Frag Out! Magazine
Issue link: https://fragout.uberflip.com/i/1220268
Story by: Michał Piekarski illustrations: Łukasz „Wooki" Krzyżanowski Many history lovers must have seen the "Vietnam War" documentary series by Ken Bruns and Lynn Novick. The series suggests that the effects that Vietnam War had, similarly as the conflicts in Afghanistan or other colonial and post-colonial wars in Africa and Asia, were surprising, to say the least. When a stronger player, often a great power, was acting against a weaker one, the superpower was often painfully losing. Irregular warfare was an important part of those conflicts, with guerilla warfare playing the primary role. Irregular warfare is a specific way of fighting. Back in 2008 the irregular warfare has been defined as a type of combat operations carried out with the use of "specific methods behind the ene- my lines by tactical elements created ad hoc, according to needs and situational context. These elements may be formed during the peacetime or they may be formed, as mentioned above, ad hoc, during the war." This definition comes from the Polish regulations adopted by the land forces. Notably, this definition has been created to meet the require- ments of the military. Definition devel- oped at the US DoD tells more details, as it suggests irregular warfare to be a fight between state and non-state ac- tors, for legitimization and to influence the population. This factor plays a key meaning, when speaking of irregular warfare. When the enemy has a quantitative and qualitative advantage, open fight can be considered to be a suicide. The aggressor/occupying forces usually have a broad range of ve- hicles at their disposal, armor, airborne www.fragoutmag.com