William Gott
William "Strafer" Gott, during
World War II, was a
Lieutenant General in the
British Eighth Army. An officer in the King's Royal Rifle Corps (KRRC), Gott served with the BEF in France during World War I. Arriving in Egypt in 1939 as a Lieutenant Colonel commanding the 1st Battalion KRRC, he was successively GSO1 (Lt. Colonel), commander of the Support Group (Brigadier), and commanding officer (Major General) of the famed 7th Armoured Division (Desert Rats). Gott was promoted to Lt. General and command of the British 13th Corps in early 1942 and led that formation in the battles of Gazala and 1st Alamein. In August of that year Prime Minister Winston Churchill removed General Claude Auchinleck from Middle East Theater and acting Eighth Army command. Gott was chosen to take over Eighth Army but was killed when his plane was shot down on the flight back to Cairo. Gott's replacement was Lt. General Bernard Law Montgomery.
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