Major E.J. Bruford
&
Lieutenant-Colonel J.W. Nicol
7th Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry

On arrival of his battalion on the start line, he found that about 50 of the enemy with three machine guns were still in the area. He quickly took charge of the situation and having eliminated this opposition, proceeded with his task … Throughout the operation he showed outstanding personal courage and capacity to command in the face of heavy resistance.

(Nicol, D.S.O. citation, 21 Dec 1944)

Within weeks of landing in France in late June 1944, the 7th Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry of the 43rd Division suffered heavy casualties would lose a series of commanding officers. Lieutenant-Colonel R.G.P. Besley was wounded and evacuated on 3 July, Lieutenant-Colonel G.C.P. Lance was killed on 10 July. The third CO, Edward Jeffries Bruford was born on 4 July 1900 in Cheddar, Somerset. He was a football player and civil servant with the Ministry of Agriculture. A Territorial Army officer, he was commissioned into the 5th Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry in 1925. Just three days after replacing Lance, Bruford was killed alongside the CO of the 7th Hampshires, Major J.R.C. Mallock.

The fourth CO, John Wilmot Warner Nicol was born on 13 Jun 1912 and commissioned into the Oxfordford and Buckingham Light Infantry in 1932. Following Bruford’s sudden death in the midst of an attack, Nicol had to reorganized the battered battalion and earned the D.S.O. for “outstanding leadership and courage” for operations in early August. Historian and veteran Patrick Delaforce described Nicol as a popular CO, “A small, dapper man, he possessed a very clear mind, always knowing exactly what he wanted to do. Everything he said was crisp and to the point.” (The Fighting Wessex Wyverns).

However, despite his popularity among the troops and the support of his brigadier, Nicol was subsequently sacked by Major-General Ivor Thomas of the 43rd Division. Thomas had insisted all battalion command participate in an attack but Nicol had want to hold “A” company  in reserve as it was led by an inexperienced major. When this company was taken prisoner by the Germans, Nicol was held responsible and removed from command. He was replaced by Lieutenant-Colonel H.A. Borradaile, former CO of 5th Battalion, East Lancashire Regiment, in September 1944.

Nicol, who had become the 4th Laird of Ballogie on the death of his uncle in 1941, returned to his estate after the war. He was an active community leader until his death at the age of ninety-six on 29 September 2008 in Ballogie, Aberdeenshire.