to major in March 1935, he relinquished this appointment on 21 April 1936. He then completed a two-year staff posting to the Royal Air Force (RAF) School of Co-operation in January 1938. Second World War During the Second World War, Kirkman served initially as Commanding Officer (CO) of the 65th Medium Regiment, Royal Artillery, a second line Territorial Army unit, which in 1940 was sent overseas to France to join the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), where it fought in the Battle of France, only to evacuated at Dunkirk, along with most of the rest of the BEF. He was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) on 1 January 1941. He remained with the regiment until being promoted to acting brigadier on 23 March 1941 and being made Commander, Royal Artillery (CRA) successively in the 56th (London) Infantry Division, I Corps, VIII Corps, XII Corps and South-Eastern Command. Both XII Corps and South-Eastern Command were led by Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery, who came to form a very high opinion of Kirkman. Kirkman's rank of lieutenant colonel was confirmed on 22 May 1942. North Africa In August 1942 Montgomery was ordered to take command of the British Eighth Army in the Western Desert in North Africa. The following month, Kirkman followed him upon his new appointment as CRA of the Eighth Army (its chief gunnery officer). Montgomery, who thought very highly of Kirkman and requested him specifically, wanted to replace the Eighth Army's then CRA, Brigadier Noel Martin, and to replace him "I asked for Brigadier Kirkman from England whom I regarded as the best artilleryman in the British Army". Kirkman arrived in Egypt in early September, shortly after the Battle of Alam el Halfa, and his first night there was spent in Montgomery's guest caravan, where Montgomery explained to him his plans for his forthcoming offensive, to be known as the Second Battle of El Alamein. He then informed Kirkman what he wished the artillery to do in the battle and, having such tremendous confidence in Kirkman, left him to plan for the artillery's role, and never once interfered. Almost forty years later, Kirkman remarked upon this particular incidence to Nigel Hamilton: "I mean if one looks back, almost any other Commander in history, having attached importance to an event of that sort would probably have said 'Is everything all right − are you happy?' Not a