William Donovan Stamer William Donovan Stamer CB , CBE , DSO , MC ( 14 June 1895 – 21 September 1963 ) was a British army officer who was commissioned into the army at the outbreak of the First World War and served in the army until retirement in 1948 , finishing his career with the temporary rank of Major - general and serving as General Officer Commanding Sudan and Eritrea . First World War . After being educated at Rugby School , Stamer attended the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and was commissioned as a Second lieutenant into the North Staffordshire Regiment on 19 August 1914 ( just two weeks after Great Britain declared war on Germany ) , although this was subsequently backdated to 8 August 1914 . He joined the regiment ' s 1st Battalion in France in November 1914 and was promoted to Lieutenant in December 1914 . After a period as an acting - Captain , Stamer was promoted to Captain in March 1917 . In November 1917 he was Mentioned in Despatches by Sir Douglas Haig and about the same time was appointed the battalion adjutant . Stamer was still the battalion adjutant when the German army launched its Spring Offensive in March 1918 . On the first day of the offensive the battalion headquarters position was overrun and Stamer led a rearguard action despite during which he was wounded in the head . For his actions on that day he was awarded the Military Cross , the citation read : It was July before he returned to duty and in September he was appointed as second - in - command of the battalion with the rank of acting - Major . In the closing weeks of the war Stamer assumed command of the battalion when , during the Battle of the Selle , the commanding officer Lieutenant colonel Hodson was severely wounded and continued to command the battalion until the Armistice with Germany and after , being appointed an acting ( later temporary ) Lt - Col . Between the wars . In 1920 , Captain Stamer was seconded for service with the Egyptian Army until 1925 , from 1925 until 1930 he was attached to the Sudan Defence Force and it was not until 1930 that he rejoined the North Staffords . Having been promoted to Major in 1933 he was , by 1937 , serving with 2nd Battalion , North Staffordshire Regiment in Palestine . On Christmas Day 1937 , Stamer was commander of small force comprising two companies of his own battalion and a company of 1st Battalion , Border Regiment on operations against Arab raiders from Syria . Stamer ' s force came under fire and in an engagement that lasted most of the day Stamer ' s men inflicted 25 to 30 casualties upon their enemies while suffering less casualties themselves . Stamer was awarded the DSO for his leadership during the engagement , the citation read A further Mention in Despatches also arose from Stamer ' s involvement in the operations in Palestine during 1937 – 1938 . Stamer was promoted to Lt - Col in December 1938 . Second World War . By late 1940 he was an acting Colonel and Area Commander for Sollum and later Benghazi within Middle East Command . This work resulted in him being made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire ( CBE ) in July 1941 . The citation read : At the end of 1941 , Stamer has assumed command of 161st Infantry Brigade ( later 161st Indian Infantry Brigade ) then on garrison duties in Cyprus with the rank of temporary Brigadier . This was a short lived command as in May 1942 he was appointed command of 1st Sudan Defence Force Brigade . A further move followed shortly and Stamer was appointed to command 131st Infantry Brigade and led it at the Second Battle of El Alamein . Later in the war Stamer was Mentioned in Despatches for a third time . Post war . Following the end of the war , Stamer was appointed to the post of General Officer Commanding British Troops in Sudan and Eritrea , with the acting rank of Major - General . A further honour upon him in the same year was to be appointed Colonel of the Regiment for the North Staffordshire Regiment , a post he held for 10 years . In 1947 he was honoured by the American government with the award of Officer of the Legion of Merit and a year later was appointed a Companion of The Most Honourable Order of the Bath . A final substantive promotion to the substantive rank of Brigadier followed in March 1948 , before he retired in November 1948 with the honorary rank of Major - General .