John Dill - Military Career

Military Career

Dill was appointed regimental adjutant on 15 August 1906, having previously been assistant adjutant from 1902. Promoted captain on 12 July 1911, he was seconded to study at the Staff College, Camberley from 1 February 1913, and was still there on the outbreak of the First World War. He became brigade-major of the 25th brigade (8th division) in France where he was present at Neuve Chapelle. By the end of the war he was a brigadier and had been Mentioned in Despatches eight times. He was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in the 1918 New Year Honours. He also received a number of foreign decorations for his service, including the Légion d'honneur, in the degree of Officer, the French Croix de guerre, Commander of the Order of the Crown (Belgium), Officer of the Order of the Crown of Romania.

After the war he gained a reputation as a gifted army instructor. In the 1928 New Year Honours he was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB). In 1929 he was posted to India and in 1930 was promoted to major general before returning to appointments at the Staff College (for in fact the third time but this time as Commandant) and then to the War Office as Director of Military Operations and Intelligence, holding that post until 1 September 1936. Alongside his other positions, he was appointed to the largely honorary role of Colonel of the East Lancashire Regiment on 24 December 1932.

Dill was appointed General Officer Commanding British forces in Palestine on 8 September 1936, holding the post until 1937, and was knighted in the 1937 Coronation Honours with his promotion to Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB), and he was then appointed General Officer Commanding, Aldershot Command but at the outbreak of World War II he initially had to watch younger, junior officers be promoted over him. Seen as something of a dinosaur and poorly regarded by both Winston Churchill and Leslie Hore-Belisha, Minister for War, Dill was eventually posted as commander of I Corps in France on 3 September 1939. He was promoted to full general on 1 October 1939 (with seniority backdated to 5 December 1937). On returning to the UK in April 1940, Dill was appointed Vice Chief of the Imperial General Staff (and a member of the Army Council), under CIGS William Ironside, by the then Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain. On 27 May 1940, after Chamberlain had been replaced by Churchill, Dill replaced Ironside as CIGS. Later in 1940, Dill became ADC General to King George VI.

Dill was promoted field marshal on 18 November 1941 but by this time it was clear how poorly he and Churchill got on. Dill gained a reputation as unimaginative and obstructionist. Keen to get him out of the way, Churchill at the end of 1941 had Dill advanced to Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB) and posted him to Washington as his personal representative where he became Chief of the British Joint Staff Mission, then Senior British Representative on the Combined Chiefs of Staff. He showed a great flair as a diplomatic military presence. In 1943 alone he attended the Quebec Conference, the Casablanca Conference, the Tehran Conference and meetings in India, China and Brazil. He also served briefly on the combined policy committee set up by the British and United States governments under the Quebec Agreement to oversee the construction of the atomic bomb.

In the United States he was immensely important in making the Chiefs of Staff committee – which included members from both countries – function, often promoting unity of action. He was particularly friendly with General George Marshall and the two exercised a great deal of influence on President Roosevelt who described Dill as "the most important figure in the remarkable accord which has been developed in the combined operations of our two countries".