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American Guerrilla: The Forgotten Heroics of Russell W. Volckmann—the Man Who Escaped from Bataan, Raised a Filipino Army against the Japanese, and Became the True "Father" of Army Special Forces Kindle Edition

by Mike Guardia (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.3 646 ratings

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A main selection of the Military Book Club and a selection of the History Book Club

With his parting words, “I shall return,” General Douglas MacArthur sealed the fate of the last American forces on Bataan. Yet one young Army Captain named Russell Volckmann refused to surrender. He disappeared into the jungles of north Luzon where he raised a Filipino army of more than 22,000 men. For the next three years he led a guerrilla war against the Japanese, killing more than 50,000 enemy soldiers. At the same time he established radio contact with MacArthur’s headquarters in Australia and directed Allied forces to key enemy positions. When General Yamashita finally surrendered, he made his initial overtures not to MacArthur, but to Volckmann.

This book establishes how Volckmann’s leadership was critical to the outcome of the war in the Philippines. His ability to synthesize the realities and potential of guerrilla warfare led to a campaign that rendered Yamashita’s forces incapable of repelling the Allied invasion. Had it not been for Volckmann, the Americans would have gone in “blind” during their counter-invasion, reducing their efforts to a trial-and-error campaign that would undoubtedly have cost more lives, materiel, and potentially stalled the pace of the entire Pacific War.

Second, this book establishes Volckmann as the progenitor of modern counterinsurgency doctrine and the true “Father” of Army Special Forces—a title that history has erroneously awarded to Colonel Aaron Bank of the European Theater of Operations. In 1950, Volckmann wrote two army field manuals: Operations Against Guerrilla Forces and Organization and Conduct of Guerrilla Warfare, though today few realize he was their author. Together, they became the US Army’s first handbooks outlining the precepts for both special warfare and counter-guerrilla operations. Taking his argument directly to the army chief of staff, Volckmann outlined the concept for Army Special Forces. At a time when US military doctrine was conventional in outlook, he marketed the ideas of guerrilla warfare as a critical force multiplier for any future conflict, ultimately securing the establishment of the Army’s first special operations unit—the 10th Special Forces Group.

Volckmann himself remains a shadowy figure in modern military history, his name absent from every major biography on MacArthur, and in much of the Army Special Forces literature. Yet as modest, even secretive, as Volckmann was during his career, it is difficult to imagine a man whose heroic initiative had more impact on World War II. This long overdue book not only chronicles the dramatic military exploits of Russell Volckmann, but analyzes how his leadership paved the way for modern special warfare doctrine.

Mike Guardia, currently an officer in the US 1st Armored Division is also author of Shadow Commander, about the career of Donald Blackburn, and an upcoming biography of Hal Moore.

From the Publisher

volckmann guerrilla warfare vietnam CIA US special forces


	American Geurrilla	Leyte 1944	Shadow Caommander

Customer Reviews	646	126	656
Price	$16.27	$22.21	$12.88
Pacific Theater	✓	✓	✓
Biography	✓		✓
Special Forces	✓		✓
Military History		✓

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This is a book anyone wanting to learn more about guerrilla warfare in the Philippines during World War II Japanese occupation should find interesting. For military history buffs and students of guerilla warfare, it's a must read."
Gun Week

..."a masterful job of revealing an unknown chapter of World War II."
MilitaryCorrupttion.com

"...an interesting, thought-provoking and well-written read..."
Defenceweb South Africa

"This book is highly recommended to people who are looking for a book that can teach about leadership. This is also a great read for people who are looking to know more about some of the low profile personalities during World War II that played a major role in helping the Allied Army to win." - BestBookLight.com

"Historians of the Philippine campaign have largely ignored Volckmann, focusing instead on conventional forces under MacArthur. Fortunately for Mr. Guardia, a serving Army officer, Volckmann kept a rudimentary diary for much of the period, describing how he managed to put together his "private army," one that waged arguably the most successful guerrilla campaign of the entire war. . . . Mr. Guardia argues, convincingly, that Volckmann deserves the title of 'father' of Special Forces."
THE WASHINGTON TIMES, August 2010

About the Author

Mike Guardia is an internationally recognized author and military historian. A veteran of the US Army, he served six years on active duty as an armor officer. He is the author of the widely acclaimed Hal Moore: A Soldier Once . . . And Always, the first-ever biography chronicling the life of Lieutenant General Harold G. Moore, whose battlefield leadership was popularized by the film We Were Soldiers, starring Mel Gibson. Guardia has been nominated twice for the Army Historical Foundation's Distinguished Writing Award and is an active member in the Military Writers Society of America.

