilful use of the defensive system that Dorman-Smith had been instrumental in planning and laying-out. The key characteristic of Dorman-Smith's career is that he was not politically astute and made a number of enemies in the 1920s and 1930s who subsequently worked against him - including Penney, Montgomery
and, most significantly in view of his fall from grace, Alan Brooke: "I had been worried for some time by Auchinleck's handling of armoured formations, mainly due to his listening to the advice of "Chink" Dorman-Smith." It should also be pointed out that Montgomery finally initiated battle at El Alamein at a later date than had previously been envisaged in the Auchinleck/Dorman-Smith plan, which was partly responsible for their dismissals.
He did not set out to make himself popular nor to endear himself to his colleagues - he was too eager to make the army mobile and effective to care about what other people might think. He often seems to have come across as arrogant and dismissive of people who did not share his views on outmoded forms of military thinking and organisation - such as the rigid and traditional separation in the British Army between infantry and armoured regiments. His private papers show that he was prone to bouts of introspection and insecurity, which would probably have surprised the men whose feathers he had ruffled.
He successfully sued Churchill, forcing him to amend The Hinge of Fate, part of his history of World War II, so that an implied slur on the fighting mettle of Auchinleck
was removed. Less acrimoniously, Montgomery
was also forced to tone down his criticisms of his predecessors in the 8th Army when he published his memoirs in August 1958. When Alexander
brought out his memoirs in 1961, "Chink" was preparing his case but his legal team advised him to withdraw.
They met up over Christmas 1922, again in Montreux, and spent the visit luging and ski-ing. In early 1923, Hemingway visited Dorman-Smith in Cologne on behalf of the Toronto Star newspaper. During the following summer, he visited them in Paris where Hemingway introduced him to the intelligentsia, including John Dos Passos
, Gertrude Stein
, James Joyce
, Ford Madox Ford
and Ezra Pound
. Hemingway
's first book, In Our Time, was dedicated to Dorman-Smith and includes some anecdotes from "Chink's" memories of the Mons campaign.
In March 1924, he paid another visit to Paris and became godfather
to Ernest Hemingway
's eldest son John
.
That summer, in company with Dos Passos, Donald Ogden Stewart
and Robert McAlmon, they visited the San Fermin festival in Pamplona in July and participated in the bull-running,. This stay was probably one of the fountain springs for Hemingway
's novel The Sun also Rises. Characteristics of Dorman-Smith can be seen in the minor character Wilson-Harris.
Proof of the high esteem in which Hemingway
held Dorman-Smith is contained in his 1924 poem To Chink Whose Trade is Soldiering. However, after their next meeting in April 1926, when Dorman-Smith was accompanying an army rugby team to Paris, they gradually drifted apart because of the stresses of Dorman-Smith's military career and the changes in Hemingway's lifestyle. They did not meet again till Dorman-Smith was touring the USA in April 1950. He is widely believed to be one of the models for Colonel Richard Cantwell, the hero of Hemingway’s novel Across the River and Into the Trees
.
, was Governor of Burma at the time of the Japanese invasion during the Second World War.
He had one son, Christopher, three grandchildren and two great grand-children.
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
soldier
Soldier
A soldier is a member of the land component of national armed forces; whereas a soldier hired for service in a foreign army would be termed a mercenary...
who served with distinction in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, and then seems to have become something of a bête noire to the British military establishment because of his lively mind, and unorthodox intelligence.
Between the wars, he was active in trying to change the culture of the army, as a trusted assistant and adviser to people such as Wavell and Liddell Hart but he also made a number of enemies who later became influential figures. His service record in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
is shrouded in controversy: either he was essential in advising Auchinleck
Auchinleck
Auchinleck ; is a village five miles south-east of Mauchline, and a couple of miles north-west of Cumnock in East Ayrshire, Scotland.Near the village is Auchinleck House, past home of the lawyer, diarist and biographer James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck.Auchinleck has much been associated...
and, by implication, Montgomery
Montgomery
-In France:* Sainte-Foy-de-Montgommery, a commune in département Calvados, Normandy* Saint-Germain-de-Montgommery, idem* Colleville-Montgomery, idem-In Pakistan:...
in how best to defend Egypt against the Axis forces or he was a malign influence who weakened the command structure of the army. He was an unusual soldier. Not many of his contemporaries were as well-versed in philosophy, the Classics, poetry, literature, current affairs, genealogy, ancient history and, above all, military history. He had a wide-ranging intellect but was, above all, loyal to those people in whom he had placed his trust - especially Auchinleck
Auchinleck
Auchinleck ; is a village five miles south-east of Mauchline, and a couple of miles north-west of Cumnock in East Ayrshire, Scotland.Near the village is Auchinleck House, past home of the lawyer, diarist and biographer James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck.Auchinleck has much been associated...
, whose reputation he was always eager to defend whenever Montgomery
Montgomery
-In France:* Sainte-Foy-de-Montgommery, a commune in département Calvados, Normandy* Saint-Germain-de-Montgommery, idem* Colleville-Montgomery, idem-In Pakistan:...
, Churchill, Alanbrooke, Alexander
Alexander
Alexander is a common male first name, and less common surname. The most famous is Alexander the Great, the King of Macedon who created one of the largest empires in ancient history.- Origin :...
or their biographers ventured into print. In view of how short a time he was on active service during World War II, it is noteworthy that he is still regarded as a controversial figure in many histories of the war in Egypt and in the memoirs and biographies of people involved.
