119-680: Major General Orde Charles Wingate , DSO & Two Bars (26 February 1903 – 24 March 1944) was a senior British Army officer known for his creation of the Chindit deep-penetration missions in Japanese-held territory during the Burma Campaign of the Second World War . Wingate was an exponent of unconventional military thinking and the value of surprise tactics. Wingate was a dedicated Christian Zionist . In Mandatory Palestine , he set up
238-610: A 1944 offensive into India to capture the Imphal Plain and Kohima, in order to better defend Burma from future Allied offensives. In London, the Chindits and their exploits were viewed as a success after the long string of Allied disasters in the Far East theatre. Winston Churchill , an ardent proponent of commando operations, was, in particular, complimentary toward the Chindits and their accomplishments. The Japanese subsequently admitted that
357-642: A 24-week Modular Initial Officer Training Course (MIOTC) at RAF College Cranwell . This course is split into four 6-week modules covering: militarisation, leadership, management and assessment respectively. Royal Marines officers receive their training in the Command Wing of the Commando Training Centre Royal Marines during a 15-month course. The courses consist not only of tactical and combat training, but also of leadership, management, etiquette, and international-affairs training. Until
476-510: A bachelor's degree and are exclusively selected from experienced mid- to senior-level enlisted ranks (e.g., E-5 with eight years' time in service for the Marine Corps, E-7 and above for Navy and Coast Guard). The rank of warrant officer (WO1, also known as W-1) is an appointed rank by warrant from the respective branch secretary until promotion to chief warrant officer (CWO2, also known as W-2) by presidential commission, and holders are entitled to
595-451: A bachelor's degree prior to commissioning. The U.S Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and NOAA Corps have no warrant officers or enlisted personnel, and all personnel must enter those services via commissioning. Direct commission is another route to becoming a commissioned officer. Credentialed civilian professionals such as scientists, pharmacists, physicians, nurses, clergy, and attorneys are directly commissioned upon entry into
714-508: A boat to Egypt. From Cairo he travelled to Khartoum . In April 1928, his application to transfer to the SDF came through and he was posted to the East Arab Corps, serving in the area of Roseires and Gallabat on the borders of Ethiopia , where the SDF patrolled to catch slave traders and ivory poachers . He changed the method of regular patrolling to ambushes . In March 1930, Wingate
833-463: A commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer (NCO), or a warrant officer . However, absent contextual qualification, the term typically refers only to a force's commissioned officers , the more senior members who derive their authority from a commission from the head of state . The proportion of officers varies greatly. Commissioned officers typically make up between an eighth and a fifth of modern armed forces personnel. In 2013, officers were
952-525: A four-year bachelor's degree from an accredited four-year institution within a defined time. College-graduate candidates (initial or prior-service) may also be commissioned in the U.S. uniformed services via an officer candidate school, officer training school, or other programs: A smaller number of Marine Corps officers may be commissioned via the Marine Corps Platoon Leaders Class (PLC) program during summers while attending college. PLC
1071-524: A higher active duty or reserve enlisted grade in any of the U.S. armed forces) for the duration of their 14-week program. Upon graduation, they were commissioned as ensigns in the then- U.S. Naval Reserve on active duty, with the option to augment their commissions to the Regular Navy after four to six years of commissioned service. The AOCS also included the embedded Aviation Reserve Officer Candidate (AVROC) and Naval Aviation Cadet (NAVCAD) programs. AVROC
1190-605: A joint British–Jewish counter-insurgency unit called the Special Night Squads . Under the patronage of the area commander Archibald Wavell , Wingate was given increasing latitude to put his ideas into practice during the Second World War. He created units in Abyssinia and Burma. At a time when Britain was in need of morale-boosting generalship, Wingate attracted British Prime Minister Winston Churchill 's attention with
1309-414: A large supply of the drug Atabrine , which can produce depression as a side-effect if taken in high dosages. Wingate was already depressed by the official response to his Abyssinian command, and he was also sick with malaria; he attempted suicide by stabbing himself in the neck. Only prompt action by another officer saved him, and he was sent to Britain to recuperate. A highly edited version of his report
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#17328478770071428-604: A major general. In addition, the senior officer of the Royal Army Chaplains' Department , the Chaplain-General , is accorded "the relative precedence" – the respect, courtesies and insignia, rather than the full powers and authority – of the rank of major general. The office of Commandant General Royal Marines (CGRM), the professional head of the Royal Marines, was created at the rank of full general in 1943. In 1977,
1547-693: A mark of 85/100. In June 1927, with Cousin Rex's encouragement, Wingate obtained six months' leave in order to mount an expedition in the Sudan. Rex had suggested that he travel via Cairo and then try to obtain secondment to the Sudan Defence Force (SDF) . Sending his luggage ahead of him, Wingate set off in September 1927 by bicycle, travelling first through France and Germany before making his way to Genoa via Czechoslovakia , Austria and Yugoslavia . From Genoa he took
1666-627: A military family (cousins of the Wingate baronets ). His father, Colonel George Wingate (1852–1936), had become a committed member of the Plymouth Brethren early in his army career in India; at the age of 46, after wooing her for 20 years, he married (Mary) Ethel (1867–1943), the oldest daughter of the Orde Browne family, who were also Plymouth Brethren. His father retired from the army two years after Wingate
1785-451: A minor offence against the rules, a first-year student would be subjected to a ragging ritual named "running". This ritual consisted of the first-year being stripped and forced to run a gauntlet of senior students, all of whom wielded a knotted towel which was used to hit the accused on his journey along the line. On reaching the end, the first-year would then be thrown into an icy-cold cistern of water. When it came time for Wingate to run
