Ugly places to fight in - not for everyone though
Windows 97,
Thanks and cited in part:
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Windows97
Having watched most of Dr Glenn's talk I do wonder if sufficient attention has been paid to relatively recent 'Third World' conflicts in large cities, I exclude the Soviet / Russian experience which has been looked at.
Two civil wars come to mind, one with significant external intervention and the second with IIRC with none. The fighting for years in Beirut, in the Syrian Civil War being the first; secondly the civil war in Congo Brazzaville:
Quote:
Congo's democratic progress was derailed in 1997 when Lissouba and Sassou started to fight for power in the
civil war. As presidential elections scheduled for July 1997 approached, tensions between the Lissouba and Sassou camps mounted. On June 5, President Lissouba's government forces surrounded Sassou's compound in Brazzaville and Sassou ordered members of his private militia (known as "Cobras") to resist. Thus began a four-month conflict that destroyed or damaged much of Brazzaville and caused tens of thousands of civilian deaths.
Link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_the_Congo
Yes mega-cities are 'talent magnets', surely they are also "poor people magnets"?
I expect anyone who ends up fighting in most 'Third World' cities will strive to reduce any uncontrolled electronic communications - if only to prevent global media reporting. No imagery, no news. Presumably some are watching what media lessons there are with the Syrian Civil War.
Blood, Dirt and Bombs: Battle for Mosul is Fierce Urban War
U.S. General: Liberation of Mosul Involves ‘Hardest’ Urban Combat in Recent History
Reimagining the Character of Urban Operations for the U.S. Army
On the Likelihood of Large Urban Conflict in the 21st Century
Urban Operations: Battle in Mosul Halted as High Civilian Death Toll Investigated
Objective Metropolis: The Future of Dense Urban Operational Environments
Urban Terrorism Returns to Colombia
Urban Warfare, Then and Now
Complex Cyber Terrain in Hyper-Connected Urban Areas
Cyber Operational Considerations in Dense Urban Terrain
Fixing the Way the Army Trains for Urban Warfare
RAND: Lessons from Israel's Wars in Gaza
This may have appeared elsewhere, so apologies if a duplicate. No time to open and read yet.
The introduction:
Quote:
For more than a decade now, Israel has clashed with Hamas in Gaza, in cycles of violence defined by periods of intense fighting followed by relative lulls. This report covers a five-year period of this conflict — from the end of Operation Cast Lead in 2009 to the end of Operation Protective Edge in 2014. Drawing on primary and secondary sources and an extensive set of interviews, it analyzes how an advanced military fought a determined, adaptive, hybrid adversary. It describes how the Israel Defense Force (IDF) operationally, organizationally, and technologically evolved to meet asymmetric threats. Most broadly, this report details the IDF's increasing challenge of striking a delicate balance between the intense international legal public scrutiny and the hard operational realities of modern urban warfare. In this respect, this report's title — "From Cast Lead to Protective Edge" — captures more than just the names of the two operations that chronologically bracket its scope; it also describes the tension the IDF confronted between the military necessities driving maximalist uses of force and the political imperative for more restrained operations. This report draws a series of lessons from the Israeli experience for the U.S. Army and the joint force: from the importance of armored vehicles and active protection systems to the limitations of airpower in urban terrain and of conventional militaries to deter nonstate actors.
Link:http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR1888.html?
Hat tip to WoTR where the RAND author has a commentary:https://warontherocks.com/2017/08/fi...-wars-in-gaza/
A Better Approach to Urban Operations: Treat Cities like Human Bodies
The Cipher Brief Threefer on Urban Conflict, Trends & Environment
Marawi Insurgents Used 'Rat-Like' Tactics, Including Tunnels to Sewers, During Urban