Early years
He was born in Bellamont Forest, CootehillCootehill
Cootehill, known before the Plantation of Ulster as Munnilly , is a prominent market town in County Cavan, Ireland.-History:Cootehill was established as a market town in 1725 when a charter was obtained to hold markets and fairs, and developed strong ties to the Irish linen industry...
, County Cavan
County Cavan
County Cavan is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Border Region and is also located in the province of Ulster. It is named after the town of Cavan. Cavan County Council is the local authority for the county...
, Ireland,. He was received into the Catholic church 4 days after his birth as a result of his mother's pleading. His younger brothers Victor and Reggie were, however, baptized Protestant, so there is a sense in which Eric was always the outsider. His best friend as child in Cootehill was John Charles McQuaid
John Charles McQuaid
John Charles McQuaid, C.S.Sp. was the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin and Primate of Ireland between December 1940 and February 1972.- Early life 1895-1914:...
, the local doctor's son, and later Catholic Archbishop of Dublin
Archbishop of Dublin
The Archbishop of Dublin may refer to:* Archbishop of Dublin – an article which lists of pre- and post-Reformation archbishops.* Archbishop of Dublin – the title of the senior cleric who presides over the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin....
.
At the age of 12, he was sent to St Anthony's Catholic school in Eastbourne, Sussex into a class of boys who had known each other for four years. His Cavan accent and buck teeth made him stick out and, in the effort to modify his accent, he developed a stutter. While he was there, his parents moved to Maidenhead in England and, after a year, he was moved to a local school called Lambrook - a Protestant establishment attended by his younger brothers - whereupon his stutter vanished.
In 1910, he went to Uppingham School
Uppingham School
Uppingham School is a co-educational independent school of the English public school tradition, situated in the small town of Uppingham in Rutland, England...
, Rutland
Rutland
Rutland is a landlocked county in central England, bounded on the west and north by Leicestershire, northeast by Lincolnshire and southeast by Peterborough and Northamptonshire....
, where he befriended Brian Horrocks
Brian Horrocks
Lieutenant-General Sir Brian Gwynne Horrocks, KCB, KBE, DSO, MC was a British Army officer. He is chiefly remembered as the commander of XXX Corps in Operation Market Garden and other operations during the Second World War...
. His father insisted that he take the entrance exam for Sandhurst
Sandhurst
Sandhurst is a small town and civil parish in England of 7,966 homes and 20,803 inhabitants , primarily domiciliary in nature with a few light industries...
in December 1912 and he scored 6969/12600, being placed 69th in the order of merit, thus obtaining one of the 172 available places . Horrocks
Horrocks
Horrocks may refer to the following people:* Brian Horrocks , British military officer* Dylan Horrocks , New Zealand cartoonist* Geoffrey Horrocks, a mathematician...
also succeeded, ranked 171. After two terms, he passed out in exemplary fashion - leaving Horrocks
Horrocks
Horrocks may refer to the following people:* Brian Horrocks , British military officer* Dylan Horrocks , New Zealand cartoonist* Geoffrey Horrocks, a mathematician...
to complete a third term - achieving 515/600 in military history, and 2031/2800 in general military subjects. His overall score was 7976/10,500, placing him tenth. He was commissioned lieutenant in the 1st Battalion of the Northumberland Fusiliers. During his schooldays he showed that he had strong principles, in particular there were episodes of casual anti-semitism towards friends of his that he took steps to prevent. He gained his nickname "Chink" on his first night in the officers' mess when his fellow subaltern Richard Vachell noted his resemblance to the Chinkara antelope mascot that the regiment had had to leave behind when they moved back to England from India. In a strange irony, the Northumberland Fusiliers had originally been founded from Irish followers of the Prince of Orange
Prince of Orange
Prince of Orange is a title of nobility, originally associated with the Principality of Orange, in what is now southern France. In French it is la Principauté d'Orange....
in 1694, before he became William III, whereas his own ancestors had fought on the other side.
World War I
"Chink" and the Northumberland Fusiliers were sent to Flanders on 13 August 1914 and were involved in the Battle of MonsBattle of Mons
The Battle of Mons was the first major action of the British Expeditionary Force in the First World War. It was a subsidiary action of the Battle of the Frontiers, in which the Allies clashed with Germany on the French borders. At Mons, the British army attempted to hold the line of the...
. He was wounded in the retreat. Later that year he was involved in the battles of Messines, Armentières and Ypres and received another wound on 9 December. In May 1915 the battalion was involved in fighting at Railway Wood near Ypres. Although he had received a shrapnel wound and four lesser injuries from rifle bullets, he organised, under heavy fire, a withdrawal of the survivors of his regiment, for which he was awarded one of the first batch of the Military Cross
Military Cross
The Military Cross is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers and other ranks of the British Armed Forces; and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries....
. After a difficult period of convalescence, he was sent to teach trench warfare to new recruits and in January 1917 he was posted to the Northern School of Instruction. He returned to active service in July 1917 and, at the age of 22, he was temporarily appointed Acting-Major in the 10th Battalion. In the autumn of 1917, he was posted to the Italian Piave Front on attachment to the 68th Infantry Brigade School. He finished the war in Genoa, recovering from an attack of gastroenteritis, with a star added to his MC and having received three mentions in despatches. On his discharge from hospital he was appointed Commandant of the British Troops and sent to Milan. His war experiences had convinced him that military training needed to be totally revised.
