Posted on Apr 30, 2019
Why US troops ‘flattened’ Raqqa and Mosul, and why it may herald an era of ‘feral city’ warfare
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If the U.S. military is to be properly prepared for a fight in this environment, possibly worsened by the effects of global climate change, it should start now. There needs to be a dedicated “urban operations center within the military,” Spencer said.
There are already some efforts underway. The U.S. military published a manual on small unit training in subterranean environments in 2017 — focusing on fights in the subway and sewage systems underneath huge cities. The Army’s Asymmetric Warfare Group has also been pushing training out to soldiers in an effort to spread subterranean warfare knowledge throughout the force.
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If the U.S. military is to be properly prepared for a fight in this environment, possibly worsened by the effects of global climate change, it should start now. There needs to be a dedicated “urban operations center within the military,” Spencer said.
There are already some efforts underway. The U.S. military published a manual on small unit training in subterranean environments in 2017 — focusing on fights in the subway and sewage systems underneath huge cities. The Army’s Asymmetric Warfare Group has also been pushing training out to soldiers in an effort to spread subterranean warfare knowledge throughout the force.
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Why US troops ‘flattened’ Raqqa and Mosul, and why it may herald an era of ‘feral city’ warfare
Posted from militarytimes.com
Combat
Tactics
Warfare
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 12
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We seem to always get talked into not using our strengths while the other side gives up nothing. We've given up mines, cluster munitions and flame weapons so people won't think bad things about us. Yet the people who set off IEDs from ambush; put a captured pilot in a steel cage, drench him with gasoline and then light it (while filming the whole thing); and decapitate their prisoners–many of them non-combatants–and film that too. I must have dozed off during the world-wide outrage over these barbarous actions. "Feral cities" are not worth the life of a single American or ally. How would I deal with these problems? Advise those in the cities that they have 24 hours to leave and surrender to the surrounding allied forces, use all means available to broadcast this message. At the end of the 24 hours send in 12 fully loaded B-52s to place their ordnance on the target, two hours later do it again; keep repeating until the only effect is to make gravel bounce. Harsh, cruel and uncivilized? We had few compunctions doin this to Germany and Japan seventy years ago; in many ways they were not as bad as our enemies in the Middle East and South West Asia. Subterranean warfare? Why? Either flood or fill the underground with sand; that should solve the problem and minimize the risk to our troops. History is very clear, the way to deal with these kinds of enemies is to kill them.
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LTC Eric Udouj
We seem to like fighting Stalingrad or Manila all over again ... and forgotten the critical piece that says you can use maneuver and bypass them and cut them off and seal them off... today it is a head long rush for terrain... forgetting how to maneuver
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Capt Daniel Goodman
Yeah, Manila is another good example, there was a civilian female resistance fighter menrioned in the film The Great Raid who'd been given the Medal of Freedom, I can't recall her name right now, I think I can find it and send it....
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Capt Daniel Goodman
And I of course agree with the maneuver oart, there was that approach used to bypass several islands in the Pacific by Gen MacArthur, rather than get embroiled in pitched battles tactically that served no strategic ends, I'd read of that many times, esp in American Caesar by William Manchester, as well as Nimitz by EB Potter, which if you've never read it you most definitely should as well, I know the Manchester book tends to be more famous, however, the Potter book I actually found most impressive, I assure you....
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Capt Daniel Goodman
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Utinsky
I found her, she was the one I'd mentioned in Manila....
I found her, she was the one I'd mentioned in Manila....
Margaret Elizabeth Doolin Utinsky (August 26, 1900 – August 30, 1970)[1] was an American nurse who worked with the Filipino resistance movement to provide medicine, food, and other items to aid Allied prisoners of war in the Philippines during World War II. She was recognized in 1946 with the Medal of Freedom for her actions.
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Capt Daniel Goodman
That is true, certainly, though there's also a somewhat different dynamic that I think applies as well, relative to small unit tactics in an urban environment, though I'd read of other examples similar to scorched earth applying in a suburban environment as well...I suppose a prototypical WW2 example of the psychology involved could well be the fireebombings of Dresden and Tokyo....
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Capt Daniel Goodman
Also in nonurban environments, that's what I'd initially meant, the spell checker changed it....
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We know how to do it lets pass the how onto those that may need to know before going OJT enroute to the fight!
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Capt Daniel Goodman
That's one reason, as I mention below, why ops research should to my way of thinking be extremely heavily emphasized in ROTCs, USMC platoon leaders course (PLC), and the academies, as.well as VMI, the Citadel, and the state maritime and junior military colleges...just a thought, I'd course....
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