Searching for first hand accounts of UW

[Jayhawker]

After my pesky dissertation is done (working on the Jedburghs in France) I think I want to read as many books I can find written by those who have experienced "small wars" and then attempted to set down their experiences as principles, doctrine, lessons learned, history, or literature. My current list includes T. E. Lawrence, Callwell, the USMC 1940 doctrine, Lansdale, Fall, Galula, Trinqueir, Churchill, and Che Guevara. What else is out there? Ultimately I'd like to go across cultures and eras. Anyone know of the Lost diaries of Crazy Horse? Anything from ancient China? Zulu warriors handbook? I now I'm perhaps getting a bit silly, but am trying to be inclusive as possible.

Thanks,
Ben

[jcustis]

Selous Scouts: Top Secret War

LtCol Ron Reid-Daly as told to Peter Stiff.

[Rifleman]

The North American frontier provides some Native American examples that might apply. Strictly speaking, it may not meet the definition of UW but there are many examples of Native Americans in U.S. service with U.S. advisors.

Here's a couple: the Pawnee Battalion under Frank North; the Apache Scouts under Al Sieber and Tom Horn.

http://www.nebraskasocialstudies.org/notable/north.html

http://www.geocities.com/~zybt/sieber.htm

[jonSlack]

Guerilla Days in Ireland by Tom Barry.

[William F. Owen]

Guerilla Days in Ireland by Tom Barry.

Barry's Flying Column by Ewan Butler is a bit more balanced on Tom Barry.

The Operators by James Renee on 14 Intelligence Company in Ulster has some useful stuff.

Shoot to Kill by Mike Asher is outstanding about his experience as a Paratrooper in Northern Ireland, and life in the RUC.

[Steve Blair]

The literature from the Frontier is pretty extensive, but you need to be careful with some of the NA accounts. You may also want to stray into anthropology to find some of the cultural and oral history studies that lurk there. Bird did some outstanding work on the Cheyenne, and the Apache have also come in for some good attention. There's a book called "Mountain Scouting" written by an officer who had extensive service in the Pacific Northwest that comes pretty close to a lessons learned piece, and some of John Gibbon's writing also qualifies. You may also want to go back through old issues of both the Cavalry Journal and the Army and Navy Journal. There were some interesting discussions of pack train operations in the Cavalry Journal in the 1880s, and scattered throughout the ANJ are letters and commentary about the Indian Wars. The Journal of the Military Service Institution of the UNited States (working from memory here, so the title may be somewhat different...I know that's close) also has some stuff, as it was one of the (if not the) first professional journal of the Army.

"Life and Manners in the Frontier Army" is another good study. It uses the novels of Charles King (an experienced 5th Cavalry officer who operated against the Apaches and Sioux) as sources to examine how the Frontier Army lived and (to a degree) operated in the field. Bourke's diaries have also been recently published and edited with commentary. I've used the first volume, and they make a good addition and correction to his "On the Border with Crook." A great deal of Ranald Mackenzie's official correspondence during his time with the 4th Cav in Texas has also been published, and there's some good stuff in there as well. Mackenzie was perhaps the most successful regimental officer on the Frontier, so his stuff is always worth a look.