Michael E Haskew describes the career of the often-overlooked British Army officer who contributed mightily to the special relationship between Great Britain and the United States just at the time when the critical alliance was most needed.
Champion of Co-operation in the Allied Cause
The encounter was intense… and indeed unpleasant. Field Marshal Sir John Dill, Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS) and the highest-ranking officer in the British Army, had just emerged from another contentious meeting with Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
These were the dark days of 1940, with the war in its second year and Churchill had railed on the topic of the Middle East. “The prime minister lost his temper with me,” Dill confided to another officer. “I could see the blood come up in his great neck and his eyes began to flash. He said: ‘What you need out there is a court martial and a firing squad.’ I should have said, whom do you want to shoot exactly; but I did not think of it till afterwards.”
The thoughtful Dill, a career army officer who had served in the Second Boer War, proven himself in combat during the Great War and held commands across the Empire, was 58 years old. A gifted and well-reputed trainer…
