Lord Gort
Field Marshall Viscount John Standish Surtees Prendergast Vereker Gort of the Grenadier Guards won his VC at Canal du Nord, France, on 27th September 1918.
After the war Gort taught at the staff College and was promoted to the rank of colonel in 1925. He also served as Commander of the Guards Brigade (1930-32), Director of Military Training in India (1932-36) and Commander of the Staff College (1936-39).
Gort was made a full general in 1937 and later that year was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial General Staff.
In 1939 Gort was Commander-in-Chief of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) that went to France. The German offensive through the Ardennes during the invasion of France in May, 1940, left 10 divisions of the BEF caught and gradually squeezed onto the beaches of Dunkirk. He died in March, 1946.
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