1904-514: A number of Zionist leaders, and became an ardent Christian Zionist himself. He always returned to Kibbutz En Harod , because he felt familiar with the biblical judge Gideon , who fought in this area, and used it himself as a military base. He formulated the idea of raising small assault units of British-led Jewish commandos armed with grenades and light infantry small arms to combat the Arab revolt. Wingate took his idea personally to Archibald Wavell , who
2023-481: A post- Vietnam reduction in force (RIF) that reduced the number of flight training slots for AFROTC graduates by approximately 75% in order to retain flight-training slots for USAFA cadets and graduates during the same time period. Many of these individuals, at the time all male, declined or resigned their inactive USAF commissions and also attended AOCS for follow-on naval flight-training. AOCs were active-duty personnel in pay grade E-5 (unless having previously held
2142-620: A prerequisite for such. In the past (and in some countries today but to a lesser extent), non-commissioned members were almost exclusively conscripts , whereas officers were volunteers. In certain Commonwealth nations, commissioned officers are made commissioners of oaths by virtue of their office and can thus administer oaths or take affidavits or declarations , limited in certain cases by rank or by appointment, and generally limited to activities or personnel related to their employment. In some branches of many armed forces, there exists
2261-503: A replacement air group (RAG)/fleet replacement squadron (FRS) and then to operational Fleet Marine Force (FMF) squadrons. Like their NAVCAD graduate counterparts, officers commissioned via MarCad had the option to augment to the Regular Marine Corps following four to six years of commissioned service. The MarCad program closed to new applicants in 1967 and the last trainee graduated in 1968. Another discontinued commissioning program
2380-524: A reprisal operation on the Arab quarter of Beisan , near the explosion. He ordered "the killing of every Arab discovered in the vicinity of the raid." "'Everybody into the cars!' … . We grabbed our rifles and within a few seconds were all in the cars. Without any plan of action or preparation, with Wingate at our head, we entered the Arab part of Beit Shean, which swarmed with gang members, and began to beat and trample anyone in our path. Wingate himself went out of control, entering stores and destroying whatever
2499-739: A retired army general who had been governor-general of the Sudan between 1899 and 1916 and high commissioner of Egypt from 1917 to 1919, had a considerable influence on Wingate's career. He gave him a positive interest in Middle East affairs and in Arabic . As a result, Wingate applied to take a course in Arabic at the School of Oriental Studies in London and passed out of the course, which lasted from October 1926 to March 1927, with
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#17328478770072618-557: A self-reliant aggressive philosophy of war, and was given resources to stage a large-scale operation. The last Chindit campaign may have determined the outcome of the Battle of Kohima , although the offensive into India by the Japanese may have occurred because Wingate's first operation had demonstrated the possibility of moving through the jungle. In practice, both Japanese and British forces suffered severe supply problems and malnutrition. Wingate
2737-600: A third grade of officer known as a warrant officer. In the armed forces of the United States, warrant officers are initially appointed by the Secretary of the service and then commissioned by the President of the United States upon promotion to chief warrant officer. In many other countries (as in the armed forces of the Commonwealth nations), warrant officers often fill the role of very senior non-commissioned officers. Their position
2856-444: A year for each module at an Officers' Training Corps ; the last two must be undertaken at Sandhurst. Royal Navy officer candidates must complete a 30-week Initial Navy Training (Officer) (INT(O))course at Britannia Royal Naval College . This comprises 15 weeks militarisation training, followed by 15 weeks professional training, before the candidate commences marinisation. Royal Air Force (RAF) DE officer candidates must complete
2975-681: Is a "two-star" rank in the British Army and Royal Marines . The rank was also briefly used by the Royal Air Force for a year and a half, from its creation in April 1918 until August 1919. In the British Army, a major general is the customary rank for the appointment of division commander. In the Royal Marines, the Commandant General holds at least the rank of major general. A major general
3094-617: Is a sub-element of Marine Corps OCS and college and university students enrolled in PLC undergo military training at Marine Corps Officer Candidate School in two segments: the first of six weeks between their sophomore and junior year and the second of seven weeks between their junior and senior year. There is no routine military training during the academic year for PLC students as is the case for ROTC cadets and midshipmen, but PLC students are routinely visited and their physical fitness periodically tested by Marine Corps officer-selection officers (OSOs) from
3213-471: Is affirmed by warrant from the bureaucracy directing the force—for example, the position of regimental sergeant major in regiments of the British Army is held by a warrant officer appointed by the British government . In the U.S. military, a warrant officer is a technically-focused subject matter expert, such as helicopter pilot or information technology specialist. Until 2024, there were no warrant officers in
3332-550: Is an officer with a higher rank than another officer, who is a subordinate officer relative to the superior. NCOs, including U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard petty officers and chief petty officers, in positions of authority can be said to have control or charge rather than command per se (although the word "command" is often used unofficially to describe any use of authority). These enlisted naval personnel with authority are officially referred to as 'officers-in-charge" rather than as "commanding officers". Commissioned officers in
3451-660: Is senior to a brigadier but subordinate to a lieutenant general . The rank is OF-7 on the NATO rank scale , equivalent to a rear admiral in the Royal Navy or an air vice-marshal in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many Commonwealth countries. The rank insignia is the star (or 'pip') of the Order of the Bath , over a crossed sword and baton. In terms of orthography, compound ranks were invariably hyphenated prior to about 1980. Nowadays
3570-412: Is to serve as supervisors within their area of trade specialty. Senior NCOs serve as advisers and leaders from the duty section level to the highest levels of the armed forces establishment, while lower NCO grades are not yet considered management specialists. The duties of an NCO can vary greatly in scope, so that an NCO in one country may hold almost no authority, while others such as the United States and
