List of guerrillas
List of notable guerrillas, ordered by country:
A
Afghanistan
- Wazir Akbar Khan
- Ahmed Shah Massoud
- Abdul Haq
- Gulbuddin Hekmatyar
- Ismail Khan
- Mohammed Omar
- Osama bin Laden
- Jalaluddin Haqqani
Albania
- Enver Hoxha
- Lekë Dukagjini
- Skanderbeg
Algeria
- Abdel Kadir
- Saadi Yacef
- Ali La Pointe
Angola
- Jonas Savimbi
Arabia
- Ibn Saud
- T. E. Lawrence
- Muhammad
Argentina
- Enrique Gorriarán Merlo
- Che Guevara
Austria
- Andreas Hofer
- Otto Skorzeny - involved in many unconventional operations in World War 2
B
Bangladesh
- Kader Siddique in Tangail
- Hemayet Uddin in Faridpur
- Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan in Narsingdi
- Afser Uddin in Mymensing
- Khondoker Baten in Tangail
- Akber Hussein Miah in Jinaidah
- Latif Mirza in Sirajganj
- Cpt. Halim Chowdhary in Manikganj
- Zia Uddin in Sundarban
- Kamal uddin Ahmed in Dhaka
Belgium
- Jacob Collaert - Flemish admiral who served as a privateer and one of the Dunkirkers in Spanish Habsburg service during the Dutch Revolt.
Bolivia
- Tamara Bunke in Ñancahuazú
- Che Guevara in Ñancahuazú
- Osvaldo Peredo in Teoponte
Brazil
- Anita Garibaldi
- Carlos Marighella
- Giuseppe Garibaldi
Bulgaria
- Kaloyan
C
Cambodia
- Pol Pot
Cameroon
- Osende Afana
- Félix Moumié
- Ernest Ouandié
- Ruben Um Nyobé
Canada
- Joseph Broussard - also went by the pseudonym Beausoleil.
- Gabriel Dumont
- Louis Riel
- "Yank" Levy
- Charles Deschamps de Boishébert et de Raffetot - Quebec born member of the Compagnies Franches de la Marine who was a leader of the Acadian militia in their resistance to the Expulsion of the Acadians.
Chad
- Goukouni Oueddei
- Hissène Habré
- Ibrahim Abatcha
- Idriss Déby
- Rabih az-Zubayr
- Youssouf Togoïmi
Chechnya
- Aslan Maskhadov
- Dzhokhar Dudayev
- Akhmed Zakayev
- Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev
- Imam Shamil in Daghestan
- Amir Ibn al-Khattab
- Sheikh Abdul Halim
- Shamil Basayev
Chile
- Galvarino Apablaza
- Manuel Rodríguez Erdoíza
- Miguel Enríquez
- José Gregorio Liendo, Neltume
- Raúl Pellegrin
China
- Sun Tzu - ancient Chinese general and military strategist who authored The Art of War
- Mao Zedong
- Zhou Enlai
- Sun Yat-sen
- Bai Chongxi
- Chiang Kai-shek
- Gan Ning
- Cao Cao
- Zang Ba
Colombia
- Jacobo Arenas
- Manuel Marulanda
- Camilo Torres
Cuba
- Fidel Castro
- Camilo Cienfuegos
- Che Guevara
- Antonio Maceo
Cyprus
- Georgios Grivas
D
Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Laurent-Désiré Kabila
- Laurent Nkunda
- Pierre Mulele
Dominican Republic
- Ramón Natera
- Gregorio Urbano Gilbert
E
Egypt
- Inaros - together with Athenian allies fought for a year and a half in the marshes in north Egypt against Persians.
El Salvador
- Farabundo Martí
- Schafik Handal
- Cayetano Carpio
- Joaquín Villalobos
- Ana María
Eritrea
- Isaias Afewerki
- Hamid Idris Awate
- Woldeab Woldemariam
Estonia
- Alfred Käärmann
- Rummu Jüri
- August Sabbe
- Ülo Voitka
Ethiopia
- Haile Selassie I
- Hayelom Araya
- Kinfe Gebremedhin
- Meles Zenawi
- Sebhat Nega
- Siye Abraha
F
Finland
- Lauri Törni
- Simo Häyhä
- Mauno Koivisto
France
- François le Clerc - 16th-century French privateer known as "Jambe de Bois" who is credited as the first pirate in the modern era to have a "peg leg".
- Bertrand du Guesclin
- Charles Deschamps de Boishébert et de Raffetot - Quebec born member of the Compagnies Franches de la Marine who was a leader of the Acadian militia in the resistance to the Expulsion of the Acadians.
- Jean-Louis Le Loutre
- Pierre Georges - member of the French Communist Party during World War 2
- Charles de Gaulle
- Nancy Wake
- Georges Cadoudal
- Joseph Epstein
- Jean-Baptiste du Casse
- Jean Fleury
Frisia
- Pier Gerlofs Donia
- Wijerd Jelckama
G
Germany
- Arminius - Germanic chieftain who orchestrated the legendary ambush against the Romans at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest.
