William Gott
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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 distinction 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 Lieutenant General, given command of the British XIIIth Corps in early 1942 and led that formation in the battles of Gazala and First Alamein. In August of that year prime minister Winston Churchill removed General Sir Claude Auchinleck as C-in-C Middle East and acting GOC Eighth Army. Gott's aggressive, somewhat impetuous personality, reflected in his nickname "Strafer", appealed to Churchill, and Gott was chosen to take over Eighth Army, despite what Auchineck and General Sir Alan Brooke, the CIGS, saw as his shortcomings as a large-scale commander, highlighted by the confused see-saw of fighting before and during First Alamein. [Whatever his skills as an inspiring divisional leader, of 7th Armoured, for example, he seemed unable to translate these into the strategic sphere where co-ordination and co-operation between and among various fighting elements is essential.] Before he could take up his post, however, Gott was killed when his plane was shot down on the flight back to Cairo. Gott's replacement was Lt. General Bernard Montgomery.