3689-475: The Cardwell Reforms of 1871, commissions in the British Army were purchased by officers. The Royal Navy, however, operated on a more meritocratic, or at least socially mobile, basis. Commissioned officers exist in all eight uniformed services of the United States . All six armed forces of the United States have both commissioned officer and non-commissioned officer (NCO) ranks, and all of them (except
Orde Wingate - Misplaced Pages Continue
3808-604: The Chindwin river . The force met with initial success in putting one of the main railways in Burma out of action, then Wingate led them deep into Burma and over the Irrawaddy River . However, they found conditions very different from what their intelligence had led them to expect. The area was dry and inhospitable and criss-crossed by motor roads which the Japanese were able to use to good effect, particularly by intercepting supply drops to
3927-462: The Combined Chiefs of Staff meeting on 17 August. Air power, radio, and recent developments in warfare would allow units to establish bases deep in enemy territory, breaching the outer defences, and extend the range of conventional forces. The leaders were impressed, and larger scale deep-penetration attacks were approved. By now, a war-substantive lieutenant-colonel and temporary brigadier, Wingate
4046-643: The Second World War began. He repeatedly made proposals to the army and government for the creation of a Jewish army in Palestine which would rule over the area and its Arab population in the name of the British. His friend Wavell was commander-in-chief of Middle East Command based in Cairo , and he invited him to Sudan to begin operations against Italian occupation forces in Ethiopia. He created Gideon Force under William Platt ,
4165-550: The U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Space Force continues to have no warrant officers; the last of the previous cohort of USAF warrant officers retired in the 1980s and the ranks became dormant until the program was resurrected in 2024. The USSF has not established any warrant officer ranks. All other U.S. Armed Forces have warrant officers, with warrant accession programs unique to each individual service's needs. Although Warrant Officers normally have more years in service than commissioned officers, they are below commissioned officers in
4284-708: The United States Air Force and United States Space Force ) have warrant-officer ranks. The two noncombatant uniformed services, the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Officer Corps (NOAA Corps), have only commissioned officers, with no warrant-officer or enlisted personnel. Commissioned officers are considered commanding officers under presidential authority. A superior officer
4403-680: The United States Armed Forces , enlisted military personnel without a four-year university degree at the bachelor's level can, under certain circumstances, also be commissioned in the Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard limited duty officer (LDO) program. Officers in this category constitute less than 2% of all officers in those services. Another category in the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard are warrant officers / chief warrant officers (WO/CWO). These are specialist officers who do not require
4522-493: The Virginia Military Institute . The Coast Guard has no ROTC program, but does have a Direct Commission Selected School Program for military colleges such as The Citadel and VMI . Army ROTC graduates of the United States' four junior military colleges can also be commissioned in the U.S. Army with only a two-year associate degree through its Early Commissioning Program , conditioned on subsequently completing
4641-584: The sovereign or the governor general acting on the monarch's behalf. Upon receipt, this is an official legal document that binds the mentioned officer to the commitment stated on the scroll. Non-commissioned members rise from the lowest ranks in most nations. Education standards for non-commissioned members are typically lower than for officers (with the exception of specialized military and highly-technical trades; such as aircraft, weapons or electronics engineers). Enlisted members only receive leadership training after promotion to positions of responsibility, or as
4760-528: The AOCS program were primarily non-prior military service college graduates, augmented by a smaller cohort of college-educated active duty, reserve or former enlisted personnel. In the late 1970s, a number of Air Force ROTC cadets and graduates originally slated for undergraduate pilot training (UPT) or undergraduate navigator training (UNT) lost their flight training slots either immediately prior to or subsequent to graduation, but prior to going on active duty, due to
4879-511: The Abyssinian campaign, but Wingate remained the regimental gadfly always ready to flout the King's Regulations ; he grew a beard in the jungle and allowed his men to do the same. Nevertheless, he won plaudits by his outstanding courage and leadership in the face of the enemy. The original 1943 Chindit operation was supposed to be a coordinated plan with the field army, but the Army's offensive into Burma
Orde Wingate - Misplaced Pages Continue
4998-526: The Arabs, some non-lethal. Wingate would force sand into villagers' mouths until they vomited. In one case, when Arab saboteurs had caused an oil leak, he took all the men from an Arab village and threw them into a pool of crude oil . Wingate disliked Arabs, once shouting at Haganah fighters after a June 1938 attack on a village on the border between Mandatory Palestine and Lebanon , "I think you are all totally ignorant in your Ramat Yochanan [the training base for
5117-421: The Army's Royal Flying Corps and the Navy's Royal Naval Air Service , so the ranks were a compromise between these two traditions. The insignia of the rank was derived from that of a Royal Navy rear-admiral and featured a broad gold stripe on the cuff below one narrow gold stripe. The two stripes were surmounted by an eagle (volant and affronty) under a King's crown. The RAF replaced the rank of major-general with
5236-740: The British Army, a division is commanded by a major general. However, other appointments may also be held by major generals. For example, the Commandant of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst is a major general. Until around the 1980s, the heads of each branch of service, such as the Royal Armoured Corps , the Royal Artillery and the Corps of Infantry , were major generals. Other, administrative, commands were also appointments for
