[An American sent me this about an interesting man from World War II whom Winston Churchill admired. Mr Hobart believed that you can’t be much good if you don’t have any enemies!

Churchill was an out-of-the-box thinker, and he often went after these kinds of people. No wonder it was Britain’s finest hour. As my American friend said: It is this type of person the USA needs right now. Jan]

Percy Hobart was one of the developers of the Blitzkrieg, which in the main the Germans copied from British theoreticians like General J.F.C.
Fuller and Percy Hobart. Hobart commanded the experimental armored force back in 1923 or so, and was one of the earliest users of crystal controlled radios as tactical radio sets. He served in an Armored Car Company during the Allied Intervention in Russia, in the Caucasses. He managed to annoy most of the more conservative types in the British Military and topped it off by marrying the divorced wife of another officer, which ended up making him Montgomery’s Brother In Law. Around 1938 or so, Hobart was forced to resign from the British Army.

And he was serving as a Corporal in the Home Guard when Churchill forced the Army to take him back. And it took several missives from him before they ceased their bureaucratic obstruction.

What Hobart is most famous for, is Hobo’s Funnies– the tanks developed to facilitate the invasion of Europe such as my old favorite, the Churchill AVRE. He developed and commanded these as the Commander of the 79th Armored Division.

Hobart is the kind of guy we need now and don’t have. Our current military chases people like that off and hires conformists instead.

“George Orwell’s 1984 was a cautionary tale, not a how to book.”