Major General Orde Charles Wingate, (February 26, 1903 – March 24, 1944), was a British major general and creator of two special military units during the World War II. February 26 is the 57th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1903 has the latest occurring solstices and equinoxes for 400 years, because the Gregorian calendar hasnt had a leap year for seven years or a century leap year since 1600. ... March 24 is the 83rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (84th in Leap years). ... 1944 was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... World War II was a truly global conflict with many facets: immense human suffering, fierce indoctrinations, and the use of new, extremely devastating weapons like the atom bomb. ...

Beginnings

Orde Wingate was born February 23, 1903 in India to a military family. Because his mother came from a missionary family, he received a very religious education. A missionary is a propagator of religion, often an evangelist or other representative of a religious community who works among those outside of that community. ...

In 1921 Wingate was accepted into the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich and received his gunnery officer's commission in 1923. He also began to learn Arabic and eventually got himself an assignment to Sudan through a cousin, Sir Reginald Wingate, Governor General of Sudan. 1921 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... The Royal Military Academy was founded in 1741 in Woolwich, south-east London. ... Woolwich (pronounced Woolitch) is a town in south-east London, England in the London Borough of Greenwich, on the south side of the River Thames, though the tiny exclave of North Woolwich (which is now part of the London Borough of Newham) is on the north side of the river. ... In military organizations, a commissioned officer is a member of the service who derives authority directly from a sovereign power, and as such holds a commission from that power. ... 1923 was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... Arabic (العربية al-arabiyyah, or less formally arabi) is the largest member of the Semitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family (classification: South Central Semitic) and is closely related to Hebrew and Aramaic. ... Sir Reginald Wingate (Francis) (1861 - 1953) was a British general. ...

When Wingate arrived in Sudan to join the Sudan Defence Forces in 1928, he was assigned to patrol the Abyssinian border where he was to catch slave traders and ivory poachers. He changed the method of regular patrolling to ambushes. At the end of his tour, he led a short expedition to search for Zerzura, but did not find it. His tour ended in 1933. In 1935 he married Lorna Moncrieff Paterson. 1928 was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... This article needs cleanup. ... The word slaves has several meanings and usages: People who are owned by others, and live to serve them without pay. ... Ivory is a hard, white, opaque substance that is the bulk of the teeth and tusks of animals such as the elephant, hippopotamus, walrus, mammoth, etc. ... Poacher has two different meanings: A poacher is someone who engages in poaching – the theft or illegal killing of animals or plants, or sometimes artifacts. ... An ambush is a long established military tactic in which an ambushing force uses concealment to attack an enemy that passes its position. ... A mythical city or oasis which was long rumored to have existed deep in the desert west of the Nile River in Egypt or Libya. ... 1933 was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1935 was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ...

Palestine and the Special Night Squads

In 1936 Wingate was assigned to Palestine to a staff office position and became an intelligence officer. At the time, Arab guerrillas had begun a campaign of attacks against both British mandate officials and Jewish communities. Wingate got acquainted with and befriended a number of Zionist leaders. He formulated an idea of armed groups of British led Jewish commandos, and took his idea personally to Archibald Wavell, who was then a commander of British forces in Palestine. After Wavell gave his permission, Wingate convinced the Zionist Jewish Agency and the leadership of Haganah, the Jewish armed group. 1936 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Palestine (Latin: Syria Palæstina; Hebrew: פלשתינה Palestina, ארץ־ישראל Eretz Yisrael; Arabic: فلسطين Filasṭīn) is the region between the Mediterranean Sea and the banks of the Jordan River, plus various adjoining lands to the east. ... See Intelligence Officers ... Map of the territory under the British Mandate of Palestine. ... The word Jew (Hebrew: יהודי) is used in a wide number of ways, but generally refers to a follower of the Jewish faith, a child of a Jewish mother, or someone of Jewish descent with a connection to Jewish culture or ethnicity; and often a combination of these attributes. ... For other meanings, please see Zionism (disambiguation) Zionism is a Jewish political movement, developed in response to 19th century anti-Semitism, which maintains that the Jewish people are entitled to a national homeland in Palestine, the location of the ancient Kingdom of Israel. ... Archibald Percival Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell (May 5, 1883 _ May 24, 1950) was a British General and the commander of British Army forces in the Middle East during World War II. He led British forces to victory over the Italians, only to be defeated by the German army. ... The Jewish Agency for Israel also known as The Jewish Agency (or sochnut in Hebrew), was previously called the Jewish Agency for Palestine (during the British Mandate of Palestine) is an Israeli organisation that advocates for Israel and is composed mainly, but not entirely, of Jewish people. ... The Haganah (Hebrew: Defense, הגנה) was a Jewish paramilitary organization in Palestine during the British mandate of Palestine from 1920 to 1948. ...

