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, typically commanding a brigade of several thousand soldiers. In ...

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

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

officer who was awarded the

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

for gallantry and leadership on active service with the

Special Operations Executive The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a secret British World War II organisation. It was officially formed on 22 July 1940 under Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton, from the amalgamation of three existing secret organisations. Its pu ...

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

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; due to this, it often participates in state ceremonia ...

to have been awarded the decoration.

Early life

Nicholls was born in

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, and extends from Watling Street, the A5 road (Roman Watling Street) to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the Lon ...

on 6 February 1911. He attended

Shardlow Hall Shardlow Hall was a school in Shardlow, a village seven miles south of Derby in the English Midlands. It was founded by Bertie Corbett, B.O.Corbett, who had played football for England, as a preparatory school for boys. One of its notable student ...

Marlborough College Marlborough College is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Independent school (United Kingdom), independent boarding school) for pupils aged 13 to 18 in Marlborough, Wiltshire, England. Founded in 1843 for the sons of Church ...

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

and studied law at

Pembroke College, Cambridge Pembroke College (officially "The Master, Fellows and Scholars of the College or Hall of Valence-Mary") is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college is the third-oldest college of the university and has over 700 ...

. 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 Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...

in August 1933, was promoted

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

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. More generally, it can b ...

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, MiD) 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 ...

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 ( , ; aln, Tirona) is the capital and 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 overlooking the Adriatic Sea ...

Park Memorial Cemetery. Tirana Park Memorial Cemetery

Nicholls'

was

gazetted A gazette is an official journal, a newspaper of record, or simply a newspaper. In English and French speaking countries, newspaper publishers have applied the name ''Gazette'' since the 17th century; today, numerous weekly and daily newspapers ...

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 armed forces worldwide, and also by some police forces and other uniformed organisations. It is below the rank of corporal, and is typically the lowest non-commissioned officer (NCO), usually equi ...

Ian Tindall found that Nicholls was also entitled to receive the

Emergency Reserve Decoration The Emergency Reserve Decoration (ERD) was a British military decoration for long service, instituted on 17 November 1952 and given for service up to 1967. Eligibility It was awarded to officers of the Army Supplementary Reserve or Army Emergenc ...

. His daughter applied and the award was gazetted in the ''

London Gazette London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

'' 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 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 People from Hampstead Military personnel from London