Urban warfare

[fdiron]

During World War II, urban warfare was pretty crude.   U.S. infantry would walk down a street, supported by tanks.  The tanks would blow a hole in a building, the infantry would charge in with grenades and M1s blazing.  This would be repeated until the entire street was 'cleared'.

How has urban warfare changed since then?  Anyone know the tactics the Marines used during the battle of Hue City?

[Swoop]

Yeah, now if there's no handy tank around to blow a hole in the building the troops go in anyway using the "slice pie" manouver.  The guy who goes in first will be up to the ears in body armour.


Alternatively you could just nuke the site from altitude.  Works just as well.

[SC-Sp00k]

Was it as simple as following a tank, blowing a hole, or charging in machine guns blazing?  They must have had Fire and Movement, Flanking tactics, Diversionary attacks and Softening up prior to entry either Artillery or immediate followup in the stunned mullet timespan that follows an explosion in confined spaces.

[gofaster]

Originally posted by fdiron
Anyone know the tactics the Marines used during the battle of Hue City?

You can pick up a copy of "The Soldiers' Story" on the bargain racks at Barnes and Noble and hear it straight from the guys that did it.

Essentially, in the early parts of the Tet Offensive, the main battles were fought by MPs, since they were the only ones with guns at the time (the battle troops were at the remote fire bases).  They had jeeps armed with single .50 cal Brownings, some troop trucks, maybe an APC on rare occassions.  For the most part all they had were M-16s and .45 automatic pistols.  Their tactics consisted of driving the jeep down the middle of the road with the troop truck behind, dashing to the scene of the gunfight.  At one point they got pinned down near a cemetary and, fortunately, a helicopter gunship was able to respond and sprayed the cemetary and adjacent rooftops with its gatling guns.  No armour, no holes in walls.

In a few instances, such as the retaking of The Citadel, combat troops were available with armoured support and air strikes.  For the most part, the tactics consisted of blasting away at the area in general, and then the infantry would go house-to-house lobbing grenades through windows, charging into a room guns blazing, clearing the structure, the proceed to the next building, rinse and repeat.  The guys that had grown up in the big cities had an advantage over the guys that had grown up in the rural areas when it came to developing tactics and strategies because they knew how to use rooftops and alleyways to set up fire zones.

You should read that book.  Its a collection of some excellent narratives.

This is a pic of one of the covers.  The book I have has a different dust jacket.

[GRUNHERZ]

I favor urban combat tactics featuring B52s.