History Main / UrbanWarFare

Urban warfare is very different from conventional combat in the open. Clearing a city full of determined defenders is a very difficult task, as the urban environment negates the effectiveness of many of the most powerful weapons of modern militaries (such as tanks, field artillery and aircraft), leveling the playing field somewhat for not-so-well-equipped forces, including LaResistance that might oppose them. Any building, even a bomb-shattered ruin, can be turned into an armed stronghold and pose a major obstacle. Armored vehicles have difficulty maneuvering in tight streets and are vulnerable to smbush from rocket propelled grenades ([=RPGs=]), and artillery and air support won't do you any good if the enemy keeps changing positions, has its resources dispersed over the city, and is enmeshed amongst civilians (which raises the risk of bombing or shelling them)[[note]]The degree to which an invading army and their political masters care about civilian casualties in urban warfare varies. The Nazis had no qualms about leveling civilian buildings and using flamethrowers. Some armies and governments are worried about the international law implications, ethical aspects, or public relations impact and may try to minimize civilian casualties. [[/note]].

Urban warfare is very different from conventional combat in the open. Clearing a city full of determined defenders is a very difficult task, as the urban environment negates the effectiveness of many of the most powerful weapons of modern militaries (such as tanks and aircraft), leveling the playing field somewhat for not-so-well-equipped forces, including LaResistance that might oppose them. Any building, even a bomb-shattered ruin, can be turned into a stronghold and pose a major obstacle. Armored vehicles have difficulty maneuvering in tight streets and are vulnerable to attack from rocket propelled grenades ([=RPGs=]), and artillery and air support won't do you any good if the enemy keeps changing positions, has its resources dispersed over the city, and is enmeshed amongst civilians (which raises the risk of bombing or shelling them).

Urban warfare is very different from conventional combat in the open. Clearing a city full of determined defenders is a very difficult task, as the urban environment negates the effectiveness of many of the most powerful weapons of modern militaries (such as tanks and aircraft), leveling the playing field somewhat for not-so-well-equipped forces, including LaResistance that might oppose them. Any building, even a bomb-shattered ruin, can be turned into a stronghold and pose a major obstacle. Armored vehicles have difficulty maneuvering in tight streets and are vulnerable to attack from rocket propelled grenades ([=RPGs=]), and artillery and air support won't do you any good if the enemy keeps changing positions, has its resources dispersed over the city, and is enmeshed amongst civilians (which raises the risk of bombing or shelling them). Forget the rules of "gentlemanly warfare." It's all close-quarters guerrilla warfare here--ambushes, snipers, {{booby trap}}s, bayonets, {{Improvised Weapon}}s (entrenching shovels and Molotov cocktails). In this close-quarters fighting, weapons that have limited applications in conventional modern warfare, such as submachine guns and shotguns become favored weapons.

As an unfortunate side effect of the [[DirtyBusiness dirty]], [[WeHaveReserves casualty-ridden]], and momentum-killing nature of the fighting, armies (and their political masters) often forced to simply leave the job half done by avoiding cities all together (usually due to political implications of such a prolonged, bloody conflict). At other times, [[ShootTheDog they simply flatten as much of the city as possible before/while/instead of fighting over it]], thereby neutralizing some of the advantages of the "urban" aspect, and usually [[PhyrricVictory rendering the place strategically worthless in the process]], as well as being, shall we say, ''problematic'' to any remaining citizenry. Yet another option is to besiege the city. After all, it's very difficult to grow adequate food supplies in an urban area, and breaking the defending force's spirit is preferable to a drawn out conflict.

Urban warfare is very different from conventional combat in the open. Clearing a city full of determined defenders is a very difficult task, as the urban environment negates the effectiveness of many of the most powerful weapons of modern militaries (such as tanks and aircraft), leveling the playing field somewhat for not-so-well-equipped forces, including LaResistance that might oppose them. Any building, even a bomb-shattered ruin, can be turned into a stronghold and pose a major obstacle. Armored vehicles have difficulty maneuvering in tight streets and are vulnerable to attack from rocket propelled grenades ([=RPGs=]), and artillery and air support won't do you any good if the enemy keeps changing positions, not to mention the high potential for collateral damage. Forget the rules of "gentlemanly warfare." It's all guerrilla warfare here--ambushes, snipers, {{booby trap}}s, bayonets, {{Improvised Weapon}}s (entrenching shovels and Molotov cocktails) and shotguns.

