William Gott

William Gott

Lieutenant-General William Henry Ewart Gott CB, CBE, DSO and bar, MC (13 August 1897 – 7 August 1942), nicknamed "Strafer", was a British Army officer during both the First and Second World Wars, reaching the rank of lieutenant-general when serving in the British Eighth Army. In August 1942 he was appointed as successor to Claude Auchinleck as commander of the Eighth Army. On the way to take up his command he was killed in a plane crash. His death led to the appointment of Bernard Montgomery in his place.