Arnold Potts

Infobox Military Person
name=Arnold William Potts
lived=16 September 1896 – Death date and age|1968|1|1|1896|9|16|df=yes
placeofbirth=Peel, Isle of Man
placeofdeath=Perth, Western Australia


caption=
nickname=Potto (World War I)/Pottsy (World War II)
allegiance=Australian Army
serviceyears=1915 - 1945
rank=Brigadier
commands=4th Light Trench Mortar Battery First AIF
2/16th Battalion Second AIF
Maroubra Force
21st Brigade Second AIF
23rd Brigade
unit=
battles=World War I
* Gallipoli 1915
* France 1916-18
World War II
* Syria 1941
* Kokoda Trail 1942
* Bouganville 1944-1945
awards=Distinguished Service Order
Officer of the Order of the British Empire
Military Cross
Mentioned in Dispatches (4 times)
laterwork=Farmer and Grazier

Brigadier Arnold William Potts DSO, OBE, MC (16 September 1896 – 1 January 1968) was an Australian grazier who served in World War I, and led 21st Brigade of the Second AIF during its desperate, heroic and ultimately successful defence of the Kokoda Trail during World War II.

His career was one of bravery, diligence and sustained high achievement. However, his place in history has largely been unacknowledged, due to his dismissal by General Thomas Blamey, at the very point when Potts had fought the Japanese to exhaustion. Many contemporaries as well as Potts' official biographer regard this act as one of the most disgraceful actions of Blamey's military career.

First World War

Potts joined the First AIF in January 1915, having previously served in the Army cadets and CMF. He was quickly promoted to Acting Sergeant at the age of eighteen, due both to his prior service and his obvious leadership qualities. He soon earned the respect of his men, most of whom were much older than he. Potts was posted as a reinforcement to 16th Battalion at Gallipoli in July, just in time to participate in the bloody battles of 7 and 8 August.

He stayed with the Battalion after it was evacuated in December and subsequently posted to France in July 1916. Potts, who by this time had been promoted to Captain and given command of a Light Trench Mortar Battery, was awarded the Military Cross for gallantry in late August during the Battle of Mouquet Farm. He had led his Battery in unstinting support of the rest of the Battalion during its advance, even though the Battery itself had been almost continually under attack in the most horrendous of conditions.

Potts' luck ran out on 6 July 1918, when he received a serious gunshot wound in the chest, which he barely survived. After repatriation in early 1919, he eventually married and settled down to a life of farming in Kojonup, Western Australia.

econd World War

Early Days

In April 1940, Potts joined the second AIF as a Major and the second member of the newly formed 2/16th Battalion. Although by now 44 years of age, he was a dynamic and widely respected officer. He played a key role in staffing the Battalion and getting it ready for action in Syria in 1941, where he was awarded the DSO for inspiring leadership at the Battle of Litani River on 9 and 10 June. His outstanding performance during the Syrian campaign was further rewarded with promotion to Lieutenant Colonel and command of the 2/16th, an appointment he was always to regard with great fondness.

Kokoda Trail

After Kokoda

Post War

Further reading

Edgar, Bill "Warrior of Kokoda - A Biography of Brigadier Arnold Potts", Allen & Unwin 1999. ISBN 1-86448-908-1