Many people think it impossible for guerrillas to exist for long in the enemy's rear. Such a belief reveals lack of comprehension of the relationship that should exist between the people and the troops. The former may be likened to water the latter to the fish who inhabit it. How may it be said that these two cannot exist together?

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Many people think it impossible for guerrillas to exist for long in the enemy's rear. Such a belief reveals lack of comprehension of the relationship that should exist between the people and the troops. The former may be likened to water the latter to the fish who inhabit it. How may it be said that these two cannot exist together?" in the context of "On Guerrilla Warfare (1937), Chapter 6 - "The Political Problems of Guerilla Warfare"
• This is usually aphorized as "The people are the sea that the revolutionary swims in," or an equivalent." to mean that wisdom is timeless.