Annual Dry Season Offensive
Encyclopedia
An Annual Dry Season Offensive is a type of low intensity warfare typically practiced by national governments against ethnic insurgent groups fighting for independence or autonomy. This type of warfare usually occurs in countries with poor transportation infrastructure and a climate that makes fighting battles or even holding territory during parts of the year very difficult.
Such an offensive is carried out by central states that for geographical, political, financial and historical reasons must restrict troop movement and supply to the dry season
. Central Government forces usually move out of well-established base areas into insurgent territory where they attempt to take and hold as much territory as possible while inflicting as many casualties as possible on the insurgent army. The army will also typically inflict as much material damage as possible in areas supporting the insurgency. The offensive also typically extends to collective punishments of the civilian population of the country. At the end of the offensive, the army gives back all of the territory taken and returns to its base areas until the next dry season
.
The strategy behind Annual Dry Season Offensives is to slowly wear down an insurgency or to at least contain it. It can also prevent insurgent groups from gaining defacto independence from the government. The strategy has never on its own defeated an insurgent movement, but it can pressure insurgent groups into political negotiations. It is often used against groups that demand independence from a central government and have a large base of local ethnic support.
The governments of Burma and the Sudan
currently engage in annual dry season offensives. Cambodia
and Vietnam
have engaged in such offensives during their war against Cambodian insurgent groups
in the past. North Vietnam
historically engaged in such offensives during a proxy war between irregular groups in Laos
during the Vietnam War
.
Such an offensive is carried out by central states that for geographical, political, financial and historical reasons must restrict troop movement and supply to the dry season
Dry season
The dry season is a term commonly used when describing the weather in the tropics. The weather in the tropics is dominated by the tropical rain belt, which oscillates from the northern to the southern tropics over the course of the year...
. Central Government forces usually move out of well-established base areas into insurgent territory where they attempt to take and hold as much territory as possible while inflicting as many casualties as possible on the insurgent army. The army will also typically inflict as much material damage as possible in areas supporting the insurgency. The offensive also typically extends to collective punishments of the civilian population of the country. At the end of the offensive, the army gives back all of the territory taken and returns to its base areas until the next dry season
Dry season
The dry season is a term commonly used when describing the weather in the tropics. The weather in the tropics is dominated by the tropical rain belt, which oscillates from the northern to the southern tropics over the course of the year...
.
The strategy behind Annual Dry Season Offensives is to slowly wear down an insurgency or to at least contain it. It can also prevent insurgent groups from gaining defacto independence from the government. The strategy has never on its own defeated an insurgent movement, but it can pressure insurgent groups into political negotiations. It is often used against groups that demand independence from a central government and have a large base of local ethnic support.
The governments of Burma and the Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
currently engage in annual dry season offensives. Cambodia
Cambodia
Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
and Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
have engaged in such offensives during their war against Cambodian insurgent groups
Vietnamese border raids in Thailand
After the 1978 Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia and defeat of Democratic Kampuchea in 1979, the Khmer Rouge fled to the border regions of Thailand, and with assistance from China Pol Pot's troops managed to regroup and reorganize in forested and mountainous zones on the Thai-Cambodian border...
in the past. North Vietnam
North Vietnam
The Democratic Republic of Vietnam , was a communist state that ruled the northern half of Vietnam from 1954 until 1976 following the Geneva Conference and laid claim to all of Vietnam from 1945 to 1954 during the First Indochina War, during which they controlled pockets of territory throughout...
historically engaged in such offensives during a proxy war between irregular groups in Laos
Laos
Laos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
during the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
.