Major General Eric Charles Hayes, CB (19 June 1896 – 25 August 1951) was a senior British Army officer who served in both of the world wars.

[3] Returning to England, and marrying Florence Lllyanne, daughter of Henri Sudreau, in 1924, Hayes was promoted to captain on 10 January 1926,[6] and attended the Staff College, Camberley from 1927 to 1928.

His fellow students included several future general officers, such as Oliver Leese, Angus Collier, Eric Dorman-Smith, Eric Nares, Evelyn Barker, Philip Christison, Colin Jardine, Wilfrid Lloyd, Oliver Edgcumbe, Robert Bridgeman, John Hawkesworth, John Whiteley, Alfred Curtis, Edmund Beard, William Bishop, Stanley Kirby, Ronald Penney, Stephen Irwin, Charles Norman, Reginald Savory, Christopher Woolner and Clement West.

[8] Promoted to brevet major on 1 January 1933,[9] and brevet lieutenant colonel on 1 July 1937,[10] he was made a lieutenant colonel on 28 September 1938[11] and became Commanding Officer (CO) of the 2nd Battalion of his regiment (restyled the Royal Norfolk Regiment in 1935), then stationed overseas in Gibraltar but returning to England the following year where it was assigned to Brigadier James Gammell's 4th Infantry Brigade, itself part of Major General Charles Loyd's 2nd Infantry Division.

[3] He continued his war service and commanded the Nigeria Area in West Africa from January 1943[15] and returned to England to command the East Central District from late 1943 before becoming Head of the British Military Mission to China in early January 1945, and was made GOC British Troops in China in the following year.