Guerrilla warfare
Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which a small group of combatants including, but not limited to, armed civilians use military tactics, such as ambushes, sabotage, raids, petty warfare, the element of surprise, and extraordinary mobility to dominate a larger and less-mobile traditional army, or strike a vulnerable target, and withdraw almost immediately. The strategy and tactics of Guerrilla warfare tend to focus around the use of a small, mobile force competing against a larger, more unwieldy one. The Guerrilla focuses on organizing in small units, depending on the support of the local population, as well as taking advantage of terrain more accommodating of small units. the IRA used this tactic to fight the mighty British army.
Unconventional weapons
Soviet Flamethrower
A flamethrower is a mechanical incendiary device designed to project a long controllable stream of fire. They were first used during World War I, and widely used in World War II. Some flamethrowers project a stream of ignited flammable liquid.
Nail Bomb
Nail bombs and car bombs were used frequently. Most of these bombs were Semtex based explosives with nails and other bits of shrapnel.
American arms
AR-18
The IRA's main gun runner in the USA was George Harrison, an IRA veteran. Harrison bought guns for the IRA from a Corsican arms dealer namedGeorge de Meo.Harrison spent an estimated US$1 million in the 1970s purchasing over 2,500 guns for the IRA. IRA members smuggled small arms from America by sea on the Queen Elizabeth II from New York via Southampton through Irish members of her crew, until the network was cracked down on by the FBI in the 1980s. These Queen Elizabeth II shipments included M16, CAR-15, AR-18 and AR-15 Armalite assault rifles, accompanied by Browning pistols and Smith & Wesson pistols and revolvers and were driven from Southampton to Belfast in small consignments.
Libyan arms
AK-47The other source of IRA arms in the 1970s was Libya. Mummer Gaddafi. sympathized with their campaign.The first Libyan arms donation to the IRA occurred in 1972–1973, following visits by Joe Cahill to Libya, In early 1973. contact with the Libyan government was broken off in 1976.