Strategy and Tactics of the Salvadoran FMLN Guerrillas: Last Battle of the Cold War, Blueprint for Future Conflicts [Hardcover]

Jose Angel Moroni Bracamonte (Author), David E. Spencer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 30, 1995 | ISBN-10: 0275950182 | ISBN-13: 978-0275950187

This book examines the military organization, strategy, and tactics of the Salvadoran FMLN guerrillas during their efforts to overthrow the government. It is largely based on the authors' personal collections of guerrilla documents captured in the war, interviews with former and captured guerrillas, and personal combat experience during one of the fiercest wars fought in the Western hemisphere in the 20th century. The book describes the guerrilla tactics from a technical point of view, and their evolution during the war in El Salvador. It includes discussions of such tactical concepts as concentration and deconcentration, urban combat, anti-air defense, the use of mines, and homemade weapons. It contains a chapter on the FMLN special forces--they were responsible for most of the spectacular attacks of the war--and it examines the sophisticated logistical system of the FMLN that made the prolonged war possible. Wherever possible, these concepts are illustrated by actual combat experiences from sources on both sides of the conflict. An important text for all concerned with guerrilla warfare and counterinsurgency. Latin Americanists and students of the developing world will also find much of interest.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“...If the authors are correct in their assessment of the Salvadoran insurgency as a "blueprint for future conflicts," then this book can provide us both the schematics and marginal notations of that blueprint. ...it is worthwhile to have a threat doctrinal and operational model for someone besides the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany.”–Armor

About the Author

JOSE ANGEL MORONI BRACAMONTE is the pen name of a combatant in the war.

DAVID E. SPENCER spent five years between 1987 and 1992 travelling to and studying the guerrilla war.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 216 pages
• Publisher: Praeger Publishers (May 30, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0275950182
• ISBN-13: 978-0275950187
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #853,102 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #55 in Books > History > Americas > Central America > El Salvador

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb study of an effective insurgency, February 24, 2005

By 

J Michael Waller "www.iwp.edu" (Washington, DC United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Strategy and Tactics of the Salvadoran FMLN Guerrillas: Last Battle of the Cold War, Blueprint for Future Conflicts (Hardcover)

This is the best study of the strategy and tactics of one of the most effective, albeit unsuccessful, modern guerrilla movements. The Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) was a tough fighting force with a brilliant political warfare component.

I spent a lot of time in El Salvador during the war to help the Salvadoran army and saw the FMLN firsthand, and can verify many of the book's findings from my own experiences in the field. The FMLN was a worthy opponent, and well deserving of respect and serious academic study. Jose Angel Moroni Bracamonte and David Spencer have faithfully and incisively dissected how the FMLN operated, and they draw lessons to apply to future conflicts.

This book is to the FMLN what Douglas Pike's landmark book "Vietcong" (MIT Press, 1966) was to the North Vietnamese-run insurgency in South Vietnam. Spencer's companion volume, "From Vietnam to El Salvador: The Saga of FMLN Sappers and Other Guerrilla Special Forces in Latin America" (1996) rounds out the most complete picture yet, in English, of the once-formidable guerrilla group.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Largely ignores the real reasons of the conflict, December 16, 2001

By 

Juan Gomez (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Strategy and Tactics of the Salvadoran FMLN Guerrillas: Last Battle of the Cold War, Blueprint for Future Conflicts (Hardcover)

This book is a very good at describing the strategies and tatics of the Salvadoran FMLN freedom fighters, but it ignores the real reasons why Salvadorans had no choice but to fight the government. They blame it on 'communist aggression', but this was a civil revolution; these were people who had been denied their right of self-determination as peoples through democratic elections. If Salvadorans wanted communism, so be it: it's their right and duty as peoples to determine their own political, social, and economic future. The authors weakly defend the small elite class that violated non-deregable human rights through state terrorism for centuries. If you choose to read this book, read it along with: Revolution in El Salvador by Tommie Sue Montgomery.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A look inside the FMLN's war fighting., May 30, 2000

By 

Benjamin Willard "Expo6" (Alexandria, VA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Strategy and Tactics of the Salvadoran FMLN Guerrillas: Last Battle of the Cold War, Blueprint for Future Conflicts (Hardcover)

An excellent book. The detail and examples given will benefit all with an interest in guerrilla warfare or those that are tasked to combat it. Covers not only the insurgent tactics, but also what the ESAF did to counteract these tactics and how successful the FMLN or ESAF were in their encounters. A must have to better understand the El Salvador war and how the FMLN was able to continue.