A Lanchester Model of Guerrilla Warfare

S. J. Deitchman
Additional contact information
S. J. Deitchman: Institute for Defense Analyses, Washington, D. C.

Operations Research, 1962, vol. 10, issue 6, 818-827

Abstract: A variation of the Lanchester equations is applied to exploration of the force ratios required to win in guerrilla-counterguerrilla warfare. It is shown that an attacking guerrilla force can, by using tactics that compensate for its weaknesses, defeat a force of defending regulars that has over-all superiority in numbers and weapons. The defenders can win by appropriate selection of weapons, countertactics, and group sizes for individual engagements. In general, however, the high over-all ratios of defending regulars to attacking guerillas that have characterized recent warfare of this kind in which the defense has been successful are extremely difficult to reduce.

Date: 1962
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (21)

Downloads: (external link)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/opre.10.6.818 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:inm:oropre:v:10:y:1962:i:6:p:818-827

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Operations Research from INFORMS Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Asher ().