Dill, Field Marshal Sir John

Dill, Field Marshal Sir John (1881–1944),British Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS) from May 1940 to December 1941, and then the representative of the British Chiefs of Staff committee in Washington.

After a brilliant career in the First World War, which he ended as a brigadier-general, Dill was appointed to command the 1st British Corps in September 1939. He was promoted general the following month, but his corps saw no action before he was recalled in April 1940 to become Vice-CIGS. He succeeded Ironside as CIGS the following month and it was his misfortune to preside over a disastrous period in British military history. He was plagued by ill health, failed to see eye-to-eye with Churchill, who nicknamed him ‘Dilly-Dally’, and after being promoted field marshal was obliged to retire in December 1941 to make way for Brooke.

The same month he accompanied Churchill to Washington and stayed on to head the British Joint Staff Mission there and to be the representative on the US Joint Chiefs of Staff committee for the minister of defence (Churchill) and the British Chiefs of Staff. His health improved and he soon became one of the crucial figures in cementing Anglo–US relations. His tact and persuasiveness became renowned, and he won the trust and friendship of Roosevelt and the US Chiefs of Staff. Roosevelt commented when he died in November 1944 that he was ‘the most important figure in the remarkable accord which has been developed in the combined operations of our two countries.’

He was buried in Arlington cemetery, the only foreigner to be honoured in this way, and was posthumously awarded the American DSM (see decorations). He was knighted in 1937.