Battle Rattle

Via 4Branch

Back in the day, we called things by different names . . . Military Operations in Built Up Area = MOBUA, then that became MOUrban Terrain MOUT,  then that became CQB, all well ‘n good.  Mostly we talked about FIT . . . Fightin’ in Town.  Our perspective was combat in Germany in particular.  Civilized places with lots of infrastructure, etc.  No mud ‘n wattle huts, no brush Jacal, certainly no triple cover jungle.

If one anticipates action in a densely populated area, one has to account for different conditions.  For example, Ivan trained to use the sewers as his protected avenue of attack.  Who’da thunk it???  As we were playing the host, we had to make life difficult for subterranean travelers. So we planned various nasty surprises for the visiting team.  Mines, bombs, gas, obstructions, live wires, nasty notes, the lot.

Germans, being German, built their buildings and houses with defensible construction at ground level, and below.  Cellars and Basements were connected, one could gad about amongst the old bicycles and divans with relative ease, while poor old Ivan belly crawls to get close enough to become annoying.  Bridges were built to be blown up; subways to be sealed; storm, sanitary and utility tunnels were designed for defense.

Buildings with party walls i.e. Town houses etc, were to be ‘mouseholed’ to enable foot traffick unexposed.  In short, every building was a ‘strong point’, Every village a ‘defended locality’.  Many had a foyer designed to deflect blast, flame, grape shot, etc.  Later construction (Post WWII) was as fire resistant as could be. 

Lovely place for a war, eh?

Unfortunately nowhere in USA are such amenities available.  So the ambitious Irregular must look elsewhere for his entre’ into tactics for CQB.

Our friends the Russkies had some terrible experiences in Hungary, Chetnya and Georgia.  They limited their operations in Afghanistan to the boondocks. One thing they learned was that their tanks could not elevate their main gun to shoot snipers off rooftops.  They had to use Mortars,
and that entailed some serious revisions to their doctrines.  The Sov’s didn’t employ Attack helicopters as we do, then.  They’re more flexible now.

You may be assured that the Mean Green Machine noted these problems, as well as a half hundred more.  Whether we remember any of it is open to debate.  Point to consider, the oppos Ivan faced engaged only to ‘fix’ him in place.  Their real target was his supply lines.  Troops damn near starved, froze and some wounded died because of supply shortages imposed by the Rebels.  Logistical  Air drops in cities are a nightmare and a boon to the Rebels.  Helo holes in Built up areas are magnets for PRG’s and SAM warriors.  The will to fight erodes when you haven’t eaten much this week, have no meds, drinking puddle water, ammo is short, and you can’t even poop without some bastard splattering your brain case.