In Milan in 3 November 1918 he met Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Miller Hemingway was an American author and journalist. His economic and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the...
, who had been wounded at the Italian front and decorated with the Italian Silver Medal of Bravery
Silver Medal of Military Valor
The Silver Medal of Military Valor is an Italian medal for gallantry.Italian medals for valor were first instituted by Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia on May 21, 1793, with a gold medal, and, below it, a silver medal...
while serving with the Red Cross. Although they enjoyed spending time in each other's company and became close friends, after Hemingway left Milan on January 1919, it was 3 years before they met again.
"Chink" was posted to the Military Landing Staff at Taranto before returning to England as adjutant to the Northumberland Fusiliers. In June 1921, the regiment was posted to his native Ireland as part of the effort to contain the Sinn Fein
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin is a left wing, Irish republican political party in Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970...
rebellion. His battalion was part of the Curragh 5th Division and, from its headquarters in Carlow, its role was to patrol the county of Kilkenny. He discovered that his childhood nurse had married the local IRA brigadier. Apart from one incident where he helped his ex-nurse bury a cache of hand grenades in the grounds of Bellamont Forest prior to a raid by the Black and Tans
Black and Tans
The Black and Tans was one of two newly recruited bodies, composed largely of British World War I veterans, employed by the Royal Irish Constabulary as Temporary Constables from 1920 to 1921 to suppress revolution in Ireland...
, he tried to remain above politics.
Marriage and emotional life
He did not marry young, and conducted a series of affairs, until on December 29, 1927, he married Estelle, Lady Berney. She was, however, unable to bear children. During his period in Haifa in 1940, he met Eve Nott, a vivacious married woman, and began an affair with her. He married her on May 17, 1949 at Westminster Registry Office.Between the wars
His period of duty in Ireland ended in February 1922 and he moved to the Rhine Army still as Adjutant of the Northumberland Fusiliers. He witnessed the breakdown of transport and communications after the French sent troops into the Ruhr basin in January 1923 to enforce war reparations.In 1924, he left his regiment to become an instructor at Sandhurst. During his time there, he made the acquaintamce of Richard O'Connor
Richard O'Connor
General Sir Richard Nugent O'Connor KT, GCB, DSO & Bar, MC, ADC was a British Army general who commanded the Western Desert Force in the early years of World War II...
and together they went on a walking tour of the Austro-Italian Alps at the end of 1924.
In 1927, Dorman-Smith sat the entrance examination for the Staff College. In the Strategy paper the examiner, J. F. C. Fuller, awarded him 1000 marks out of a possible 1000. The advantage of attending the Staff College was that, as a result of the 2 year course, it provided a network of 180 high-flying officers for help in subsequent careers. By arriving with such a splash, it is probable that Dorman-Smith became regarded with suspicion by people who would one day be his peers and superior officers.
On 28 December 1928 he passed out Grade A in the top four and publicly burned his lecture notes, including those from Bernard Montgomery. They had already clashed on numerous occasions and "Chink" had also failed to attend his class on The Registering of Personality, which he regarded as unnecessary for the formulation of successful tactics. He then became the first infantryman to hold the post of instructor of tactics at Chatham - the Engineers' equivalent of the Staff College. In 1929 he was commissioned to write a textbook on military tactics, which became an official army handbook Infantry Section, Leaders' Training within two years.
In July 1931 he was appointed Brigade Major to 6th Experimental Brigade at Blackdown
Princess Royal Barracks, Deepcut
The Princess Royal Barracks, Deepcut, commonly referred to as Deepcut Barracks, is the headquarters of the Royal Logistic Corps of the British Army and the Defence School of Logistics. Located near Camberley, Surrey, England, it was the headquarters of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps until the...
, under Archibald Wavell - along with Richard O'Connor
Richard O'Connor
General Sir Richard Nugent O'Connor KT, GCB, DSO & Bar, MC, ADC was a British Army general who commanded the Western Desert Force in the early years of World War II...
and Claude Auchinleck
Claude Auchinleck
Field Marshal Sir Claude John Eyre Auchinleck, GCB, GCIE, CSI, DSO, OBE , nicknamed "The Auk", was a British army commander during World War II. He was a career soldier who spent much of his military career in India, where he developed a love of the country and a lasting affinity for the soldiers...
the most significant influences on his career and his most prominent supporters. In 1931, so much of the British Army was serving overseas that only about 500 men were present in the UK. Wavell aimed to increase the mobility of the army and led exercises to this aim in which Dorman-Smith assisted. He also encouraged Dorman-Smith to ignore the standard manuals and devise new tactical approaches.
In 1934, on the recommendation of Richard O'Connor
Richard O'Connor
General Sir Richard Nugent O'Connor KT, GCB, DSO & Bar, MC, ADC was a British Army general who commanded the Western Desert Force in the early years of World War II...
, he was appointed to the War Office at the rank of lieutenant colonel. He allied himself with Liddell Hart in a crusade against the continued military use of horses. He devised an estimate of British casualties over the first year of any future major war into three categories; 25% caused by enemy action, 25% by indifferent generalship and accidents of war, 50% by the Treasury. It was at that time that he began to clash with Alan Brooke, the epitome of a traditional Horse Artillery officer, with very little interest in the requirements of modern mechanised warfare.
