General Sir Joseph Howard Nigel Poett, KCB, DSO & Bar (20 August 1907 – 29 October 1991) was a British Army officer who commanded the 5th Parachute Brigade during the Second World War.

These only travelled once or twice a week, as the area surrounding the route to Razmak had to be guarded by British troops to protect the lorries from hostile tribesmen and snipers.

It was an extremely physical activity, and Poett found his first 'column' very trying, particularly due to the lack of water supplies carried by the troops during the process.

In the time between 'columns', Poett played polo with his fellow officers, and also helped level a patch of ground by hand, on which a permanent sports facility for the garrison was erected.

[15] Just before leaving Razmak, Poett had been informed that he had been selected to serve as an aide-de-camp to the Governor of Bengal for six weeks,[15] and upon arrival at Barrackpore found that he would start his duties in November 1930.

When the left Government House and returned to his battalion, General Bethell had Poett detached from the regiment to temporarily replace his ADC who had gone on leave.

[21] Poett took another period of leave to visit his brother-in-law in Australia, and during the journey met and fell in love with his future wife, Julia Herrick, on the ship from Bombay to Calcutta.

He travelled to the regimental depot in County Durham, and after two weeks at Brancepeth Castle running troop exercises, he was informed that he had been promoted to the rank of major and appointed a General Staff Officer Grade 2.

[24] In early May 1940, Poett was sent to the General Headquarters of the British Expeditionary Force, and when he returned to Britain at the port of Dover he was informed that the invasion of Belgium and France had begun during his journey.

Poett appealed to the War Office to be released from staff duties and assigned to a division in the field, but it was not until the Dunkirk evacuation was over that a replacement was found for him.

[26] At one point Poett had to defend a paper he had written, about the Middle East Order of Battle, to the Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who was unhappy with the large number of administrative units assigned to the theatre.

[28] These initial planning meetings ended in January 1942, and Poett returned with the Prime Minister's party via a specially-charted train to Norfolk, Virginia, and then by flying boat to Britain via Bermuda; when he was leaving the hotel he had been staying in, Poett was informed that his hotel bills and expenses had been paid for by the Americans as part of the Lend Lease agreement between the two countries.

Poett assumed command of the battalion in Herefordshire, but soon travelled around the country with it, moving to Wales and Scotland, before finishing up in the Welsh town of Llanelli.

In the planning for Operation Overlord, the 5th Parachute Brigade was assigned the task of reinforcing two road bridges across the River Orne and the Caen Canal following earlier capture by a glider coup de main force.

[31] In September 1963, after his retirement, he gave a speech to the Commonwealth Club, San Francisco, on the subject 'Can the Communists Take South East Asia' and a recording is available[32] He was knighted in 1958.