Fire in the Night: Wingate of Burma, Ethiopia, and Zion

Some time ago, I read QUARTERED SAFE OUT HERE, the wartime memoirs of George MacDonald Fraser concerning the time he spent in the Other Ranks of the British imperial army that recaptured Burma from the Japanese in World War II. In his book, Fraser mentions the high regard the troops had for the army commander, William Slim. I subsequently read DEFEAT INTO VICTORY by Field-Marshal Viscount Slim, a personal account by the man who commanded the Fourteenth Indian Army during its bitter retreat from, and its glorious return march through, Burma. In his volume, Slim mentions the unorthodox British general Orde Wingate's contributions to the Japanese defeat in Southeast Asia. Thus, FIRE IN THE NIGHT, Wingate's biography.Co-authored by John Bierman and Colin Smith, FIRE IN THE NIGHT is the immensely readable life story of an incredibly complex man. In a nutshell, after several brief chapters on Wingate's early life, the narrative sequentially covers his postings in Palestine, Ethiopia and, finally, India/Burma, during which time (1936-1944) he rose in rank from Lieutenant to Major General. In the British Mandate of Palestine, Orde became an ardent Zionist while fighting Arab "gangs" with Special Night Squads, the armed detachments of British regulars and Jews which he himself brought into being. In Ethiopia, his was a key role in the British victorious military effort to drive the Italians from the country and return Haile Selassie to the thrown. In India, Wingate's ultimate triumph before an untimely death was to conceive, form, train and deploy the Third Indian Division, the "Chindits", as a Special Force to insert behind Japanese lines in Northern Burma to destroy the enemy's means of communication and supply.To my mind, the strength of this book is that it gives the reader an excellent overview of Wingate the man and soldier without getting bogged down in an overabundance of detail. Certainly, the subject of Wingate's character, obsessions and eccentricities could fill volumes. He was admired and loved by the men he literally led into battle. (He drove them hard, but he drove himself even harder.) Conversely, he was loathed by many of his officer peers and superiors for his arrogance, outspokenness, rudeness and personal slovenliness. (He was on record as calling some of his more Blimpish superiors "military apes".) But, he also had his admirers in high places, most notably Winston Churchill and Lord Louis Mountbatten, the Supreme Commander of all allied forces in Southeast Asia. Perhaps the most endearing of Wingate's traits were his eccentricities. For example, he carried a wind-up alarm clock on his person because he considered watches unreliable. And then there was his attitude to personal nudity best illustrated by an incident during the wide press acclaim following his first Chindit campaign. An Australian correspondent invited to the general's hotel room in Delhi wrote:"I found him sitting naked on his bed, eyes buried deep in a book. He hardl

Bierman and Smith have done a fine job of portraying Wingate. And, what a great read! Wingate has finally been given his due in this book. His true worth as an Army officer is finally exposed: As great as Lawrence but lacking the literary gifts.A must-read for the professional Army or Marine Corps officer!

Orde Wingate was a man of extremes and those whose lives he touched either loved him or hated him. Books written about him have largely reflected this, usually taking one side or the other. At last, here is a book that allows readers to decide for themselves in a brilliant, thoroughly researched work, that presents all the extreme facets of General Wingate. It is well argued, with its conclusions backed by documented evidence, and beautifully written in a fashion that makes it appealing to read as a book, rather than just a reference.From Wingate's early days at Harrow and the beginning of his military career, the reader follows his personal battles with himself and with others. The reader is launched after Wingate as he finds his feet in Palestine in with little regard for convention, either social or military. His first forays in to guerilla warfare, both successful and not, are embellished with personal evidence from credible historical witnesses. His subsequent banishment from Palestine, following policital dabbling above his station, is described, backed by his utter conviction about Zionism that was to colour the rest of his career. The reader is then invited to rejoin the fray with Wingate as he develops his guerilla techniques, restoring Haile Selassie to his Ethiopian throne. Throughout, the impression of Wingate as a inspirational leader who was a thorn in the side of his superiors in re-inforced.The final chapter in Wingate's life begins with an unexpected and unwelcome posting to Burma at Wavell's behest to harry to Japanese as they over-run Burma in a bid to drive the British from India. Spendid, accounts of Wingate's audacious cultivation of senior figures, including Churchill and Mountbatten, lie alongside his uncanny ability to forge enemies as he bullies and cajoles the system in to supporting his Chindit operations. The demise of the Chindits after Wingate's untimely death and subsequent attempts to besmirch him, his techniques and achievements, form the epilogue of this outstanding book.

I thought I knew a little about Ord Windgate before I read this book. And "a little" is exactly right. This British Army Officer brushed asside every obsticle he ever came to and prevailed in what he was trying to do most of the time. So how could a hundred thousand or so Japanese in Burma stop him. Well they didn't.This man was litterally a pain ...... of everyone who ever stood in the way of what he saw as the right thing to do. As a junior officer he was disliked by many of his superiors and the stuffy types that were most of his fellow officers. A few saw that he was a dedicated innovator who realy didn't care who he offended by bringing about change. As he progressed up the ranks he had successes that made him even less popular except where it counted.Those who admired him truly beleived in him (Winston Chuchill for one), but those who disliked him often hated him. It is this man who the authors bring to life within the pages of this well researched and documented book. A first class work of history. Well worth the time to read it.

Some fifteen years ago I was in a Barnes and Noble bookstore in Philadelpia looking at a bin of books for $1.00. I stumbled on a book, took it home and read it in a week. I went back to the bookstore and bought every copy they had. I sent the copies to every influential and/or bright friend I could think of because I believed the story was just fascinating. I couldn't believe the book had been ignored. Eventually, the book would become very well known due to the motion picture adaptation. The book was a total flop, at least initially. We know this book today, thanks to Mr. Spielberg's film, as "Schindler's List."" Fire in the Night" is the only other book in my lifetime that has struck me quite the same way. It is quite enlightening to read about someone as interesting as Orde Wingate or Oskar Schindler. The average man only dreams about being heroic. Wingate and Schindler lived the kind of life that few of us are capable of pulling off.If someone doesn't make this book into a documentary or a movie then the world has missed an opportunity, and we will only be the poorer for it.