Lieutenant-Colonel Fred Nicholls
Royal Regiment of Canada
Carleton and York Regiment

Lt Col Nicholls is a figure of mystery. No record of what unit he came from could be found, he effectively commanded the CYR for only three months, was then away sick for a period … He is described by survivors as a nice fellow, but beyond that no one interviewed could recall anything about him.

(Tooley, Invicta dissertation, 324)

Born on 8 June 1906 in Whitstable, England, Frederick Leslie Nicholls was a Bell Telephone Company engineer and member of the Royal Regiment of Canada since 1926. He had received a commission in 1931. He was stationed with the regiment in Iceland, attended the War Staff College at Camberley, and became the regiment’s second-in-command after the Dieppe Raid. He then served as brigade major of the 6th Infantry Brigade from November 1942 until his appointment to command the Royal Regiment on 22 January 1943, succeeding Lieutenant-Colonel A.H. Fraser.

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