- Klein Henszlein - German pirate from 1560 to 1573 who raided shipping in the North Sea
- Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck
- Thomas Müntzer
- Otto Skorzeny - Austrian elite operative who conducted unconventional operations in World War 2 for Nazi Germany
- Franz von Rintelen
- Johann Ewald
- Carl von Clausewitz
Greece
- Athanasios Diakos
- Geórgios Karaïskákis
- Manolis Glezos
- Markos Botsaris
- Odysseas Androutsos
- Theodoros Kolokotronis
- Antonis Vratsanos
- Daskalogiannis
Guatemala
- Rodrigo Asturias
- Comandante Rolando Morán
Guinea
- Samory Touré
H
Haiti
- Benoît Batraville
- Charlemagne Péralte
- Toussaint L'ouverture
- Francois Mackandal
- Vincent Oge
- Jean-Bertrand Aristide
- Jean-Jacques Dessalines
- Francois Capois
- Henri Christophe
- Sans-Souci
- Dutty Boukman
I
Republic of India
- Shivaji Maharaj in
- Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja in Kerala
- Sangolli Rayanna in Karnataka
- Charu Mazumder
- Komaram Bheem in Andhra Pradesh
- Alluri Sita Rama Raju in Andhra Pradesh
- Malik Ambar
- Patel Sudhakar Reddy
- Sakhamuri Appa Rao
- Sardar Muhammad Ibrahim Khan
- Sayeed Salahudeen
- Abdul Hamid Sheikh
- Yasin Malik
- Ahsan Dar
Indonesia
- General Sudirman - military commander of Republican Indonesian forces during Indonesia's fight for independence from the Dutch in the 1940s
- Abdul Haris Nasution
Iran
- Babak Khorramdin
- Hassan-i Sabbah
- Ismail I
- Mostafa Chamran
- Massoud Rajavi
Iraq
- Saladin
- Abu Musab al-Zarqawi
- Abu Ayyub al-Masri
- Muqtada al-Sadr
- Zayd ibn Ali
- Abu Omar al-Baghdadi
- Abu Muslim
- Abu Azrael
Ireland
[Irish Republican]
- Michael Collins - Irish Republican Army guerrilla leader during British rule of Ireland
- Tom Barry
- Gerry Adams - suspected Provisional IRA Army Council member
- Martin McGuinness - suspected Provisional IRA Army Council member
- Seamus Costello - Official IRA member
- Stakeknife - senior Provisional IRA member and British government informant, alleged to be Freddie Scappaticci
- Bobby Sands - Provisional IRA member and hunger striker
- Francis Hughes - Provisional IRA member and later hunger striker
- Dominic McGlinchey - Provisional IRA and later INLA leader
[Ulster Loyalist]
- Billy Wright - Loyalist Volunteer Force leader
- John Gregg - senior Ulster Defence Association member, attempted to assassinate Gerry Adams
- Johnny Adair - aka "Mad Dog", UDA commander
Israel
- Menahem ben Judah - leader of the Sicarri
- Judas Maccabeus - Jewish priest who led the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire
- Avraham Stern
- Menachem Begin
- Yitzhak Shamir
- Avraham Botzer
- Ze'ev Almog
- Ami Ayalon
- Ehud Barak
- Ariel Sharon
- Danny Matt
- Yekutiel Adam
- Ehud Barak
- Yohai Ben-Nun
- Yonatan Netanyahu
- Rafael Eitan
- Mordechai Gur
Italy
- Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus
- Giuseppe Garibaldi
- Giuseppe Mazzini
- Carmine Crocco
- Ninco Nanco
- Licio Visintini - decorated Italian naval officer who conducted unconventional amphibious warfare like missions against allied shipping in World War 2
J
Japan
- Genkō War
- *Kusunoki Masashige
- Boshin War
- *Tatsumi Naofumi
- *Hosoya Jūdayū
- *Hayashi Tadataka
- World War 2
- *Tadamichi Kuribayashi
- *Hiroo Onoda
- Other
- *Fūma Kotarō
- *Tateoka Doshun
K
Korea
- Japanese invasions of Korea
- *Gwak Jae-u
- *Kim Myeon
- *Hyujeong
- *Jo Heon
- Japanese colonial rule of Korea
- *Ji Cheong-cheon
- *Lee Beom-seok
- *Kim Won-bong
- *Kim Hong-il
- *Kim Il Sung
- *Kim Chwa-chin
- *Yun Hui-sun
- Others
- *Choe Ik-hyeon
- *Shin Dol-seok
Kosovo
- Adem Jashari
- Ramush Haradinaj
- Agim Ceku
- Agim Ramadani
- Sali Çekaj
- Hamëz Jashari
- Bekim Berisha
- Luan Haradinaj
- Daut Haradinaj
Kenya
- Dedan Kimathi
- Waruhiu Itote
- Musa Mwariama
Kurdistan
- Saladin
- Mahmud Barzanji
- Foad Mostafa Soltani
- Abdullah Mohtadi
- Sedigh Kamangar
- Hama Hussein Karimi
- Jalal Talabani
- Nawshirwan Mustafa
- Najmadin Shukr Rauf
- Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou
- Sadegh Sharafkandi
- Abdullah Öcalan
- Murat Karayılan
- Delila Meyaser
- Cemil Bayık
- Sakine Cansız
- Mazlum Doğan
- Mahsum Korkmaz
L
Laos
- General Vang Pao in Kingdom of Laos
- Pa Chay Vue
Latvia
- Pēteris Dzelzītis - Latvian soldier during World War 2
Lebanon
- Hassan Nasrallah
Lesotho
- Ntsu Mokhehle
Liberia
- Charles Taylor
- Prince Johnson
Libya
- Omar Mukhtar
Lithuania
- Jonas Žemaitis
- Adolfas Ramanauskas
- Juozas Lukša
- Lionginas Baliukevičius
- Juozas Vitkus-Kazimieraitis
- Jonas Misiūnas-Žalias Velnias
- Vaclovas Voveris-Žaibas
M
Malaysia
- Force 136
- Chin Peng, Malayan Communist Party
- Japanese Red Army
- Mahathir Mohamad
Mexico
- Subcomandante Marcos of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation in Chiapas, Mexico
- Pancho Villa of the Mexican Revolution.
