Free Mike Guardia by American Guerrilla

Introduction
    With his parting words “I shall return,” General Douglas MacArthur sealed the fate of the last American forces on Bataan. Yet amongst those who capitulated to the Japanese, a young Army Captain named Russell William Volckmann refused to surrender. At the outset of World War II, Volckmann served as the Executive Officer of the 11th Infantry Regiment (11th Division). Rather than surrender,Volckmann disappeared into the jungles of North Luzon and raised a guerrilla army of over 22,000 men. For the next three years, he led a guerrilla war against the Japanese, killing over 50,000 enemy soldiers. During the interim, he established radio contact with MacArthur’s Headquarters in Australia and directed the Allied forces to key enemy positions. Officially designated the United States Armed Forces in the Philippines—North Luzon (USAFIP-NL), Volckmann’s guerrilla unit decimated the Japanese Fourteenth Army. When General Tomiyuki Yamashita—the commander of the Japanese occupation force—finally surrendered, he made the initial surrender overtures not to MacArthur, but to Volckmann.
    Volckmann was also the first to develop the Army’s official doctrine of counterinsurgency and to articulate the need for a permanent force capable of unconventional warfare. His diligence in this regard led to the creation of the Army Special Forces. Surprisingly, Volckmann has not received credit for either of these accomplishments. Despite this man’s contributions, he remains virtually forgotten by history.
    This book seeks to establish two premises. First, it explores how Volckmann’s leadership was critical to the outcome of the Philippines Campaign. His ability to synthesize the realities and necessities of guerrilla warfare led to a campaign that rendered Yamashita’s forces incapable of repelling the Allied invasion. Had it not been for Russell W. Volckmann, the Allies would not have received the intelligence necessary to launch an effective counterstrike. Had he not funneled his intelligence reports to MacArthur and coordinated an Allied assault on the Japanese enclaves, the Americans would have gone in “blind”— reducing their efforts to a trial-and-error campaign that would have undoubtedly 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. * In 1950, Volckmann authored two Army field manuals: FM 31–20, Operations Against Guerrilla Forces and FM 31–21, Organization and Conduct of Guerrilla Warfare . Together, these manuals became the Army’s first complimentary reference set outlining the precepts for special warfare and counterguerrilla operations. Taking his argument directly to General J. Lawton Collins, the Army Chief of Staff, Volckmann outlined the operational concepts for Army Special Forces. At a time when U.S. military doctrine was conventional in its outlook, Volckmann marketed the idea of guerilla warfare as a critical and strategic force multiplier for any future conflict. In doing so, he ultimately won the blessings of the Army Chief of Staff and secured the establishment of the Army’s first special operations unit: the 10th Special Forces Group.
    The story of Russell W. Volckmann commands a unique place within the military historiography of World War II. Military histories of the Philippine Campaign are told predominately within the context of conventional warfare. Several books have been written about MacArthur’s triumphant return to the Philippines, the Army Rangers at Cabanatuan, U.S. Sixth Army operations on Luzon, and the Battle of Leyte Gulf. However, the guerrilla war remains largely forgotten. Aside from a few published memoirs, such as Lapham’s Raiders , and official Army publications such as General Charles A. Willoughby’s,