This book of letters and diaries has won for its Dublin-based editor Lavinia Greacen the distinction of being shortlisted for the Templer Prize, the equivalent for military historians of the Booker.
It builds on a path-breaking biography she wrote of Eric Dorman-Smith, known as Chink because with his narrow head and pointed ears he resembled his regiment’s mascot, a chinkara antelope. He was chief of staff and strategic adviser to Gen Claude Auchinleck when, in July 1942, Auchinleck stopped in his tracks Germany’s ace general Erwin Rommel, who had been sweeping all before him, advancing into Egypt.
This was not enough for British prime minister Winston Churchill, who was pressing for an immediate counter-offensive, which would have been disastrous. He sacked Auchinleck and Dorman-Smith. Bernard Montgomery, who then took charge and refused to be hurried, got all the credit when he routed Rommel’s army at Alamein some months later.
Only postwar, when Rommel’s letters were published, revealing that his hopes of victory had been blighted when checked by Auchinleck, was it realised how much of the credit for the ultimate British victory belonged to him and Dorman-Smith.
Meanwhile, embittered by his experience, Dorman-Smith had retired to his stately home in Cootehill, changed his name to Dorman O’Gowan, campaigned against Partition and even facilitated and advised IRA activists raiding the North in the 1950s. He made to sue Churchill for libel for a reference in his war memoirs, forcing Churchill to insert a footnote exculpating Dorman O’Gowan from blame for the reverses that preceded his dismissal.
Chink’s occasional diaries and letters, many written to the woman who was to become his second wife in 1949, contain perceptive, if somewhat partisan, observations on important historical events and those involved. They are linked together by commentaries written by Greacen and military historian John Lee.
The end product gives an insight into Chink’s personality, his intellectual arrogance and social insecurity spawning a contempt he did not conceal for what he called “blue bloods”, who dominated the top ranks of the British army. This, and a lack of interpersonal skills, marginalised him and ultimately ruined his career.
The book also contains Chink’s correspondence with his close friend Ernest Hemingway, who idolised him and used him as a model for several characters in his novels. Cantwell in Across the River and into the Trees is said to be based on Chink and his fate. The earlier In our Time was dedicated to Dorman-Smith.
