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Guerrilla
Warfare and Guerrilla War
(Guerrilla is Spanish for "little war")
Guerrilla means small war, the diminutive of the Spanish word guerra
(war). The Spanish word derives from the Old High German word werra and from the middle Dutch word warre;
adopted by the Visigoths in A.D. 5th century Hispania.
"Defensive Guerrilla Warfare" is fighting an enemy on your terrain while conducting or
applying guerrilla tactics. "Offensive Guerrilla Warfare," also employing guerrilla tactics, is fighting an enemy
on its terrain.
Defensive Guerrilla Warfare:
A common Defensive Guerrilla Warfare goal is to
convince the enemy that the war is futile. Consequently, the enemy's political and civilian elements become
demoralized and seek a resolution to end the conflict, e.g., Vietnam War. During the American Civil War, the South did not need to win, it only needed a draw or stalemate.
Defensive Guerrilla Warfare tactics are based on intelligence, ambush, psychological
warfare, psychological operations, sabotage, espionage, friendly civilian populace, strong and localized logistical support,
and undermining an enemy through long, low-intensity confrontation. These tactics are useful in demoralizing an enemy, while
raising the morale of the guerrillas. In many protracted conflicts, guerrilla tactics allow a small force to resist a much
larger and better equipped enemy.
It can be very successful as demonstrated during the American Revolutionary
War, Vietnam War, Soviet-Afghan War, Russia’s Second Chechen War, and the Iraq War (a.k.a. 2nd Gulf War).
During
the American Civil War, since the Union army typically outnumbered the Confederate army by more than two-to-one, Defensive
Guerrilla Warfare proved to be effective for the Confederacy, particularly in the Appalachian Mountains.
Offensive Guerrilla Warfare:
A common Offensive Guerrilla Warfare goal is
to overthrow a government. Although similar to Defensive Guerrilla Warfare, Offensive Guerrilla Warfare,
however, often exposes the guerrillas to an unfriendly and uncooperative civilian populace, greatly extends and stretches
its logistics and supplies, and it loses familiarity of terrain (home field advantage). It can, however, be very successful
against an unpopular regime.
When the South conducted Offensive Guerrilla Warfare in the North during
the Civil War, it had limited supplies and was met by an unfriendly civilian populace.
Recommended
Reading:
On Guerrilla Warfare, by Mao Tse-tung (Author), Samuel B Griffith (Author). Description:
On Guerrilla Warfare, by Mao Tse-Tung, has been translated into English by Samuel B. Griffith. Griffith also provides a substantial introduction to the text. The book is written in the
context of China's guerrilla war against
Japanese occupiers; this conflict is mentioned often by Mao. In this book, Mao discusses the differences between guerrilla
and "orthodox" military forces, as well as how such forces can work together for a common goal. Other topics covered include
propaganda, psychological operations, psychological warfare, and political concerns, the formation of guerrilla units,
the qualities of a good guerrilla officer, discipline in a guerrilla army, and guerrilla bases. Continued below...
Mao stresses the importance of speed, surprise, and initiative in guerrilla war. Among the most
interesting sections of the book is a code of conduct for guerrilla fighters. The book also reflects flashes
of passion, poetic imagery, and global vision that make this more than just a textbook. Translator Griffith
notes that Mao's text was first published in 1937. Despite the passage of time, I believe that this is still a relevant text,
and I recommend it in particular to all professional military personnel.
Recommended
Reading: The U.S. Army / Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual.
Description: When the U.S. military invaded Iraq it lacked a common understanding of the problems inherent
in counterinsurgency campaigns. It had neither studied them, nor developed doctrine and tactics to deal with them. It is fair
to say that in 2003, most Army officers knew more about the U.S. Civil War than they did about counterinsurgency. It was initially released as a government document in December 2006, but
owing to its enormous popularity . . . it has now been published by a university press, with a provocative,
highly readable new foreword and introduction that testify to the manual's `paradigm-shattering' content. Continued below...
The U.S. Army / Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual was
written to fill that void. The result of unprecedented collaboration among top U.S. military experts, scholars, and practitioners
in the field, the manual espouses an approach to combat that emphasizes constant adaptation and learning, the importance of
decentralized decision-making, the need to understand local politics and customs, and the key role of intelligence in winning
the support of the population. The manual also emphasizes the paradoxical and often counterintuitive nature of counterinsurgency
operations: sometimes the more you protect your forces, the less secure you are; sometimes the more force you use, the less
effective it is; sometimes doing nothing is the best reaction. The University of Chicago Press will donate a portion
of the proceeds from this book to the Fisher House Foundation, a private-public partnership that supports the families of
America’s injured servicemen.