In June 1938 the new British commander, General Haining, gave his permission to create the Special Night Squads, armed groups formed of British and Haganah volunteers. The Jewish Agency helped pay salaries and other costs of the Haganah personnel. Wingate trained and commanded them and accompanied them in their patrols. They ambushed Arab saboteurs who attacked oil pipelines of the Iraqi Petroleum Company and raided border villages the attackers had used as bases, imposing severe collective punishments that were sometimes frowned on by Zionist leaders as well as British. His methods were nonetheless effective. However, when he spoke publicly in favour of formation of a Jewish state during his leave in Britain, his superiors in Palestine removed him from command. In May 1939, he was transferred back to Britain. Owing to racial slurs, he found it necessary to issue a public denial that he was Jewish. Wingate became a hero of the Palestinian Jewish community, and was loved by leaders such as Moshe Dayan who had trained under him, and who claimed that Wingate had "taught us everything we know." 1938 was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1939 was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Gen. ...

Abyssinia and the Gideon Force

At the outbreak of World War II, Wingate was the commander of an anti-aircraft unit. Wavell, now Commander-in-Chief of the Middle East Command which was based in Cairo, invited him to Sudan to begin operations against Italian occupation forces in Ethiopia. He created the Gideon Force, a guerrilla troop composed of British, Sudanese and Ethiopian soldiers. The force was named after the biblical judge Gideon, who defeated a large force with a tiny band. Wingate invited a number of veterans of the Haganah SNS to join him. With the blessing of Haile Selassie, the group began to operate in February 1941. Wingate was temporarily promoted to lieutenant colonel and put in command. He again insisted on leading from the front and accompanied his troops. The Gideon Force, with the aid of local resistance fighters, harassed Italian forts and their supply lines. The small Gideon Force of no more than 1,700 men brought about the surrender of about 20,000 well equipped Italians. At the end of the fighting, Wingate and the men of the Gideon Force liked to the Sudan Defense Force led by William Platt and together they accompanied the emperor in his triumphant return to to Addis Ababa in May. Wingate was awarded the D.S.O. World War II was a truly global conflict with many facets: immense human suffering, fierce indoctrinations, and the use of new, extremely devastating weapons like the atom bomb. ... American troops man an anti-aircraft gun near the Algerian coastline in 1943 Anti-aircraft, or air defense, is any method of combating military aircraft from the ground. ... During World War II The British Middle East Command was based in Cairo with responsibility for the Middle East theatre which included North Africa, East Africa, Persia, the Middle East, and the British forces in the Balkans and Greece. ... Although technically in Giza, The Great Pyramids have become a symbol of Cairo internationally Cairo (Arabic: القاهرة; romanized: al-Qāhirah) is the capital city of Egypt (and previously the United Arab Republic) and has a metropolitan area population of approximately 15. ... The Gideon Force was a British-led African guerrilla force fighting the Italian occupation forces in Abyssiania (modern-day Ethiopia) during the World War II. Leader and creator of the force was British major Charles Orde Wingate. ... Gideon (גִּדְעוֹן, Standard Hebrew GidÊ»on, Tiberian Hebrew Giḏʻôn) is a mythical character who appears in the Bibles Book of Judges. ... Haile Selassie Haile Selassie (Power of Trinity) (July 23, 1892 – August 27, 1975) was the last Emperor (1930–1936; 1941–1974) of Ethiopia, and is a religious symbol in the Rastafarian movement. ... 1941 was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Addis Ababa as seen from space. ...

With the end of the East African Campaign, on June 4, 1941, Wingate was removed from command of the now-dismantled Gideon Force and his rank was reduced to that of major. He left for Cairo the next day. He complained to Wavell, contracted malaria and attempted suicide by stabbing himself in the neck. Detractors claimed he suffered from manic depressive illness. Others attribute the suicide to depression resulting from malaria medication. The East African Campaign refers to the battles fought between British Empire and Commonwealth forces and Italy in Italian East Africa during World War II. This campaign is often seen as part of the North African Campaign. ... June 4 is the 155th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (156th in leap years), with 210 days remaining. ... Red blood cell infected with Malaria (Italian: bad air; formerly called ague or marsh fever in English) is an infectious disease which in humans causes about 350-500 million infections and approxomately 1. ...

Wingate was sent to Britain to recuperate. An expurgated version of his report reached Winston Churchill, who contacted Wavell, now Commander-in-Chief in India commanding the South-East Asian Theatre. Wavell had Wingate transferred to India. The Right Honourable Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, KG, OM, CH, FRS PC (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, best known as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. ... This article is in need of attention. ... The South-East Asian Theatre of World War II was the name given to the campaigns of the Pacific War in India, Burma, Thailand, Malaya and Singapore. ...