On a return to the Staff College in 1936, Dorman-Smith had to deliver lectures on tactics that he considered outdated. He spent his leisure time devising with Philip Christison
Philip Christison
General Sir Philip Christison, 4th Baronet GBE CB DSO MC was a British military commander of the Second World War.-Early life and career:...
more up-to-date theories of logistics, staff duties and tactical handling, only to be reprimanded by Lord Gort, the Commandant, for taking things too fast.
After 16 months, rather than the customary three years, Dorman-Smith was appointed Colonel of 1st Battalion, Royal Northumberland Fusiliers
Royal Northumberland Fusiliers
The Royal Northumberland Fusiliers was an infantry regiment of the British Army. Originally raised in 1674, the regiment was amalgamated with three other fusilier regiments in 1968 to form the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers.-Origins:...
, in Egypt. His farewell speech to the Staff College on the succeess of Mussolini's Abyssinian campaign was not well received, probably because of its emphasis on the more-mechanised approach of the Italian Army compared with the British Army. In Egypt, he clashed with his new command about his disregard for polo training and he was far from impressed by their military ability. He tried without success to break down barriers between British and Egyptian companies: probably another campaign that would be held against this unconventional officer.
Late in 1937, he went to Mersa Matruh to re-design the fortifications. His assessment of the terrain was to colour his assessment of Neil Ritchie
Neil Ritchie
General Sir Neil Methuen Ritchie GBE, KCB, DSO, MC, KStJ was a senior British army officer during the Second World War.-Military career:...
's generalship when facing Rommel
Rommel
Erwin Rommel was a German World War II field marshal.Rommel may also refer to:*Rommel *Rommel Adducul , Filipino basketball player*Rommel Fernández , first Panamanian footballer to play in Europe...
's assault in 1942. He also seems to have realised that Alamein was going to be the decisive battleground for Egypt.
In March 1938 he was offered the post of Director of Military Training for India - a major-general appointment - and he left Egypt in May. The later Regimental History thanks Dorman-Smith for his modernising efforts in helping the Battalion to survive the desert campaign, although it appears that they were glad to see the back of him.
in India, he soon got to know the Commander-in-Chief's loyal aide - 'Bunny' Careless - who developed an antipathy that might have re-surfaced when Dorman-Smith was his brigade commander in Italy in 1944. The occupant of the office next-door to Dorman-Smith was the Deputy Chief, General Staff, Claude Auchinleck
Claude Auchinleck
Field Marshal Sir Claude John Eyre Auchinleck, GCB, GCIE, CSI, DSO, OBE , nicknamed "The Auk", was a British army commander during World War II. He was a career soldier who spent much of his military career in India, where he developed a love of the country and a lasting affinity for the soldiers...
. They became close companions and went on hill-walks before breakfast each day. They developed a plan to transform the Indian Army but the outbreak of the Second World War put paid to them. In January 1940, Auchinleck
Auchinleck
Auchinleck ; is a village five miles south-east of Mauchline, and a couple of miles north-west of Cumnock in East Ayrshire, Scotland.Near the village is Auchinleck House, past home of the lawyer, diarist and biographer James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck.Auchinleck has much been associated...
was appointed Corps Commander in England. In August of that year, Wavell asked Dorman-Smith to take over command of the Staff College for Palestine at Haifa. Although it meant reverting to the rank of brigadier, Dorman-Smith accepted the post.
World War II
In October 1940, Wavell asked him to look into the feasibility of taking the offensive against the Italian forces who had invaded Egypt from Libya. On delivery of his report, he was sent as an adviser to Major-General Richard O'ConnorRichard O'Connor
General Sir Richard Nugent O'Connor KT, GCB, DSO & Bar, MC, ADC was a British Army general who commanded the Western Desert Force in the early years of World War II...
and the Western Desert Force
Western Desert Force
The Western Desert Force, during World War II, was a British Commonwealth army formation stationed in Egypt.On 17 June 1940, the headquarters of the British 6th Infantry Division was designated as the Western Desert Force. The unit consisted of the 7th Armoured Division and the Indian 4th Infantry...
. Dorman-Smith is credited by Correlli Barnett with planning Operation Compass
Operation Compass
Operation Compass was the first major Allied military operation of the Western Desert Campaign during World War II. British and Commonwealth forces attacked Italian forces in western Egypt and eastern Libya in December 1940 to February 1941. The attack was a complete success...
and with the discovery of a gap in the Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
lines south of Sidi Barrani
Sidi Barrani
Sidi Barrani is a town in Egypt, near the Mediterranean Sea, about east of the border with Libya, and around from Tobruk, Libya.Probably named after Sidi Mohammed el Barrani, a Senussi fighter in the early 1900s, the village is mainly a Bedouin community...
. He was then sent back to Haifa while the Western Desert Force carried out his daring plan with great success.
In January 1941, Wavell again asked him to report to O'Connor and assess the progress of the campaign in order to distill what could be learned from its success. He stayed with the army until, in early February, the Italian Tenth Army surrendered near Benghazi. O'Connor sent him back to Cairo to ask Wavell's permission to advance on Tripoli but, in the meantime, Churchill had instructed Wavell to send troops to the aid of Greece, thus effectively ending Operation Compass. "Chink" returned to Haifa on 13 February.