Recommended
Reading:
Strategy and Tactics of the Salvadoran FMLN Guerrillas: Last Battle of the Cold War, Blueprint for Future Conflicts
(Hardcover). Description: This book examines the military organization, strategy,
and tactics of the Salvadoran FMLN guerrillas during their efforts to overthrow the government. It is largely based on the
authors' personal collections of guerrilla documents captured in the war, interviews with former and captured guerrillas,
and personal combat experience during one of the fiercest wars fought in the Western hemisphere in the 20th century. The book
describes the guerrilla tactics from a technical point of view, and their evolution during the war in El Salvador. It includes discussions of such tactical concepts
as concentration and deconcentration, urban combat, anti-air defense, the use of mines, and homemade weapons. Continued below...
It contains a chapter on the FMLN Special Forces--they were responsible for most of the spectacular attacks
of the war--and it examines the sophisticated logistical system of the FMLN that made the prolonged war possible. Wherever
possible, these concepts are illustrated by actual combat experiences from sources on both sides of the conflict. An important
text for all concerned with guerrilla warfare and counterinsurgency. Students of Guerrilla War, Latin Americans
and students of the developing world will also find this of great interest.
Recommended Reading: Bloody Bill Anderson: The Short, Savage Life of a Civil War Guerrilla. Description: Nowhere
was the Civil War as savage as it was in Missouri-and nowhere did it produce a killer more savage than William Anderson. For
a brief but dramatic period, "Bloody Bill" played the leading role in the most violent arena of the entire war-and did so
with a vicious abandon that spread fear throughout the land. A name associated with William Quantrill and Jesse James, Bloody
Bill Anderson was known for never taking prisoners. A former horse thief turned bushwhacker, he became the scourge of Kansas
and Missouri with a reputation for unspeakable atrocities. Sometimes he left the bodies of dead Federal soldiers scalped,
skinned, and castrated. Sometimes he decapitated them and rearranged their heads. Wherever Bloody Bill rode, the Grim Reaper
rode alongside. Continued below...
In
telling this story of bitter bloodshed, historians Castel and Goodrich track Bloody Bill's reign of terror over increasingly
violent raids. He rode with Quantrill in the infamous sack of Lawrence and killed more victims than any other raider.
Then he led the brutal Centralia Massacre, a blood-soaked nightmare recounted here hour-by-hour from firsthand accounts. More
than compiling a chronicle of horrors, Castel and Goodrich have produced the first full-fledged account of Anderson's career. They examine his prewar life, explain how he became a guerrilla, and then
describe the war that he and his men waged against Union soldiers and defenseless civilians alike. The authors' disagreements
on many aspects of Anderson's gruesome career add a fascinating
dimension to the book. Bloody Bill--only 26 when he was killed charging an ambush--had already become a legend; that legend
continues to this very day… This book takes readers behind the legend and provides a closer look at the man-and at the
face of terror.
Recommendedd Reading: Gray
Ghosts of the Confederacy: Guerrilla Warfare in the West, 1861-1865. Review:
Gray Ghosts is an excellent foray into a chapter of the Civil War that does not always garner attention -- the
establishment of a police state in Missouri and the subsequent backlash and ensuing war of sabotage by local guerrillas. "Complexifying"
the historical landscape, Missouri and Kansas had shared much animosity in the years leading up to the Civil War, and Kanasas,
who was a steadfast Union state, used the War as an opportunity to raid Missouri towns as Union Army representatives. Missouri
to this point had been a borderline state. Many of the bands of Guerrillas, while they received aid from the Confederacy,
never considered themselves a part of any Civil War cause. As Bill Anderson wrote, "I am a guerrilla. I have never belonged
to the Confederate Army, nor do my men...I have chosen guerrilla warfare to revenge myself for wrongs that I could not honorably
avenge otherwise" (201). Continued below...
These "wrongs"
included the murder of his father and mother and the imprisonment of Anderson's sisters. The book is excellently written with
thorough footnotes and documentation. Brownlee applies an array of primary and secondary sources, and also shows
himself to be an excellent writer, stringing together the accounts into a vivid portrait of the time. His conversations with
such characters as Jessie and Frank James, Bloody Bill Anderson, and William Quantrill represent Lazaras-esque scholastic
resurrections... From such a perspective, Brownlee comments on both the contextual factors shaping the guerrillas and
the decisions they made that in turn shaped history.
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