Modern Warfare: A French View of Counterinsurgency

by Roger Trinquier

Overview

This volume in the Praeger Security International (PSI) series Classics of the Counterinsurgency Era reveals how French officers who served in Indochina, like the author, Roger Trinquier, fought fierce rear-guard actions against ideologically motivated insurgents in the 1940s and 1950s to a far greater extent than their American counterparts later faced in Vietnam. The lack of coherent strategic direction from Paris in the chaotic years of the Fourth Republic left the military with the task of making political decisions in the field. With the original introduction by Bernard B. Fall and a new foreword prepared by Eliot A. Cohen.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780275992682
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	08/30/2006
Series:	PSI Classics of the Counterinsurgency Era
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	114
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.24(d)

About the Author

Roger Trinquier (1908-1986) was born into a peasant family and was graduated from the military academy at Saint-Maixent. He was posted in the Far East for much of his career. Following World War II, he campaigned in Vietnam before returning to organize and train a colonial parachute battalion in France. Then he was reassigned to Indochina as an expert on counterguerrilla warfare. This tour was followed by his active role in the revolt of May 1958 by the French army in Algeria, for which he was labeled a political colonel. Afterward Colonel Trinquier led a group of fellow officers-recruited from elite units and officially retired, but with the approval of the Ministry of Defense- to serve as mercenaries in Katanga Province, Zaire, under the secessionist leader Moise Tshombe. He published La Guerre Moderne, which was translated into English, and a number of other books dealing with the Indochina war and the exploits of French airborne forces.

Table of Contents

Forward
Introduction: A Portrait of the "Centurion" by Bernard B. Fall
PART I. PREPARATION FOR WAR
The need to Adapt Our Military Apparatus to Modern Warfare
Modern Warfare Defined
An Example of a Clandestine Warfare Organization
Terrorism-The Principal Weapon of Modern Warfare
Identifying the Adversary
Defense of the Territory
PART II. THE POLITICAL AND MILITARY CONDUCT OF THE WAR
Direct Action on the Populations of Cities
Errors in Fighting the Guerrilla
The Problem of Resources
Conducting Counterguerrilla Operations
PART III. CARRYING THE WAR TO THE ENEMY
The Inadequacies of Traditional Warfare
Modern Warfare in Enemy Territory
Conclusion
Index