David Rooney - Guerrilla Warfare - Insurgents, Rebels and Terrorists from Sun Tzu to Bin Laden

Copyright David Rooney, 2004

Originally published as Guerrilla in 2004 by Brasseys, an imprint of Chrysalis Books Group PLC

First Skyhorse edition, 2021

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without the express written consent of the publisher, except in the case of brief excerpts in critical reviews or articles. All inquiries should be addressed to Skyhorse Publishing, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018.

Skyhorse Publishing books may be purchased in bulk at special discounts for sales promotion, corporate gifts, fund-raising, or educational purposes. Special editions can also be created to specifications. For details, contact the Special Sales Department, Skyhorse Publishing, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018 or .

Skyhorse and Skyhorse Publishing are registered trademarks of Skyhorse Publishing, Inc., a Delaware corporation.

Visit our website at www.skyhorsepublishing.com.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

Cover design by Kai Texel

Illustrations courtesy of Chrysalis Images, Illustrated London News, US Department of Defense, PageantPix, and the authors collection

Edited and designed by DAG Publications Ltd.

Designed by David Gibbons

Edited by Jonathan North. Layout by Meredith MacArdle

Cartography by Anthony A. Evans

Print ISBN: 978-1-5107-5433-1

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-5107-5434-8

Printed in the United States of America

CONTENTS

PREFACE

This is not a history of guerrilla warfare, but rather a study of some outstanding and brilliant military leaders who became successful guerrilla warriors, and added their own slant to this fascinating story. Many of them wrote their memoirs or wrote manuals outlining their philosophy and their views on strategy and tactics.

My purpose in picking on these leaders all of them charismatic characters is to illustrate how they adapted their guerrilla theories to their particular terrain and situation, or developed new ideas as the struggle continued. Some are not well known, and it is my hope that these brief chapters will help the reader to grasp the main issues involved, and, perhaps, to inquire and study further.

There is no reason why the average reader should be familiar with Afghanistan, Bolivia, China or Yugoslavia and, therefore, to assist in understanding the text, I have tried to ensure as I did in my previous books on the Burma campaign that place names which occur in the text also appear in a map in the same chapter. The brief bibliography lists books which should be fairly easily available for those who wish to read further.

I should like to thank the following for their help, advice and support: the staff of the Cambridge University Library, who, as ever, have been most helpful; Diane and Jim Gracey, formerly of Blackstaff Press; Professor David Harkness; and our daughter Kathy Rooney. Sadly, while this book was being written my wife suffered a severe stroke. I dedicate it to her, with my affectionate thanks for fifty-five wonderful years.

David Rooney

Cambridge, 2004

INTRODUCTION

An assessment of two of the guerrilla theorists of the twentieth century Mao Zedong and Che Guevara might suggest that nothing fundamentally significant had been added to the ideas expressed by Sun Tzu in 400 BC . Yet there have been guerrilla leaders from that time onwards, fighting against oppression, injustice or alien occupation, who have learnt and absorbed some or all of Sun Tzus ideas, and have been driven by their own passions and have added their own contribution. So, guerrilla warriors through the ages have demonstrated leadership and bravery to achieve their ultimate aim of removing unjust rule and establishing a new society. Where there has been widespread alien occupation, as under the Romans, under Napoleon or under the Nazis, guerrilla activity has usually flourished, but within those parameters are guerrilla leaders who have had a purely military aim, rather than the wider social and political targets of the true guerrilla warrior. Thus the World War II threw up some remarkable guerrilla leaders, such as David Stirling in the SAS, Wingate in the Chindits, Blair Mayne, Calvert and others, but they are in a different category from Mao Zedong, Tito or Che Guevara, who operated within the wider social and political sphere.

King David fought for the poor and dispossessed, Judas Maccabee fought to secure Jerusalem, but the Roman occupation of Europe gave rise to the earliest widespread recognisable guerrilla activity. Plutarch described the Romans in Spain suffering from the fleet mountaineers never brought to battle, and, east of the Rhine, Arminius, trained by the Romans, emerged as an outstanding guerrilla leader, now revered by present day Germans. In medieval Britain, Robert the Bruce and Owen Glendower illustrated considerable guerrilla skills in opposing English domination.

Napoleons domination of Europe gave rise to widespread guerrilla activity. Spain coined the word guerrilla, and in the uprisings in Aragon and Catalonia proved as the Cossacks did in Russia that guerrilla activity can influence the outcome of a major campaign. The overthrow of Napoleon, and the rejection of the ideas of liberty and democracy by the reactionary regimes set up by the Congress of Vienna, ultimately gave scope to one of the great guerrilla warriors Garibaldi who initially developed his skills in the wars of South America.

Most guerrilla activity relied on secure bases in mountains, forests or swamps. At the end of the nineteenth century, two new developments emerged, with the Boer Commandos driven by both patriotism and religion flourishing across the open spaces of the Veldt, whilst Lawrence, both a theorist and a practitioner, adapted his ideas to the desert. At the same time, and not unconnected, Michael Collins developed a new and original approach to guerrilla war, and successfully challenged Britain at the height of its power.

In the twentieth century the outstanding guerrilla warriors were those notably Mao Zedong and Tito who initially led their guerrilla bands, but were driven by their wider political aims, and achieved final victory as head of state. Che Guevara, who took part as a close colleague of Castro in the Cuban revolution, wrote a brilliant thesis on guerrilla warfare, but learnt entirely the wrong lessons from his experience, and after several abortive campaigns, paid with his life in Bolivia.

The basic guerrilla precepts defeating alien occupation, having a cause to die for, having the support of the people, attacking when least expected and never risking defeat in set battle have not changed in 2,500 years, but over the centuries they have been adapted by brave and inspiring leaders. In the twenty-first century, blurring the distinction between guerrilla and terrorist, they have been most effectively adapted by the new type of modern guerrilla warrior Osama Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda.