Brigadier Brigadier ( ) is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore (rank), commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several t ...

Arthur Frederick Crane Nicholls, (6 February 1911 – 11 February 1944) was a

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

officer who was awarded the

George Cross The George Cross (GC) is the highest award bestowed by the British government for non-operational Courage, gallantry or gallantry not in the presence of an enemy. In the British honours system, the George Cross, since its introduction in 1940, ...

for gallantry and leadership on active service with the

Special Operations Executive Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a British organisation formed in 1940 to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance in German-occupied Europe and to aid local Resistance during World War II, resistance movements during World War II. ...

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

in 1944. He is the only member of the

Coldstream Guards The Coldstream Guards is the oldest continuously serving regular regiment in the British Army. As part of the Household Division, one of its principal roles is the protection of the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, monarchy; due to this, it often ...

to have been awarded the decoration.

Early life

Nicholls was born in

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, England, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, located mainly in the London Borough of Camden, with a small part in the London Borough of Barnet. It borders Highgate and Golders Green to the north, Belsiz ...

on 6 February 1911. He attended Shardlow Hall,

Marlborough College Marlborough College is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English private boarding school) for pupils aged 13 to 18 in Marlborough, Wiltshire, England. It was founded as Marlborough School in 1843 by the Dean of Manchester, George ...

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...

and studied law at

Pembroke College, Cambridge Pembroke College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college is the third-oldest college of the university and has over 700 students and fellows. It is one of the university's larger colleges, with buildings from ...

. After graduating in 1933, he worked as a stockbroker. He was commissioned into the 86th (East Anglian) (

Hertfordshire Yeomanry The Hertfordshire Yeomanry was a Yeomanry Cavalry regiment of the British Army that could trace its formation to the late 18th century. First seeing mounted service in the Second Boer War and World War I, it subsequently converted to artillery. Th ...

) Field Brigade,

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

, Territorial Army as a second lieutenant in August 1933, was promoted

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

on 3 August 1936, and transferred to the

(Supplementary Reserve) in May 1937.

Second World War

Mobilised in 1939, Nicholls went to France with the 2nd Battalion Coldstream Guards, but was soon posted to the Headquarters of the First Division as an

Intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. It can be described as t ...

Officer to make the best use of his command of French and German. In May 1940 he was evacuated from Dunkirk, after which he was stationed in England. In March 1942 he joined the

(SOE). In October 1943, by now a temporary lieutenant-colonel, he parachuted into

to serve as Staff Officer to Brigadier Edmund Frank "Trotsky" Davies with the task of inciting resistance to the German occupation and tying down enemy forces. Their Headquarters were attacked by enemy forces in January 1944 and they escaped to the mountains, pursued by the Germans and local militia. Davies was wounded and captured on 8 January 1944. Nicholls led the remains of the party to safety through dreadful winter weather. He suffered severe frostbite during the escape and had to have both his feet amputated, after this he was transported by being dragged on his greatcoat. Nicholls received medical attention in the city of Tirana, however he died from his wounds on 11 February 1944 at the age of 33, after managing to make a final report on the situation in Albania to British authorities. He was

mentioned in despatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face of t ...

on 1 June 1944. He is commemorated in a

Commonwealth War Graves Commission The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations mil ...

cemetery, the

Tirana Tirana ( , ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in Albania, largest city of Albania. It is located in the centre of the country, enclosed by mountains and hills, with Dajti rising to the east and a slight valley to the northwest ov ...

Park Memorial Cemetery. Tirana Park Memorial Cemetery

Nicholls'

was gazetted on 26 February 1946, and dated 1 March 1946. The citation reads: In January 1940 Nicholls married Dorothy Ann Violet Schuster, they having a daughter in 1943. His widow later married Archibald Dunlop Mackenzie who had also served with SOE during the war. Research after his death by

Lance Corporal Lance corporal is a military rank, used by many English-speaking armed forces worldwide, and also by some police forces and other uniformed organisations. It is below the rank of corporal. Etymology The presumed origin of the rank of lance corp ...

Ian Tindall found that Nicholls was also entitled to receive the Emergency Reserve Decoration. His daughter applied and the award was gazetted in the ''

London Gazette London is the capital and largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Western Europe, with a population of 14.9 million. London stands on the River Tha ...

'' 47 years after he died in Albania, on 26 November 1991. All of Nicholls's medals have been presented to his regiment by his daughter.

Footnotes

References

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nicholls, Arthur Frederick Crane 1911 births 1944 deaths British Army brigadiers of World War II Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge British Army personnel killed in World War II British recipients of the George Cross British Special Operations Executive personnel Coldstream Guards officers Hertfordshire Yeomanry officers People educated at Marlborough College People educated at Shardlow Hall Military personnel from the London Borough of Camden People from Hampstead