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Major General Sir Percy Cleghorn Stanley Hobart (14 June 1885 – 19 February 1957), also known as "Hobo", was a British military engineer noted for his command of the 79th Armoured Division during World War II. He was responsible for many of the specialised armoured vehicles ("Hobart's Funnies") that took part in the invasion of Normandy and later actions. ==Early life== Hobart was born in Naini Tal, British India to Robert T. Hobart (of the Indian Civil Service), and Janetta (née Stanley). His mother was born in County Tyrone and lived at Roughan Park, near Newmills, between Cookstown and Dungannon. She married Robert Hobart in Tullaniskin Parish Church, Dungannon, on 7 October 1880. In his youth, Percy studied history, painting, literature and church architecture. He was educated at Temple Grove School and Clifton College, and in 1904 he graduated from the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich and was commissioned into the Corps of Royal Engineers. He was first sent to India, but during World War I he served in France and Mesopotamia (now Iraq). He took part in the Waziristan campaign 1919–1920 when British and Indian Army forces put down unrest in local villages. In 1923, foreseeing the predominance of tank warfare, Hobart volunteered to be transferred to the Royal Tank Corps. While there, he gained the nickname "Hobo", and was greatly influenced by the writings of B. H. Liddell Hart on armoured warfare. He was appointed an instructor at the Command and Staff College at Quetta in 1923 where he served until 1927. In November 1928, Hobart married Dorothea Field, the daughter of Colonel C. Field, Royal Marines. They had one daughter.〔(British Army Officers 1939–1945 – H ); accessed 10 April 2014.〕 His sister, Elizabeth, married the Bernard Montgomery (who rose to Field Marshal in the Second World War). In 1934, Hobart became Brigadier of the first permanent armoured brigade in Britain and Inspector Royal Tank Corps. He had to fight for resources for his command because the British Army was still dominated by conservative cavalry officers. German General Heinz Guderian kept abreast of Hobart's writings using, at his own expense, someone to translate all the articles being published in Britain.〔''France 1940 – Blitzkrieg in the West'' by Alan Shepperd, pp. 10 & 11〕 In 1937, Hobart was made Deputy Director of Staff Duties (Armoured Fighting Vehicles) and later Director of Military Training. He was promoted to Major-General. In 1938, Hobart was sent to form and train "Mobile Force (Egypt)" although a local general resisted his efforts. While sometimes referred to as the "Mobile Farce" by critics, Mobile Force (Egypt) survived and later became the 7th Armoured Division, famous as the "Desert Rats". 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Percy Hobart」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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