As an unfortunate side effect of the [[DirtyBusiness dirty]], [[WeHaveReserves casualty-ridden]], and momentum-killing nature of the fighting, armies are often forced to simply leave the job half done by avoiding it all together (usually due to political implications of such a prolonged, bloody conflict). At other times, [[ShootTheDog they simply flatten as much of the city as possible before/while/instead of fighting over it]], thereby neutralizing the "urban" aspect, and usually rendering the place strategically worthless in the process, as well as being, shall we say, ''problematic'' to any remaining citizenry. Yet another option is to besiege the city. After all, it's very difficult to grow adequate food supplies in an urban area, and breaking the defending force's spirit is preferable to a drawn out conflict.

Urban warfare is very different from conventional combat in the open. Clearing a city full of determined defenders is a very difficult task, as the urban environment negates the effectiveness of many of the most powerful weapons of modern militaries (such as tanks and aircraft), leveling the playing field somewhat for not-so-well-equipped forces, including LaResistance that might oppose them. Any building, even a bomb-shattered ruin, can be turned into a stronghold and pose a major obstacle. Armored vehicles have difficulty maneuvering in tight streets and are vulnerable to attack from rocket propelled grenades ([=RPGs=]), and artillery and air support won't do you any good if the enemy keeps changing positions, not to mention the high potential for collateral damage. Forget the rules of "gentlemanly warfare." It's all guerrilla warfare here--ambushes, snipers, booby traps, bayonets, {{Improvised Weapon}}s (entrenching shovels and Molotov cocktails) and shotguns.

Urban warfare is very different from conventional combat in the open. Clearing a city full of determined defenders is a very difficult task, as the urban environment negates the effectiveness of many of the most powerful weapons of modern militaries (such as tanks and aircraft), leveling the playing field somewhat for not-so-well-equipped forces that might oppose them. Any building can be turned into a stronghold and pose a major obstacle. Armored vehicles have difficulty maneuvering in tight streets and are vulnerable to attack from above, and artillery and air support won't do you any good if the enemy keeps changing positions, not to mention the high potential for collateral damage. Forget the rules of "gentlemanly warfare." It's all guerrilla warfare here--ambushes, snipers, booby traps, bayonets, HitAndRunTactics and shotguns.

Urban warfare is a nightmare in modern times. Even untrained militia can stand against highly trained troops in the confusing twists and turns of a high population center. It is war at its dirtiest, with collateral damage difficult to avoid and a high potential for confusion. Units often find themselves in a confused tangle of friend and foe.

* ''LightNovel/EightySixEightySix's'' first volume has many battles fought in the ruins of San Magnolian cities as Spearhead Squadron fights its HopelessWar against the encroaching Legion hordes. With their puny Juggernaut's limited firepower and non-existent armor, they frequently have to rely on hit-and-run ambushes set up within collapsed buildings and tight streets. At the end of Volume 2, [[spoiler: the Legion successfully breach the Gran Mur wall and overrun the capital city Liberté et Egalité, forcing Captain Lena Milizé to fight a guerilla war in the city that neutralizes their numerical advantage.]] More urban warfare erupts in Volume 4 when [[spoiler: Spearhead Squadron returns to San Magnolia as the Eighty-Sixth Strike Package to conduct a mission to destroy a Legion Admiral energy-processing unit deep in the bowels of San Magnolia's old subway system in the city of Charité.]]

* The Serbian movie ''Vukovar: jedna prica'' (''Vukovar: A Story'', alternate title: ''Vukovar poste restante'') is set in the war-torn city of Vukovar, where Serbian and Croatian forces have engaged in fierce urban combat. However, the story is centered around a young couple, a Serb guy and a Croat girl, whose romance is threatened by the war. [[RealPlaceBackground The movie was shot on actual location]] [[SceneryGorn while the war was still ravaging.]]

* ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'' often does this, especially its ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare'' incarnations. The Rio De Janeiro levels in the sequel, especially the first one, are infuriatingly difficult and often referred to as "urban-warfare hell". And that's not even mentioning other levels that set in American and European cities torn apart by WorldWarIII.
** Most of the Soviet missions in ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty2'', ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyWorldAtWar'' and ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyVanguard'' are fought within war-torn Soviet and German cities of the Eastern Front.