5355-545: The British about Wingate's brutality and harsh punitive methods. Even members of the field squads complained... that during the raids on Bedouin encampments Wingate would behave with extreme viciousness and fire mercilessly. Wingate believed in the principle of surprise in punishment, which was designed to confine the gangs to their villages. More than once he had lined rioters up in a row and shot them in cold blood. Wingate did not try to justify himself; weapons and war cannot be pure. Wingate employed various forms of torture against
5474-454: The British commander in Sudan, a Special Operations Executive (SOE) force composed of British, Sudanese, and Ethiopian soldiers. At Khartoum, he and Tony Simonds joined Mission 101 controlled by London and Cairo. Gideon force was named after the biblical judge Gideon who defeated a large force with a tiny band of men. Wingate invited a number of veterans of the Haganah SNS to join him, with
5593-543: The Chindits had disrupted their plans for the first half of 1943. As a propaganda tool, the Chindit operation was used to prove to the army and those at home that the Japanese could be beaten and that British/Indian troops could successfully operate in the jungle against experienced Japanese forces. On his return, Wingate wrote an operations report in which he was again highly critical of the army and even some of his own officers and men. He also promoted more unorthodox ideas such as
5712-547: The Chindits would conduct offensive patrol and blocking operations. A similar strategy would be used by the French in Indochina years later at Dien Bien Phu . Wingate planned that part of 77 Brigade would land by glider in Burma and prepare airstrips into which 111 Brigade and the remainder of 77 Brigade would be flown by C-47 transport aircraft. Three landing sites, codenamed "Piccadilly", "Broadway" and "Chowringhee" were selected. On
5831-474: The Chindits. They soon began to suffer severely from exhaustion and shortages of water and food. On 22 March, Eastern Army HQ ordered Wingate to withdraw his units back to India. He and his senior commanders considered a number of options to achieve this, but all were threatened by the fact that the Japanese would be able to focus their attention on destroying the Chindit force, having no major army offensive in progress. They finally agreed to retrace their steps to
5950-575: The Haganah personnel. The SNSs were regarded as "well-oiled killing machines", while another British official called them "just thuggery really". Wingate trained, commanded and accompanied them on their patrols. The units frequently ambushed Arab saboteurs who attacked oil pipelines of the Iraq Petroleum Company , raiding border villages the attackers had used as bases. In these raids, Wingate's men sometimes imposed severe collective punishments on
6069-613: The Haganah] since you do not even know the elementary use of bayonets when attacking dirty Arabs: how can you put your left foot in front?" But the brutal tactics proved effective in quelling the uprising, and Wingate was awarded the DSO in 1938. In September 1938, after a rebel mine killed the Jewish leader of Ein Harod settlement, Chaim Sturman, Wingate let out a "cry, more a scream than an order" and carried out
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#17328478770076188-454: The Indian jungle during the rainy season. This proved disastrous, as the result was a very high sickness rate among the men. In one battalion, 70 per cent of the men went absent from duty due to illness, while a Gurkha battalion was reduced from 750 men to 500. Many of the men were replaced in September 1942 by new drafts of personnel from elsewhere in the army. Meanwhile, he won few friends among
6307-454: The Irrawaddy, Chindwin, and Mu rivers and actively patrolling the river banks. The force returned to India by various routes during the spring of 1943 in groups ranging from single individuals to whole columns: some directly, others via a roundabout route from China, and always harassed by the Japanese. Casualties were high, and the force lost approximately one-third of its total strength. With
6426-656: The Irrawaddy, since the Japanese would not expect this, and then disperse to make attacks on the enemy as they returned to the Chindwin. By mid-March, the Japanese had three infantry divisions chasing the Chindits, who were eventually trapped inside the bend of the Shweli River . They were unable to cross the river intact and still reach British lines, so they split into small groups to evade enemy forces. The Japanese paid great attention to preventing air resupply of Chindit columns, as well as hindering their mobility by removing boats from
6545-612: The Israel Defense Forces, a university degree is a requirement for an officer to advance to the rank of lieutenant colonel and beyond. The IDF often sponsors the studies for its officers in the rank major , while aircrew and naval officers obtain academic degrees as a part of their training programmes. In the United Kingdom, there are three routes of entry for British Armed Forces officers. The first, and primary route are those who receive their commission directly into
6664-584: The Japanese would follow them around the Burmese jungle in an effort to wipe them out. This plan was hurriedly dropped after other commanders pointed out that the Japanese Army would simply advance and seize the air bases from which Chindit forces were supplied, requiring a defensive battle and substantial troops that the Indian Army would be unable to provide. In the end, a new long-range jungle penetration operation
6783-712: The Libyan desert to investigate the lost army of Cambyses , mentioned in the writings of Herodotus , and to search for the lost oasis of Zerzura . Supported by equipment from the Royal Geographical Society (the findings of the expedition were published in the Royal Geographical Magazine in April 1934) and the Sudan Survey Department, the expedition set off in January 1933. Although they did not find
6902-448: The RAF personnel were officers in 2013, but the British Army had a larger total number of officers. Commissioned officers generally receive training as generalists in leadership and in management , in addition to training relating to their specific military occupational specialty or function in the military. Many militaries typically require university degrees as a prerequisite for commissioning, even when accessing candidates from
7021-468: The Royal Navy's Warrant Officers Commissioning Programme. In the British Army , commissioning for DE officers occurs after a 44-week course at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst . The course comprises three 14 weeks terms, focussing on militarisation, leadership and exercises respectively. Army Reserve officers will attend the Army Reserve Commissioning Course, which consists of four two-week modules (A-D). The first two modules may be undertaken over
7140-403: The School of Infantry, before entering naval flight-training. MarCads would then complete their entire flight-training syllabus as cadets. Graduates were designated Naval Aviators and commissioned as 2nd Lieutenants on active duty in the Marine Corps Reserve. They would then report to The Basic School (TBS) for newly commissioned USMC officers at Marine Corps Base Quantico prior to reporting to
