Miles Christopher Dempsey commanded the Second British Army, the principal British element in the advance across Western Europe following the Normandy landings (D-day). He was born in New Brighton, England, and received his commission in 1915, in time to fight in France during World War I. At the outbreak of World War II in 1939, he held the rank of lieutenant colonel but was in command of an entire infantry brigade in France, performing brilliant rearguard cover for the Dunkirk Evacuation during May-June 1940. He was rapidly promoted, and in November 1942, as a lieutenant general, Dempsey assumed command of XIII Corps, Eighth British Army, in the North African Campaign. Dempsey's corps formed the right wing of Bernard Law Montgomery's forces in the Sicily Campaign, in July 1943. In September, it was Dempsey and his XIII Corps that led the invasion of mainland Italy across the Strait of Messina. In the remarkable span of 17 days, Dempsey led his corps some 300 miles up the Italian west coast to link up with Lieutenant General Mark Clark's Fifth U.S. Army forces at Salerno.

Modest, unassuming, efficient, and quietly competent, Dempsey made a stark contrast with the flamboyant and typically strident Montgomery. Nevertheless, Montgomery recognized talent when he saw it and chose Dempsey to command the Second British Army (which included Canadian and Polish as well as British units) in the Normandy invasion of June 1944. Dempsey landed on Gold, Juno, and Sword beaches on June 6, then advanced inland, capturing Caen on July 9. Dempsey was content to follow orders to batter at the German armored units, tying them down, while the First U.S. Army executed Operation Cobra and broke out of Normandy on July 25. Only then did Dempsey lead his army in battles at Mortain and Falaise, advancing swiftly eastward across northern France and Belgium after these engagements. After this advance, he was assigned a role in Operation Market Garden, Montgomery's failed and costly attempt in September 1944 to capture Arnhem, Netherlands, as a bridgehead into Germany.

It was March 1945 before Dempsey finally led the Second British Army across the Rhine. After crossing, he advanced northeastward, taking the major industrial centers of Bremen, Hamburg, and Kiel and reaching the Danish frontier by the end of the war in May 1945.

After Germany's surrender, Dempsey was transferred to the Asian theater, where he was named commander in chief of Allied land forces in Southeast Asia. He served in this post through V-J Day and in 1946 was transferred to chief command of forces in the Middle East. He served here until his retirement in 1947.

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