Strategy and Tactics of the Salvadoran FMLN Guerrillas: Cold War's Final Battle & Modern Conflict Blueprint | Military History Books, Latin American Studies, Warfare Analysis for Researchers and Historians

I lived that conflict first hand from 1987-1991. I can tell you that the book is non bias. It is focused on facts. Moreover, true and documented facts.The book is written by David E Spencer who is an expert on guerrilla warfare and low intensity conflicts, Spencer was a political consultant to the armed forces, he spent five years traveling to El Salvador and work in conjunction with a guerrilla ex-Combatatant who lived through the 12 years that the conflict lasted.From the very beginning of the book I was glued to it. It explains the roots of the conflict from the beginning, then it gets in to the tactics that the extremist faction used to survive the 12 years of war.Although I lived first hand the later years of the conflict, I knew many people who lived the conflict since the beginning, people who shared with me their real life experience and is exactly what this book tells.I am going to read it again and again.The only thing I believe that the author might have left out was the utilization of minors, first as runners (messengers), then as recognizance elements, and later on as combatants. Although, technically the author didn't have to do it, because is about the tactics, so there's a thin line there, because minors first formed part of the militias to recon on the army units entering the persistence zones, and later on the conflict minors were incorporated to the main fighting units, to the point that by 1989 good percentage of the FMLN was composed of youth, and I mean, good percentage. Similar to what happened during WWII towards the end of the war, Germany for the defense of the fatherland utilized the Hitler Youth. Now, in El Salvador they were mixed with the main guerrilla units, the ones under 14 were not assigned so critical roles, but from 14 and over they were little fearless fighting machines.I think I drift away too much from the main subject.Overall, this book covers it all, accurately, as far as terms, as far as knowledge of the conflict, as far as dates, time frames where tactics changed and the reasons why.Don't underestimate this conflict, it was part of the cold war, actually the last greatest battle of the cold war rad fought there on October 11th., 1989. There, in El Salvador, and comunism was defeated.