Eric Dorman-Smith

Brigadier Eric Edward "Chink" Dorman-Smith, MC (24 July 1895 – 11 May 1969), who later changed his name to Eric Edward Dorman O'Gowan, was an Irish officer whose career in the British Army began in the First World War and closed at the end of the Second World War. In the 1950s, Dorman-Smith (then Dorman O'Gowan) was involved with the Irish Republican Army (IRA).

In the 1920s, during the interwar period, he was one of the military thinkers in various countries, like Heinz Guderian in Germany and Charles de Gaulle in France, who realised that technology and motorisation were changing the way that wars and battles were fought. Influenced by J. F. C. Fuller, Archibald Wavell, B. H. Liddell Hart, and many others, Dorman-Smith tried to change the culture of the British Army and held a number of teaching and training roles in various parts of the British Empire. Although he made several contributions in advisory roles during the campaigns in the Western Desert from 1940 to 1941, it was not until May 1942 that he went on active service again. His service in the Second World War is shrouded in controversy and ended when he was fired from his command in August 1944.

Dorman-Smith was born to a mixed-religion couple in Bellamont Forest, Cootehill, County Cavan, Ireland. He was received into the Catholic Church four days after his birth as a result of his Catholic mother's pleading. ^{[clarification needed]} His younger brothers, Victor and Reggie, were baptised Protestant (though all three boys are listed as Catholic in the 1901 Census). His best friend as a child in Cootehill was John Charles McQuaid, the local doctor's son, who was later appointed Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin.

At the age of 12, he was sent to St Anthony's, a Catholic school in Eastbourne, Sussex. His Cavan accent and buck teeth made him stand out and, in the effort to modify his accent, he developed a stutter. While there, his parents moved to Maidenhead, Berkshire in England and, after a year, he was moved to Lambrook, which was a school attended by his younger brothers, whereupon his stutter vanished. In 1910, he went to Uppingham School, Rutland, where he befriended Brian Horrocks, a future general. During his school days he showed that he had strong principles: in particular there were episodes of casual anti-semitism towards friends of his which he reportedly took steps to address.

Dorman-Smith's father insisted he take the entrance exam for the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, in December 1912 and he scored 6969/12600, being placed 69th in the order of merit, thus obtaining one of the 172 available places. Horrocks also succeeded, ranked 171. After two terms, he passed out in exemplary fashion, leaving Horrocks to complete a third term, achieving 515/600 in military history and 2031/2800 in general military subjects. His overall score was 7976/10,500, placing him 10th. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the 1st Battalion of the Northumberland Fusiliers (later the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers) on 25 February 1914, just six months before the outbreak of the First World War. Dorman-Smith gained his nickname "Chink" on his first night in the officers' mess when his fellow subaltern, Richard Vachell, noted his resemblance to the chinkara antelope mascot that the regiment had had to leave behind when they moved back to England from India.

Dorman-Smith, along with the rest of his battalion, then serving as part of the 9th Brigade of the 3rd Division, was sent to France on 13 August 1914, nine days after Britain entered the First World War. He was among the first troops of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) to arrive. The battalion, and Dorman-Smith himself, were involved in the Battle of Mons, where he was wounded in the retreat. Later that year he was involved in the battles of Messines, Armentières and Ypres and, after being promoted on 15 November to the temporary rank of lieutenant, received another wound on 9 December. He was promoted to substantive lieutenant on 2 January 1915.

In May 1915 the battalion was involved in fighting at Railway Wood, near Ypres, during the Second Battle of Ypres. Although he had received a shrapnel wound and four lesser injuries from rifle bullets, he organised, under heavy fire, a withdrawal of the survivors of his battalion, for which he was awarded one of the first batch of the Military Cross (MC). Promoted to temporary captain on 26 June 1915, he was mentioned in dispatches on 1 January 1916 and his rank of captain was made permanent on 26 August 1916. After a difficult period of convalescence, he was sent to teach trench warfare to new recruits and in January 1917 he was posted to the Northern School of Instruction. He returned to active service in July 1917 and was temporarily promoted to the acting rank of major on 16 October; he was subsequently made second-in-command (2IC) of the 10th (Service) Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers, a Kitchener's Army battalion, then serving on the Western Front as part of the 68th Brigade of the 23rd Division.

In November 1917, Dorman-Smith was posted as a captain to the Italian Piave Front on attachment to the 68th Brigade School, and from 4 April until 6 July 1918 he served as adjutant to the 12th (Service) Battalion, Durham Light Infantry, another Kitchener's Army unit, serving in the same 68th Brigade of the 23rd Division. He was mentioned in dispatches a second time on 30 May 1918 and was again promoted to the temporary rank of major on 7 July 1918. He served as 2IC to the battalion and finished the war in Genoa, recovering from an attack of gastroenteritis, with a bar added to his MC. Upon his discharge from hospital he was appointed Commandant of the British Troops and sent to Milan. In Milan on 3 November 1918, he met Ernest Hemingway, who had been wounded at the Italian front and decorated with the Italian Silver Medal of Bravery while serving with the Red Cross. He was posted to the Military Landing Staff at Taranto before returning to England as adjutant to the Northumberland Fusiliers. He was mentioned in dispatches a third time on 9 January 1919.