As a speaker, Guardia hosts the lecture series “Hal Moore: Lessons in Leadership,” which is available for presentation at schools, businesses, and civic organizations worldwide. He has given presentations at the US Special Operations Command and the International Spy Museum. His work has been reviewed in the Washington Times, Armchair General, ARMY magazine, defenceWeb, and Miniature Wargames UK.

Guardia holds a bachelor of arts and master of arts in American history from the University of Houston. He currently lives in Texas.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0169GGSD6
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Casemate; Reprint edition (November 24, 2015)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ November 24, 2015
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 7524 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 187 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #345,441 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #249 in Biographies of World War II
- #269 in Southeast Asia History
- #863 in Military & Spies Biographies

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Mike Guardia

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Mike Guardia is an internationally-recognized author and military historian. A veteran of the United States Army, he served six years on active duty as an Armor Officer. He is the author of the widely-acclaimed HAL MOORE: A SOLDIER ONCE...AND ALWAYS, the first-ever biography chronicling the life of LTG Harold G. Moore, whose battlefield leadership was popularized by the film WE WERE SOLDIERS, starring Mel Gibson.

He has twice been nominated for the Army Historical Foundation's Distinguished Book Award and was named Author of the Year in 2021 by the Military Writers Society of America.

As a speaker, he hosts the lecture series HAL MOORE: LESSONS IN LEADERSHIP, which is available for presentation at schools, businesses, and civic organizations worldwide.

In 2022, he appeared in Season 1 of the History Channel series, I WAS THERE, as a featured historian in the episodes on the Johnstown Flood of 1889; the Chernobyl Disaster; the Battle of Stalingrad; and the Oklahoma City Bombing. His other media appearances include guest spots on National Public Radio (NPR); Frontlines of Freedom; Armada International; and Military Network Radio.

Mike Guardia has given presentations at the US Special Operations Command; the International Spy Museum; and the George HW Bush Presidential Library. His work has been reviewed in the Washington Times, Military Review, Armchair General, Vietnam Magazine, DefenceWeb South Africa, and Soldier Magazine UK.

He holds a BA and MA in American History from the University of Houston. He currently lives in Minnesota.

Website: www.mikeguardia.com

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J. Martin

An interesting read about a survivor of the Bataan Death march and gorilla leader

Reviewed in the United States on April 22, 2022

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A largely unsung hero of the Philippines campaign. Major Volckman escaped from the Bataan death march into the country side and eventually made it to a heavily concealed outpost. He endured many injuries, disease and starvation during this time. He gathered other escaped allies and enlisted Philippine fighters and soldiers to engage in gorilla activity against the Japanese invaders and occupiers. He insured that his forces were provisioned, fed and armed. He was instrumental in the return of McArther to the Philippines providing valuable intelligence and information regarding the Japanese enemy positions, resources, manpower and weapons. He personally led gorilla forces in advance and in support of McArthers invasion forces. He was asked by McArther to attend the surrender of Japan. In after action reports, he documented the fundamentals of gorilla warfare used by the military from the Korean War onward. Very interesting for those interested in the war in the Pacific. The book was largely based on a diary that he kept during the occupation.