- Emiliano Zapata of the Mexican Revolution.
- Lucio Cabañas
- Miguel Hidalgo of the Mexican War of Independence.
- Davy Crockett of the Texas Revolution, died at the Fall of the Alamo.
- Sam Houston of the Texas Revolution.
- William Barret Travis of the Texas Revolution, died at the Fall of the Alamo.
- Juan Seguín of the Texas Revolution.
- James Bowie of the Texas Revolution, died at the Fall of the Alamo.
- James Fannin of the Texas Revolution, murdered in the Goliad Massacre.
- Victorio: Apache chief and warlord, active in both Mexico and the United States. Apache Wars.
- Geronimo of the Apache Wars, active in both Mexico and the United States.
- Bernardo Reyes, warlord during the Mexican Revolution.
- Francisco I. Madero, revolutionary general during the Mexican Revolution.
Mongolia
- Genghis Khan
- Tolui
- Jebe
- Subutai
Morocco
- Abd el-Krim
Mozambique
- Afonso Dhlakama
- André Matsangaissa
- Eduardo Mondlane
- Filipe Samuel Magaia
- Samora Machel
Myanmar
- Khun Sa
- Saya San
N
Namibia
- Jakobus Morenga
- Hendrik Witbooi
Nepal
- Prachanda
Netherlands
- Pier Gerlofs Donia
- Wijerd Jelckama
- Abraham Blauvelt
- Michiel Andrieszoon - Dutch buccaneer active in the 1680s.
- Jan Willems
- Cornelis Jol
- Roche Braziliano
Nicaragua
- Adolfo Calero
- Arlen Siu
- Augusto César Sandino
- Roberto Pérez
- Daniel Ortega
- Dora María Téllez
- Edén Pastora
- Enrique Bermúdez
- Humberto Ortega
- Joaquín Cuadra
- Nora Astorga
- Rigoberto Cruz
- Carlos Fonseca
Nigeria
- Ateke Tom
- Henry Okah
- Mujahid Dokubo-Asari
- Odumegwu Ojukwu
- Philip Effiong
Norway
- Martin Linge
P
Pakistan
- Osama bin Laden
- Malik Munawar Khan Awan
- Nauroz Khan
- Allah Nazar Baloch
- Balach Marri
- Sher Mohammad Marri
Palestine
- Yasser Arafat
- George Habash
- Leila Khaled
- Abu Nidal
- Yahya Ayyash
- Marwan Barghouti
- Amin al-Husayni
- Ahmed Jibril
- Izz El-Deen Sheikh Khalil
- Khaled Mashal
- Dalal Mughrabi
- Izz ad-Din al-Qassam
- Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi
- Omar Rezaq
- Sirhan Sirhan
- Mahmoud Tawalbe
- Ahmed Yassin
- Abu Ali Mustafa
- Ahmad Sa'adat
Peru
- Abimael Guzmán
- Tupac Amaru
Philippines
- Wendell Fertig
- Gabriela Silang
- José María Sison
- Luis Taruc
- Emilio Aguinaldo
- Macario Sakay
- Andrés Bonifacio
- Baldomero Aguinaldo
- Gregorio del Pilar
- Antonio Luna
- Emilio Jacinto
- Datu Ampuanagus
- Felomino Venus
- Shanley Matthew G. Lumagod
- Uriel P. Pascual
- Omar Michael Q. Atis
- Juan Pajota - Filipino guerrilla leader who played a major role in the Raid at Cabanatuan
Poland
- Feliks Ankerstein
- Dawid Moryc Apfelbaum
- Edmund Charaszkiewicz
- Henryk "Hubal" Dobrzański
- Franciszek Kamiński
- Tadeusz Komorowski
- Józef Kasparek
- Aleksander Józef Lisowski
- Leopold Okulicki
- Witold Pilecki
- Jan Piwnik
- Kazimierz Pużak
- Stefan Rowecki
- Avraham Stern
- Emil August Fieldorf "Nil"
- Joseph Epstein - Polish born activist who fought for the French Resistance in World War 2
- Mordechai Anielewicz
Portugal
- Viriathus
R
Romania
- Mircea I of Wallachia
- Vlad the Impaler
- Stephen III of Moldavia
Rwanda
- Paul Kagame
- Fred Rwigyema
S
Serbia
- See list of Serbian hajduks
- Serbian Revolutionaries
- Serbian Chetnik Organization
- Chetnik Detachments of the Yugoslav Army
Scotland
- First War of Scottish Independence
- *William Wallace
- *Robert I of Scotland
- *The Black Douglas
- *Andrew Moray
- *William the Hardy
- *Thomas Randolph
- *Simon Fraser
- Second War of Scottish Independence
- *Andrew Murray
- *William Douglas
- *Patrick V
- *John Randolph
- *Archibald Douglas
- World War II
- *David Stirling - Scottish born officer who founded the Special Air Service
- *Tommy Macpherson - Scottish British Army officer who conducted guerrilla operations in World War 2
- Others
- *Andrew Barton - notorious Scottish sailor who made raids against Portuguese ships.
