Major General Robert Knox Ross, CB, DSO, MC (23 August 1893 – 3 November 1951) was a senior British Army officer who, during the Second World War, commanded the 53rd (Welsh) Infantry Division throughout the campaign in North-West Europe from June 1944 until May 1945.

[7] He married Kathleen Ogden in 1933 and, in 1937, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel[15] and assumed command of the 2nd Battalion of his regiment, then serving in Palestine during the Arab revolt, for which he was awarded his fourth mention in despatches.

[4] His rank of major general was made temporary on 12 September 1943,[18] and permanent on 12 December 1944 (with seniority backdated to 3 February 1944)[19] Ross trained the division in England for the next 21 months, leading it with great success during Operation Overlord, codename for the Allied invasion of Normandy, in the summer of 1944.

In February 1945 the division played a significant role in Operation Veritable (Battle of the Reichswald), later crossing the River Rhine in March and taking part in the Western Allied invasion of Germany, eventually ending the war in Hamburg in May.

[20] For his services in North-West Europe, Ross was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath in 1945, and awarded the French Legion of Honour and the Croix de guerre, the latter two in 1944.

Despite being not nearly as well known as other senior British commanders, General Sir Charles Harington, then CO of the 1st Battalion, Manchester Regiment, who later became GSO1, claimed Ross was "popular with everyone" and a "Father figure to the troops.

"[4] H. C. Kenway, then a junior staff officer, described Ross as "confident and impressive and greatly respected as a commander", although he "was not charismatic like many other generals and was rather reserved and introspective by nature.