Basics Of Fighting A Guerrilla Operation

With the development of communist ideology and lately Islamic Jihad concepts Guerrilla Warfare has gained great importance. The Islamic jihad or holy war concept is presently the biggest challenge to the United States and other democracies. After the end of 2nd World War, the communist put forward the theory of revolutionary war and South East Asia became a testing ground. The victory of Ho-Chi-Minh over the French and subsequent Guerrilla Warfare in Indo-China and Malaya have given us much insight and we can now formulate some ideas to control and fight a Guerrilla operation, particularly of the Islamic variety that is now a days the biggest challenge. Before we proceed further it must be stated that no country before the present age has so far ever trained anti-Guerrilla troops. The Germans made an attempt, but it was a crude effort and doomed to failure as by then the war was lost. But does this mean that the Guerrilla operations cannot be controlled? Modern Guerrilla tactics are based on the Mao-Marx theory and practice where the Gnats exhaust the Giant who cannot use his superior strength. To counter this, the Giant must immunize himself against Gnats and, in addition, find ways and means to utilize his superior strength.

The first step in this direction was the manual issued by the Germans in 1944 called the "MANUAL OF WARFARE" against bands for all services of the Armed Forces. Unfortunately, as the war was already lost, the Germans had no time to put this into practice. However, its practical value cannot be over-rated. It is a classic on anti-band Warfare. Further the American operations in Vietnam and the Indian Army's experience in fighting insurgency in Kashmir and the North east can lead us to the following for containing, controlling and eliminating Guerrilla operations:

(a) PROTECTION: Everything that is important in the conduct of a war must be protected against the Guerrilla troops. This is a fairly vast idea. For, there are a great many objects which are vital. E.g., Railways, Roads, Industries, Installations and the troops themselves. Engaging a large body of troops for the purpose is not practicable and therefore, not the answer in order to provide effective protections, the troops must be in full physical control of all vital installations and areas surrounding them. Additionally, at base 300 yards surrounding these installations must be free of obstacles, declared protected and intruders shot. No effective protection would work out if the adjoining country on either side is not under complete control. Hence, without going into the details we can say that all adjoining areas must be physically held and:-

i. Cleared of all obstacles up to 300 yards.
ii. The above area is declared protected and unauthorized people be shot.

(b) INTELLIGENCE: Anti Guerrilla Forces Intelligence has the same objective as that of Guerrillas. For this purpose, extensive use of slow A/C for reconnaissance may be used. The use of helicopters by Americans in Vietnam considerably blunted the edge of the Viet Cong TET Offensive.

During the battle the following tasks must be borne in mind:

i. To discover all concealed enemy forces.
ii. To recognize in time any attempt at flight or breaking away by the Guerrilla.
iii. To prevent surface attack and ambush
iv. To reconnoiter enemy positions and the BATTLE LINES of approach.

Interrogation of prisoners is one of the best methods of extracting information and this must be done on the spot during battle.

(c) BATTLE TECHNIQUES: Drawing upon the experience of troops who have fought the Guerrilla, the following three techniques stand out:-

i. Communication by RADIO and wireless for quick transmission of information supplemented by satellite communication set up.
ii. Mobility of troops and commander, if necessary by helicopter which allows them to intervene at decisive spots.
iii. Close objectives for the troops which should be informed to them before hand and the anticipated Guerrillas plan of action. A degree of independence in operations is called for.

In actual battle many methods are known to annihilate the Guerrilla Force. The encirclement tactics and destruction through surprise attack and hunt with large Air Force Support including unmanned drones and helicopter gunships are known to be successful. However the biggest aim of the troops fighting a guerrilla operation is the political aim.

This is the most important point and may well decide who wins a battle/war with Guerrilla troops. We have already stated that the Guerrilla lives of the Land and people. Conversely, if the Guerrilla is isolated from the land and people he loses ground and would be annihilated. This isolation can be achieved by psychologically winning over the masses. History shows that by their misdeeds the Germans roused the partisan spirit of the Russians and Chiang Kai Sheik did the same in China. So, it is very important to win the people over from the Guerrilla Band. Interestingly enough one could loosely compare a Guerrilla band with a band of Robbers. The robber band has all the characteristics of a Guerrilla army in homogeneity respect for chief, bravery, knowledge of land and terrain, and in some cases complete understanding of the tactics to be used. The band lacks only the support of the people and a political aim to unite the support of the masses. Inevitably therefore, the robber band is hunted down, arrested and exterminated. Keeping the above in mind, anti-Guerrilla troops must be seem to be just and avoid violence against the masses.

(a) Isolate villages known/suspected to be harboring Guerrilla forces, as was done in Malaya, and improve the living and economic conditions of the villagers.

(b) The breeding ground of Guerrilla activities is economic misery. In case this is eliminated the Guerrillas would loose much of their force. The Maoists who are operating in central India and control vast tracts of territory have been able to do so because of the lack of development in those areas. It's a sad commentary that while the Indian Government developed Bombay and Delhi the vast country side saw no development, no roads, and no drinking water-only abject poverty. So is it any surprise that the Maoists are thriving?

(c)Another breeding ground is religious zeal. This in a way is also related to economic misery and more so ignorance. The Islamic jihadis play on the ignorance of the people and distort the religious texts to suit their

purpose.

The Islamic Jihadists thus have for their own purpose gallivanized a large number of people to fight in the name of Islam. They refer to it as a religious war and portray it as a fight between good and evil. This is a major threat for the Western Democracies, India as well as Russia and even China.

Guerrilla Warfare is a formidable way, short of a total General War, for achieving the political objectives of any ideology. The Guerrilla warfare thrives on the support of the people. The communists and now the Islamic Jihadists have championed the cause of so called poor or the purity of Islam. The Islamic jihadist has also adopted this form of warfare in Afghanistan. There is no choice but to win over the masses and simultaneously the Guerrilla Bands must be ruthlessly hunted down and exterminated.

Since the responsibility for the security of a nation rests with Military forces, effort should be made to plan and train for counter Guerrilla actions. The soldier must be trained to be disciplined and operate in jungles deserts and mountains. The Indian army with an experience of 40 years in counter insurgency operations has the Army school of Counter insurgency at Warangte in Mizoram. Similar training schools need to be set up by all armies. The Guerrilla Islamic or otherwise can only be defeated at his own game.