In April 1941, he was temporarily appointed Brigadier General Staff and watched from a distance while Rommel won back all the territory that O'Connor had gained and the Allied forces were pushed out of the Balkans and Greece. He personally conveyed several messages to General Freyberg who was preparing the defence of Crete. His temporary appointment ended at the end of May and he again returned to the Staff College in Haifa. When the news arrived that Wavell was going to be replaced by Auchinleck in July, Dorman-Smith probably thought that he stood a chance of getting a permanent role closer to the action but no job offer was made. By December, he had made up his mind to retire from the army. He had a meeting with Auchinleck and was appointed Liaison Officer for Persia and Iraq. Although he realised that was a meaningless sinecure, he stayed on. In February 1942, Auchinleck sent him to assess the condition of the Eighth Army under Ritchie. His conclusion, which was shared by everyone he consulted, was that Ritchie should be replaced but Auchinleck took no action. After a few more unproductive months in which he again offered his resignation - which Auchinleck tore up - and he worked on a proposal for a Higher Command School with Smuts, he was offered, on 8 May, a choice of major-general positions: an unspecified role under Wavell in India or Deputy Chief of the General Staff in Cairo. "Chink" accepted the latter.
Until August 6, 1942, when he was sacked, Dorman-Smith, a full colonel but holding the acting rank of major-general, served as chief of staff to Sir Claude Auchinleck
Claude Auchinleck
Field Marshal Sir Claude John Eyre Auchinleck, GCB, GCIE, CSI, DSO, OBE , nicknamed "The Auk", was a British army commander during World War II. He was a career soldier who spent much of his military career in India, where he developed a love of the country and a lasting affinity for the soldiers...
, Commander-in-Chief Middle East and later Field-Marshal. Auchinleck
Auchinleck
Auchinleck ; is a village five miles south-east of Mauchline, and a couple of miles north-west of Cumnock in East Ayrshire, Scotland.Near the village is Auchinleck House, past home of the lawyer, diarist and biographer James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck.Auchinleck has much been associated...
took over personal command of the Eighth Army on 24 June after the failure of Neil Ritchie
Neil Ritchie
General Sir Neil Methuen Ritchie GBE, KCB, DSO, MC, KStJ was a senior British army officer during the Second World War.-Military career:...
to provide effective resistance to Rommel
Rommel
Erwin Rommel was a German World War II field marshal.Rommel may also refer to:*Rommel *Rommel Adducul , Filipino basketball player*Rommel Fernández , first Panamanian footballer to play in Europe...
's forces and took Dorman-Smith along to act as his staff officer. Dorman-Smith's innovative use of intelligence derived from Ultra
Ultra
Ultra was the designation adopted by British military intelligence in June 1941 for wartime signals intelligence obtained by "breaking" high-level encrypted enemy radio and teleprinter communications at the Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park. "Ultra" eventually became the standard...
decrypts led them to formulate tactics based on systematic attacks on the weakpoints of the German forces, notably the Italian formations, which proved very successful in slowing down and finally disrupting the German advance. However, the stream of bad news from this war zone in the weeks prior to Auchinleck
Auchinleck
Auchinleck ; is a village five miles south-east of Mauchline, and a couple of miles north-west of Cumnock in East Ayrshire, Scotland.Near the village is Auchinleck House, past home of the lawyer, diarist and biographer James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck.Auchinleck has much been associated...
's assumption of personal command had led to a crisis of confidence in Whitehall. Churchill and Alan Brooke visited Cairo in August 1942 to take stock of the situation for themselves. They were not impressed by Auchinleck
Auchinleck
Auchinleck ; is a village five miles south-east of Mauchline, and a couple of miles north-west of Cumnock in East Ayrshire, Scotland.Near the village is Auchinleck House, past home of the lawyer, diarist and biographer James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck.Auchinleck has much been associated...
's poor grasp of public relations work and decided that a change of command was required. In addition, Brooke
Brooke
- Places :* Brooke Army Medical Center, Fort Sam Houston, Texas* Brooke, Virginia* Brooke * Brooke Bond, a tea company* Brooke, Norfolk, England* Brooke, Rutland, England* Brooke's Point, Palawan, Philippines-People with the surname Brooke:...
had spoken to his former protégé Ritchie
Ritchie
Ritchie as a name is a surname, and may also occur as a given name or diminutive. It may refer to:-Surname:*Albert Ritchie , governor of Maryland 1920-35*Alistair Ferguson Ritchie , Afrit, crossword compiler...
and various other senior officers whom he knew personally from his days with the horse artillery and had come to the conclusion that Dorman-Smith was acting as an evil genius over Auchinleck
Auchinleck
Auchinleck ; is a village five miles south-east of Mauchline, and a couple of miles north-west of Cumnock in East Ayrshire, Scotland.Near the village is Auchinleck House, past home of the lawyer, diarist and biographer James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck.Auchinleck has much been associated...
: "I was beginning to be suspicious that "Chink Dorman-Smith, one of his staff officers, was beginning to exercise far too much influence on him (Auchinleck). Dorman-Smith had a most fertile brain, continually producing new ideas, some of which (not many) were good and the rest useless". This diary entry was written in January 1942, however, at a time when Dorman-Smith had little access to Auchinleck and had spent more time in Haifa than in Cairo. Clearly, he had upset a number of people with access to Brooke's ear. Brooke himself was not amongst his admirers and there seems to have been a build-up of antipathy until he was finally dismissed.
Dorman-Smith never held any important military positions after this date. He reverted to the rank of brigadier on September 11, 1942 and shortly after was appointed to command the Welsh 160th Brigade in Kent, preparing for the invasion of France. Another unfortunate meeting took place on November 20, when Churchill paid a visit to the Division and invited "Chink" to the official lunch party. Dorman-Smith got into an argument with Churchill and gave him a patronising lecture on military tactics. In May 1943, a try-out for the invasion of France, Exercise Spartan, took place and although his brigade performed well, there was no official recognition. To compound his misfortune, on November 11, 1943, he learned that his new corps commander was going to be Neil Ritchie
Neil Ritchie
General Sir Neil Methuen Ritchie GBE, KCB, DSO, MC, KStJ was a senior British army officer during the Second World War.-Military career:...
. He wrote to his divisional commander requesting that he be moved to a new post and on November 21 he was ordered to vacate his command and stay on leave of absence until further notice, although his divisional commander made it clear that this was in no way a reflection on his efficiency. On March 30, 1944, he learned that he was to be given a brigade to command in Italy. He was sacked again after it was alleged that his battalion commanders complained about his leadership. His divisional superior declared him 'unfit for brigade command'.
The circumstances behind his demotion are controversial. He was in command of 3 battalions. James Hackett wrote in 1984 that he was summoned by the divisional commander to give his opinion of his superior officer, a procedure that annoyed and offended him. He, therefore is unlikely to have complained about Dorman-Smith. Neither of the other 2 officers left accounts of the episode. The only evidence rests on the report of the divisional commander which is tainted by inaccuracies in that at least one of the 3 officers did not lay a complaint. The truth is that the divisional commander Penney seems to have borne a grudge against Dorman-Smith that might have dated from their time together at the Staff College in 1928. Greacen's biography includes a summary of the differences between the three accounts of this episode made by Penney on various occasions.
Later Life and Involvement with Ireland
Four years after he was forcibly retired from the British Army, he changed his name from Dorman-Smith to O'Gowan, having long been aware that his father was descended from the O'Gowans, once one of the ruling families of Ulster. In 1945, as a Liberal, he had contested the safe Tory seat of The Wirral in Cheshire. He won 14,302 votes and retained his deposit but Selwyn LloydSelwyn Lloyd
John Selwyn Brooke Lloyd, Baron Selwyn-Lloyd CH PC CBE TD , known for most of his career as Selwyn Lloyd, was a British Conservative Party politician who served as Foreign Secretary from 1955 to 1960, then as Chancellor of the Exchequer until 1962...
held on to the seat for the Conservatives. "Chink" retired to Dublin. Eve joined him in November 1945 and gave birth to Christopher on 10 May 1946 and Rionagh in December 1947. He began to study in the library at University College, Dublin, after his application to read for a degree was rejected.
Throughout his military career, Dorman-Smith had retained contacts with Ireland. He did not inherit Bellamont Forest until his father died in March 1948 and his parents had long ceased to reside there, leading to the estate becoming very run-down by the time he took it over, but he paid regular visits during the 1920s and 30s. The estate was situated 11 miles from the Ulster border and so, at times, it became a place of interest to the Republicans. During one of Dorman-Smith's stays, Eamonn de Valera who seems to have been interested in learning of "Chink's" views on the state of the Irish army made an informal and unannounced visit. During his time at the Staff College in 1927-8, two Irish Army officers paid an official visit - after rebukes from the UK for visiting Fort Leavenworth
Fort Leavenworth
Fort Leavenworth is a United States Army facility located in Leavenworth County, Kansas, immediately north of the city of Leavenworth in the upper northeast portion of the state. It is the oldest active United States Army post west of Washington, D.C. and has been in operation for over 180 years...
in the USA. Montgomery
Montgomery
-In France:* Sainte-Foy-de-Montgommery, a commune in département Calvados, Normandy* Saint-Germain-de-Montgommery, idem* Colleville-Montgomery, idem-In Pakistan:...
, the senior lecturer, ordered a boycott so the welcoming party consisted only of the Commandant and Dorman-Smith. This was, perhaps, another fateful disagreement with Montgomery
Montgomery
-In France:* Sainte-Foy-de-Montgommery, a commune in département Calvados, Normandy* Saint-Germain-de-Montgommery, idem* Colleville-Montgomery, idem-In Pakistan:...
.
In 1950, he joined Clann na Poblachta, a new party led by Sean MacBride
Seán MacBride
Seán MacBride was an Irish government minister and prominent international politician as well as a Chief of Staff of the IRA....
, who had been an IRA officer in Carlow during Chink's posting there. His ties and allegiance to the UK were fading fast. In May 1951 he stood for election to the Dail as an independent candidate, since Clann were already supporting another candidate, but received very few votes. He later became an IRA advisor to the IRA Executive during the 1950s Border Campaign
Border Campaign
The Border Campaign may refer to several armed campaigns, in particular:*The US Army's Mexican Border Campaign of 1916-17*The Irish Republican Army's Border Campaign of 1956-62...
.
His first contact with the IRA seems to have been in the aftermath of their raid on the Gough Barracks in Armagh on 12 June 1954. Chief of Staff Tony Magan
Tony Magan
Tony Magan was an Irish republican and chief of staff of the Irish Republican Army .Magan was a son of farmer James Magan and his wife Elizabeth, of Kilmore, County Meath....
and the Adjutant-General Charlie Murphy
Charlie Murphy
Charles Quinton "Charlie" Murphy is an American actor, comedian, and writer notable as being a cast member and writer on the Comedy Central sketch-comedy series Chappelle's Show...
visited him for discussions at Bellamont Forest. In July 1954, he spoke at a reunification rally in Manchester, making it clear that he was distancing himself from the policies of the UK. He began, however, to grow frustrated at not being made part of the decision-making process of the IRA and when a raid on Omagh went wrong, he began to realise that the IRA did not meet his ideals of efficiency.
