Thread by @DavidZabinsky

If you were at war, you'd take things like a helmet, a radio, and a rifle, right?

Well, not if you were British Major Digby Tatham-Warter.

He took things like a bowler hat, a bugle, and an UMBRELLA.

Get ready for a story about WWII's most courageous and eccentric major:

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Digby Tatham-Warter. Oh man. Where to begin?

I suppose we can start in 1937, when Digby graduated from Britain's Royal Military College, Sandhurst.

After graduating, Digby was immediately sent to serve in India, but the post was quite...chill.

As an avid tiger hunter, Digby spent more time in India shooting tigers than he did enemy soldiers.

But when his brother was killed in action during WWII in 1942, Digby requested a transfer, and by 1943, Digby was already leading Britain's "A" Company in the European theatre.

Digby’s first challenge as Major?

Leading the company in the Battle of Arnhem, with the goal of liberating Holland.

And it was during this battle - one that unfortunately would be a loss for the Allies - that Major Digby was remarkably courageous...and downright hysterical.

Digby’s first moment of excellence?

Well, Digby had a bit of a distrust in technology...and he found radios to be unreliable.

So instead of training his team to use radio, he trained them to use the BUGLE...

You know, the trumpet one would have used an entire CENTURY earlier.

Imagine:

Marching towards Arnhem under enemy gunfire, Digby was blowing away at his bugle as if he were in a marching band.

And it worked.

Despite the deafening sounds of war, Digby "could always be heard above the incessant noise of the bombardment going on around them."

Aside from a bugle, there was another interesting instrument Digby carried with him during firefight:

An umbrella.

Why in tarnation would a solider bring an umbrella around a war zone, you ask?

Well for Digby, it was quite simple…

Since Digby just could not remember the English password for identifying themselves, he carried around an umbrella, because, well:

“It would be quite obvious to anyone that the bloody fool with the umbrella could only be an Englishman.”

But the umbrella wasn't just used for identification...

When Digby saw the company’s clergyman, Father Egan, trying to visit a wounded solider in Arnhem, he approached him under the rainfall of mortars and said:

“Come on Padre. Don’t worry. I’ve got an umbrella.”

But it doesn’t stop there.

When Lieutenant Pat Barnett ran to take cover with “A” Company, Digby covered him with his famous umbrella.

"That thing won't do you much good!” Barnett shouted.

But Digby…he was a prudent man. He replied:

"Oh my goodness Pat… what if it rains?”

And rained it did.

Well, mortars.

The Allies were in perilous shape, but nonetheless, Digby did what he did best:

He kept morale high.

Swinging a pistol in one hand and an umbrella in the other, Digby also wore a BOWLER HAT, "looking for all the world like Charlie Chaplin."

But the umbrella wasn’t just to keep Father Egan and Lieutenant Pat Barnett dry from the (nonexistent) rain…or just to keep “A” Company in high spirits.

It was a weapon, too.

Leading a bayonet charge against the Germans, Digby rolled up his umbrella, thrust it through the observation slit of an enemy tank, and POKED THE ENEMY IN THE EYE.

The armored vehicle was thereby disabled.

By Digby's umbrella.

But unfortunately, despite his high-tech bugle, his protective bowler hat, and his mighty umbrella, Digby was taken prisoner in Arnhem.

As he and "A" company ran out of ammo, he sent out the following radio transmission before he was captured:

"Out of ammo, God save The King.”

But you think a dude like Major Digby would be kept prisoner for long?

Yeah right.

Taken to a nearby German-held hospital for his wounds, Digby snuck out the SAME NIGHT by crawling out of an open hospital window, seeking shelter in a nearby (terrified) Dutch woman's home.

And Digby wasn’t alone.

A staggering 138 Allied soldiers were hiding in and around Arnhem, and Digby, posing to the Germans as a deaf-mute Dutchman, travelled around on bicycle checking in on them.

But this wasn’t just some cute charade.

It was the start of Operation Pegasus.

Operation Pegasus, co-led by Major Digby, was a plan to evacuate the – in Digby’s words – “130 odd Englishmen” hiding in Arnhem.

The men hid discreetly for weeks, but when they heard that the Germans would be moving through the nearby town of Bennekom, they saw their chance.

The evacuation of Bennekom?

It meant, as Digby wrote, that "the road would be congested with refugees", so Digby and 154 other Allied soldiers would disguise themselves as Bennekom residents who were simply fleeing their town.

And it worked.

138 Englishmen (plus 2 Russian pilots and 15 ACTUAL Dutch soldiers), in Digby's words, "passed by many Germans without incident."

The men walked and walked and walked until they reached Allied territory, finding a "magnificent reception" laid out for them.

For his bravery in Operation Pegasus, Digby was awarded the Distinguished Service Order.

And soon after, Digby would settle down in Kenya, where he would buy two properties and host safaris, telling guests not to shoot animals with their guns, but instead:

With their cameras.

Digby would go on to spend nearly 50 years living in Kenya before he passed in 1993 at 75.

And running around his Kenyan properties during the wet season or a heavy East African monsoon?

"Don't worry," Digby would have said.

"I’ve got an umbrella.”

Enjoy this story of Major Digby Tatham-Warter? Learn something new today?

Follow @DavidZabinsky for more threads like this one.

For another story on another less-talked-about WWII legend, read the one below on perhaps the greatest double agent to ever live -- Juan Pujol García:

https://twitter.com/DavidZabinsky/status/1467864083663921152?s=20

Sources:

pegasusarchive.org/arnhem/RepPega…

pegasusarchive.org/arnhem/tatham_…

history.co.uk/article/ww2-he…

forum-console.worldoftanks.com/index.php?/top…