Orde Wingate

Description

Orde Wingate rose to fame by creating the Chindits in Burma in 1943. He is an extremely important figure in military history, and deserves just as much attention as Alanbrooke, Montgomery, and Auchinleck. Unlike them, however, he always operated outside the accepted etiquette and the formal chain of command. He was a maverick and misfit, and he held to the belief that the type of mass warfare demonstrated on the Western Front (1914-18) had very little to do with the warfare of the future. He believed that the latter would require an 'indirect approach', in which heavily lumbering armies would be exquisitely vulnerable to small groups of highly motivated, mobile and well-armed guerrillas. This book covers Wingate's experiences in pre-war Palestine, in Ethiopia in 1941 (where he formed an irregular guerrilla unit to harrass the Italian garrisons) and in World War II Burma, where the two Chindit campaigns would be his apotheosis.

Jon Diamond is a practising physician who has had a life-long interest in military history. A graduate of Cornell University, Jon has been on the faculties of Harvard Medical School and Pennsylvania State University. He has served as a civilian attendee to the United States Army War College National Security Seminar in Carlisle, Pennsylvania and has written a significant number of articles and papers including over 15 for Military Heritage Presents WW II History. He has just completed a book on David Low's Cartoons and the British Policy of Appeasement. He resides in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Peter Dennis was born in 1950. Inspired by contemporary magazines such as Look and Learn he studied illustration at Liverpool Art College. Peter has since contributed to hundreds of books, predominantly on historical subjects, including many Osprey titles. A keen wargamer and modelmaker, he is based in Nottinghamshire, UK.

"...surveys the tactics and battle experiences of one of the most controversial commanders of the second world war. His use of long-range penetration in Africa and Burma helped develop post-war special forces and elite units even as his attitude and abrasive approach made him very unpopular. Military holdings will find these discussions of strategies and their evolution to be important and eye-opening." --James A. Cox, The Midwest Book Review (January 2013) "...makes for a superb read and while does not answer everyone's questions about this enigmatic leader, does shed light on him in a way that other, more biased books have overlooked. I found it an engrossing read and a book that I can highly recommend to you." --Scott Van Aken, www.modelingmadness.com (December 2012) "...I couldn't put Orde Wingate down ... This admirably indexed effort deserves a place in every WWII enthusiast's library." --David L. Veres, www.cybermodeler.com