Originally published in 1954, this is a collection of 32 stories from a variety of historic eras filled with missions against all odds. “The stories in this collection are generally firsthand accounts by irregulars. The principles of selection were simple: Were they good stories—interesting, exciting and honest? And did they show fresh and different phases of guerrilla warfare? The weightier writings on irregular strategy and the politics of modern partisan warfare were omitted except for T. E. Lawrence’s classic chapter on the former and Julian Amery’s brilliant and brief analysis of the latter. “I have tried briefly to set these stories in time and circumstance. As editor I have tried not to draw the fine lines between resistance which takes place in urban communities and guerrilla warfare which requires space for movement. I have tried not to belabor the differences between regulars as irregulars and the native guerrilla in the field. I have avoided the fine lines drawn between a guerrilla who attempts sabotage and the saboteur, the guerrilla who collects intelligence and the spy. In short, if too rigid a definition is observed, a fascinating and vital subject could be reduced to a dull and academic one. The irregular’s objective is simply to destroy the enemy. This book attempts to tell of the many ways in which he has tried, and is still trying, to do so.”—Irwin R. Blacker, Introduction

Essays that explore the growing field of conflict archaeology Within the last twenty years, the archaeology of conflict has emerged as a valuable subdiscipline within anthropology, contributing greatly to our knowledge and understanding of human conflict on a global scale. Although archaeologists have clearly demonstrated their utility in the study of large-scale battles and sites of conventional warfare, such as camps and forts, conflicts involving asymmetric, guerilla, or irregular warfare are largely missing from the historical record. Partisans, Guerillas, and Irregulars: Historical Archaeology of Asymmetric Warfare presents recent examples of how historical archaeology can contribute to a better understanding of asymmetric warfare. The volume introduces readers to this growing study and to its historic importance. Contributors illustrate how the wide range of traditional and new methods and techniques of historiography and archaeology can be applied to expose critical actions, sacrifices, and accomplishments of competing groups representing opposing philosophies and ways of life, which are otherwise lost in time. The case studies offered cover significant events in American and world history, including the French and Indian War, the American Revolution, Indian wars in the Southeast and Southwest, the Civil War, Reconstruction, Prohibition, and World War II. All such examples used here took place at a local or regional level, and several were singular events within a much larger and more complex historic movement. While retained in local memory or tradition, and despite their potential importance, they are poorly, and incompletely addressed in the historic record. Furthermore, these conflicts took place between groups of significantly different cultural and military traditions and capabilities, most taking on a “David vs. Goliath” character, further shaping the definition of asymmetric warfare.

This book, first published in 1962, was the first systematic study of partisan war, investigating questions thrown up by the success of guerrillas in the Second World War, where they were never decisively beaten by regular armies. Drawing on lessons from Soviet Russia and China in particular, areas with especially active and large partisan forces, this book evolves a doctrine of guerrilla war in modern conditions, with an analysis of partisans in post-war Malaya, Kenya, Cyprus, Vietnam, Algeria, Cuba and Laos.

"Published a year before Lieber's code, this pamphlet contains several ideas that were incorporated into that work. Halleck's commission resonates with our current debates concerning the definition of 'enemy combatants' and prisoners of war. In the letter to Lieber that is reproduced as a preface Halleck states: 'The rebel authorities claim the right to send men, in the garb of peaceful citizens, to waylay and attack our troops, to burn bridges and houses, and to destroy property and persons within our lines. They demand such persons be treated as ordinary belligerents, and that when captured they have extended to them the same rights as other prisoners of war; they also threaten that if such persons be punished as marauders and spies, they will retaliate by executing our prisoners of war in their possession. I particularly request your view on these questions.'"--Lawbook Exchange.

A paper of collective research about partisan rangers units and guerrilla commands during the war.

Throughout the Civil War, irregular warfare—including the use of hit-and-run assaults, ambushes, and raiding tactics—thrived in localized guerrilla fights within the Border States and the Confederate South. The Guerrilla Hunters offers a comprehensive overview of the tactics, motives, and actors in these conflicts, from the Confederate-authorized Partisan Rangers, a military force directed to spy on, harass, and steal from Union forces, to men like John Gatewood, who deserted the Confederate army in favor of targeting Tennessee civilians believed to be in sympathy with the Union. With a foreword by Kenneth W. Noe and an afterword by Daniel E. Sutherland, this collection represents an impressive array of the foremost experts on guerrilla fighting in the Civil War. Providing new interpretations of this long-misconstrued aspect of warfare, these scholars go beyond the conventional battlefield to examine the stories of irregular combatants across all theaters of the Civil War, bringing geographic breadth to what is often treated as local and regional history. The Guerrilla Hunters shows that instances of unorthodox combat, once thought isolated and infrequent, were numerous, and many clashes defy easy categorization. Novel methodological approaches and a staggering diversity of research and topics allow this volume to support multiple areas for debate and discovery within this growing field of Civil War scholarship.

An in-depth examination of irregular warfare in the Upper South during the Civil War outlines the Southern strategy of waging war, the Northern response, and the outcome of the conflict. Reprint.