* ''WebOriginal/TheInnocent has children taking adults away on the street as one way to [[MadeASlave turn them into slaves of the children]].

Keep in mind that a battle ''for'' a city doesn't necessarily count as urban warfare. It requires that the city streets and buildings themselves are the primary battlefield.

* ''LightNovel/EightySixEightySix's'' first volume has many battles fought in the ruins of San Magnolian cities as Spearhead Squadron fights its HopelessWar against the encroaching Legion hordes. With their puny Juggernaut's limited firepower and non-existent armor, they frequently have to rely on hit-and-run ambushes set up within collapsed buildings and tight streets. At the end of Volume 2, [[spoiler: the Legion successfully breach the Gran Mur wall and overrun the capital city Liberté et Egalité, forcing Lieutenant Lena Milizé to fight a guerilla war in the city that neutralizes their numerical advantage.]] More urban warfare erupts in Volume 4 when [[spoiler: Spearhead Squadron returns to San Magnolia as the Eighty-Sixth Strike Package to conduct a mission to destroy a Legion Admiral energy-processing unit deep in the bowels of San Magnolia's old subway system in the city of Charité.]]

** Most of the Soviet missions in ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty2'' and ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyWorldAtWar'' are fought in Soviet and later German cities.

* Roman Polanski's ''Film/ThePianist'' shows the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and the later Warsaw Uprising by the Polish Home Army.

* A few scenes from ''Film/ToHellAndBack''.

* The battles in former-Reykjavik during Operation CATO in ''FanFic/AeonNatumEngel''.

** Manila rivals Stalingrad for the worst urban fighting of the war. Intense resistance from the dug-in Japanese was countered by heavy firepower despite limitations on artillery and aerial bombing meant to protect the city and its inhabitants. The civilian deaths alone are comparable to those in the Tokyo firebombing and the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, and the city's rich cultural heritage--Spanish, Asian and American art, literature and architecture--was almost completely annihilated. The liberation of Manila, one of the few urban battles between American and Japanese troops in the [[WorldWarII/WarInAsiaAndThePacific Pacific War]], is considered a Philippine national tragedy.

* During the [[UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar Tet Offensive]], the city of Hue saw furious combat. Though the [[SemperFi Marines]] and ARVN inflicted serious losses on the North Vietnamese and Vietcong, Hue was virtually reduced to rubble, and over 5,000 civilians died, most of them massacred by the PAVN and VC. The Tet Offensive -- and the Battle of Hue in particular -- proved to be a turning point for American involvement in Vietnam.
* The Easter Rising in 1916 took place almost entirely in Dublin, pitting the British Army against a ragtag band of Irish rebels. While the body count was surprisingly low, well...low compared to some of the others on this list (466 people), it still damaged/destroyed most of the city, and over half of those who were killed were civilians.

* Grozny, the capital of Chechnya was once called the most devastated city on earth. And for good reason...through two wars it experienced not one, not two, but ''three'' major battles that took place on its streets.

* ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'' often does this, especially its ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare'' incarnations. The Rio De Janeiro levels in the sequel, especially the first one, are infuriatingly difficult and often referred to as "urban-warfare hell". And that's not even mentioning levels that takes you to American and European cities torn apart by WorldWarIII.
** Most of the Russian missions in ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty2'' and ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyWorldAtWar'' are fought in German cities.

** This is present in Marawi when the Maute Group teamed up with other Islamist forces and foreign fighters who slipped into Mindanao. The reason why it's taking months to weed them out is because most of the local forces grew up/lived in Marawi and know the place. The Philippine military, while having a reputation in the Asia-Pacific due to their jungle warfare experience, have little experience in fighting inside towns/cities aside from the 2013 attack on Zamboanga city with the risk of killing civilians being taken hostage with special forces being the only units to have been trained to fight in urban places.

* ''Anime/{{Gasaraki}}'': There are a couple of scenes in the city complete with urban tactics in full use.

* ''Film/ABridgeTooFar'': Features the British attempting to hold on to the town of Arnhem during Operation: Market Garden.
* One or more of the battles we see at the beginning of ''Film/{{Soldier}}'' is in an urban area.

