As a field officer he attained the rank of Lieutenant Colonel temporarily, when he took command of the 38th column of the South Staffordshires Regiment in Japanese-held Myanmar in 1944.
Degg was awarded a Distinguished Service Order (DSO) for his command of the 1st Battalion of the South Staffordshire Regiment during World War II.
When Brigadier Calvert arrived, Degg was ordered to attack Japanese positions, which involved hand-to-hand fighting and the use of man-pack flamethrowers.
After a re-supply airdrop on 18 March 1944, Calvert moved his headquarters to "White City" (a reference to the many parachutes which draped the tall trees), where the Staffordshires defended the northern and eastern sectors.
In the early hours of the morning, Richards was killed leading a counter-attack, and Degg therefore took command of the whole battalion, which repelled the Japanese soldiers incurring significant losses.
Having taken heavy casualties, Calvert decided to move to a location designated "Blackpool", a new defensive perimeter further north between Mawlu and Mogaung.
Calvert learnt that Chinese and Americans forces were approaching Myitkyina, and subsequently received orders that his brigade should attack Mogaung.
The 77th Indian Infantry had only 550 effective soldiers at that time,[6] many of them wounded and nearly all suffering from a mixture of malaria, jungle sores or swollen feet.
Nevertheless, the force took Mogaung in an assault sometime about midnight, with the Staffords and Gurkhas wading through rivers and marshes and clearing hills and ridges in close-quarter fighting.
The battalion has continually outmatched the Japanese in courage, in defence, endurance and bravery, and this has been largely due to Lt-Col Degg's skill and stubbornness.
"...Calvert, went on to play a crucial role in establishing a specialist jungle fighting unit, part of 21st SAS, during the Malayan Emergency..." "Special Air Service".