Irregular military

This often overlaps with asymmetrical warfare, avoiding large-scale combat, and focusing on small, stealthy, hit-and-run engagements.

The requirements of a government's chain of command cause the regular army to be very well defined, and anybody fighting outside it, other than official paramilitary forces, are irregular.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is a non-governmental organization primarily responsible for and most closely associated with the drafting and successful completion of the Third Geneva Convention Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War ("GPW").

Usually, such forces are raised outside the regular military like the British SOE during World War II and, more recently, the CIA's Special Activities Center.

Although they are part of a regular army, United States Special Forces are trained in missions such as implementing irregular military tactics.

The United States Special Forces and the CIA's Special Activities Center can trace their lineage to the OSS operators of World War II, which were tasked with inspiring, training, arming and leading resistance movements in German-occupied Europe and Japanese occupied Asia.

In Finland, well-trained light infantry Sissi troops use irregular tactics such as reconnaissance, sabotage and guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines.

"[9] He also emphasizes the importance for the use of regular units permanently attached to guerilla warfare activities, stating that they can play key roles in severing enemy supply routes.

This usually makes irregulars ineffective in direct, main-line combat, the typical focus of more standard armed forces.

[citation needed] By definition, "irregular" is understood in contrast to "regular armies", which grew slowly from personal bodyguards or elite militia.

In Ancient warfare, most civilized nations relied heavily on irregulars to augment their small regular army.

During this campaign the majority of locally recruited irregulars defected to the Germanic tribesmen led by the former auxiliary officer Arminius.

Prior to 1857 Britain's East India Company maintained large numbers of cavalry and infantry regiments officially designated as "irregulars", although they were permanently established units.

The CIA's Special Activities Center (SAC) is the premiere American paramilitary clandestine unit for creating or combating irregular military forces.

[16][17][18] SAD paramilitary officers created and led successful units from the Hmong tribe during the Laotian Civil War in the 1960s and 1970s.

[22][23] Irregular civilian volunteers also played a large role in the Battle of Kyiv during the 2022 Russian Invasion of Ukraine.