Sierra Leone
- Foday Sankoh
Singapore
- Lim Bo Seng, Force 136
- Tan Chong Tee, Force 136
South Africa
- Louis Botha
- Christiaan de Wet
- Jan Smuts in the Second Boer War
- Boer Second Boer War
- Koos de la Rey
- Nelson Mandela
- Potlako Leballo
- Deneys Reitz
- Walter Sisulu
- Jacob Zuma
- Joe Slovo
- Chris Hani
- African National Congress
- African National Congress Youth League
- Pan Africanist Congress of Azania
Soviet Union
- Mikhail Frunze
- Stepniak - Russian radical
- Stepan Bandera
- Viktor Leonov - Soviet sailor whose experiences as a Soviet Naval Scout would be a precursor to the Russian special operations called the Spetsnaz
- Sydir Kovpak
- Semyon Rudniev
- Vasily Zaitsev - Soviet Sniper who killed 225 enemy soldiers
Spain
- Aben Humeya
- Abo Hafs Omer Al-Baloty
- Juan Guartem - late 17th century Spanish renegade pirate
- Francisco Sabate - El Quico, Anarchist maquis fighter killed in 1960
- Hermanos Quero - urban guerrilla fighters in Granada
- José Miguel Beñaran Ordeñana
- Pelagius of Asturias
- Umar ibn Hafsun
- El Empecinado
- Johanne Galan "La Galana"
- Francisco Abad Moreno "Chaleco"
- Agustina de Aragón
- Vicente López Tovar
- Viriathus
Sudan
- John Garang
- Khalil Ibrahim
- Muhammad Ahmad
- Osman Digna
- Rabih az-Zubayr
- Sebehr Rahma
Suriname
- Ronnie Brunswijk
Syria
- Sultan al-Atrash
T
Thailand
- See Bang Rachan
- Phraya Phichai
Tunisia
- Abu 'Abdullah al-Shi'i
- Abu Yazid
- Hannibal
- Mago Barca
Turkey
- Orhan Yılmazkaya
- Necdet Adalı
- Taylan Özgür
- Erdal Eren
- Şeyh Bedrettin
- Hayreddin Barbarossa - famous admiral of the fleet of the Ottoman Empire.
- Dragut
- Hayri Durmuş
- Ali Haydar Yıldız
- Dursun Karataş
- Sabahat Karataş
- Cafer Cangöz
- Gülnaz Yıldız
- Ayçe İdil Erkmen
- Hasan Ocak
- Önder Babat
- Deniz Gezmiş
- Hüseyin İnan
- İbrahim Kaypakkaya
- Yusuf Aslan
- Mahir Çayan
- Sinan Cemgil
- Ulaş Bardakçı
- Mihri Belli
- Nubar Ozanyan
U
Uganda
- Yoweri Museveni
- Alice Auma
- Joseph Kony
Ukraine
- Nestor Makhno
- Maria Nikiforova
United Kingdom
- Glyndŵr Rising
- *Owain Glyndŵr in Wales
- American Revolution
- *Banastre Tarleton - British Cavalry officer of the British Legion in the American revolution
- *Lieutenant Colonel John Graves Simcoe of the Queen's Rangers in the American Revolution
- *Christopher Carleton - who led raids in the American Revolution
- *Patrick Ferguson
- World War I
- *T. E. Lawrence in Arabia
- World War II
- *David Stirling - Scottish born officer who was the founder of the Special Air Service
- *Tommy Macpherson - Scottish born British-army officer who conducted guerrilla operations in World War II
- *Roy Farran - was in command of Operations Wallace and Hardy
- *Orde Wingate in Palestine and Burma
- *Mike Calvert - British soldier nicknamed "Mad Mike" who participated in Chindit operations and was influential in promoting the ideas of unconventional warfare by Orde Wingate.
- *Jack Churchill - British soldier named "Mad Jack" who fought in World War II armed with a longbow, bagpipes, and a Scottish broadsword.
