Eric Dorman-Smith - Characteristics and Reputation

Characteristics and Reputation

Dorman-Smith was an unorthodox commander and has attracted contrasting opinions. To some, such as Basil Liddell Hart, he was "...the outstanding soldier of his generation". To others, such as 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. Carver, however, points out that Montgomery did make a decisive alteration to this plan by bringing up troops that were to have been held in reserve in the Nile Delta so as to form a continuous line of defence. The effect of this was to reduce the need for mobility for which the British Army in terms of organization, training and communications was not highly skilled - despite the efforts of people such as Dorman-Smith to reform it.

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.