ALLIED LEADERS (9): General Sir John Dill

New Zealand Listener, Volume 2, Issue 28, 5 January 1940, Page 2

ALLIED LEADERS (9): General Sir John Dill

Army Corps of the British Expeditionary Force in France, General Sir John Greer Dill, K.C.B., C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O., is a British officer in the new tradition. He is intellectual, witty, and famous for his personal charm. He was 59 on Christmas Day. S ELECTED to command the Ist

Born in Belfast, of Irish parents, he was educated at Sandhurst and was serving in the South African War at the age of 19. Even at that age he was singled out as a future teacher and staff officer, and in 1914 he was an instructor at British military staff colleges. Most of his service in the 1914-18 campaign was as a staff officer, because of his knowledge of military tactics, but he took active service in the field, for which he was decorated by the British, French, and Belgian Governments. From 1926-28 he was instructor at Camberley; 1929-30 General Staff in India; 1931-34 commandant at Camberley Staff College where New Zealand staff corps officers met him; 1934-36 Director of Military Operations and Intelligence at the War Office. Then, in 1936, General Dill was appointed to command the British Forces in Palestine during the revolt there. A Syrian bandit put a price of £500 on his head. He was amused that they thought it so valuable. After his return from Palestine he was engaged in consultations with French Army generals and was impressed by the Maginot Line fortifications. Popular with both French and British, General Dill obtains results by persuasion, because he knows his job. He speaks French, which overcomes difficulties. His wife is the daughter of an Army Colonel. They have one son.