German Irregular Warfare

Written for the U.S. Navy, this detailed history of German special warfare is easy to read and informative. Increasingly, so called weak actors employ irregular warfare to successfully challenge the strong. The British, French, and Americans are recognized for their irregular warfare experience, but the comparatively rich German tradition remains overlooked. German contributions to irregular warfare, in fact, rival their reputed expertise in modern maneuver warfare. Beginning in the American Revolution, Hessian officer Johann Ewald revealed important counterinsurgency principles and was followed by a succession of German soldiers in the many wars that followed. German irregular warfare can offer strategic answers to contemporary security challenges.