Search and destroy

The Ferret Force, a short-lived British counterinsurgency (COIN) unit which existed from July to December 1948, served as an important source of military intelligence for S&D missions against the MNLA.

Ferret Force personnel would gather intelligence, including from native informants and prisoners, as to the whereabouts of MNLA insurgents, which would then be provided to troops assigned to S&D operations.

Once MNLA insurgents had been flushed out, they would then be further harassed via asymmetric warfare tactics such as being denied sources of food and shelter, before either surrendering or being killed in a direct military engagement, most commonly an ambush.

MNLA insurgents held numerous advantages over their British opponents, including residing in closer proximity to the countryside's population and having familial relations or close friendships among local villagers.

[2][3] Patrols in the jungle, a common part of British S&D operations, were unpopular with the troops due to having to spend significant periods of time navigating unfamiliar terrain filled with dangerous animals and insects while concomitantly watching out for MNLA ambushes.

Search-and-destroy missions entailed sending out platoons, companies, or larger detachments of US troops from a fortified position to locate and destroy communist units in the countryside.

The offensive began with Operation Junction City, where the American units assigned had destroyed hundreds of tons of rice, killed 720 guerrillas, and captured 213 prisoners.

Guenter Lewy, a professor of Political Science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, argued that the generals and war planners severely underestimated the enemy's abilities to match and even to exceed US forces.