Burma and the Chindits

Wingate departed for the Far East on February 27, 1942. He was promoted to colonel and set to organize a new guerrilla unit. Instead, he created a long-range penetration unit he eventually named Chindits, after a mythical Burmese lion, the Chinthe. Again, he insisted on leading from the front. Far East is an inexact term often used for East Asia and Southeast Asia combined, sometimes including also the easternmost territories of Russia, i. ... February 27 is the 58th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... This article is about the year. ... The Chindits (Officially in 1942 77th Indian Infantry Brigade and in 1943 3rd Indian Infantry Division) were a British jungle Special Forces unit that served in Burma from 1943 until 1945 as part of the Fourteenth Army during the Burma Campaign in World War II. They were formed into long...

Meanwhile, his somewhat direct manner of dealing with his immediate superiors and increasingly eccentric habits won him few friends among the officer corps; he would consume raw onions because he thought they were healthy and scrub himself with a rubber brush instead of bathing. On the other hand, he had support of luminaries like Winston Churchill and Lord Mountbatten. Binomial name Allium cepa L. Onion in the general sense can be used for any plant in the Genus Allium but used without qualifiers usually means Allium cepa L., also called the garden onion. ... Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (June 25, 1900 – August 27, 1979) was a British admiral and statesman and an uncle of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. ...

Wingate set out with the Chindits on February 12, 1943. After an arduous journey and numerous encounters with the Japanese forces, his troops struggled back in April. Although army response was mixed, publicity praised him and his men. Promoted to brigadier general, Wingate visited Britain and met Churchill who took him and his wife along to the Quebec Conference. There, Wingate explained his plan of deep penetration warfare to Churchill and Roosevelt. Air power and radio, recent developments in warfare, would allow units to establish bases deep in enemy territory, breaching the outer defenses and extend the range of conventional forces. The leaders were impressed, and larger scale deep penetration attacks were approved. February 12 is the 43rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1943 is a common year starting on Friday. ... The Imperial Japanese Army (大日本帝国陸軍 Dai-Nippon Teikoku Rikugun) was the official armed force of Japan from 1867 to 1945. ... 1943 is a common year starting on Friday. ... The Quebec Conference was a high level military conference held during World War II between the British and United States governments. ...

Back in India, Wingate was promoted to acting major general and he begun to plan the next mission. He had contracted typhoid and it hindered his training of the next batch of the Chindits and fighting against official inertia. On March 6, 1944, new Chindits parachuted to resist a newly begun Japanese offensive. This is about the disease typhoid fever. ... March 6 is the 65th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (66th in Leap years). ... 1944 was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ...

On March 24, Wingate flew to assess the situations in three Chindit-held bases in Burma. On his way back to India, the US B-25 Mitchell plane he was flying in crashed and he died alongside nine others. March 24 is the 83rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (84th in Leap years). ... B-25 Mitchell, England, 2001 B-25 Mitchell was a twin-engined, medium bomber manufactured by North American Aviation in the United States and used during World War II. By the time production of the plane ended, roughly 10,000 had been built, including PBJ-1 Navy Patrol Bomber and...

Eccentricities

A beloved commander, Wingate was nevertheless known for various eccentricities. For instance, he often wore an alarm clock around his wrist, which would go off at the appropriate times, and a raw onion on a string around his neck, which he would occasionally bite into as a snack. In Palestine, Jewish recruits were used to having him come out of the shower to give them orders, wearing nothing but a shower cap, and continuing to scrub himself with a shower brush. In most instances, this actually endeared him to his men. Binomial name Allium cepa L. Onion in the general sense can be used for any plant in the Genus Allium but used without qualifiers usually means Allium cepa L., also called the garden onion. ...

Memorials

The remains of Orde Wingate are buried in the USA, in the Arlington National Cemetery alongside the American crewmembers of the plane he perished in. His tomb in Britain is just a memorial. Arlington Cemetery Arlington National Cemetery, in Arlington, Virginia, is an American military cemetery established during the American Civil War on the grounds of Robert E. Lees home. ...

Family

Orde Wingate's son, also Orde Wingate, joined the Honourable Artillery Company and rose through the ranks to become the regiments CO and later Regimental Colonel. The Honourable Artillery Company (HAC) is the oldest surviving regiment in the British Army, and the second most senior. ...

External links

• Charles Orde Wingate 1903-1944
• Biography of Orde Charles Wingate
• The Chindits
• Office of the US Surgeon General: Office of Medical History: Book 4, With Wingate's Chindits index