Reginald Miles

Brigadier Reginald Miles, CBE, DSO & Bar, MC (10 December 1892 – 20 October 1943) was a professional soldier who served in the New Zealand Military Forces during the First and Second World Wars.

Miles was a New Zealand entrant into the Australian Royal Military College, Duntroon, from which he graduated in 1914. He served as an artillery officer in the First World War and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order for his actions during the German spring offensive. He remained in the military after the war, holding artillery commands for the next several years. When the Second World War broke out, Miles was the Quartermaster General of the New Zealand Military Forces. In 1940, he was seconded to the 2nd New Zealand Division as its commander of artillery. He saw action during the Battle of Greece and later during Operation Crusader in North Africa. Captured during fighting near Tobruk in late 1941, he was held in a prisoner of war camp in Italy but escaped in April 1943 with five other officers, including fellow New Zealander James Hargest. By October, Miles had made his way to Spain where, overcome with depression, he committed suicide.

Early life Reginald Miles was born in Springston, near Christchurch, on 10 December 1892 to William and Mary Miles, who were farmers. Educated at Rangiora High School, he was commissioned in the school cadets in 1910. He was one of the limited number of officer cadets from New Zealand who, in 1911, enrolled in the Royal Military College in Duntroon, Australia, as part of the college's first intake following its establishment.

First World War A highly rated student, Miles was in the final year of his cadetship at Duntroon when the First World War broke out in the summer of 1914. He immediately volunteered for the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF) and was posted to the Canterbury Infantry Battalion. He took ill before the NZEF left New Zealand for the Middle East and was discharged. On recovery, he re-enlisted in the NZEF and this time was posted to a howitzer battery in the New Zealand Field Artillery. He embarked for Egypt in December 1914 with a draft of reinforcements for the NZEF. In May 1917 he was promoted to major and appointed commander of a howitzer battery.

In July 1918, Miles was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO), having originally been recommended for the Victoria Cross, for his actions during the German spring offensive. His battery had come under threat from an advance by the enemy. He rounded up nearby infantry to reinforce his position, which had nearly exhausted its ammunition, and manned a fire trench. He then undertook a reconnaissance ahead of his position but was wounded by sniper fire.

After recuperating from his wounds, Miles returned to active service in July as brigade major of the Field Artillery of the New Zealand Division. He was mentioned in despatches in November 1918.

Miles was posthumously awarded a bar to his DSO for his efforts in escaping from Italy. The citation for the bar, published in the New Zealand Gazette on 21 September 1944, read:

Legacy Miles was survived by his four daughters from his marriage to Aimée Zita Donnelly, whom he had married in Egypt in 1916, and his second wife, Rosalind Georgette Bisset-Smith, whom he had wed in 1940 following the death of his first wife a few years previously. His second marriage did not result in any children. His only son was a lieutenant in the Fleet Air Arm; he also served in the Second World War and was killed travelling aboard HMS Glorious when the ship was attacked and sunk by the German battleships and off Norway on 8 June 1940.