7259-459: The U.S. Air Force Reserve on the same day. Aviation cadets were later offered the opportunity to apply for a commission in the regular Air Force and to attend a college or university to complete a four-year degree. As the Air Force's AFROTC and OTS programs began to grow, and with the Air Force's desire for a 100% college-graduate officer corps, the aviation cadet program was slowly phased out. The last aviation cadet pilot graduated in October 1961 and
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#17328478770077378-445: The U.S. Armed Forces may also be commissioned through the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC). The ROTC is composed of small training programs at several hundred American colleges and universities. There is no Marine Corps ROTC program per se , but there exists a Marine Corps option for selected midshipmen in the Naval ROTC programs at civilian colleges and universities or at non-Federal military colleges such as The Citadel and
7497-585: The U.S. Marine Corps. In addition to the ROTC, Army National Guard (ARNG) officers may also be commissioned through state-based officer-candidate schools. These schools train and commission college graduates, prior-servicemembers, and enlisted guard soldiers specifically for the National Guard. Air National Guard officers without prior active duty commissioned service attend the same active-duty OTS at Maxwell AFB , Alabama, as do prospective active duty USAF officers and prospective direct entry Air Force Reserve officers not commissioned via USAFA or AFROTC . In
7616-459: The U.S. Navy, primarily Naval Aviators, via interservice transfer. During the U.S. participation in World War II (1941–1945), civilians with expertise in industrial management also received direct commissions to stand up materiel production for the U.S. armed forces. Although significantly represented in the retired senior commissioned officer ranks of the U.S. Navy, a much smaller cohort of current active-duty and active-reserve officers (all of
7735-448: The age of 30 are known as Late Entry (LE) officers. The third route is similar to the second, in that candidates convert from an enlisted rank to a commission; but these are only taken from the highest ranks of SNCOs ( warrant officers and equivalents). This route typically involves reduced training requirements in recognition of existing experience. Some examples of this scheme are the RAF's Commissioned Warrant Officer (CWO) course or
7854-401: The armed forces of the United States come from a variety of accessions sources: Graduates of the United States service academies attend their institutions for no less than four years and, with the exception of the USMMA, are granted active-duty regular commissions immediately upon completion of their training. They make up approximately 20% of the U.S. armed forces officer corps. Officers in
7973-489: The blessing of Ethiopia's Emperor Haile Selassie , and the group began to operate in February 1941. The Italians occupied Ethiopia between 1936 and 1941, and they conducted operations to "pacify" the people which killed about seven per cent of the population. There was a huge reservoir of hatred for the Italians as a result, and many Ethiopians were happy to assist Gideon Force. Wingate was temporarily promoted lieutenant colonel and put in command. He again insisted on leading from
8092-495: The campaign, he was irritated that British authorities ignored a request for decorations for his men. They also obstructed his efforts to obtain back pay and other compensation. He left for Cairo and wrote an official report which was extremely critical of his commanders, fellow officers, government officials, and many others. He was also angry that his efforts had not been praised by authorities and that he had been forced to leave Abyssinia without saying farewell to Emperor Selassie. He
8211-416: The country. He was promoting his own agenda rather than that of the army or the government. In May 1939, he was transferred to Britain. Wingate became a hero of the Yishuv (the Jewish Community), and was loved by leaders such as Zvi Brenner and Moshe Dayan , who trained under him and claimed that Wingate had "taught us everything we know." Wingate was the commander of an anti-aircraft unit in Britain when
8330-598: The early 20th century, the Spanish army had the highest proportion of officers of any European army, at 12.5%, which was at that time considered unreasonably high by many Spanish and foreign observers. Within a nation's armed forces, armies (which are usually larger) tend to have a lower proportion of officers, but a higher total number of officers, while navies and air forces have higher proportions of officers, especially since military aircraft are flown by officers and naval ships and submarines are commanded by officers. For example, 13.9% of British Army personnel and 22.2% of
8449-462: The enlisted ranks. Others, including the Australian Defence Force , the British Armed Forces , the Nepali Army , the Pakistan Armed Forces (PAF), the Swiss Armed Forces , the Singapore Armed Forces , the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the Swedish Armed Forces , and the New Zealand Defence Force , are different in not requiring a university degree for commissioning, although a significant number of officers in these countries are graduates. In
8568-804: The entire AOCS program but would not be commissioned until completion of flight training and receiving their wings. After their initial operational tour, they could be assigned to a college or university full-time for no more than two years in order to complete their bachelor's degree. AVROC and NAVCAD were discontinued when AOCS was merged into OCS in the mid-1990s. Similar to NAVCAD was the Marine Aviation Cadet (MarCad) program, created in July 1959 to access enlisted Marines and civilians with at least two years of college. Many, but not all, MarCads attended enlisted "boot camp" at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island or Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego , as well as
8687-590: The establishment of the U.S. Air Force as an independent service in September 1947, it then became a source for USAF pilots and navigators. Cadets had to be between the ages of 19 and 25 and to possess either at least two years of college/university-level education or three years of a scientific or technical education. In its final iteration, cadets received the pay of enlisted pay grade E-5 and were required to complete all pre-commissioning training and flight training before receiving their wings as pilots or navigators and their commissions as 2nd lieutenants on active duty in
