John Nichols (British Army officer)

Major General John Sebastian Nichols, DSO & Bar, MC & Bar (5 July 1896 – 7 February 1954) was a senior British Army officer who, during the Second World War, commanded the 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division.

Early life and military career

Nichols was born on 5 July 1896 in the town of Markington, Yorkshire.^[1][2][3][4]. His father was the Reverend Sebastian Elijah Nichols, an Anglican clergyman, and his mother was Carolibe Isabel Mare.^[5]. He was educated at Eton College and was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the Lincolnshire Regiment of the British Army in September 1914, a month after the outbreak of the First World War in August.^[6] He served with the 1/5th Battalion, Lincolns, serving as part of the 138th (Libcoln and Leicester) Brigade of the 46th (North Midland) Division, on the Western Front, earning the nickname of "Crasher", and being awarded the Military Cross (MC) in 1918, in addition to being wounded.^[7][8]

Between the wars

Nichols joined the Indian Army during the interwar period, and attended the Staff College, Camberley from 1930 to 1931, alongside such students as George Hopkinson, Miles Dempsey, Manley James and George Symes. He later transferred to the Border Regiment.^[8] From 1937 to 1940, he was a member of the British military mission to Egypt^[9]. He the served in the Waziristan campaign, where he was awarded a Bar to his MC for operations with the Waziristan Field Force in 1921.^[10]

Second World War

During the Second World War he commanded the 1st Battalion, The Essex Regiment, and later a mixed formation known as Habforce^[11] which forced a successful conclusion to the Anglo-Iraqi War.^[8] Later in the Western Desert he commanded the 151st Infantry Brigade during the Battle of Gazala and the 10th Indian Infantry Division.^[8] From July 1942 he commanded the 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division, leading it in the First Battle of El Alamein, the Second Battle of El Alamein and in the Tunisian Campaign at the Battle of the Mareth Line. He was relieved of his command in March 1943 by General Sir Bernard Montgomery, the Eighth Army commander, blamed for his division's poor performance during the battle, although the blame was more a faulty plan than it was Nichols'.^[8] He was succeeded as 50th Division commander by one of Montgomery's protegees, Major General Sidney Kirkman.^[8] He later became commander of the 182nd Infantry Brigade in the United Kingdom from November 1943 until late March 1945.^[8] He also commanded the Special Allied Airborne Reconnaissance Force from March to July 1945. In August 1945 he took command of the 114th Infantry Brigade (formerly the 211th Infantry Brigade).^[9][8]

Postwar

He retired from the army as a brigadier, although he had attained the rank of acting major general during his military career.

References

Bibliography

• Smart, Nick (2005). Biographical Dictionary of British Generals of the Second World War. Barnesley: Pen & Sword. ISBN 1844150496.