Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

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.

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 It is what it is - an historical document from the 1950s - not a contemporary training manual or a justification for the recent conflict in Ireland and other areas which were also affected by that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.

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.

Although the book is quite old, the basic theories of guerrilla warfare are explained in a very straightforward and clear manner. Students of Vietnam style combat will find this to be very interesting, as well as anyone with an interest in the workings of the IRA.

For those students of revolutionary warfare who are looking for a seminal work comparably to Lawrence's Seven Pillars of Wisdom or Mao's little book, one will have to look elsewhere. The Green Book is not even remotely in the same league. But despite it's lack of any real substance, this slim volume is mandatory reading for all students of the Troubles only because it is part of the indoctrination process for all IRA volunteers. It begins by trying to place the IRA's struggle into a historical tradition of resistance going back to the 1300's. And ends with a lecture on anti-interrogation techniques. This work is rudimentary in the extreme.

The IRA lives on ! This handbook, even though it's information is based on the border campaign of the late 50's, is the most definitive account of the IRA's means of fighting a war of liberation against the imperialist forces of the British Empire/Army. Whilst the information is of a 'how it's done' nature, it does give a powerful insight into the machinations of the military minds behind the IRA and their determination to fight the just and noble cause of liberation and national self determination. The tactics discussed in this handbook, as aged as they are, still serve to show that the IRA remains a potent force capable and ready (if need be) to take the war back to the British.

i enjoyed this book, can be read in one sitting but has aspects that you probibly never expected. My favorite is to grease a train track on an uphill grade so the train cant make it up. I found it a interesting and at times a funny read

This is not a complete operations manual for the public to scrutinize, surely. The flying columns are interesting and their hit hard and run tactics are similar to what the French taught our American soldiers fighting Britain. Small unit tactics against a superior enemy does work, but I think column patrols were useless, in my humble opinion. You disorient your enemy with unfamiar, brutal attacks on personnel and/or equipment, using 2-4 tough stealthy Volunteers with knowledge on killing silently as the enemy sleeps, allowing all out horror as survivers wake to a few of their comrades killed beside them, quietly in the deep of night and without a sound. As a longtime supporter of the ONh, I don't believe this superior army of dedicated Irish men and woman simply fighting for their homeland would utilize this book as it reads now. Their Army Committee and Army Council had brains and absolute discipline,so I'm sure their actual training and operations procedures were not written like a manual. Erin go Bragh. Seoirse Mac Cu Uladh, Houston

The 1970's version of the book would have more information about the fight that we were in more recently; that's the one I believe everyone here is clamoring about. That's all I can say.

This pamphlet is a combination propaganda tract, history lesson and how to manual. I read it mainly looking for tactical level guerilla combat theory and advice, of which there is some. I was disappointed in that it is somewhat vague and terse. However, I was pleasantly surprized by the included short history of the irish resistance with details from hundreds of years ago. All in all, it is worth the small investment of time and money.