Orde Wingate was an unorthodox and visionary British army officer who won lasting fame as a pioneer of guerrilla and special operations warfare, most notably with his "Chindit" raiders behind Japanese lines in Burma. Born in India to a deeply religious military family, he was a fervent, eccentric, and intensely driven man whose Bible-steeped convictions shaped his soldiering.
He first made his name in the 1930s in Palestine, where he organized and led "Special Night Squads" of British and Jewish fighters against Arab insurgents, developing aggressive small-unit tactics and forging a passionate, lifelong commitment to the Zionist cause. He later led irregular forces in East Africa, helping to restore the Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie to his throne.
Wingate's most celebrated work came in Burma during the Second World War. He conceived and led the Chindits, long-range penetration columns that marched deep into the jungle behind Japanese lines, supplied entirely by air, to harass the enemy's communications. The campaigns were grueling and costly, and their military value was debated, but they demonstrated that British and Indian troops could fight and survive in the jungle, boosting morale at a critical time.
Backed enthusiastically by Winston Churchill, who admired his audacity, Wingate was promoted and given larger forces for a second, larger Chindit operation in 1944. In the midst of that campaign he was killed when his aircraft crashed in the Burmese hills, his bold ideas outliving him.