- *Ursula Graham Bower - led the Nagas against the Japanese during World War II
- *Nancy Wake - New Zealand born female operative who joined the Special Operations Executive and participated in operations with the French Resistance in World War II
- *Virginia Hall - American spy who worked with the Special Operations Executive in the European theatre of World War II before joining the American Office of Strategic Services.
- *Fitzroy Maclean worked with Tito and Yugoslav Partisans during World War 2
- *Ivan Lyon - member of the Z Special Unit
- *Robert Grainger Ker Thompson - famous British military officer and counter-insurgency expert who served in the Burma Campaign
- *Carol Mather
- *John Durnford-Slater
- Malayan Emergency
- *Robert Grainger Ker Thompson - famous British military officer and counter-insurgency expert
- Other
- *Henry Mainwaring - nicknamed "The Dread Pirate".
- *Edward Davis - English buccaneer active in the Caribbean during the 1680s.
- *William Kyd - 15th-century English pirate active in Southwest England from the 1430s until the 1450s.
- *John Nutt - notorious 17th-century English pirate who raided the coasts of Southern Canada and Western England for over three years before his capture.
- *Henry Jennings - 18th-century English privateer from the colony of Bermuda
- *Samuel Bellamy - "Black Bellamy"
- *Howell Davis - Welsh pirate
- *Charles Bellamy - English pirate raided colonial American shipping in New England and later off the coast of Canada.
- *William Dampier
- *Blackbeard - one of the most notorious pirates from England
- *James Alday
- *John Bear
- *William Rous
- *William Parker
United States
- James–Younger Gang
- *Jesse James
- *Cole Younger
- Revolutionary War
- *John Parker
- *Benjamin Cleveland
- *Elijah Clarke
- *John Sevier
- *Ethan Allen
- *William Campbell
- *Francis Marion
- *Andrew Pickens
- *Thomas Sumter
- *Samuel Whittemore
- *William Richardson Davie
- *James Williams
- *Isaac Shelby
- *John Schenck
- *Philemon Dickinson
- *William Moultrie
- *Seth Warner
- *Marinus Willett
- *Nathanael Greene
- *Daniel Morgan
- *Return J. Meigs Sr.
- *William Barton
- *John Glover
- *Edward Hand
- *William Maxwell - an American Continental general whose guerrilla actions are notable in the Forage War, Battle of Cooch's Bridge, and Battle of Connecticut Farms.
- *Henry Lee III
- *Allan McLane
- *Benjamin Tallmadge
- *William Washington
- *David Wooster
- *John Stark
- *Anthony Wayne - led a famous surprise night attack in the Battle of Stony Point.
- *Adam Hyler - German who immigrated to America and became a privateer harassing the British fleet by destroying ships, capturing crews, and conducting raids.
- *George Wait Babcock
- *Jeremiah O'Brien - led the first American attack in the Raid on St. John
- *Gustavus Conyngham - an Irish-born American officer in the continental navy and a privateer who has been called "the most successful of all Continental Navy Captains."
- *John Rathbun - an officer in the Continental Navy whose most well known exploit was his own raid at Nassau. Not to be confused with the first Raid of Nassau
- *John Barry
- *Herbert Woodbury
- *Noah Stoddard
- *John Paul Jones
- *Jonathan Haraden - his unconventional type of warfare at sea are mentioned in What Manner of Men: Forgotten Heroes of the American Revolution by Fred J. Cook in chapter IX.
- Northwest Indian War
- *United States
- **Charles Scott - led the Blackberry Campaign which was a series of raids against the Western Confederacy
- **James Wilkinson - statesman and soldier who led a raid against the Native Americans in the Battle of Kenapacomaqua.
- **John Hardin
- **Benjamin Logan
- *Native Americans
- **Little Turtle - famous Sagamore chief who used decoys, hit and run maneuvers, and effective ambushes in his engagements against the Americans in the Harmar campaign.
- **Buckongahelas
- **Egushawa
- **Blue Jacket
- First Barbary War
- *Andrew Sterett - officer in the United States Navy flying British colors as a ruse deceived and surprise attacked Tripolitan polacca Tripoli in the Action of 1 August 1801.
- *Stephen Decatur - American naval Lieutenant who led a surprise hit and run raid in the Second Battle of Tripoli Harbor successfully destroying the USS Philadelphia previously captured by Tripolitans.
- War of 1812
- *Alexander Macomb
- *Benjamin Forsyth
- *Daniel Appling
- *Duncan McArthur
- *John Coffee
- *Philip Reed
- *Azariah C. Flagg
- *Richard Mentor Johnson
- *Jacob Brown
- *Alexander Smyth - American brigadier general who directed American raids across the Niagara River in the Battle of Frenchman's Creek which produced some good results which had little to no lasting effect.
- *Andrew Holmes - American army officer who led his mounted raiders to victory in the Battle of Longwoods.
- *George McGlassin - American captain who led 50 Americans on a hit and run night raid across the Saranac River disabling some British artillery in the Battle of Plattsburgh
- *Daniel Bissell - an American general who used the cover of the woods and tactical maneuvers to successfully raid/destroy the enemy grain and flower in the Battle of Cook's Mills
- *John B. Campbell - an American soldier who led a surprise foray in the Battle of the Mississinewa and a controversial incursion in the Raid on Port Dover.
