Waziristan campaignSecond World War Major-General Sir Percy Cleghorn Stanley Hobart, KBE, CB, DSO, MC (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 the Second World War.

His mother was born in County Tyrone (Northern Ireland) and lived at Roughan Park, near Newmills, between Cookstown and Dungannon.

He took part in the Waziristan campaign 1919–1920, when British and Indian Army forces put down unrest in local villages.

[citation needed] General Sir Archibald Wavell dismissed Hobart into retirement in 1940, based on hostile War Office information due to his "unconventional" ideas about armoured warfare.

[6] Liddell Hart criticised the decision to retire Hobart and wrote an article in the newspaper Sunday Pictorial.

Winston Churchill was notified and he had Hobart recalled into the army over Chief of the Imperial General Staff Alan Brooke's objections in 1941.

The Dieppe Raid in August 1942 had demonstrated the inability of regular tanks and infantry to cope with fortified obstacles in an amphibious landing.

This showed the need for specialised vehicles to cope with natural and man-made obstructions during and after the Allied invasion of Europe.

Hobart was reputedly suspicious at first and conferred with Liddell Hart before accepting, with the assurance that it would be an operational unit with a combat role.

Unit insignia was a black bull's head with flaring nostrils superimposed over a yellow triangle; this was carried proudly on every vehicle.

The 79th's vehicles were offered to the British and Canadian forces taking part in the landings of Operation Overlord, and were demonstrated to American First Army Commander, Lieutenant General Omar Bradley for US use.