Eric Dorman-Smith
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Dorman_o_gowan.jpg
Major-General Eric "Chink" Dorman-Smith - British soldier. Born 1895 (Bellamont Forest, Cootehill, County Cavan, Ulster, Ireland) - Died 1969 (Ulster). Later in life, Dorman-Smith became known as Eric Edward Dorman O'Gowan.
Dorman-Smith's youngest brother, Sir Reginald Dorman-Smith, was Governor of Burma at the time of the Japanese invasion during the Second World War.
In 1940 he became commandant of the Middle East Staff College where he gave military advice to General Archibald Wavell and General Claude Auchinleck. In April 1942 he became Director of Military Operations in Cairo and acting deputy chief of staff to the 8th Army.
Dorman-Smith became Commandant of the Middle East Staff College and by December 1940, was sent as an adviser to Major-General O'Connor and the Western Desert Force. Dorman-Smith is credited with planning Operation Compass and with the discovery of a gap in the Italian lines south of Sidi Barrani. He was a godfather to one of Ernest Hemingway's sons and was a close friend of the author.
Until 6th August 1942, Dorman-Smith served as second in command to Field-Marshal Sir Claude Auchinleck when both of them were sacked; Dorman-Smith never held any important military positions after this date.
According to John Bierman and Colin Smith in their 2002 book The Battle of Alamein: Turning Point, World War II, Dorman-Smith was "a practiced seducer of other men's wives."
Basil Liddell Hart called Dorman-Smith, "...the outstanding soldier of his generation."
Following his sacking in 1942 Dorman-Smith fell out with the military establishment, became disillusioned with Britain and in 1949 adopted the Irish name O'Gowan, later becoming an IRA sympathiser and Irish nationalist.
External links
- Dorman-Smith's papers (http://rylibweb.man.ac.uk/data2/spcoll/ogowan)