Synopsis
Orde Charles Wingate. Winston Churchill thought him a military genius; others considered him greatly over-rated; a few even thought him mad. His overriding passion was for Zionism, a cause which he embraced when posted to British-ruled Palestine in 1936. There he raised the Special Night Squads, an irregular force which decimated Arab rebel bands and taught a future generation of Israeli generals (including Moshe Dayan and Yitzhak Rabin) how to fight. In 1941, Wingate led another guerrilla-style force into Italian-occupied Ethiopia and was instrumental in restoring Emperor Haile Selassie to his throne. But his most famous campaign was conducted behind enemy lines in Burma, where his Chindits shattered the myth of Japanese invincibility in jungle fighting. A brilliant maverick, Wingate was a difficult if not impossible subordinate. He was also - as this riveting new study reveals - an inspiring leader.
Details
15 November 2012448 pages
9781447231462Imprint: Pan
Reviews
fast paced and satisfying...the authors know the lot of the ordinary soldierNew York Times
...excellent use of interviews with those who knew Wingate bestWashington Times
a balanced book of this most unbalanced man...lucid and excitingPhillip Ziegler, The Spectator
Riveting...John Bierman and Colin Smith, wily veterans of war reporting, are excellent on the military adventurer who so caught the public imaginationWalter Ellis, Sunday Times