8806-431: The evening of 5 March as Wingate, Lieutenant General Slim (the commander of Fourteenth Army), Brigadier Michael Calvert (the commander of 77 Brigade) and Cochran waited at an airfield in India for 77 Brigade to fly into "Piccadilly", an incident occurred which Wingate's critics later claimed to show his lack of firmness or balance. Wingate had forbidden continuous reconnaissance of the landing sites to avoid compromising
8925-550: The force of Lt. Gen. Alan Cunningham which had advanced from Kenya in the south, and they accompanied the emperor in his triumphant return to Addis Ababa that May. Wingate was mentioned in dispatches in April 1941 and was awarded a bar to his DSO in December. With the end of the East African Campaign on 4 June 1941, Wingate was removed from command of the dismantled Gideon Force and his rank reduced to that of major. During
9044-470: The front and accompanied his troops in the reconquest of Abyssinia. Gideon Force harassed Italian forts and their supply lines with the aid of local resistance fighters, while regular army units took on the main Italian army. A small force of no more than 1,700 men took the surrender of about 20,000 Italians toward the end of the campaign. At the end of the fighting, Wingate and the men of Gideon Force linked with
9163-496: The full, also gained a reputation as a late payer of his bills. He was promoted to lieutenant on 29 August 1925. In 1926, Wingate was posted to the Army School of Equitation , where he excelled, much to the chagrin of the majority of the cavalry officers at the centre, who found him insufferable; he frequently challenged the instructors, as a demonstration of his rebellious nature. Wingate's father's cousin, Sir Reginald Wingate ,
9282-487: The gauntlet, for allegedly having returned a horse to the stables too late, he walked up to the senior student at the head of the gauntlet, stared at him and dared him to strike. The senior refused. Wingate moved to the next senior and did the same; he too refused. In turn, each senior declined to strike; coming to the end of the line, Wingate walked to the cistern and dived straight into the icy-cold water. In 1923, Wingate received his Royal Artillery officer's commission and
9401-435: The gliders could also move a sizable force of troops. The general immediately spread a map on the floor and planned how his Chindits, airlifted deep into the jungle, could fan out from there and fight the Japanese". With his new glider landing option, Wingate decided to proceed into Burma anyway. The character of the 1944 operations differed from those of 1943 in that they aimed to establish fortified bases in Burma out of which
9520-508: The idea that British soldiers had become weak by having too easy access to doctors in civilian life. The report was again passed through back channels by Wingate's political friends in London directly to Churchill. The Prime Minister then invited Wingate to London for talks. Soon after Wingate arrived, Churchill decided to take him and his wife along to the Quebec Conference . There, Wingate explained his ideas of deep penetration warfare to
9639-583: The last aviation cadet navigators in 1965. By the 1990s, the last of these officers had retired from the active duty Regular Air Force, the Air Force Reserve and the Air National Guard . In countries whose ranking systems are based upon the models of the British Armed Forces (BAF), officers from the rank of second lieutenant (army), sub-lieutenant (navy) or pilot officer (air force) to
9758-529: The latter being captains or flag officers as of 2017) were commissioned via the Navy's since discontinued Aviation Officer Candidate School (AOCS) program for college graduates. The AOCS focused on producing line officers for naval aviation who would become Naval Aviators and Naval Flight Officers upon completion of flight training, followed by a smaller cohort who would become Naval Air Intelligence officers and Aviation Maintenance Duty Officers. Designated as "aviation officer candidates" (AOCs), individuals in
9877-541: The losses incurred during the first long-range jungle penetration operation, many officers in the British and Indian army questioned the overall value of the Chindits. The campaign had the unintended effect of convincing the Japanese that certain sections of the Burma/India Frontier were not as impassable as they previously believed, thus altering their strategic plans. As one consequence, the overall Japanese Army commander in Burma, Gen. Masakazu Kawabe , began planning
9996-592: The military or another federal uniformed service . However, these officers generally do not exercise command authority outside of their job-specific support corps (e.g., U.S. Army Medical Corps ; U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps , etc.). The United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Officer Corps almost exclusively use direct commission to commission their officers, although NOAA will occasionally accept commissioned officers from
10115-452: The nearest Marine Corps officer-recruiting activity. PLC students are placed in one of three general tracks: PLC-Air for prospective marine naval aviators and marine naval flight officers ; PLC-Ground for prospective marine infantry, armor, artillery and combat-support officers; and PLC-Law, for prospective Marine Corps judge advocate general officers. Upon graduation from college, PLC students are commissioned as active-duty 2nd lieutenants in
10234-429: The new long-range jungle forces. While Wingate was still in Burma, Wavell had ordered the formation of 111 Brigade, known as the "Leopards", along the lines of the 77 Brigade. He selected Brigadier Joe Lentaigne as the new commander. Wavell intended that the two brigades would operate in tandem with one engaged on operations while the other trained and prepared for the next operation. However, once back in India, Wingate
10353-544: The news bitterly, voicing disappointment to all who would listen, including Allied commanders such as Colonel Philip Cochran of the 1st Air Commando Group, which proved to be a blessing in disguise. Cochran told Wingate that cancelling the long-range mission was unnecessary; only a limited amount of aerial transport would be needed since, in addition to the light planes and C-47 Dakotas Wingate had counted on, Cochran explained that 1st Air Commando had 150 gliders to haul supplies: "Wingate’s dark eyes widened as Phil explained that
10472-450: The oasis, Wingate saw the expedition as an opportunity to test his endurance in a very harsh physical environment, and also his organisational and leadership abilities. He concluded his service in the Sudan on 2 April 1933. On his return to the UK in 1933, Wingate was posted to Bulford on Salisbury Plain and was heavily involved in retraining, as British artillery units were being mechanised. On
10591-415: The officer corps with his direct manner of dealing with fellow officers and superiors, along with eccentric personal habits. He would eat raw onions because he thought that they were healthy, scrub himself with a rubber brush instead of bathing, and greet visitors to his tent while completely naked. Wavell's political connections and patronage protected him from closer scrutiny, for he admired Wingate's work in
