Editing Arnold Potts (section)

{{Short description|Australian brigadier}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020}}
{{Use Australian English|date=July 2011}}
{{Infobox military person
|name=Arnold William Potts
|image= AWM 099103 Arnold Potts.jpg
|image_size= 
|alt= 
|caption= Arnold Potts at Torokina, Bougainville on 25 November 1945
|nickname= 
|birth_date= {{Birth date|1896|09|16|df=yes}}
|birth_place= Peel, [[Isle of Man]]
|death_date= {{Death date and age|1968|01|01|1896|09|16|df=yes}}
|death_place= [[Perth]], Western Australia
|placeofburial= 
|allegiance= Australia
|branch= [[Australian Army]]
|serviceyears= 1914–1945
|servicenumber= WX1574
|rank= [[Brigadier]]
|unit= 
|commands= [[23rd Brigade (Australia)|23rd Brigade]] (1942–45)<br/>[[21st Brigade (Australia)|21st Brigade]] (1942)<br/>[[Maroubra Force]] (1942)<br/>[[2/16th Battalion (Australia)|2/16th Battalion]] (1941–42)
|battles= 
{{tree list}}
* [[First World War]]
** [[Gallipoli Campaign]]
** [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]]
* [[Second World War]]
** [[Syria-Lebanon Campaign]]
** [[Kokoda Track Campaign]]
** [[Bougainville campaign (1944-45)|Bougainville campaign]]
{{tree list/end}}
|awards= [[Distinguished Service Order]]<br/>[[Officer of the Order of the British Empire]]<br/>[[Military Cross]]<br/>[[Mentioned in Despatches]] (4)<ref name=Edgar279>Edgar (1999), p. 279</ref>
|relations= 
|laterwork= Farmer and grazier
}}
[[File:Public art - Brigadier A.W. Potts, Kojonup.jpg|thumb|right|Bronze statue of Brigadier Potts at [[Kojonup, Western Australia]]]]
[[Brigadier]] '''Arnold William Potts''', {{postnominals|country=AUS|size=100%|sep=,|DSO|OBE|MC}} (16 September 1896 – 1 January 1968) was an Australian grazier and army officer who served in the [[First World War]] and led the [[21st Brigade (Australia)|21st Brigade]] of the [[Second Australian Imperial Force]] during its defence of the [[Kokoda Track Campaign|Kokoda Track]] during the [[Second World War]]. He had a distinguished career, however, his place in history has largely been unacknowledged due to his dismissal by General [[Thomas Blamey|Sir Thomas Blamey]], at the very point when Potts had fought the Japanese to exhaustion. His fighting withdrawal over the Kokoda Trail has been called "one of the most critical triumphs in Australian military history and one that an apathetic nation has still to honour".<ref>Brune (2003), p. 253</ref> Many contemporaries as well as Potts' official biographer regard this sacking as one of the most disgraceful actions of Blamey's military career. Following his dismissal, Potts went on to command the [[23rd Brigade (Australia)|23rd Brigade]] during the [[Bougainville campaign]] where he earned a reputation for setting high standards. He retired from the military following the end of the war and unsuccessfully pursued a career in politics. He died in 1968, aged 71.