William Gott
William Henry Ewart Gott CB , CBE , DSO with clasp , MC (born August 13, 1897 in Harrow , London , † August 7, 1942 near Cairo ) was a British lieutenant general . He was last commander of the British 8th Army in World War II .
career
God attended the Harrow School , received 1915 officer's commission of the King's Royal Rifle Corps and served in the First World War with distinction in the British Expeditionary Force in France on the Western Front . There he received his nickname "Strafer" in allusion to the German saying " Gott strafe England " .
After the war he remained in the army as a career officer, graduated from Staff College and at the outbreak of World War II was a lieutenant colonel in chief of the 1st battalion of his old regiment, with which he was transferred to Egypt in 1939 . In the course of steady promotions he was first general staff officer , then commander of the 7th Support Group and finally commander of the 7th Panzer Division (known as Desert Rats ). After being promoted to Lieutenant General, he took over the British XIII in early 1942. Corps and led this in the battles of Gazala and the first battle of El Alamein .
When Winston Churchill replaced Claude Auchinleck as Commander-in-Chief in the Middle East and the British 8th Army in August 1942, God was chosen as the new Commander in Chief of the 8th Army. Before he could take up his new command, however, he fell when his Bristol Bombay transport plane was shot down. Instead, Bernard Montgomery became the new commander of the 8th Army .
God is buried in the El Alamein War Cemetery .
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | God, William |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | God, William Henry Ewart |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British officer in WWI and WWII |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 13, 1897 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Harrow |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 7, 1942 |
| Place of death | near Cairo |