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John DillBritish Field Marshal (1941).
Date of Birth: 25.12.1881
Country:  Great Britain |
Content:
- Early Life and Education
- Military Career
- World War I
- Interwar Years
- Command Positions
- World War II
- Retirement and Honors
Early Life and Education
John Dill was born in 1881, the son of a banking officer. He received his education at Cheltenham College and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, graduating in 1901. He also attended the Staff College, Camberley in 1914.
Military Career
Dill began his military career with the 1st Battalion, the Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment (Royal Canadians). He served in the Second Boer War (1899-1902).
World War I
During World War I, Dill held various staff positions, including Brigade Major, 25th Brigade, British Expeditionary Force (France, 1914-16); Second Staff Officer, 55th (West Lancashire) Division (1916); and General Staff Officer, 1st Grade, Operations Directorate, General Headquarters, BEF (1917-18).
Interwar Years
After the war, Dill became Chief Instructor at the Staff College, Camberley (1919). He commanded 53rd (Welsh) Division, Territorial Army (1922), and 2nd Brigade, Aldershot (1923-26). He also served as an instructor at the Imperial Defence College (1926-29) and as Chief of the General Staff, Western Command, India (1929-31).
Command Positions
From 1931 to 1934, Dill was Commandant of the Staff College, Camberley. He then served as Director of Military Operations and Intelligence (1934-36), General Officer Commanding, British Forces in Palestine and Trans-Jordan (1936-37), and Commander-in-Chief, Home Forces (1937-39).
World War II
At the outbreak of World War II, Dill commanded I Corps in France as part of the British Expeditionary Force. In April 1940, he became Deputy Chief of the Imperial General Staff under General E. Ironside. After the defeat of the BEF in France, Dill was appointed Chief of the Imperial General Staff (26 May 1940).
Retirement and Honors
Due to ill health, Dill relinquished his post as Chief of the Imperial General Staff on 25 December 1941. He was succeeded by Alan Brooke. Dill accompanied Churchill to Washington, D.C., where he served as Head of the British Joint Military Mission to the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff (1942-44). He also held honorary colonelcies in the Parachute Regiment and the Army Air Corps during this time.
Dill died in 1944 and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery, becoming the first foreigner to receive this honor.
