adjutant of 1st Field Artillery Brigade but later transferred to 15th Battery. He served on the Western Front with this unit and participated in the Battle of the Somme. As a result of his gallantry in action he was awarded the Military Cross in December 1916. 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. The citation for the DSO read: 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. The war ended that same month, due to the Armistice with Germany. Interwar period After his return to New Zealand, Miles served as commander of Wellington Harbour's defences. In 1924 he was posted to England to attend the British Army Staff College, after which he undertook specialist artillery courses. He returned to New Zealand in 1926 and, after serving at Army Headquarters in Wellington, was posted to Auckland to command artillery units. While in Auckland, he was awarded the King George V Silver Jubilee Medal. In 1937, he was promoted to colonel and appointed commander of the Northern Military District. The following year he was again sent to England to attend the Imperial Defence College. He was then attached to the War Office for three months before returning to New Zealand in 1939. In September 1939, he was appointed Quartermaster General of the New Zealand Military Forces. Second World War In January 1940, Miles was promoted to brigadier and seconded to the newly raised 2nd New Zealand Division as its commander, Royal Artillery. His command consisted of three field regiments, one for each brigade of the division, as well as an anti-tank regiment. In March 1940, he was dispatched to Egypt, where the first elements of the division had arrived, but was then sent to England, where he would spend the rest of the year. Here he