10710-521: The officer grades following completion at their relevant military academy. This is known as a Direct Entry (DE) officer scheme. In the second method, individuals may gain a commission after first enlisting and serving in the junior ranks, and typically reaching one of the senior non-commissioned officer ranks (which start at sergeant (Sgt), and above), as what are known as Service Entry (SE) officers (and are typically and informally known as "ex-rankers"). Service personnel who complete this process at or above
10829-414: The rank hierarchy. In certain instances, commissioned chief warrant officers can command units. A non-commissioned officer (NCO) is an enlisted member of the armed forces holding a position of some degree of authority who has (usually) obtained it by advancement from within the non-commissioned ranks. Officers who are non-commissioned usually receive management and leadership training, but their function
10948-405: The rank is almost equally invariably non-hyphenated. When written as a title, especially before a person's name, both words of the rank are always capitalised, whether using the "traditional" hyphenated style or the modern un-hyphenated style. When used as common nouns, they might be written in lower-case: "Major General Montgomery was one of several major generals to be promoted at this time." In
11067-557: The rank of general , admiral or air chief marshal respectively, are holders of a commission granted to them by the appropriate awarding authority. In United Kingdom (UK) and other Commonwealth realms , the awarding authority is the monarch (or a governor general representing the monarch) as head of state . The head of state often has the power to award commissions, or has commissions awarded in his or her name. In Commonwealth nations, commissioned officers are given commissioning scrolls (also known as commissioning scripts) signed by
11186-509: The rank of air vice-marshal on 1 August 1919. Despite the short duration, the significance of the RAF to modern warfare was indicated by the number of senior officers who did hold the rank of major-general in the RAF: Commissioned officer An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service . Broadly speaking, "officer" means
11305-484: The rank of major general: in April 2019, James Morris was appointed as commander of the Standing Joint Force , with the rank of major general. As in the British Army, a Royal Marines major general ranks below a lieutenant general and above a brigadier. From its foundation on 1 April 1918 to 31 July 1919, the Royal Air Force (RAF) briefly used the rank of major-general. The service was a wartime amalgamation of
11424-457: The rank was downgraded to lieutenant general, and it was further reduced to of major general in 1996. On 30 April 2021, Lieutenant General Robert Magowan assumed the office of CGRM; he was succeeded on 25 November 2022 by Gwyn Jenkins , who already held the rank of full general from his appointment as Vice-Chief of the Defence Staff . Royal Marines in tri-service roles may still hold
11543-542: The same customs and courtesies as commissioned officers. Their difference from line and staff corps officers is their focus as single specialty/military occupational field subject-matter experts, though under certain circumstances they can fill command positions. The Air Force has discontinued its warrant-officer program and has no LDO program. Similarly, the Space Force was created with no warrant-officer or LDO programs; both services require all commissioned officers to possess
11662-509: The school nor did he participate in the activities of a public school education. Instead, he was kept busy at home by his parents, who encouraged their children to tackle challenging projects which fostered independent thought, initiative and self-reliance. After four years, Wingate left Charterhouse and in 1921 he was accepted at the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich , the Royal Artillery 's officers' training school. For committing
11781-647: The sea voyage from Egypt he met Lorna Moncrieff Patterson, who was 16 years old and travelling with her mother. They were married two years later, on 24 January 1935. From 13 January 1935, Wingate was seconded to the Territorial Army as the adjutant of the 71st (West Riding) Field Brigade, a Territorial Army unit of the Royal Artillery, with the temporary rank of captain. He was promoted to the substantive rank of captain on 16 May 1936, and vacated his appointment as adjutant on 8 September. In September 1936, Wingate
11900-500: The security of the operation, but Cochran ordered a last-minute reconnaissance flight which showed "Piccadilly" to be completely obstructed with logs. By Slim's account, Wingate became highly emotional and insisted that the operation had been betrayed, and that the Japanese would have set up ambushes on the other two landing sites. He passed the responsibility for ordering the operation to proceed or to be cancelled to Slim. Major-general (United Kingdom) Major general ( Maj Gen )
12019-557: The senior 17% of the British armed forces, and the senior 13.7% of the French armed forces. In 2012, officers made up about 18% of the German armed forces, and about 17.2% of the United States armed forces. Historically armed forces have generally had much lower proportions of officers. During the First World War, fewer than 5% of British soldiers were officers (partly because World War One junior officers suffered high casualty rates). In
12138-534: The villagers. This included killing innocent Arabs who happened to be in the village but were not involve in blowing up the pipeline. In another instance, the SNS went into a village, lined up all the male villagers and shot every eighth man. These methods were criticised by Zionist leaders as well as Wingate's British superiors. Israeli historian Yoram Kaniuk wrote about Wingate's brutality. The operations came more frequently and became more ruthless. The Arabs complained to
12257-655: Was appointed colonel once more by General Wavell upon arrival in the Far East in March 1942, and he was ordered to organise guerrilla units to fight behind Japanese lines. However, the precipitate collapse of Allied defences in Burma forestalled further planning, and he flew back to India in April where he began to promote his ideas for jungle long-range penetration units. "Never ask favours", he recalled from his long association with Wavell, "but tell people if they care to help they can come along, that you yourself are going anyway". Wavell
