House warfare (military)

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US soldiers in Fallujah, Iraq, in 2004

The local and urban warfare is a military term for fighting in built-up or to a built-up area. The skirmish in towns and cities as well as industrial sites is referred to as a battle in densely built-up - urban - terrain . It is mainly infantry and can only be supported to a limited extent, primarily by armored personnel carriers, and also by battle tanks against enemy armored vehicles .

In the attack, it requires its own high levels of strength, while weaker forces enable a successful defense. In addition to the means of modern warfare and the use of ranged weapons, it is characterized by fighting at close range , man against man. House-to-house combat differs from combat in open or partially covered terrain , the classic battlefield , primarily through fighting on several levels, with the possibility of moving underground (e.g. underground or sewer network) and through the comparatively short combat distances . Combat as combat activities in covered terrain is forest combat, and in mountains and high mountains it is (high) mountain combat.

In English, urban warfare is called FIBUA for Fight In Built Up Area or FISH for Fighting In Someone Elses House or MOUT for Military Operations in Urban Terrain and describes all military operations in urban terrain, including urban warfare itself.

Tactics in urban warfare

Scene from the First Chechen War

General

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A characteristic of urban and urban warfare is that the battlefield is characterized by buildings that often block the lines of sight. Attackers and defenders fight each other at extremely short distances, especially inside buildings. It is difficult for the attacker to concentrate his technical superiority on the crucial point and to use his superior means of fire only to a limited extent. Air support can only be used to a limited extent due to the development, the risk of collateral damage and the risk of friendly fire . Even when storming poorly defended buildings, the attacker often has to choose a significantly higher level of force for his attack, as he can also protect his own rear area from enemy attacks, e.g. B. through the sewer system.

history

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House fighting in the Battle of Stalingrad

In the house-to-house wars of World War II , tactics were first worked intensively in order to be able to take a house with the lowest possible losses. Especially in the month-long house-to-house fighting in the Battle of Stalingrad , the soldiers were overwhelmed by the situation and had to develop new tactics first. In particular, the mechanized German troops were conditionally less infantry than infantry divisions. The Wehrmacht therefore set up storm grenadier and storm pioneer battalions, also due to the very high losses in local and house warfare in the battle of Stalingrad, and brought them up to the 6th Army by rail at an accelerated rate.

In addition to the purely infantry tactics in the structure of the strike force for the coup d' état, the interaction with heavy weapons such as the use of artillery and anti-tank weapons to eliminate enemy positions had to be redeveloped.

defense

Russian pioneers search an abandoned street in Aleppo in 2016 for booby traps.
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Defenders in urban and urban warfare can secure their positions through wire obstacles in the apron, sandbags and wire mesh on windows, booby traps at the entrances and by breaking through cellar walls as escape routes and through overlapping fire areas . Windows and also, to a limited extent, doors, provided they do not have to be used for the planned movement when changing positions, can be protected from hand grenades with wire mesh. However, this must not be attached to the underside so that further hand grenades can be dropped out of the window. The view into the building, but also lines of sight within, can be obstructed with strips of fabric. If the attacker penetrates a building, low forces are often sufficient for an immediate counter-attack to throw him back again, since the interaction in the attack and the connection is quickly lost in local and urban combat. Destruction in built-up areas, such as ruined houses, benefits the defenders. They offer cover and prevent the attacker from advancing quickly and safely through piles of rubble, as well as providing good camouflage for concealed positions. The defender is also favored by the confusion of the battlefield. While the attacker is not familiar with the attacked position and has to secure room by room, the defender who knows the area can fall into the attacker's flank or back and attack from above, but also from below. Existing tunnel systems and sewer systems are also used, and occasionally such paths are even created, especially in the case of a long-term defense of urban terrain. These enable the defender to counterattack behind the attacker.

Attack and combat management

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Urban terrain is avoided if possible. If this has to be taken, it is first bypassed by one's own forces and sealed off in the depths in order to deprive the enemy of the possibility of reinforcement and supplies.

When attacking in urban areas, their own combat units advance along the main traffic axes, occupy important facilities, seal off individual districts for the subsequent attack and then comb them through. Important objects are tall, dominant buildings that offer a good overview, administrative buildings to ensure control over the population, economic key objects such as waterworks, substations for electricity and gasworks, and heavy industrial complexes.