- *Lodwick Morgan - took the British by surprise and repulsed them in the Battle of Conjocta Creek
- *Thomas C. Hoomes - American militia captain who laid 2 barges to lure the British into an ambush.Mentioned in "Defending the Old Dominion: Virginia and Its Militia in the War of 1812" by Stuart L. Butler page 496
- *Captain James Massey - American militia captain who used hit and run engagement like tactics to harass the enemy. Mentioned in The British Invasion of Maryland, 1812-1815 by William Matthew Marine in page 55
- *Regiment of Riflemen
- *Melancthon Taylor Woolsey - American naval officer who prepared an effective ambush against the British in concert with Daniel Appling in the Battle of Big Sandy Creek.
- *Otway Burns - American privateer who would later become a North Carolina State Senator
- *Thomas Boyle - one of the most successful Baltimore privateerss who conducted unconventional incursions at sea capturing British shipping and bringing them back to the United States.
- *David Porter - American naval officer whose usual tactic was to raise British colors to surprise and capture British ships.
- *Jesse Elliot - American naval officer who commanded a hit and run raid that successfully captured and successfully destroyed.
- *John Percival - American naval officer who used a fishing boat Yankee with about 36 armed volunteers hidden in the deck cabin to deceive, surprise/ambush, and successfully capture
- *John Ordronaux - very successful French-born privateer who preyed on British merchant ships, outran about seventeen British warships, and brought back to the US goods worth $250,000 and $300,000.
- *William Josephus Stafford - American privateer who commanded and successfully captured many British shipping bringing them back to the United States.
- *Francis Gregory - his exploits of raiding and sabotaging British ships are mentioned in Small Boats and Daring Men: Maritime Raiding, Irregular Warfare, and the Early American Navy by Benjamin Armstrong in pages 84-89.
- *Midshipman James McGowan-ambushed 2 enemy vessels. Bringing them back to American lines. Shown in the book Small Boats and Daring Men: Maritime Raiding, Irregular Warfare, and the Early American Navy pages 115-116
- Mexican-American War
- *Fabius Stanly - American naval lieutenant who led raids against the Mexican armed forces.
- *Joseph Lane - United States Army American general who led a hit and run surprise attack on the Mexican armed forces at the Skirmish at Matamoros
- *John Coffee Hays- Hay's well planned ambush mentioned in MIXED BLESSING: THE ROLE OF THE TEXAS RANGERS IN THE MEXICAN WAR, 1846-1848 written by IAN B. LYLES pages 43-44
- *Samuel Hamilton Walker
- Utah War
- *Lot Smith
- *Daniel H. Wells
- *Brigham Young
- *Isaac C. Haight
- *John D. Lee
- Civil War
- *Confederacy
- **Bloody Bill Anderson
- **Champ Ferguson
- **Samuel S. Hildebrand
- **William Quantrill
- **Dan Showalter
- **John Singleton Mosby
- **John Hunt Morgan
- **John Hanson McNeill - led an independent irregular Confederate military company called McNeill's Rangers commissioned under the Partisan Ranger Act
- **Evan MacLeod
- **Earl Van Dorn
- **Adam Rankin Johnson - gained notoriety for his incursion known as the Newburgh Raid where he gained the nickname "Stovepipe Johnson"
- **Archie Clement
- **Joseph C. Porter - a confederate officer who was a key leader in the guerrilla campaigns in northern Missouri
- **John Mobberly
- **Jack Hinson - Confederate partisan sniper
- **John Jackson Dickison - at times called by scholars or historians as "the Swamp Fox of the Confederacy" or "the Confederate Swamp Fox"
- *Union
- **John Brown
- **Charles R. Jennison
- **James H. Lane
- **Daniel R. Anthony
- **Newton Knight
- **Benjamin Grierson
- **William B. Cushing
- **Samuel C. Means - captain of the Loudoun Rangers
- **Daniel M. Keyes - the next man that would take Samuel C. Means's place as captain of the Loudoun Rangers.
- **Richard R. Blazer - commander of the Blazer's Scouts
- **Henry Young
- **Harriet Tubman - female African American who infiltrated slave territory bringing slaves to safe zones, played a major role in the Raid on Combahee Ferry, and provided critical intelligence to the Union.
- **James Montgomery - Union Jayhawker who was in command of the Union forces in the Raid on Combahee Ferry and conducted other raids against the confederates.
- **Henry Baxter
- **James J. Andrews
- **Abel Streight
- **Hugh Judson Kilpatrick
- **Gouverneur K. Warren - a Union Army general who executed a deadly ambush in the Battle of Bristoe Station
- **William Henry Powell
- **William W. Averell
- **Samuel P. Carter
- **George W. Taylor
- **Samuel P. Cox
- **George Stoneman
- Powder River Expedition
- *United States
- **Patrick E. Connor - American brigadier general who led a surprise raid-like incursion in the Battle of the Tongue River; the incursion has had some controversy and debate.