12376-552: Was assigned to a staff officer position in the British Mandate of Palestine , and became an intelligence officer . From his arrival he saw the creation of a Jewish State in Palestine as being a religious duty, and immediately put himself into absolute alliance with Jewish political leaders. Palestinian Arab guerrillas had at the time of his arrival begun a campaign of attacks against both British mandate officials and Jewish communities. Wingate became politically involved with
12495-526: Was born. Most of Wingate's childhood was spent in England. For the first 12 years of his life, he socialised primarily with his siblings. The seven Wingate children received a Christian education that was typical for that period, and time was set aside each day for studying and memorising the Scriptures. In 1916, his family moved to Godalming where Wingate attended Charterhouse as a day boy. He did not board at
12614-402: Was cancelled. Wingate then persuaded Wavell to let him proceed into Burma anyway, arguing the need to disrupt any Japanese attack on Sumprabum as well as to gauge the utility of long-range jungle penetration operations, and Wavell eventually gave his consent to Operation Longcloth . Wingate set out from Imphal on 12 February 1943 with the Chindits organised into eight separate columns to cross
12733-500: Was composed of college students who would attend AOCS training in two segments similar to Marine Corps PLC but would do so between their junior and senior years of college and again following college graduation, receiving their commission upon completion of the second segment. The NAVCAD program operated from 1935 through 1968 and again from 1986 through 1993. NAVCADs were enlisted or civilian personnel who had completed two years of college but lacked bachelor's degrees. NAVCADs would complete
12852-463: Was given command of a company of 300 soldiers with the local rank of bimbashi ( major ). He was never happier than when in the bush with his unit, but when at HQ in Khartoum, he antagonised the other officers with his aggressive and argumentative personality. He was granted the local rank of captain in the regular army on 16 April 1930. At the end of his tour, Wingate mounted a short expedition into
12971-544: Was in them. An hour later we returned to Ein Harod." However, his deepening direct political involvement with the Zionist cause and an incident where he spoke publicly in favour of the formation of a Jewish state during his leave in Britain, caused his superiors in Palestine to remove him from command. He was so deeply associated with political causes in Palestine that his superiors considered him compromised as an intelligence officer in
13090-528: Was intrigued by Wingate's theories and gave him the (Indian) 77th Infantry Brigade, from which he created a jungle long-range penetration unit. 77 Brigade was eventually named the Chindits , a corrupted version of a mythical Burmese lion called the chinthe . By August 1942, he had set up a training centre at Dhana near Saugor district in Madhya Pradesh and attempted to toughen up the men by having them camp in
13209-495: Was killed in an aircraft accident in March 1944. The casualty rate the Chindits suffered, especially from disease, is a continuing controversy. Wingate believed that resistance to infection could be improved by inculcating a tough mental attitude, but medical officers considered his methods unsuited to a tropical environment. Wingate, the eldest of three sons, was born on 26 February 1903 at Naini Tal near Almora in Kumaon, India, into
13328-428: Was most concerned about British attempts to stifle Ethiopian freedom, writing that attempts to raise future rebellions amongst populations must be honest ones and should appeal to justice. Wingate contracted malaria soon after this and sought treatment from a local doctor instead of army medical staff because he was afraid that the illness would give his detractors a further excuse to undermine him. This doctor gave him
13447-511: Was passed to Winston Churchill through his political supporters in London, and Secretary of State for India Leo Amery contacted Wavell, Commander-in-Chief in India commanding the South-East Asian Theatre to enquire if there were any chance of employing Wingate in the Far East. Wingate was far from pleased with his posting as a "supernumerary major without staff grading", but he left Britain for Rangoon on 27 February 1942. Wingate
13566-533: Was planned, this time using all six of the brigades recently allocated to Wingate. The second long-range penetration mission was originally intended as a coordinated effort with a planned regular army offensive against northern Burma, but events on the ground resulted in cancellation of the army offensive, leaving the long-range penetration groups without a means of transporting all six brigades into Burma. Upon Wingate's return to India, he found that his mission had also been cancelled for lack of air transport. Wingate took
13685-434: Was posted to the 5th Medium Brigade at Larkhill on Salisbury Plain . During this period, he was able to exercise his great interest in horse riding, gaining a reputation for his skill (and great success) in point-to-point races and fox hunting, particularly for finding suitable places to cross rivers, which earned him the nickname "Otter". It was difficult for a 1920s army officer to live on his pay and Wingate, living life to
13804-465: Was promoted to acting major general and was given six brigades. This involved breaking up the experienced 70th Division , which other commanders felt could be better used as a standard "line" division. At first, Wingate proposed to convert the entire front into one giant Chindit mission by breaking up the whole of the Fourteenth Army into Long-Range Penetration units, presumably in the expectation that
13923-419: Was promoted to the rank of acting major general on 18 September 1943. After his meeting with Allied leaders, Wingate contracted typhoid by drinking water from a flower vase in a Cairo hotel while on his way back to India. Doctors were shocked as it was drummed into every serviceman that they should never use such a source as drinking water. His illness prevented him from taking a more active role in training of
14042-514: Was the Air Force's aviation cadet program. Originally created by the U.S. Army Signal Corps in 1907 to train pilots for its then-fledgling aviation program, it was later used by the subsequent U.S. Army Air Service , U.S. Army Air Corps and U.S. Army Air Forces to train pilots, navigators, bombardiers and observers through World War I, the interwar period, World War II, and the immediate postwar period between September 1945 and September 1947. With
14161-494: Was then the commander of British forces in Palestine. After Wavell gave his permission, Wingate convinced the Zionist Jewish Agency and the leadership of Haganah , the Jewish armed group. In June 1938, the new British commander, General Haining , gave his permission to create the Special Night Squads (SNSs), armed groups formed of British and Haganah volunteers. The Jewish Agency helped pay salaries and other costs of
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