When we hear about Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Che Guevera we will listen about Guerrilla Warfare as both of them are well known for it. Shivaji Maharaj is also known as the “FATHER OF GUERRILLA WARFARE IN INDIA”. Such is the recognition of that warfare. In this article, we will know about Guerrilla warfare, tactics, and techniques.
Guerrilla is acquired from a Spanish word Guerra, which means war. It is a technique where a limited amount of unusual army can even win on vast armies with armed weapons. Soldiers in guerrilla infantry need not be a professional army, they can be common men, civilians, rebellions. But still, they can fight with vast armies and win over them. A 3000 vast army can be defeated by 200 odd soldiers. The tactic here is persons in guerrilla warfare will not be together. They hide in bushes, on trees, across mountains, and kill vast armies that march together.
To be precise, you might have seen in the exhibitions. We find a balloon game that we need to hit with a gun. Though, we are not professional shooters at least one balloon in the group will blow up. This is what guerrilla tactic is, a single person will hit a weapon into a group which will at least kill one soldier. This man may not be caught as he will be hidden somewhere else.
In 1645, Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj used this Guerrilla tactic. When 30000 Mughal soldiers were marching towards the Maratha kingdom, Shivaji with his 2000 army persons defeated the Mughals using the Guerrilla tactic. Soldiers were hidden all around the kingdom and targeted the Mughal soldiers who were in groups. Some killed soldiers, some of them destroyed weapons. This is how a small group of army won on a vast army.
Even in our Indian army’s Bihar Regiment, few soldiers will be given training on Guerrilla warfare. The guerrilla soldiers were even present in recent attacks like URI surgical strike, Balakot airstrike, and in recent China-India standoff. Such is the importance of Guerrilla warfare for centuries.
-KRISHNA (FrontlinesMedia)