Tactically essential in urban and urban combat is a deep structure. Usually a company is assigned only one main street and the trains are deployed in a deep staggered left and right of the street and at least one train is kept ready as a local reserve, as the enemy can quickly bypass his own forces in urban areas via hidden paths such as backyards or sewers.

In the attack, one infantry platoon is usually required per house , which is divided into an assault group, cover group, demolition squad and carrier squad. The attacker tries to hold down the defender with strong, uninterrupted fire and attacks with explosive devices and melee weapons , not advancing over open terrain , but trying to work his way from house to house through wall openings. The procedure is slow and time-consuming because the situation in the houses is unclear and requires high levels of explosives and ammunition . As far as possible, attempts are made to comb through houses from top to bottom , because this is the best way to throw the hand grenade, one of the main weapons in house-to-house combat. If possible, the transition from one house to the next takes place via openings in the roof structure so that it can be taken from above. The attack takes place in shock troops.

The cover group holds down the enemy in the house to be attacked with barrage and forces them into cover. With the start of cover fire, the demolition team blows up external obstacles such as wire barriers and a breach in the house to be attacked in order to be able to penetrate. This can also be created with heavy weapons.

Then the storm group attacks the house, divided into three-man storm troops of the storm group. After overcoming the external obstacles (detonation by demolition and blinding troops), the prepared breach in the house or a door / window is used to penetrate. As far as possible, this should be done above. The storm group uses ladders , ladders or throwing anchors with climbing ropes to get to an upper floor. The demolition team blows up barricaded doors or windows in the house in the further fight.

The first storm troop enters the first room with hand grenades and under fire from machine guns. A hand grenade is thrown before the room is stormed and, after the explosion, a burst of fire is blindly released into the room from cover. Only then does the storm troop take the room. If this is free of the enemy, the next storm troop moves up. The fight room after room is fought over and over. The principle is always the same (hand grenade, burst of fire into the room, penetration, reporting the local enemy situation , room free of enemies, move up).

An uninterrupted supply of ammunition and the securing of rooms and houses that have already been taken in order to fend off an opposing counter-attack are essential, especially in an attack. Both of these require a considerable amount of their own strength, which is withdrawn from direct combat. Therefore, the scheduled moves are to be used over and over so that your own forces in the attack are repeatedly replaced by fresh sub-units.

Both the attack in urban and urban warfare with subsequent defense of won targets, as well as the defense in urban and urban warfare itself make extensive additional equipment necessary. For the defense, engineering and troop engineering reinforcement of the houses to be defended with support beams is necessary, as well as a large number of sandbags, wire mesh around windows and door openings to prevent hand grenades being thrown, and sackcloth to provide privacy from the outside. Wire barriers, especially in the flanks, are created with S-wire coils, rarely with ribbon barbed wire, as laying it is time-consuming due to the low vegetation in urban areas. However, groups of bushes and trees can be blocked with it. In the rooms, wall breakthroughs can also be made from house to house as well as hand grenade holes in the floor on higher floors.

Folding ladders, plug-in rope ladders, bolt cutters, Halligan tools and sledgehammers are necessary in the attack . The consumption of explosives, ammunition and hand grenades is high in local and urban warfare. Supplements close to the attacking or defending troops are therefore necessary.

Significance in the 21st century

US Marine Corps soldiers during MOUT training (2002)

A considerable part of the world population already lives in urban areas, especially in those regions that are considered to be trouble spots. The development of a comprehensive doctrine for military operations in built-up areas seeks to take this fact into account. The experience of the Israeli armed forces in Lebanon campaigns and when deployed in the occupied territories serve as a model . The development of military technology is also increasingly focused on urban deployment scenarios. There is a tendency towards the continued use of improved sensors, real-time communication with the command center and the increased use of drones . In the case of large equipment, such as battle tanks and wheeled vehicles, their usability is to be expanded through new types of ammunition, better protection against ambushes and remote-controlled machine guns .

The "classic" conquering of settlements is increasingly taking a back seat and the permanent control of cities is coming to the fore. The most important example are the clashes of the US occupation forces with insurgents in Iraq since 2003 : The aim is not to conquer the cities, but to enforce a monopoly of force by the Iraqi government, which is allied with the United States . The participation of irregular fighters and the simultaneous everyday life of the civilian population present another challenge of this "new" urban warfare.

Examples (selection)

The carnage in Bazeilles

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : House Warfare  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files
Wiktionary: urban warfare  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations