A reproduction of Fangs of the Lone Wolf in Helion's @War format, with
added color photographs of the conflict, along with specially
commissioned color artworks.
Books on guerrilla war are seldom written from the tactical perspective
and even more seldom from the guerrilla's perspective. Fangs of the
Lone Wolf: Chechen Tactics in the Russian-Chechen Wars 1994-2009 is an
exception. These are the stories of low-level guerrilla combat as told
by the survivors. They cover fighting from the cities of Grozny and
Argun to the villages of Bamut and Serzhen-yurt, and finally the hills,
river valleys and mountains that make up so much of Chechnya. The author
embedded with Chechen guerrilla forces and knows the conflict, country
and culture. Yet, as a Western outsider, he is able to maintain
perspective and objectivity. He traveled extensively to interview
Chechen former combatants now displaced, some now in hiding or on the
run from Russian retribution and justice.
The military professional will appreciate the book's crisp narration,
organization by type of combat, accurate color maps and insightful
analysis and commentary. The civilian reader will discover the
complexity of "simple guerrilla tactics" and the demands on individual
perseverance and endurance that guerrilla warfare exacts.
The book is organized into vignettes that provide insight on the nature
of both Chechen and Russian tactics utilized during the two wars. They
show the chronic problem of guerrilla logistics, the necessity of
digging in fighting positions, the value of the correct use of terrain
and the price paid in individual discipline and unit cohesion when
guerrillas are not bound by a military code and law.
Guerrilla warfare is probably as old as man, but has been overshadowed
by maneuver war by modern armies and recent developments in the
technology of war. As Iraq, Afghanistan, the Philippines and Chechnya
demonstrate, guerrilla war is not only still viable, but is increasingly
common. Fangs of the Lone Wolf provides a unique insight into what is
becoming modern and future war.
This revised edition reproduces Fangs of the Lone Wolf in Helion's
@War format, with added color photographs of the conflict, along with
specially commissioned color artworks.