In the Spanish Peninsular War (1808)the Spanish guerrillas proved to be formidable adversaries to Napoleon’s Army. The British Army was stalled for two years in South Africa (1899- 1902)by guerrillas of De Wet and Botha. In the second world war the German Army caused widespread disorganisation in Russia, for any serious opposition. But at that point the Russian Communists went underground and organized partisan support and avoided direct confrontation. They began their campaign by de-railing trains, scorching the earth and blowing up bridges. That stalled the German war machine to a considerable degree, and put a fear in their minds of the next impending guerrilla action. This was not what a con dentinal Army like the Germans were prepared, and here lies the turn of war.
When the Russian counrer offensive began in 1944 the partisan groups are drafted into the battle plans of the Red Army to organize resistance, hit the supply lines and work behind enemy lines. In 1942 the Chins, Kachins and Naga groups worked behind enemy lines in Burma as the Japanese invaded that country. In 1943 the joint British-Anerican Long Range Penetration Group were also conducting similar operations both regular and irregular (guerrilla type). Merrill s Maurauders that started similar irregular operations with 2899,within four months were struggling to be fighting unit.The attrition rate in this form of warfare is very high, caused both by war and non-war reasons. The guerrilla actions are pert of a larger strategy in the overall war objective ,but by themselves are incapable to achieve a military result.The Hamas Attack on Israel:
Hamas is a group formed in 1987,to take up arms against the State of Israel. To wage war against Israel, Hamas had to resort to asymmetrical warfare or war by other means. To put it into practice more precisely, the tactical part will be guerrilla warfare, comprising of small teams of assassin’s or lone wolf attacks.On 7 October ’23 the Hamas Special Forces(called Nukhba)swooped down on a day when most officers and soldiers are on leave due to Shabbat and holiday together.Drones by Hamas equipped with Great ades, erosive targeted the border posts of IDF(Israeli Defence Forces).As a result the command, control and communication systems were decapitated. That breached the border fence and ingress happened across multiple points. Using para gliders a d motorbikes the Hamas infiltrated into Israel, the total number being nearly three thousand.The carnage that followed left 1200 dead, leaving the State of Israel in dire political and military situation. In aa immediate response IDF(Israeli Defence Forces) coordinated with law enforcement and counter terror forces YAMAM(Israel’s national counter-terror unit),Sayaret Matkal(general staff reconnaissance unit), Shayatet 13(the elite Naval commando unit) and IDF’ “Ghost” and counter-terror units. Wall Street Journal’s Jared Malsin and Summer Said in a 15th May 2024 update reports that “Hamas Shift to Guerrilla tactics raises spectre of Forever War for Israel”. The terror group has managed to hide in tunnel mazes and still emerge at times to fire at billeted IDFs, use their social infuence and keep the forces engaged and on toes
A map of a Hamas tunnel discovered by IDF in Gaza Strip.