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Kindle Customer

An excellent book, but the Audible narrator was dreadful

Reviewed in the United States on December 11, 2020

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I greatly enjoyed this book; I already knew a bit about the Philippines in WW2, but this book opened my eyes to many facts about Filipino society and citizenry. Learning about the tribes on Luzon was fascinating, and the variety of experiences that Volckmann and Blackburn, as well as many other Americans, lived through during the war was remarkable for the way they made the absolute most out of the many Filipinos who were eager to work against the Japanese. The depth of Mr. Guardia's research is vividly displayed by the lengths he went to to locate primary sources -- and I was pleased to see that the families of the brave American soldiers on Luzon during the war had kept their complete documentation for the benefit of future historians. Clearly, Volckmann's family valued his remarkable efforts to organize a disparate and varied, but highly effective, guerilla force, and then after the war to codify many of the special forces' actions and bases of action for the benefit of future soldiers. Altogether an impressive man, who fought remarkably well under difficult circumstances and provided a huge benefit to the American Army's efforts to recapture the Philippines from the Japanese. And Mr. Volckmann didn't shrink from describing some of the horrific tortures the Japanese inflicted upon the citizenry and the defeated Americans, which always makes for difficult reading but is important to remember so the behavior (hopefully) isn't repeated in the future.

But I did have one large issue with this book, which was also the reason I took away one star, to be honest: the Audible narrator. Not only were his pronunciations painfully inaccurate and inconsistent, but he read the book at a way too fast, not even stopping for a moment at the end of a paragraph to allow the listener to absorb the material they just heard. I often listen to audiobook versions of my reading habit in circumstances where looking at the printed page isn't possible or convenient, so I have come to appreciate the value of a good narrator -- and, conversely, the damage a poor narrator can do to an otherwise excellent book. It's a real shame that a this narrator could have such a negative effect on an excellent history of an important time in the recent past. Factual material requires time and contemplation to grasp the fullest extent of the information possible, but by racing through this book (and also through "Shadow Commander" by the same author), he forced me to stop almost every paragraph to listen again to the material and have a chance to actually *hear* to what he was saying, not just notice the words flying by my ears at the speed of a runaway train! I tried slowing the narration down, but the painfully bad pronunciations were so much worse at the too-slow speed that is all Amazon offers on my Kindle led to my giving up and just listening to the narrator try to break a speed record in reading a fairly short history.

I would love to see this book's audio version redone by a narrator who would give the material the appropriate amount of respect it is due, not to mention learning the correct pronunciations. I'm no expert on Filipino pronunciation in the various languages spoken on Luzon, but it was obvious that the narrator was guessing, judging by the way he mangled words I for which did know the accurate pronunciation!

So I congratulate Mr. Guardia on an excellent and informative book, and am just sorry that my experience of enjoying the book was lessened so much by a poor narrator. I look forward to reading more of his writing, hopefully with slower narrators, in the future!

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Stephen D Solomon

GREAT FILIPINE GUERRILLA ACCOUNT

Reviewed in the United States on March 17, 2024

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VERY DETAILED ACCOUNT OF THE DIFFICULTIES AND SUCCESSES OF THE Guerrilla ACTIONS BEHIND ENEMY LINES.
RECOMMEND HIS BOOK FOR ANY WWII ENTHUSIASTS.

Reviewed in the United States on August 6, 2015

Verified Purchase

The book was a bit too vague for my taste. It was written about somebody by somebody who had little or no direct contact with Volkmann. One of the biggest drawbacks I found was the lack of maps pertaining to the current situation in the story. The biggest fail was two photos taken of maps from the Army museum that showed his travels. It's a photo of a map on a wall in the museum. You cant make out anything. There are two pages of maps early on in the book during the retreat towards Bataan but you have to use a magnifying glass to read the words.

I was expecting something more along the lines of "They Fought Alone", the story of Col. Wendell Fertig on Mindanao. There is very little detail in this book. I am pretty sure most of it came from his diary entries. As of this posting, I've read 3/4 of the book and I am having a hard time getting back to it to finish it. I've read two other books since I put this one down.
More like 2-1/2 stars.

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American Guerrilla: The Forgotten Heroics of Russell W. Volckmann—the Man Who Escaped from Bataan, Raised a Filipino Army against the Japanese, and Became the True "Father" of Army Special Forces Kindle Edition

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