During 1955 and 1956, his estate was used as a training-ground by the IRA twice a year at weekends but he was excluded from playing any active role despite his eagerness to assist. There were probably general disccussions about tactics but the IRA held him at arms-length. Ironically, he was probably more eager to wage war than they were, but he took no account of the fact that the IRA was not a national army and could operate on the same scale, with the same inattention to casualties.
He does not appear to have kept these contacts secret. Daphne du Maurier
Daphne du Maurier
Dame Daphne du Maurier, Lady Browning DBE was a British author and playwright.Many of her works have been adapted into films, including the novels Rebecca and Jamaica Inn and the short stories "The Birds" and "Don't Look Now". The first three were directed by Alfred Hitchcock.Her elder sister was...
, wife of his former Sandhurst adjutant "Boy" Browning
Frederick Browning
Lieutenant-General Sir Frederick Arthur Montague Browning GCVO, KBE, CB, DSO was a British Army officer who has been called the "father of the British airborne forces". He is best known as the commander of the I Airborne Corps and deputy commander of First Allied Airborne Army during Operation...
, even wrote a story about this side of his life - A Border-Line Case. The British establishment,however, seems to have dismissed him as a harmless crank. On 15 December 1956, after the failure of Operation Harvest and the introduction of the Special Powers Act
Special Powers Act
The Special Powers Act is the informal name for several acts of legislation worldwide, including:* The Civil Authorities Act 1922.* The Armed Forces Act, 1958 of India....
, Murphy
Murphy
Murphy is an Anglicized version of two Irish surnames: Ó Murchadha/Ó Murchadh , and Mac Murchaidh/Mac Murchadh derived from the Irish personal name Murchadh, which meant "sea-warrior" or "sea-battler"...
and Sean Cronin
Seán Cronin
Seán Cronin was a journalist and former Irish Army officer and twice Irish Republican Army chief of staff.Cronin was born in Dublin in 1920 but spent his childhood years in Ballinskelligs, in the County Kerry Gaeltacht....
visited to convey the message that his usefulness to the IRA cause was over.
He died from stomach cancer on 11 May 1969 at Lisdarne hospital, Cavan.
Characteristics and reputation
Dorman-Smith was an unorthodox commander and has attracted contrasting opinions. To some, such as Basil Liddell HartBasil Liddell Hart
Sir Basil Henry Liddell Hart , usually known before his knighthood as Captain B. H. Liddell Hart, was an English soldier, military historian and leading inter-war theorist.-Life and career:...
, he was "...the outstanding soldier of his generation". To others, such as Field Marshal Lord Carver and Alanbrooke
Alan Brooke, 1st Viscount Alanbrooke
Field Marshal The Rt. Hon. Alan Francis Brooke, 1st Viscount Alanbrooke, KG, GCB, OM, GCVO, DSO & Bar , was a senior commander in the British Army. He was the Chief of the Imperial General Staff during the Second World War, and was promoted to Field Marshal in 1944...
, he was a "sinister influence" and the major cause of Auchinleck's dismissal. Montgomery
Bernard Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein
Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, KG, GCB, DSO, PC , nicknamed "Monty" and the "Spartan General" was a British Army officer. He saw action in the First World War, when he was seriously wounded, and during the Second World War he commanded the 8th Army from...
called him "a menace". Despite Montgomery's personal antipathy, it is interesting to note that the battle of Alam Halfa was fought on a plan very close to that conceived by Dorman-Smith for Auchinleck and that Montgomery made skilful use of the defensive system that Dorman-Smith had been instrumental in planning and laying-out. The key characteristic of Dorman-Smith's career is that he was not politically astute and made a number of enemies in the 1920s and 1930s who subsequently worked against him - including Penney, Montgomery
Montgomery
-In France:* Sainte-Foy-de-Montgommery, a commune in département Calvados, Normandy* Saint-Germain-de-Montgommery, idem* Colleville-Montgomery, idem-In Pakistan:...
and, most significantly in view of his fall from grace, Alan Brooke: "I had been worried for some time by Auchinleck's handling of armoured formations, mainly due to his listening to the advice of "Chink" Dorman-Smith." It should also be pointed out that Montgomery finally initiated battle at El Alamein at a later date than had previously been envisaged in the Auchinleck/Dorman-Smith plan, which was partly responsible for their dismissals.
He did not set out to make himself popular nor to endear himself to his colleagues - he was too eager to make the army mobile and effective to care about what other people might think. He often seems to have come across as arrogant and dismissive of people who did not share his views on outmoded forms of military thinking and organisation - such as the rigid and traditional separation in the British Army between infantry and armoured regiments. His private papers show that he was prone to bouts of introspection and insecurity, which would probably have surprised the men whose feathers he had ruffled.
