Partisan Leader's Handbook: May, 1939

For students of warfare or those who enjoy collecting quaint relics of militaria such as old field manuals, "The Partisan Leader's Handbook" is a nice little addition to your library. Clocking in at a mere 38 pages, there isn't much meat here to chew on. Just basic small unit tactics for the budding guerilla or student of unconventional warfare (i.e. Green Berets to the rest of us) that may have been cutting edge in the early twentieth century. Alas, this is dated material. Published in 1939 by the General Service (Research) arm of the UK Defence Ministry, this pamphlet was a companion volume to several similarly titled booklets distributed to the Office of Home Defence to prepare Great Britain for a possible invasion and occupation by NAZI Germany. It would eventually become a handbook for Great Britain's Special Operations Executive (SOE) which was the precursor to the British special service units and American Special Forces and CIA paramilitaries. As a graduate of US Army Ranger School, I see this has much in common with the more extensive Ranger handbook with basic instructions for conducting small unit ambushes and raids. But this is no subversive's handbook. The material is so basic, there is little chance some wild-eyed militia group could use this material to threaten the establishment. Modern technology renders many of these 1939 "cutting edge" techniques obsolete. But for basic small unit tactics and general knowledge, this is well-worth reading. And for collectors out there, this may be a reprint, but it seeks to be rendered as a true copy of a classic tome for the budding stay-behind partisan who seeks to freedom from an occupying army.Someone shout, "Wolverines!" with me (a "Red Dawn" reference to you uninitiated ones).Recommended. So buy a copy and enjoy!

This is a companion volume to  The Art of Guerilla Warfare: May, 1939  also by the British War Office. While The Art of Guerilla Warfare was heavy on theory and light on practice, this volume is focused on applications of the theory and how to use the tools. But it was published in 1939, so it is extremely dated, with manual Morse code being a significant form of communication, and well before digital tools.The Art of Guerilla Warfare is the volume with enduring relevance. This volume, while interesting, is very much a historical artifact rather than a useful booklet.E.M Van Court

Great historical pieces!!!! CA Brown has provided a very important service in making these books available to the public. All of these little volumes, along with the SOE instruction manual, WE Fairbairn's 'All In Fghting' and 'How to be a Spy--the SOE Training Manual', provides a fairly comprehensive view of the techniques taught to those brave souls of WWII who acted as saboteurs and assassins against the fascist Nazis and could actually be of value in today's world of liberal fascism and their buddies, the democrat party and Muslim terrorist invaders.

A rather thin manual intended for recruits to the "Stay Behind" Aux Forces in those dangerous days of 1940. Most of the information is on how to ambush German supplies being moved by road or rail, how not to get caught doing it and how to hide your rifle when not fighting. Very, very basic.Do not try this at home - the life expectancy of the Aux Forces was about the expected duration of the German Invasion, two weeks. Reading this you can see why.

a well written companion to the manuals that Major Colin Gubbins RA and Major Sir Mills jefferies RE wrote at the time of the problems in Europe which was quite interesting at the time and it just goes to show what can be produced in a time of need when you have the likes of Lt Colone J.C.F.Holland RE in charge of the think tank called the general staff research