Humphrey Edgar Nicholson Bredin | |
---|---|
Born |
Peshawar, British India |
28 March 1916
Died | 2 March 2005 | (aged 88)
Allegiance | United Kingdom |
Service/branch | British Army |
Years of service | 1936–1971 |
Rank | Major General |
Commands held | Director of Volunteers, Territorials and Cadets Northwest District 42nd (East Lancashire) Infantry Division BRIXMIS 99 Gurkha Brigade Group 2nd Battalion, Parachute Regiment Eastern Arab Corps 2nd Battalion, London Irish Rifles 6th Battalion, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers |
Battles/wars |
Cyprus Malayan Emergency |
Awards |
Companion of the Order of the Bath Distinguished Service Order & Two Bars Military Cross & Bar Mentioned in Despatches (2) |
Major General Humphrey Edgar Nicholson "Bala" Bredin, CB, DSO & Two Bars, MC & Bar (28 March 1916 – 2 March 2005) was a British Army officer whose military service took him from 1930s Palestine via Dunkirk, North Africa and Italy to the Cold War in Germany. Bredin was the second son of Lieutenant Colonel A. Bredin, of the Indian Army. He was educated at King’s School, Canterbury, and at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst.
During the 1936–39 Arab revolt in Palestine Bredin was a subaltern with the 2nd Royal Ulster Rifles in Upper Galilee. The Army was charged with protecting Jewish settlements and tracking down Arab insurgents. Bredin took part in counter-insurgency with Major (later Major General) Orde Wingate’s Special Night Squads. He was awarded the Military Cross in a clash at a notorious ambush point on the Tulkarm-Nablus road, in April 1938, and a Bar to the award a month later in a similar action.