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{{short description|British soldier}}
{{Use British English|date=December 2020}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}}
{{Infobox military person
|name= Douglas Henry Pratt
|image=
|alt=
|caption=
|nickname=
|birth_date= {{birth date|1892|10|07|df=yes}}
|birth_place= [[Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh|Jaunpur]], [[British Raj|India]]
|death_date= {{Death date and age|1958|05|14|1892|10|07|df=yes}}
|death_place=
|placeofburial=
|allegiance= {{flag|United Kingdom}}
|branch= {{army|United Kingdom}}
|serviceyears=1911−1946
|rank= [[Major-general (United Kingdom)|Major General]]
|servicenumber= 4584
|unit=[[Royal Irish Regiment (1684–1922)|Royal Irish Regiment]] [[Royal Tank Regiment]]
|commands=[[2nd Royal Tank Regiment]] [[1st Army Tank Brigade (United Kingdom)|1st Army Tank Brigade]]
|battles=[[World War I]] [[World War II]]
|awards=[[Order of the Bath|Companion of the Order of the Bath]] [[Distinguished Service Order]] [[Military Cross]] [[Mentioned in dispatches]] (3) [[Legion of Merit]] (United States)
|spouse=
|laterwork=
}}
[[Major-general (United Kingdom)|Major General]] '''Douglas Henry Pratt''' {{post-nominals|country=UK|sep=,|CB|DSO|MC}} (7 October 1892 – 14 May 1958) was a [[British Army]] officer who served in [[World War I]] and [[World War II]].{{sfn|Smart|2005|p=256}}

==Military career==
Douglas Henry Pratt was born in [[British Raj|British India]] on 7 October 1892 and was sent to [[England]] where he was initially educated at [[Dover College]] and later entered the [[Royal Military College, Sandhurst]], from where he was [[Officer (armed forces)|commissioned]] as a [[second lieutenant]] into the [[Royal Irish Regiment (1684–1922)|Royal Irish Regiment]] on 20 September 1911.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=28532|page=6882|date=19 September 1911}}</ref><ref name="Officers of the British Army">{{cite web|url=https://www.unithistories.com/officers/Army_officers_P03.html#Pratt_DH|title=British Army officer histories|publisher=Unit Histories|access-date=2022-02-15}}</ref>

The first three years of Pratt's military career were spent in British India, until the [[British entry into World War I]] in August 1914.{{sfn|Smart|2005|p=256}} While there, he received a promotion to the rank of [[Lieutenant (British Army and Royal Marines)|lieutenant]] on 15 April 1914.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=28826|page=3555|date=1 May 1914}}</ref><ref name="Officers of the British Army" />

Pratt spent the [[World War I|First World War]] in [[Western Front (World War I)|Belgium and France]]. By the war's end in 1918 he had been awarded the [[Military Cross]] and the [[Distinguished Service Order]], [[mentioned in dispatches]] three times and, in 1916, had transferred to the Tank Corps, later the [[Royal Tank Regiment]].{{sfn|Smart|2005|p=256}}

Continuing his military service into the [[interwar period]], he attended the [[Staff College, Camberley]], from 1923−1924 and served as a [[Staff (military)|staff officer]] with the [[42nd (East Lancashire) Infantry Division]] from 1926−1928. Pratt served on exchange with the [[Australian Army]] and was appointed as the commandant of [[Royal Military College, Duntroon|Duntroon]] in 1931. He is the only non-Australian officer to have served in the role.{{sfn|Moore|2001|p=428}} Returning to England, he served on the staff at the [[War Office]] from 1934−1935 and later commanded the 2nd Battalion, Royal Tank Corps until 1937. The following year he returned to the War Office, this time as Assistant Director of Mechanization.{{sfn|Smart|2005|p=256}}

Remaining in this position until the outbreak of [[World War II]] in September 1939, he was promoted the following month to be the commander of the [[1st Army Tank Brigade (United Kingdom)|1st Army Tank Brigade]], which became part of the [[British Expeditionary Force (World War II)|British Expeditionary Force]] (BEF) in France. The tank brigade fought against the Germans in Belgium and Northern France, during the counter-attack at the [[Battle of Arras (1940)|Battle of Arras]] and the Allied [[Battle of Dunkirk|retreat to Dunkirk]].{{sfn|Smart|2005|p=256}}

After being [[Dunkirk evacuation|evacuated from France]], Pratt was promoted to major general and sent to [[Washington, D.C.]], in the [[United States]], to become Major General Armoured Fighting Vehicles where it was largely due to him that the [[M4 Sherman|Sherman tank]], which was then in development, was upgraded and up-gunned to British requirements. In 1943 he became Deputy Director of the British Supply Mission in Washington. The war over in 1945, Pratt retired from the army, after a thirty-five year career, in 1946.{{sfn|Smart|2005|p=256}}

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==Bibliography==
*{{cite book| first=Nick| last=Smart| title=Biographical Dictionary of British Generals of the Second World War| isbn=1844150496| year=2005| location=Barnesley| publisher=Pen & Sword}}
*{{cite book|last=Moore|first=Darren|title=Duntroon: The Royal Military College of Australia 1911–2001|year=2001|publisher=Royal Military College of Australia|location=Canberra|isbn=978-1-876439-97-2}}
*Buckton, Henry. ''Retreat: Dunkirk and the Evacuation of Western Europe.'' Amberley Publishing Limited, 2017. {{ISBN|1445664836}}

==External links==
*[https://www.unithistories.com/officers/Army_officers_P03.html#Pratt_DH British Army Officers 1939−1945]
*[https://generals.dk/general/Pratt/Douglas_Henry/Great_Britain.html Generals of World War II]

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pratt, Douglas Henry}}
[[Category:1892 births]]
[[Category:1958 deaths]]
[[Category:Royal Irish Regiment (1684–1922) officers]]
[[Category:Royal Tank Regiment officers]]
[[Category:British Army generals of World War II]]
[[Category:British Army personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:Military personnel of British India]]
[[Category:Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst]]
[[Category:Graduates of the Staff College, Camberley]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Military Cross]]
[[Category:Companions of the Order of the Bath]]
[[Category:Companions of the Distinguished Service Order]]
[[Category:People educated at Dover College]]
[[Category:Foreign recipients of the Legion of Merit]]
[[Category:War Office personnel in World War II]]
[[Category:British people in colonial India]]
[[Category:British Army major generals]]

Douglas Henry Pratt - Revision history

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