[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 the interwar period.
[18] By now a captain,[19] and returning to England, he attended the Staff College, Camberley from 1930 to 1931,[20] serving alongside such students as G. F. Hopkinson, A. H. Hornby, M. C. Dempsey, M. A. James, J. S. Steele, W. H. E. Gott and G. W. Symes.
After graduating from Camberley in December 1931 he served, from November 1932, as a General Staff Officer (GSO) for Physical Training with Aldershot Command,[21] and was promoted to brevet major in early January 1936.
[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 of lieutenant colonel.
He later commanded the 1st Battalion, Essex Regiment, then serving as part of the 23rd Brigade of Major-General Ronald Scobie's 70th Infantry Division, during Operation Crusader, in November 1941.
[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.
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.