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Orde Charles Wingate

Orde Wingate
Ordecharleswingate.jpg
Orde Wingate
Birth name Orde Charles Wingate
Born (1903-02-26)26 February 1903
Nainital, United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, India (now in Uttarakhand, India)
Died 24 March 1944(1944-03-24) (aged 41)
Near Bishnupur, Manipur State, India (now in Manipur, India)
Buried at Initially near Bishnupur, India; later exhumed and reburied in Arlington National Cemetery
Allegiance  United Kingdom / British Empire
Service/branch  British Army
Years of service 1921–1944
Rank Major General
Unit Royal Artillery
Commands held Gideon Force
Chindits
Battles/wars

1936–39 Arab revolt in Palestine
World War II

Awards Distinguished Service Order & Two Bars
Mentioned in despatches

1936–39 Arab revolt in Palestine
World War II

Major-General Orde Charles Wingate DSO & Two Bars (26 February 1903 – 24 March 1944) was a senior British Army officer, known for his creation of the Chindit deep-penetration missions in Japanese-held territory during the Burma Campaign of World War II.

Wingate was an exponent of unconventional military thinking and the value of surprise tactics. Assigned to Mandatory Palestine, he became a supporter of Zionism, and set up a joint British-Jewish counter-insurgency unit. Under the patronage of the area commander Archibald Wavell, Wingate was given increasing latitude to put his ideas into practice during World War II. He created units in Abyssinia and Burma. At a time when Britain was in need of morale-boosting generalship, Wingate attracted British Prime Minister Winston Churchill's attention with a self-reliant aggressive philosophy of war, and was given resources to stage a large-scale operation. The last Chindit campaign may have determined the outcome of the Battle of Kohima, although the offensive into India by the Japanese may have occurred because Wingate's first operation had demonstrated the possibility of moving through the jungle. In practice both Japanese and British forces suffered severe supply problems and malnutrition.

Wingate was killed in an aircraft accident late in the war. A continuing controversy over the Chindits has centred around the casualty rate the force suffered, especially from disease. Wingate believed that resistance to infection could be improved by inculcating a tough mental attitude, but medical officers considered his methods unsuited to a tropical environment.


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