He successfully sued Churchill, forcing him to amend The Hinge of Fate, part of his history of World War II, so that an implied slur on the fighting mettle of Auchinleck
Auchinleck
Auchinleck ; is a village five miles south-east of Mauchline, and a couple of miles north-west of Cumnock in East Ayrshire, Scotland.Near the village is Auchinleck House, past home of the lawyer, diarist and biographer James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck.Auchinleck has much been associated...
was removed. Less acrimoniously, Montgomery
Montgomery
-In France:* Sainte-Foy-de-Montgommery, a commune in département Calvados, Normandy* Saint-Germain-de-Montgommery, idem* Colleville-Montgomery, idem-In Pakistan:...
was also forced to tone down his criticisms of his predecessors in the 8th Army when he published his memoirs in August 1958. When Alexander
Alexander
Alexander is a common male first name, and less common surname. The most famous is Alexander the Great, the King of Macedon who created one of the largest empires in ancient history.- Origin :...
brought out his memoirs in 1961, "Chink" was preparing his case but his legal team advised him to withdraw.
Cultural Contacts
His next meeting with Hemingway after the latter's departure from Genoa in 1919 took place in Paris in 1922, where "Chink" was spending his vacation with his parents. Hemingway was living there with his wife Hadley and working as a freelance journalist. He invited Dorman-Smith to accompany them to Montreux. They spent their days fishing and climbing mountains and Hemingway alluded to this holiday in Green Hills of Africa. They decided to show Hadley around Milan and, en route, crossed the St Bernard Pass on foot - an adventure commemorated by Hemingway in A Moveable Feast.They met up over Christmas 1922, again in Montreux, and spent the visit luging and ski-ing. In early 1923, Hemingway visited Dorman-Smith in Cologne on behalf of the Toronto Star newspaper. During the following summer, he visited them in Paris where Hemingway introduced him to the intelligentsia, including John Dos Passos
John Dos Passos
John Roderigo Dos Passos was an American novelist and artist.-Early life:Born in Chicago, Illinois, Dos Passos was the illegitimate son of John Randolph Dos Passos , a distinguished lawyer of Madeiran Portuguese descent, and Lucy Addison Sprigg Madison of Petersburg, Virginia. The elder Dos Passos...
, Gertrude Stein
Gertrude Stein
Gertrude Stein was an American writer, poet and art collector who spent most of her life in France.-Early life:...
, James Joyce
James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century...
, Ford Madox Ford
Ford Madox Ford
Ford Madox Ford was an English novelist, poet, critic and editor whose journals, The English Review and The Transatlantic Review, were instrumental in the development of early 20th-century English literature...
and Ezra Pound
Ezra Pound
Ezra Weston Loomis Pound was an American expatriate poet and critic and a major figure in the early modernist movement in poetry...
. Hemingway
Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway was an American writer and journalist.Hemingway may also refer to:*Hemingway , a surname and list of people with that name*Hemingway , a Marvel Comics character*Hemingway, South Carolina...
's first book, In Our Time, was dedicated to Dorman-Smith and includes some anecdotes from "Chink's" memories of the Mons campaign.
In March 1924, he paid another visit to Paris and became godfather
Godparent
A godparent, in many denominations of Christianity, is someone who sponsors a child's baptism. A male godparent is a godfather, and a female godparent is a godmother...
to Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Miller Hemingway was an American author and journalist. His economic and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the...
's eldest son John
Jack Hemingway
John "Jack" Hadley Nicanor Hemingway was an American writer and conservationist. He was born in Toronto, Canada, the only child of American writer Ernest Hemingway's marriage to his first wife Hadley Richardson. He would later gain two half-brothers from Hemingway's second marriage to Pauline...
.
That summer, in company with Dos Passos, Donald Ogden Stewart
Donald Ogden Stewart
Donald Ogden Stewart was an American author and screenwriter.-Life:His hometown was Columbus, Ohio. He graduated from Yale University, where he became a brother to the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity , in 1916 and was in the Naval Reserves in World War I.After the war he started to write and found...
and Robert McAlmon, they visited the San Fermin festival in Pamplona in July and participated in the bull-running,. This stay was probably one of the fountain springs for Hemingway
Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway was an American writer and journalist.Hemingway may also refer to:*Hemingway , a surname and list of people with that name*Hemingway , a Marvel Comics character*Hemingway, South Carolina...
's novel The Sun also Rises. Characteristics of Dorman-Smith can be seen in the minor character Wilson-Harris.
Proof of the high esteem in which Hemingway
Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway was an American writer and journalist.Hemingway may also refer to:*Hemingway , a surname and list of people with that name*Hemingway , a Marvel Comics character*Hemingway, South Carolina...
held Dorman-Smith is contained in his 1924 poem To Chink Whose Trade is Soldiering. However, after their next meeting in April 1926, when Dorman-Smith was accompanying an army rugby team to Paris, they gradually drifted apart because of the stresses of Dorman-Smith's military career and the changes in Hemingway's lifestyle. They did not meet again till Dorman-Smith was touring the USA in April 1950. He is widely believed to be one of the models for Colonel Richard Cantwell, the hero of Hemingway’s novel Across the River and Into the Trees
Across the River and Into the Trees
Across the River and Into the Trees is a novel by American writer Ernest Hemingway, published by Charles Scribner's Sons in September 1950. Prior to publication the novel was serialized in Cosmopolitan magazine. The title is derived from the last words of Confederate General Thomas J...
.
Family
Dorman-Smith's youngest brother, Reginald Dorman-SmithReginald Dorman-Smith
Colonel Sir Reginald Hugh Dorman-Smith GBE was a British diplomat, soldier and politician.-In politics:Dorman-Smith started his career with a strong interest in agriculture, becoming President of the National Farmers Union at the age of 32, and then later Minister of Agriculture...
, was Governor of Burma at the time of the Japanese invasion during the Second World War.
He had one son, Christopher, three grandchildren and two great grand-children.