- **Jim Bridger - army scout alongside Frank North who scouted and discovered the Arapaho village allowing Patrick E. Connor to make his controversial surprise attack in the Battle of the Tongue River
- **Frank North - led a successful dawn surprise-like attack with his Pawnee Scouts on the Cheyenne which became known as the Powder River Massacre which also might have some controversy or debate.
- *Native Americans
- **Red Cloud - very important leader of the Oglala Lakota people.
- **Dull Knife - great chief of the Cheyenne who alongside Red Cloud harassed the Americans at the Battle of Bone Pile Creek.
- **Sitting Bull
- **Roman Nose - alongside Sitting Bull led the Native Americans in ambushing, harassing, and skirmishing against the U.S. armed forces in the Powder River Battles
- Snake War
- *United States
- **George Crook
- **Billy Chinook - chief and member of the Wasco tribe and served the United States as a First Sergeant of the U.S. Army Wasco Scouts
- *Native Americans
- **Paulina
- **Wahveveh
- Great Sioux War of 1876
- *United States
- **Ranald S. Mackenzie
- **George Crook
- **Frank North - organized and commanded the Pawnee Scouts
- **Wesley Merritt - Merritt planned an ambush which let to little to no high body count in the Battle of Warbonnet Creek
- *Native Americans
- **Crazy Horse
- **Sitting Bull
- **Little Wolf
- **American Horse
- Apache Wars
- *United States
- **George Crook
- **George Morton Randall - American Captain who led a well coordinated surprise attack on the Apache and their allies in the Battle of Turret Peak.
- **James Henry Tevis - pioneer who led a militia of 30 men in a surprise attack on the apache in the Battle of the Mimbres River
- **James H. Whitlock - Battle of Mount Gray
- *Apache and their allies
- **Flechas Rayada
- **Mangas Coloradas - Apache tribal chief who led raids and ambushes against the Mexicans and Americans
- **Cochise - chief or leader of the Chokonen band of the Chiricahua Apache who also led raids and ambushes against the Mexicans and Americans
- **Victorio
- **Nana
- **Chato
- **Juh
- **Baishan
- **Geronimo - Native American freedom fighter
- Philippine–American War
- *Frederick Funston - American Brigadier General who planned, led, and executed the raid that captured Emilio Aguinaldo.
- *United States Armed Forces - led a rear surprise attack decimating an army of would be ambushers in the Battle of Lonoy
- *Elwell Stephen Otis - was the American commander of a hit-and-run raid-like mission that successfully destroyed a Filipino artillery gun in the Battle of Olongapo
- World War I
- *Theodore Roosevelt Jr. - planned and ordered a successful raid at Cantigny that captured 33 prisoners and documents with intelligence. This is mentioned in Infantry in Battle by Charles Trueman Lanham pages 43-47
- *Michael Valente
- United States occupation of the Dominican Republic
- *Ernest Calvin Williams - an American marine who led a commando like assault in the Battle of San Francisco de Macoris
- United States occupation of Haiti
- *Herman H. Hanneken
- *William Robert Button
- *Chesty Puller
- World War II
- *Aaron Bank - famous officer of the Office of Strategic Services who is considered the founder of the United States Army Special Forces also known as the "Green Berets".
- *Donald Blackburn - American advisor to the Philippine Commonwealth Army who conducted a guerrilla insurgency on the island of Luzon against the Japanese.
- *James M. Cushing
- *Evans Carlson - commander of the Marine Raiders whose notable unconventional warfare type of successes were the Raid on Makin Island and the Carlson's patrol.
- *William Orlando Darby - United States Army officer who led the famous "Darby's Rangers" which would evolve into the U.S. Army Rangers.
- *Joseph Beyrle - American paratrooper who conducted his own sabotage like warfare behind German lines before fighting alongside the Red Army after escaping German captivity a few times.
- *Merritt Edson
- *Carl F. Eifler
- *Wendell Fertig - American civil engineer who organized and commanded an America-Filipino guerrilla army on the Japanese - occupied, southern Philippine island of Mindanao.
- *Roger Hilsman - American who served in the Merrill's Marauders and then with the Office of Strategic Services as a guerrilla leader in the China Burma India Theater of World War 2
- *Virginia Hall - American female spy who worked as an agent for the American Office of Strategic Services in Europe after previously working for the British Special Operations Executive.
- *William R. Peers
- *Russell W. Volckmann - United States Army infantry officer and a leader of the guerrilla resistance in the Philippines and considered a co-founder of the United States Army Special Forces
- *Hugh B. Miller - U.S. naval officer stranded on an island who systematically ambushed and attacked Japanese soldiers with just hand grenades and a bayonet.
- *Robert Prince - an American officer in the U.S. Army's 6th Ranger Battalion who was the main architect of the plan for the Raid at Cabanatuan.
- *Henry Mucci - a colonel of United States Army Rangers who led the Raid at Cabanatuan with Robert Prince as the planner of the mission.
