British Army officer and ardent Zionist Orde Wingate prophesised the outbreak of the Second World War according to previously unseen papers donated to the National Library of Israel (NLI).
The Major-General is celebrated in Israel for his pivotal role training Jewish forces in British Mandate Palestine.
In two newly seen archive papers written several weeks apart in 1939, Wingate outlines his ideas about the upcoming conflict, including the role that Palestine would play.
NLI archivist Rachel Misrati said: “Wingate was convinced that the Middle East was going to be an important theatre of war.”
On April 5, 1939, Wingate wrote: “By May 1939 or thereabouts Hitler will invade Poland. England and France will not fight, their excuse being that Russia is not fighting first. Russia will mobilise but her mob[ilisation] will not be complete in time to prevent the rape of Poland. Chamberlain and co. will then say what use war now? And the breach between Russia and Western democracies will deepen widen.
“By August or so, Italy will become obstreperous but France and England will for once be firm here and apart from Albania and Balkan adventures, Musso [Mussolini] will be restrained.
“As a result of these developments, Chamberlain and Daladier will fall and be replaced, possibly after a Gen. Election in autumn, by a coalition in which Churchill will assume an important and ultimately dominating role.”
Neville Chamberlain’s resignation and replacement by Winston Churchill did indeed follow Hitler’s invasion of Poland in September 1939, as did the exit of prime minister Edouard Daladier after the fall of France.
Wingate also foresaw “by spring 1940 England and France will be confronting a solid European block including Italy with a hostilely [?] and neutral Russia in the background. U.S.A. will have drawn off a bit from the Democratic front.”
Again, the imagined narrative was matched by the facts, as the UK and France together took on Nazi Germany in the spring of 1940 until the retreat at Dunkirk, while the US and the Soviet Union would not join the war against Hitler until the following year.
However, other parts of Wingate’s future history were less accurate, as he prophesied it would be six years before the war became a global conflict in which Britain would face the combined forces of Germany and Russia.
He wrote: “The world war will start in May 1945. The line up will be: Germany and central European groups, plus Italy and Balkans, plus the (digested[?]) Poland, strengthened by Russian armed neutrality and promise of materials, versus France and England. Russia will probably be forced to fight on Germany’s side by 1946.”
He added: “The Near East will prove to be the ultimately decisive theatre of war and its defence will mainly depend upon the effort of world Jewry.
“The world war will terminate in Nov. 1948 and a world Federation with a…. military force will be inaugurated in 1949”.
Three weeks later, Wingate forecast events that would occur later in 1939.
On April 28 he wrote: “Hitler will make [a] pacific speech today. Result: Govt’s statement of policy in Pal[estine] will be published by about 8/5/39. Jewish disorders will then start and continue until Hitler’s conquest of Poland in late summer or early autumn brings down Govts of Chamberlain & Daladier, replacing them by administrations which will reverse the policy in Palestine, among other things.”
Wingate, known in Israel as “HaYedid”, or The Friend, was posted to Mandate Palestine between 1936 and 1938. As an ardent Christian Zionist, he supported the Jewish community and created a force combining British police and Jewish fighters known as the Special Night Squads to combat terror, instructing future Israeli military leaders.
He taught himself Hebrew and began close friendships with many Jewish leaders, including Chaim Weizmann, who became Israel’s first president. Angered by his sympathy for Jews, his army superiors pulled him out Palestine in 1938. He was eventually posted to Burma where he began to train the Chindits in much the same way he had worked with the Special Night Squads.
He died in a plane crash in March 1944, aged 41.
The Wingate papers at the NLI include his Hebrew studies notebooks, a personal diary of his time in Palestine, photographs, maps, attack plans and intelligence reports.
The Wingate papers were bought for the NLI by London Jewish businessman Clive Lewis. He said: “I’m fascinated by the idea that archives still hold discoveries waiting to be made, with connections that scholars and digital tools can bring to light. To me, if something like this archive is of interest to a major research library, then that is exactly where it belongs. I also felt deeply that it was right that these papers should return to Israel, where Orde Wingate wanted them to be.”
Sallai Meridor, chairman of the NLI, said: “On behalf of the library, I want to express our gratitude to Clive Lewis for this gift. This is an archive of particularly important national and public value that contributes to the understanding of Wingate’s character, and his influence on the shaping of the country’s future security and defence forces.”
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