%%* The 1948 film ''Film/BorderStreet''.
* ''Film/{{Kanal}}'' by Andrzej Wajda, set in the final days of the 1944 Warsaw Uprising.
* Roman Polanski's ''Film/ThePianist'' shows the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and the later Warsaw Uprising by the Polish Home Army.
* ''Film/FullMetalJacket'' has some urban scenes from the Battle of Hue City where a sniper takes out one of the Marines, leading to others being shot trying to save him.
* Scenes of bloody fighting on the streets of Pyongyang in ''[[Film/{{Taegukgi}} Taegukgi: The Brotherhood of War]]''.
* Similarly done in ''Film/SavingPrivateRyan'' where Vin Diesel's character is shot by a sniper. The final scenes in the movie are combat scenes in an urban environment.
* Every single combat scene in ''Film/BlackHawkDown'' is urban warfare.
%%* ''Film/TheKingdom2007'' certainly has its share.
* The German 1960s film ''Die Brücke'' (''The Bridge'') has a group of Hitler Youth defending a strategically unimportant bridge against American tanks. They manage to hold off multiple ''Shermans'' for 24 hours with little more than a day of professional training. Sure, [[spoiler:[[DwindlingParty all but one tragically die]]]], but it does prove how much urban warfare can differ from conventional combat.

* All of ''Film/BattleLosAngeles'' takes place in the streets and buildings of Los Angeles during an AlienInvasion. Many of the traditional problems of urban warfare are omnipresent; multiple times the human soldiers are taking fire from unknown directions, the buildings herd them into lines of fire and killboxes, they have to take rooftops to get clear lines of sight, and combat damage destroys roadways and limits mobility. The urban terrain is eventually used to the humans' advantage later on, with them using the sewage systems to sneak up on an alien installation and the broken landscape as cover while holding a position against an attack.
* ''Manila, Open City'' follows the 1945 [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqTxvh4PX9E Battle of Manila.]]
* ''Film/{{Downfall}}'' features the Battle of Berlin. While much of the film takes place in Hitler's underground bunker, there are brief scenes showing the Third Reich's last defenders, mostly old men and young children, fighting a losing battle against the Red Army.

* ''The Zone'' novel series by James Rouch was set in a fictional WorldWarIII Europe, so naturally included a lot of this. Most noticeably in ''Blind Fire'' and ''Overkill''.
* ''House to House'', a memoir by an American infantryman set in the Second Battle of Fallujah, depicts the horror and chaos of urban warfare.

* ''Literature/WorldWarZ'' necessarily has a lot of this happen.
* In the ''Literature/{{Worldwar}}'' series by Creator/HarryTurtledove Sam Yeager remarks that during WWI, he thought trenches were the worst and most nightmarish place to fight possible, but after a taste of city fighting, he's not so sure anymore.
** Harry Turtledove provides another example of this in the Literature/Timeline191 series, with the Battle of Pittsburgh. It's modeled after the RealLife Battle of Stalingrad.

* ''Literature/{{Beachwalker}}'' takes place in the middle of a war between an unnamed army and similarly unnamed rebellion. The protagonist is forced to dodge firefights in the streets of her hometown several times.
* The final book of ''Literature/TheHungerGames'' (''Mockingjay'') features this heavily as rebel forces from the former districts attack the Capitol. The Capitol defenses include pods which can spawn any type of horror such as mutated creatures to automatic weapons fire.
* There are several instances of this in the Literature/BelisariusSeries including the suppression of the revolts in Constantinople and Alexandria, Belisarius' stand in Charax, and Damadora's final conquest of Kausumbi. In the last case there was little resistance, though the stand of Damadora's and Rana Sanga's families against the Malwa is a miniature version.

* ''Literature/HonorHarrington'': The last quarter of ''Cauldron of Ghosts'' is a battle between the Mesan armed forces and the seccies [[note]]second-class citizens[[/note]] of the Neue Rostock slum.

* Invoked in ''Literature/TheRedemptionOfAlthalus'': when planning to defend a nation, the protagonists realize that one city doesn't have anywhere near the fortifications to repel the invaders, so they evacuate everyone non-essential, deploy a warrior tribe that specializes in close-quarters tactics, and rig the entire city as conspicuously lootable SchmuckBait. The invaders fall for it and get massacred in the streets.
* Invoked in ''Literature/TheBelgariad'' by the nomadic Algars: their one "city" is actually SchmuckBait for Angarak invaders, designed for the sole purpose of letting the Algars strike from every kind of ambush imaginable. The Algarian king jokes that the Angaraks insist on believing that there's something incredibly valuable about the place to justify how fiercely it's defended, when really it's just easier for the Algarians than hunting them down across the open plains.
* ''Literature/{{Domina}}'': Since most of the story takes place in a city, this comes up a few times. In particular, it's mentioned that tanks are a nightmare in an urban environment, so America uses [[MiniMecha echoes]] instead.

