Brigadier Philip Hugh Whitby Hicks, CBE, DSO & Bar, MC (25 September 1895 – 8 October 1967) was an officer of the British Army during both the First and Second World Wars.

After the Second World War, Hicks retired from the British Army and worked for the International Refugee Organization and the National Playing Fields Association before his death in 1967.

[1] Hicks was a member of the Territorial Force army number 15075, and was commissioned a second lieutenant into the 1/7th Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment, on 23 October 1914.

In January 1937 Hicks returned to the 2nd Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment, which was now back in the United Kingdom and based at Tidworth Camp.

[1] At the start of the Second World War in September 1939, Hicks was still a major, but was promoted to acting lieutenant colonel in May 1940 and commander of the 2nd Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment, which from February 1940 was serving in the 144th Brigade of the 48th (South Midland) Infantry Division.

During Operation Ladbroke – part of the Allied invasion of Sicily – Hicks's glider landed in the sea 1 mile (1.6 km) offshore.

The citation stated: Brigadier Hicks commanded and led the 1st Airlanding Brigade in its moonlight attack at Syracuse on the night 9–10 July 1943.

[11] Hicks's brigade went on to sustain severe casualties over the next few days before being withdrawn to the United Kingdom with less than half of its original strength.

After the battle was over, Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery wrote in a letter to the Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS), Field Marshal Sir Alan Brooke, that, "There is no doubt Hicks did extremely well at Arnhem, but there is also no doubt that it has been too much for him and he is not now fit to fight again in battle in this war."