In February 1943, under the command of Major General Orde Wingate, the 77th Indian Brigade, also called the Chindits, began to launch guerrilla raids behind Japanese lines in Burma.
The Chindits were a long-range Special Operations raiding force organized to conduct deep penetration of the Japanese lines to attack Japanese troops, facilities, and lines of communication. They were the brainchild of Wingate who was a proponent of combined joint special operations forces back before World War II.
Early Childhood and Military Career
Wingate was born in India; his father was a career British Army officer. Wingate attended the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, which was the training school for the British artillery officers. He graduated and received his commission in 1923.
Soon after, he was recognized as an outstanding horseman. Because of this, he was assigned to the Military School of Equitation where he enjoyed challenging the instructors. And if that didn’t make him unpopular enough with the Cavalry officers there, his growing arrogance, which was to mark the rest of his career, did.
