BrigadierJohn Sebastian Nichols,DSO &Bar, MC &Bar (5 July 1896 – 7 February 1954) was aBritish Army officer who fought during both theFirst World War and theSecond World War. During the latter his most notable role was when he commanded the50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division during theSecond Battle of El Alamein and in theTunisian campaign from 1942 to 1943.^[5]

Nichols was born on 5 July 1896 in the town ofMarkington,Harrogate,West Riding of Yorkshire.^[6][7][8][9] His father was the Reverend Sebastian Elijah Nichols, an Anglican clergyman, and his mother was Caroline Isabel Mare.^[10]

Nichols was educated atEton College and, after volunteering for theBritish Army, shortly after the outbreak of theFirst World War, he wascommissioned as asecond lieutenant into the Lincolnshire Regiment (later theRoyal Lincolnshire Regiment) in late September 1914.^[11][1] Promoted tolieutenant in early August 1915,^[12] and a captain in early June 1916,^[13] he served with the 1/5th Battalion, Lincolns, serving as part of the138th (Lincoln and Leicester) Brigade of the46th (North Midland) Division, on theWestern Front for most of the war, earning the nickname of "Crasher", and being awarded theMilitary Cross (MC) in 1918, in addition to being twice wounded. The citation for his MC reads:

For conspicuous gallantry and able leadership on 17th October, 1918, when the enemy position south-east of Vaux Andigny was attacked. He led his company under severe fire from Bellevue Ridge on the left flank, and later collected scattered parties of men and reorganised the line until the left flank had been cleared. He was largely responsible for organising a second attack on the village of Andigny les Fermes, which was strongly held. This attack was successful.^[14]

Nichols, made an honorary lieutenant in late November 1919,^[15] like many others who had joined up initially for the war, chose to remain in the army, which he did during theinterwar period. He transferred to theIndian Army reserve of officers and served with the21st Punjabis as anactingmajor^[16] in theWaziristan campaign, where he was awarded aBar to his MC for operations with the Waziristan Field Force in 1921.^[17] He transferred back to the British Army to theBorder Regiment in March 1922.^[18] By now a captain,^[19] and returning to England, he attended theStaff College, Camberley from 1930 to 1931,^[20] serving alongside such students asG. F. Hopkinson,A. H. Hornby,M. C. Dempsey,M. A. James,J. S. Steele,W. H. E. Gott andG. W. Symes.

After graduating from Camberley in December 1931 he served, from November 1932, as aGeneral Staff Officer (GSO) for Physical Training withAldershot Command,^[21] and was promoted tobrevet major in early January 1936.^[22] In February 1935 he then became abrigade major with the13th Infantry Brigade, then commanded byBrigadierJohn Priestman and was sent toPalestine during theArab revolt there.^[23][24] Relinquishing this position in February 1937,^[25] to Major Manley James, one of his fellow students at Camberley, he was promoted to permanent major in August 1937.^[26] From 1938 to 1940, he was Chief Instructor of the Senior Officers' School of the British Military Mission to the Egyptian Army, and was promoted to the local rank oflieutenant colonel.^[27]

During theSecond World War, Nichols served with a mixed formation known asHabforce^[28] which forced a successful conclusion to theAnglo-Iraqi War. He later commanded the 1st Battalion,Essex Regiment, then serving as part of the23rd Brigade ofMajor-GeneralRonald Scobie's70th Infantry Division, duringOperation Crusader, in November 1941.^[1] In late January 1942, shortly before the battalion departed forIndia, he took command of the151st Infantry Brigade, part of the50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division, and in late June commanded the10th Indian Infantry Division, whereby he was promoted to the acting rank of major-general.^[29][5]

From July 1942 he succeeded Major GeneralWilliam Ramsden asGeneral Officer Commanding (GOC) of the 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division, leading it in theFirst Battle of El Alamein, theSecond Battle of El Alamein in late October and in theTunisian campaign at theBattle of the Mareth Line in March 1943, where it formed part ofLieutenant GeneralSir Oliver Leese'sXXX Corps. However, he was relieved of his command in mid-April 1943 byGeneralSir Bernard Montgomery, theBritish Eighth Army commander, blamed for his division's relatively poor performance during the battle, although the blame was more a faulty plan than it was Nichols's fault.^[1][30] He was succeeded as GOC 50th Division by one of Montgomery's protegees, Major GeneralSidney Kirkman, an artilleryman who, like Horrocks, had been at the Staff College alongside Nichols in the year below during Nichols's second year and more importantly was one of Montgomery's many protégés.^[1] For his services in the Middle East Nichols was twicementioned in despatches.^[31][32]

He later commanded the182nd Infantry Brigade, part of Major-GeneralCharles Wainwright's61st Infantry Division, in the United Kingdom from November 1943, being made a temporary brigadier the following month, and a lieutenant colonel in mid-January 1944^[33] He also commanded theSpecial Allied Airborne Reconnaissance Force from March to July 1945. In August 1945 he took command of the114th Infantry Brigade (formerly the211th Infantry Brigade).^[1][5]

He retired from the army as a colonel,^[34] although he had attained the rank of acting major general during his military career and most sources state he was a brigadier. He died on 7 February 1954 atAldershot,Hampshire, at the relatively young age of 57.

Nick Smart writes that the, "rise and fall of 'Crasher' Nichols was due, no doubt, to a variety of factors. But what his wartime trajectory demonstrates was the importance of patronage in making or breaking an officer's career. An 'old desert hand', he had shown himself 'a brave and honourable soldier'. His 'failure' at Mareth may have been due to his own shortcomings, as Montgomery, by this time enraptured by his own 'left hook' success, expressed with such emphatic authority. But the alternative possibility, that too much was demanded of him and his Division and that blame for the failure of the frontal attack lay higher up the chain of command, has scarcely had an airing. Later in the war, Leese, Nichols' corps commander at Mareth, had to, as he put it, 'carry the can for Dickie (Mountbatten)'. The possibility remains that Leese withdrew his patronage from Nichols because, embarrassed by his own failure, he needed someone to carry his can."^[35]

• Blaxland, Gregory (1977).The Plain Cook and the Great Showman: The First and Eighth Armies in North Africa. Kimber.ISBN 0-7183-0185-4.
• Callahan, Raymond (2007).Churchill and His Generals. University Press of Kansas, 2007.ISBN 978-070061512-4.
• Converse, Alan (2011).Armies of Empire: The 9th Australian and 50th British Divisions in Battle 1939–1945. Cambridge University Press.ISBN 978-0521194808.
• Smart, Nick (2005).Biographical Dictionary of British Generals of the Second World War.Barnsley,South Yorkshire:Pen and Sword Books.ISBN 1844150496.

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