The Art of Guerrilla Warfare Revisited
The saying "When the enemy advances, we retreat" is a core principle of guerrilla warfare and was popularised by Mao Tse Tung. It emphasises the strategic advantage of avoiding direct confrontation with a superior force and instead, focuses on harassing, tiring, and ultimately attacking the enemy at their weakest point.
“Guerrilla warfare is basic, but lose no chance for mobile warfare under favourable conditions. ” Mao Tse Tung raised guerrilla warfare to the level of strategy, because, if they are to defeat a formidable enemy, revolutionary armed forces should not fight with a reckless disregard for the consequences when there is a great disparity between their own strength and their enemy’s. If they do, they will suffer serious losses and bring heavy setbacks to the revolution.
Guerrilla warfare is the only way to mobilize and apply the whole strength of the people against the enemy, the only way to expand our forces in the course of the war, deplete and weaken the enemy, gradually change the balance of forces between the enemy and ourselves, switch from guerrilla to mobile warfare, and finally defeat the enemy.
Lin Biao - Long Live the Victory of People's War!
A guerrilla army may increase the cost of maintaining an occupation or a colonial presence above what the foreign power may wish to bear. Against a local regime, the guerrilla fighters may make governance impossible and their system unworkable with mass act
