Digby Tatham-Warter: The Umbrella Weilding Major of WWII

During times of conflict, countries would produce and send disciplined men chained to the rhythm of military rules, principles, and disciplines. That is not a bad thing at all, as this is one key to ensuring the optimal success of whatever missions these soldiers would be sent to do along the way. However, at times, it was those eccentric ones who could save the day with their rather amusing and unusual ways. If anything, Britain had produced quite a fair share of those characters, like Mad Jack, who dove into the battlefield of WWII with his sword, bow, and bagpipes (read his full, exciting story here.) Another man who stood out with his unconventional ways was Major Digby. His weapon of choice? His trusty umbrella.

Following His Dad’s Footsteps and More

Allison Digby Tatham-Warter was born in Atcham, Shropshire, England, during World War I. The second son of Henry de Grey Tathan-Warter, who owned several estates in the southeast part of England. His father was called to fight in the trenches, where he was severely gassed while serving with Artists Rifles. Regardless, he managed to survive and went back home to his family. However, the damage to his body caused his early death when Digby was just 11 years old.

When Digby grew up, he followed in his father’s footsteps by obtaining his education from Wellington College in Berkshire before getting accepted into the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, in 1935. After graduating as an officer, he was deployed to India and commissioned into the Unattached List for the Indian Army as a 2nd Lieutenant. Due to his family connections, he was viewed to join the Indian Army.

Unparalleled Innovativeness

In late 1942, Digby’s brother, John, died at the Second Battle of El Alamein. Upon hearing of this news, he volunteered for the airborne forces. He was transferred and became the company commander of the A Company of the 2nd Battalion of the newly formed Parachute Regiment.

The tall 27-year-old Digby built his reputation as an aggressive commander with a cool head and a wicked sense of humor. Many people knew about his tiger hunting exploits, but what enhanced his reputation was when he managed to get an American Dakota aircraft and fly his whole company of officers from Lincolnshire base to a party at the Ritz in London.

During the training for Operation Market Garden, his innovative way would shine. Operation Market Garden was the largest airborne operation in history, of which Digby’s regiment was tasked to be a part.

The mission aimed to seize several strategically crucial bridges in the Netherlands under German control. If they succeeded, the Allied forces would get a hold over the River Rhine, thus allowing them to bypass the Siegfried Line, which was the German defense line. This could also shorten the war and end it by Christmas of 1944.

During the training, he taught his men how to use bugles, the instrument that the British of the Napoleonic Wars used a century ago. His reason? He felt that the radio sets could let them down, so he implemented that the company’s primary method of communication would be their reliable bugles.

What’s more, he would also be seen around carrying an umbrella. His rationale was that since he often forgot military passwords, he would use the umbrella as his identification. According to him, “it would be quite obvious to anyone that the bloody fool carrying the umbrella could only be an Englishman,” which, to be fair, was not a lie.

Operation Market Garden

The day of September 17, 1944, arrived. Just before 3 PM, Digby and his Parachute Regiment were parachuted into Holland, where they landed at their designated drop zone about 7 miles west of Arnhem. As planned, they stuck to the residential gardens and away from the main streets, and they successfully did so.

At 8 PM, they had successfully captured the northern end of Arnhem bridge with very few casualties while they managed to kill dozens of Germans. Unfortunately, the bridge was impassable due to mortar fire and multiple burning trucks. Because of this, the 2nd Batallion had to stop and wait for backup before attempting to capture the whole bridge. Lo and behold, as Digby predicted, the radio signals were cut off. The good thing is his men had their bugles and used them to inform other platoons of each other’s positions.

On the other hand, the Germans were surprised, but they immediately recovered and started moving. They sent a division of Panzers down the bridge toward Digby’s company. However, that did not stop him from leading a bayonet charge at the rolling enemy infantry. Holding his pistol in one hand, umbrella in the other, and looking splendid with his bowler hat, he charged and successfully stopped the German attack along with his men.