to Montgomery, which led to the German surrender at Lüneburg Heath the next day. In the meantime, Dempsey negotiated the surrender of the Hamburg garrison with Generalmajor Alwin Wolz. For his services in north west Europe, Dempsey was mentioned in despatches twice more, and he was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in July. The United States awarded him its Army Distinguished Service Medal, and made him a Commander of the Legion of Merit. The Belgian government awarded him its Croix de guerre with Palm and made him a Grand Officer of the Order of Leopold with Palm, and the Netherlands government made him a Knight Grand Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau with Swords. Far East After the end of World War II in Europe, Dempsey had been nominated to become the commander in chief of British Troops in Austria, but this was abruptly cancelled. On 4 July 1945, Dempsey was summoned to a meeting with Brooke, who informed Dempsey that he was appointed to the command of the Fourteenth Army in the Far East. Brooke was disappointed with Dempsey's attitude, noting in his diary that Dempsey was "suffering from a swollen head, and I took some pains to deflate it!" The appointment had come about because Leese, as Commander-in-Chief, Allied Land Forces South East Asia (ALSEA), had unwisely attempted to side-line Lieutenant-General Sir William Slim, the victorious Fourteenth Army commander, resulting in Leese's removal and replacement by Slim. Dempsey assumed command of the Fourteenth Army on 10 August. The war ended soon after, and the Fourteenth Army re-occupied British Malaya. Operation Zipper, the planned amphibious landing, was carried out anyway. Dempsey was extremely critical of its poor planning, which he believed would have led to disaster under wartime conditions. Within South East Asia Command there were 122,700 British Commonwealth and Dutch prisoners of war and 733,000 Japanese soldiers. Dempsey was in charge of their repatriation. He also had to deal with the Indonesian War of Independence. The Fourteenth Army ceased to exist on 1 November, and part of its headquarters was used to form that of Malaya Command, with Dempsey in command and his headquarters at Kuala Lumpur. On 8 November he handed over to Lieutenant-General Sir Frank Messervy, and replaced Slim, who returned to the UK, as Commander-in-Chief of ALSEA. Post-war career On 19 April 1946, Dempsey was appointed Commander-in-Chief of Middle