* ''Series/StargateSG1'' series has several instances of this.
* ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' had a flashback to an urban battle, the main setpiece appearing to be the ruins of a Buddhist temple.

* ''Series/SovietStormWorldWarIIInTheEast'' has several major battles in the Eastern Front that take place in Soviet, and later, German cities, with the most notable being Stalingrad and Berlin.

* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' has a supplement rule book just for urban combat. ''Cities of Death.'' Also, all of the urban terrain sold by Games Workshop for Warhammer 40K is imperial buildings, of which about 1/4 of the parts are used to show where the building took a direct artillery round.
** The ''TabletopGame/{{Mordheim}}'' and ''TabletopGame/{{Necromunda}}'' supplements, for Warhammer Fantasy and Warhammer 40k respectively, are all about small squads of troops fighting in cramped, run-down cityscapes.

* Several classic tabletop wargames, notably Simulations Publications Inc, ''Sniper''. As well as any of the few Tactical level siege simulations(siege games are rare because there is little maneuvering and the gadgeteering which can actually be quite interesting is hard to simulate)once the wall is breeched; Avalon Hill's ''Siege of Jerusalem''(about the UsefulNotes/JewishRevolts) for instance has a city map which allows quite a bit of space for Urban Warfare.

* This is the assumed default for ''TabletopGame/{{Infinity}}''. Troops in ''Infinity'' can react to enemy movement with a withering hail of fire, meaning that you need an urban environment or some other region with tons of obstructions and cover, lest the first turn see half your squad converted into a fine red mist by enemy snipers.

* ''VideoGame/RedOrchestra2HeroesOfStalingrad'' is set mostly in one of the textbook examples of this trope - the barely standing ruins of Stalingrad. And if it's not set in Stalingrad, expect it to be a town or village located near the city.
** While normally focusing on JungleWarfare instead, Saipan in ''VideoGame/RisingStorm'' instead features urban combat in the town of Garapan, with US Marines fighting Japanese Army soldiers in destroyed buildings.
** ''VideoGame/RisingStorm2Vietnam'' has several maps that are set in Vietnamese towns and cities. Among them include Hue City, Quang Tri, and Saigon, which have NVA and VC troops engaging US, South Vietnamese, and Australian forces.
* The popular ''VideoGame/ProjectReality'' mod takes this a step further by [[RealPlaceBackground using real-world cities]] such as Beirut, Muttrah, Basrah, Fallujah, and Karbala.
** Its SpiritualSuccessor ''VideoGame/{{Squad}}'' also features a lot of maps in urban environments, such as Mutaha, Al-Basrah and Fallujah, mixed up with some DesertWarfare. Meanwhile, Narva is an urban environment set in Eastern Europe.

* During the [[UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar Tet Offensive]], the city of Hue saw furious combat. Though the [[SemperFi Marines]] and ARVN inflicted serious losses on the North Vietnamese and Vietcong, Hue was virtually reduced to rubble, and over 5,000 civilians died, most of them massacred by the PAVN and VC. The Tet Offensive--and the Battle of Hue in particular--proved to be a turning point for American involvement in Vietnam.

* The concept of an "open city" is meant to avert the kind of destruction and suffering this trope can bring onto a city and its many inhabitants. In short, if the defenders declare it, they will no longer fight within the city--in exchange, the attackers are expected to simply march in and refrain from attacking any part of it. This idea has pretty much been only used in World War Two--Brussels, Oslo, Paris, Belgrade, Singapore, Manila, Rome, and Athens were all declared open cities when their defense became untenable. The idea hasn't been employed since (for several possible reasons--[[UsefulNotes/TheLawsAndCustomsOfWar the Geneva Conventions]] being expanded, more wars being fought by groups in the same country, wars in general taking on a more personal character and therefore refraining less on collateral damage, 24-hour media coverage of any large-scale conflict imposing major PR penalties for any side caught committing atrocities, etc.), though several cities in Japan are considering legislation that would mandate such a move if they were ever invaded.