Israel’s national library acquires Wingate’s papers
The National Library of Israel has been given the personal archive of Major-General Orde Charles Wingate (1903–1944), the British officer widely seen as the father of modern guerrilla warfare and a key figure in the history of pre-State Israel. The archive includes previously unrevealed historical documents that shed new light on Wingate’s military activities, his ideological worldview, and his connections with the Zionist leadership in British-governed Mandatory Palestine.
Wingate, who was born in 1903 to a devout Christian-Zionist family who were members of the Plymouth Brethren movement, was known for his deep identification with the Zionist enterprise and for his significant contribution to the security of the nascent state.
He studied at the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich and received his Royal Artillery officer’s commission in 1923. He served in Sudan between 1928–1933, and in 1936 was assigned to a staff officer position in Mandatory Palestine. During his service in pre-State Israel, he became an intelligence officer, established close ties with senior Zionist leaders, including Chaim Weizmann, Moshe Sharett, and others, and openly expressed his belief in the right of the Jewish people to establish an independent state in the Land of Israel. His position aroused opposition among the British establishment and ultimately led to his transfer in 1939, with his passport marked “Not Allowed to Enter Palestine.” However, this did not moderate Wingate’s support for the Zionist cause.
During World War II, Wingate served in various theaters of war in Africa and Asia, where he achieved the rank of major general. He was killed in a plane crash en route from Burma to India in 1944.