Handbook For Volunteers Of The Irish Republican Army: Notes On Guerrilla Warfare [Paperback]

Irish Republican Army Ireland (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1996 | ISBN-10: 0873640748 | ISBN-13: 978-0873640749

The original instruction manual for the active arm of the IRA, Handbook for Volunteers of the Irish Republican Army covers such topics as building up resistance centers, organizing and arming a guerrilla force, employing tactics of deception and attack, destroying enemy communications and gaining support of the populace.

Product Details

• Paperback: 48 pages
• Publisher: Paladin Press (December 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0873640748
• ISBN-13: 978-0873640749
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,553,456 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Intresting Paladin imitation, July 10, 2001

By 

John W. Hurley (NY, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Handbook For Volunteers Of The Irish Republican Army: Notes On Guerrilla Warfare (Paperback)

This little booklet seems to be a Paladin Press imitation of an IRA manual issued during the Border Campaign. As a result it is written anonymously, yet the topics and issues discussed by the author(s) shows (to me atleast) that whoever wrote it was legit and that this is not a fabrication. Thus it offers some interesting insights into what was being taught to Republican Volunteers from the post Civil War period to the re-emergence of the IRA in the late 60's. For that reason alone it is worth reading, but it should be mentioned that it is slim, and that the amount of practical information is not great. This booklet seems to have been a primer for IRA guerrillas who of course had a whole curriculum of other manuals including the famous "Green Book". Hopefully more and better books will appear once the issue in northeastern Ireland is finally settled once and for all. Maybe then those of us who pursue studies in Irish military history will be able to get better information about what was being taught to what must be the most long-lived guerrilla army in world history.

29 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars An historical document of its time, January 2, 2003

By 

"fearganainm" (Ireland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Handbook For Volunteers Of The Irish Republican Army: Notes On Guerrilla Warfare (Paperback)

Discussion on the merits or otherwise of this pamphlet seems to have generated more heat than light amongst its Amazon reviewers to date. It is what it is - an historical document from the 1950s - not a contemporary training manual or a justification for the recent conflict in Ireland and other areas which were also affected by that conflict. Readers anticipating modern guerrilla warfare theories or an insight into contemporary Irish Republican analysis and strategies will, therefore, find nothing of value in this work. Similarly, those who rail against its authenticity on the grounds that its contents bear no resemblance to materials which a number of recent works have reproduced from 'The Green Book' (and such accusations are clear evidence that the reviewers' knowledge of same is not gleaned from first hand acquaintance with that particular book), are being ahistorical - 'The Green Book' is of comparatively recent vintage, was not in print at the time of the pamphlet under review and belongs to another time and another form of conflict. Technological and military advances since the publication of the pamphlet render most of its content redundant. It should be appraised merely as a product of its time, providing an insight into the type of conflict its authors believed it necessary to prepare for and conduct. The handbook's utility should be judged historically not for its military acumen or lack of it but for its actual relevance to the real political and military circumstances pertaining at the time of its publication. It is the product of a particular militarist/political mindset at a specific period of Irish history, and that is all it is. As an aid to understanding how a section of Irish Republicans once viewed its options it is of interest, as an aid to understanding the ideology that section promoted amongst some of its followers it is of interest, but the pamphlet holds nothing of real value for those interested in either military strategy or contemporary Irish Republicanism. It is an interesting reprint of an obsolete document and as such is of limited value to a readership seeking up to date information on Irish affairs. As an aid to research for those studying militant Irish Republicanism it is, of course, a primary source for the period in which it was produced and distributed and it is strictly as an historical document that the pamphlet is best understood.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars an important insight into the PIRA, August 26, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Handbook For Volunteers Of The Irish Republican Army: Notes On Guerrilla Warfare (Paperback)

A good insight into the minds behind the men and women fighting for irish nationalisim. the IRA can not be classified as just terrorists or as just patriots. like all freedom fighters they encompass elements of both patriotisim and terrorisim that must be understood for there to be peace in northern ireland.