Eric Dorman-Smith - Between The Wars

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 Military Academy. 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 two-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 success 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 estimate 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.