- *Peter J. Ortiz
- *Ray C. Hunt
- *Victor H. Krulak
- *Edwin Ramsey
- *Iliff David Richardson
- *Arthur W. Wermuth
- *Edwin Ramsey
- *Robert Lapham
- *Walter M. Cushing - his exploits of raiding and ambushing the Japanese are mentioned in Behind Enemy Lines written by James Dean Sanderson in Chapter 8 - Wild Man in the Phillippines
- Korean War
- *Donald Nichols
- *Merrill Newman
- *Colt Terry - whose experience of unconventional warfare in the Korean War before becoming a Green Beret are shown in Colt Terry, Green Beret written by Charles D. Patton published at the Texas A&M University Press
- *Colonel John McGee - affiliated with the Korean partisan force known as Donkey Squads
- *Korean War Ranger Companies
- Vietnam War
- *Captain David F. Winecoff - Commander of Company H, 2d Battalion, 9th Marines in who initiated a successful ambush of a NVA truck convoy in Operation Dewey Canyon
- *Rudy Boesch - operative in Seal Team 2 in Vietnam War
- *David Hackworth - involved in the creation and command of Tiger Force
- *Carlos Hathcock - United States Marine Corps Scout Sniper who has 93 confirmed kills
- *Tony Poe - legendary paramilitary officer in Vietnam from the CIA's Special Activities Division
- *Colt Terry - one of the original Green Berets whose successful unconventional type of warfare exploits are mentioned in his official biography Colt Terry, Green Beret written by Charles D. Patton published at the Texas A&M University Press.
- *Roy Boehm - the first officer in charge of Seal Team two.
- *Richard J. Meadows
- *John Plaster
- *Richard Marcinko
- *Ira A. Hunt Jr.
- *George Bacon
- *Michael D. Healy
- *Thomas H. Keith - a Navy Seal whose exploits of successful ambushes and raids are mentioned in his book SEAL Warrior: The Only Easy Day Was Yesterday written by himself and J. Terry Riebling
- *Billy Waugh
- Laotian Civil War
- *George Bacon
- *James William Lair
- *Pat Landry
- *Bill Young
- War in Afghanistan
- *Matt Bissonnette
- *Brandon Webb
- *Robert J. O'Neill
- *Nicholas Irving
- *Edward Byers
- *Robert Harward
- *Justin R. Smith- Second Lieutenant of 2nd platoon of 1st battalion,26th infantry who initiated a successful ambush of an enemy column.This is shown in Vanguard Of Valor : Small Unit Actions In Afghanistan vol.1 by Donald P. Wright in Chapter 2
- Iraq War
- *Kevin Lacz
- *Rorke Denver
- *Chris Kyle
- *Robert J. O'Neill
- *Carl Higbie
- *Timothy Kellner
- *Ethan Place
- *Tyrone S. Woods
- *Jocko Willink
- Symbionese Liberation Army
- *Donald DeFreeze
- *Camilla Hall
- *Emily Harris
- *Russ Little
- *Patricia Soltysik
- *Willie Wolfe
- Weather Underground
- *List of Weatherman members
- Black Panther Party
- *Huey P. Newton
- Others
- *Michael G. Vickers - legendary paramilitary officer in first Afghan war from the CIA's Special Activities Division
- *Robert Rogers - French and Indian War
- *Touch the Clouds - Native American warrior
- *Orlando Bosch - Cuba, America and South America
- *Tony Poe - legendary paramilitary officer in Vietnam from the CIA's Special Activities Division
- *Geronimo - Native American freedom fighter
- *Osceola - Native American freedom fighter
- *Nat Turner - leader of slave rebellion
- *Davy Crockett - famous frontiersmen, fought and died at the Fall of the Alamo.
- *Daniel Boone - famous frontiersmen, Indian fighter, and American Revolutionary War hero.
- *William B. Travis - commander of the Texans at the Fall of the Alamo.
- *Billy the Kid
- *Railroad Bill
- *Devil Anse Hatfield
- *Apache Kid - renegade Apache during the Renegade period of the Apache Wars
- *Pancho Villa
- *Queho
- *Robert Clay Allison
- *Ike Clanton
- *Billy Clanton
- *John Henry "Doc" Holliday
- *Dangerfield Newby
- *Daniel Shays
- *Denmark Vesey
- *Dan Seavey - also known as "Roaring" Dan Seavey" who was a notorious timber pirate involved in poaching, human trafficking, and hijacking etc.
- *Lewis Wetzel - scout, frontiersman, and indian fighter
Uruguay
- Raúl Sendic during the 1960s and '70s in Uruguay
V
Venezuela
- Gustavo Machado Morales - an editor of the Communist Party of Venezuela's newspaper from 1948 to 1983
- Rafael Simón Urbina - a Venezuelan rebel who waged a guerrilla insurgency against the dictator Juan Vicente Gómez.
Vietnam
- Ho Chi Minh
- Võ Nguyên Giáp
- Triệu Việt Vương
W
Western Sahara
- Ma al-'Aynayn
- El-Ouali Mustapha Sayed
- Mohamed Abdelaziz
- Brahim Gali
Y
Yugoslavia
- Draža Mihailović
- Josip Broz Tito
Z
Zimbabwe
- Joshua Nkomo
- Robert Mugabe
- Nhamoinesu Tinosekwa