War in Favorable Terrains by Che Guevara

Guerrilla warfare

Like we already said, guerrilla warfare isn´t always going to develop in the most favorable terrain for guerrilla tactics.  In the case that this does happen, however, as in, the guerrilla group is placed in a zone that is difficult to access – like dense forest, abrupt mountains, impassable deserts, or swamplands – the general tactic will always be the same and based in the fundamental postulated of guerrilla warfare. 
An important point to consider is the way of making contact with the enemy. If the area is too dense, and so adverse that no organized army can get there at any time, the guerrilla army must go to the areas that the army can access, where there is the possibility of combat.
The guerrilla army must go into combat after the first moment that their survival is assured.  They must constantly leave their refuge in order to fight.  Their mobility doesn´t have to be as much as in unfavorable terrains.  They have to get accustomed to the enemy´s conditions, but a displacement, such as that which is implicit in places where the enemy can get together a large amount of men in little time, isn´t necessary.  Also, nighttime isn´t quite as important in this type of war.  In many cases, they can operate during the day and, above all, contact daytime mobilizations, all of this depending on the vigilance of the enemy via land and air.  At the same time, a guerrilla movement can last much longer, especially in the mountains. They can mount combats that last for a long time with very few elements and it´s very probably that they´ll be able to impede the enemy reinforcements from reaching the scene of the crime.
The vigilance of the possible places of access is, without a doubt, an axiom that the guerrilla never should forget, but their aggressiveness (for the same difficulties that the enemy has in getting reinforcements) can be greater still.  They can get much closer, harass them more directly, and combat them more from the front and for more time. All this depends on a number of circumstances, like the size of the battalion, for example. 
Warfare in favorable terrain, and particularly, in the mountains, has many advantages, but also presents the inconvenience of it being difficult to take a considerable amount of weapons and battalion due to the precautions taken by the enemy in these regions (the guerrilla must never forget the fact the enemy must be the supply source of weapons and battalion). 
The guerrillas can settle down much faster than in unfavorable terrains and for a nucleus capable of establishing a war of positions.  This is where they can set up small industries, like hospitals, educational centers, and entertainment centers, as well as stores, etc., that are adequately protected from far-reaching aviation and artillery.
The number of men in the group of guerrillas in these conditions can be much greater, even including men that don´t fight and also there can be a process of training in order to take weapons that will eventually fall from the power of the guerrilla army.
The number of men that a guerrilla army can have is flexible. It depends on the territory, how easy it is to provide them with supplies, the massive escape of oppressed people from other zones, available weapons, and the needs of the organization.  However, in all cases, it is much more feasible to settle down and increase in size with the help of new combative elements.
The radius of this type of guerrilla group can be as big as the conditions of the operations of the guerrilla group in adjacent territories will allow.  Everything is limited by the time it takes to get from a point of operations to a secure zone.  That´s to say, figuring that the marches must be at night, they can´t go any farther than five or six hours from the secure point. Naturally, from the secure zone, small guerrilla groups can go out and constantly weaken the terrain.
The weapons that are preferable for this type of war are those that have a long range and don´t waste many bullets.  Of the rifles and machine guns that in North American markets, one of the most recommended is the rifle M-1, named Garand, that should be used only by experienced people, since it has the disadvantage of wasting too much battalion. Semi-heavy guns, like tripod machine guns, can be used in favorable terrains, but they must always be weapons of containment and never attack.
An ideal composition for a guerrilla group of twenty-five men would be: ten to fifteen one-shot rifles and ten automatic weapons, between Garand and handheld machine guns, in addition to requiring the support of easily transported and light automatic weapons, such as machine gun rifles of the Browning type to the most modern Belgium FAL and M-14.  Amongst the handheld machine guns, the 9 millimeter ones that allow for the greatest transport of battalion are preferable and the newer the model, the more highly recommended due to the ease of changing the pieces. All this depends on the weaponry of the enemy because the battalion that they use is what we´re going to use when the weapons fall into our hands.  The heavy arms that we use are practically disposable.  The air force can´t see anything and is inoperable, and the tanks and canons can´t hardly be responsible for the difficulties of advancing in these zones.
One very important point to mention is the supply.  In general, zones that are difficult, precisely for this point, also present difficulties because peasants and, more directly, agriculture and livestock supplies are scarce.  Stable lines must be maintained to always be able to count on a minimum of food deposits, in order to prevent any kind of disagreeable contingency.
In this zone of operation, in general, the possibility of a high level sabotage isn´t important because the same fact already mentioned about inaccessibility makes it so that there are few constructions, few telephone lines, aqueducts, etc, that can be damaged by a direct battle.
It´s important to have animals in the supply.  One of the best animals, especially on rough terrains, is the mule.  It is necessary to have pastures to provide good nutrition.  This animal can cross absolutely uneven terrain, where no other animal would be capable of crossing.  In the most difficult cases they must share the load with the men. Each individual must transport a load of 25 kilos, for many hours every day over many days.
The lines of communication with the exterior must be conducted through a series of intermediary points using completely trustworthy people through which products can be purchased and where contacts can be hidden at any given moment.
Furthermore, lines of internal communication can be made – the length depends on the degree of development reached by the guerrilla group.  In some zones, the operational fronts of the last Cuban war established telephone lines that were many kilometers long.  The made routes and always had a messenger service sufficient enough to cover all of the zones in as little time as possible.  However, there is another series of possibilities that wasn´t applied in the Cuban war, but is perfectly applicable – smoke signals, signals made using the sun´s reflection in a mirror, and messenger pigeons.
Of vital necessity to the guerrilla group is maintaining weapons in good condition, getting battalion and having, above everything else, good shoes.  The first industrial efforts must, therefore, be directed towards these objectives.  The shoes factories can, at first, be installations of menders that place half soles on old shoes.  Later on, they can become shoe factories that produce a highly daily average of shoes by organizing the work.  The production of gunpowder is fairly simple and a lot can be produced by only having a small laboratory and brining in necessary materials from the outside.  Areas with landmines constitute a grave danger for the enemy.  Large areas can be covered with landmines that when detonated only once can bury up to hundreds of men.