Major-General Frederick Elliot Hotblack (12 March 18879 January 1979) was a senior British Army officer who fought in the First World War as an early member of the Tank Corps (later the

Royal Tank Regiment The Royal Tank Regiment (RTR) is the oldest tank unit in the world, being formed by the British Army in 1916 during the First World War. Today, it is the armoured regiment of the British Army's 12th Armoured Infantry Brigade. Formerly known as th ...

) and commanded the 2nd Armoured Division in the early part of the Second World War.

Military career

Hotblack was commissioned into the Norfolk Regiment in 1915 and served in the First World War as an intelligence officer in France before transferring to the then "Heavy Branch" of the Machine Gun Corps (later the Royal Tank Corps) in 1916. In November, while a temporary Captain he guided a tank to its objective by walking ahead of it despite enemy fire. For this action he was awarded the DSO. On the 23rd, he took control of infantry who had lost their officers and with tanks organised an attack - earning a bar to his DSO. The citation for his bar, appearing in '' The London Gazette'' in July 1918, reads as follows: He took staff officer positions for the remainder of the War.Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives
/ref> He was awarded the Military Cross for "conspicuous gallantry, initiative and devotion to duty" in September 1918. While assessing the front, he found a German position blocking the advance and organised two tanks into action against it, riding in one of them himself. Despite being injured during the attack, after the tanks were knocked out he got the wounded to safety and arranged infantry for a defence against a counterattack. After the War he attended the

Staff College, Camberley Staff College, Camberley, Surrey, was a staff college for the British Army and the presidency armies of British India (later merged to form the Indian Army). It had its origins in the Royal Military College, High Wycombe, founded in 1799, which i ...

from 1920 to 1921, and served in the War Office before becoming brigade major of 1st Rhine Brigade in 1921. He was appointed an instructor at the Staff College in 1932,

military attaché A military attaché is a military expert who is attached to a diplomatic mission, often an embassy. This type of attaché post is normally filled by a high-ranking military officer, who retains a commission while serving with an embassy. Opport ...

at the British Embassy in Berlin in 1935 and Deputy Director of Staff Duties at the War Office in 1937. He served in Second World War on the General Staff of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) before becoming General Officer Commanding (GOC) 2nd Armoured Division in 1939Generals.dk
/ref> and then, following an accident in April 1940, being invalided out of the army in 1941.

References

Bibliography

Biography
Tank Museum, Bovington

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hotblack, Frederick 1887 births 1979 deaths Machine Gun Corps officers British Army generals of World War II Royal Norfolk Regiment officers Military personnel from Norfolk Royal Tank Regiment officers Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Recipients of the Military Cross Graduates of the Staff College, Camberley British Army personnel of World War I British Army major generals British military attachés Academics of the Staff College, Camberley Military personnel from Norwich