#captainbbc

The Captain, what do we know about him and what conclusions can we draw? Here’s all the information I could find for now.

Before the war

Not a lot is known of cap before the war, but we do know he spent a minimum of 8 and a maximum of 15 years as a ranking official in order to have the title of Captain before june 1940. This is excluding time spent as cadet. | 1

During the war - Devision

In a Series 2 Episode 3 - ‘Redding Weddy’, we get a better look at Cap’s outside uniform. We can also see his hat in one of the scenes where he is burying the bomb in the garden.  It’s hard to see but the emblem on his hat is the Royal Artillery Emblem. Here is an example of the hat up close:

1 | 2 

Royal Artillery 

Weymouth

In Series 2, Episode 6, Cap mentions he trained at Weymouth at some point. There is only one devision of cadets that trained in Weymouth, and that was the Royal Garrison Artillery,  specifically: No 4 Officer Cadet School. | 1 | 

The Royal Garrison Artillery merged with the Royal Field Artillery in 1924, forming The Royal Artillery. This explains how Cap could have been in Weymouth as part of the Royal Garrison Artillery and still have been part of The Royal Artillery after 1924. | 1 | 

After 1924

There are dozens of devisions of the Royal Artillery after 1924, but I am hoping to narrow it down as much as possible. We know Captain has served in Germany, Belgium, France or the Netherlands AFTER 1944 (France & Germany star). We know he has likely spent time in North Africa, but did not get an Africa Star for this, so the service there was not long enough or non-service related. We know he was not in Italy at any point during the war, because he has no Italy Star, which narrows down the options considerably. Here are some that meet the above mentioned criteria.

Possible Regiments

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7 Field Regiment RA  

Was in England in June of 1940 with the invasion of France (lining up with the timeline of Redding Weddy) and was stationed in the UK, Belgium, France and Germany after 1944   | 1

33 Field Regiment RA

Was in England in June of 1940 with the invasion of France (lining up with the timeline of Redding Weddy). Have served in France and Germany after 1944

76th Field Regiment RA 

Was in England in June of 1940 with the invasion of France (lining up with the timeline of Redding Weddy). Have served in France and Germany after 1944. | 1 | 2

59 (4th West Lancashire) Medium Regiment RA (TA)

Was in England in June of 1940 with the invasion of France (lining up with the timeline of Redding Weddy). Has served in France, UK, Netherlands, Belgium and Germany after 1944  | 1

1 Heavy Regiment RA

Was in England in June of 1940 with the invasion of France (lining up with the timeline of Redding Weddy). Has served in France (D-day), UK, Belgium and Germany.  | 1

Royal Artillery also received the Defence medal, as seen in this document. It would make sense for Cap to have this medal. 

Canon Information

There are a few key points in establishing a timeline from things Cap has mentioned and that we were shown during the show. 

Surrender of France. 

This happens during the episode and is the last time we see Cap alive on screen. France surrendered on on June 22nd 1940. 

“Monty in the Desert in ‘42″. 

This refers to Bernard Montgomery, a decorated war hero who was stationed in North-Africa in 1942, specifically Egypt. The battle Cap refers to is the Second Battle of El-Amamein, where the British army almost got defeated, but Monty ‘persisted’  and won the battle. This battle took place between October 1942 and November 1942. Captain has no Africa Star though, so we know that if he was actually there with Monty in the desert in ‘42, he was not on official duty, otherwise he would have had the star. | 1 | 2 | 3 

Field Marshal Harold Alexander 

Field Marshal Alexander was a commander who worked with Monty on operations in Egypt and Tunisia until May 1943, and was later stationed the Italy campaign from 1943 until ‘45. He was known to always have his soldiers’ best interests at heart, making him a hero to his troops. He wasn’t promoted to Field Marshal until November or December 1944, which means Cap had to have met him after this, otherwise he wouldn’t have used the ‘Field Marshal’ rank when addressing him. | 1 | 2

‘Breaking’ The Enigma Code 

The Enigma Code was a cypher system invented in 1932 to cypher German secret messages. It was broken by Polish mathematicians around 1939. Breaking the code was was later done by none other than Alan Turing around 1940, who worked on breaking Germany’s improved Enigma Code until around 1943 in a secret operation. Knowlegde about the allied forces breaking of the code was not public until 1970, so Cap can’t have known about it unless he had at least some part in it. On another related note: Alan Turing was later outed as a gay man, Captain may have known him. | 1 | 2 | 3 

‘Ah, Dorothy’ 

Dorothy is a character from the book ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’, written in 1900. Around the late 1930′s and early 1940′s, the character of Dorothy quickly became a gay icon, along with her actress Judy Garland. The Phrase ‘A friend of Dorothy’s’ meant to say you were gay. Of course only gay men knew the significance of the phrase and the character. | 1 

King’s speech 

Cap repeatedly refers to the Queen’s christmas speech as the King’s speech, and still uses the phrase ‘For King and Country.’ that means he was not used to having a Queen. George VI died on the night of february 6th. Which means Captain has to have died before February 5th, 1952. | 1

The Frogmen

Cap mentions The Frogmen that would place Limpet Mines on boats to sink them. The Frogmen did perform these missions, especially during the battle of Normandy. On D-day the Frogmen sank German issued boats to rescue the units stranded on the Normandy beaches. The Royal Artillery was heavily involved in D-day, and looking at the placement of Royal Artillery Regiments it is very likely Captain has fought in France on D-day. This is also why he would be developing prototype Limpet Mines around the time of France’s surrended in June 1940.  | 1 | 2 | 3

 Cap’s Medals

1939-1945 star

Meaning he either served over 180 days in the army, or was killed or disabled in the line of duty. | 1 | 2

Defence Medal

Mostly rewarded to civilian military defence, aka the home guard. Was also rewarded to non-operational service in the Forces overseas or outside the country of residence. Established on 16th August 1945. Captain couldn’t have died before this date. 1 | 2 

France & Germany star

Meaning he was in either Belgium, France, Germany or The Netherlands between June 6th, 1944 (D-Day) and the May 8th, 1945. | 1 | 2

War Medal

Awarded to all full time service personnel of the Armed Forces. | 1 | 2

Additional Info

Would have most likely studied at Royal Military Academy (RMA) at Woolwich, the official school for the training of commissioned officers of the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers. | 1 | 

Would have commanded around 120 - 200 men | 1 | 2 | 3

Knows basic level conversational German 

The swagger stick he carries around was not common practise in WW2. It was in WW1, but as far as I know the practise of carrying around a swagger stick fell out of use before the war broke in 1939. | 1

Would have been born around 1895 - 1905

Was likely paid around 13 Shillings and 6 Pence a day, worth about 40 GBP today. | 1 | 2

Mentions The Mikado, an 1885 comic opera. It is implied he has seen it. It’s possible that Captain has seen the 1939 film version. 

Mentions the ‘Major General’s Song’ from the 1879 comic opera The Pirates of Penzance. So it’s more likely he was just a fan of older Comical Opera when he was still alive. (special thanks to @centurionbestmbt for this fact!)

Mentions the song ‘It’s a long, long road to Tipperary’ by ‘The Regimental Band Of The Coldstream Guards’. 

Mentions having and shooting a Bren gun in Weymouth. Has been in Weymouth at some point. There is a training base near Weymouth that was used in WW2. The town also has an Anti Aircraft defence fort. | 1

Mentions the song ‘My heart belongs to daddy’ by Cole Porter. Cole Porter was a Gay/Bisexual singer. (- thanks to user @manifold1408 on twt!)

I could make and add a complete timeline based on the information here if yall are interested, let me know!