History Main / UrbanWarFare

** ''Film/EnemyAtTheGates'' also focuses on the Soviet side of the battle of Stalingrad (it even has that name in some countries).

* Unsurprisingly, the German war movie ''Film/{{Stalingrad 1993}}'', named for one of the most brutal urban battles in history. And the [[Film/{{Stalingrad2013}} Russian film with the same title]], which naturally focuses more on the Russian experience defending Stalingrad.

* The film ''Film/EnemyAtTheGates'' shows you some of what it was like in Stalingrad.

* A constant scenario in the World War II-era ''VideoGame/MedalOfHonor'' games, but especially ''VideoGame/MedalOfHonorAirborne, where 4 out of 6 combat drop zones are set in an urban area.
** ''Allied Assault'' has several as well, including what may be the series's [[ThatOneLevel most infamous level]]: "Sniper's Last Stand", more popularly known as Snipertown, and it ludicropus number of absurdly accurate nigh-invisible enemies. Oh, and this is an EscortMission.

* ''[[WesternAnimation/SonicSatAM Sonic The Hedgehog]]'': Most of the battles in this the series take place within the [[DeathWorld city streets]] of [[TechnoDystopia Robotropolis]]: the [[LaResistance Freedom Fighters]] use the confusing layout of the place to their advantage, using the back alleys and sewers to avoid aerial surveillance, strike form unexpected locations, and disappear as quickly as they arrived.

* TheWarOnTerror and various other government-insurgency conflicts have seen a large amount of this in recent years. US troops have fought to control cities in Iraq and Afghanistan. Somalia had the Battle of Mogadishu, during which the federal government at times controlled a minority of its capital. The Arab Spring and its aftermath have involved drawn-out fights for control of major cities in Libya, Syria, and Yemen, with fragmented control of cities persisting for years in cases such as Aleppo's. While ISIS overran many of its cities in Iraq and Syria fairly quickly, retaking them has usually required urban warfare. At the lower end of the scale, large terrorist attacks on cities can verge on urban warfare if a sufficient number of fighters is present.

-->-- '''Captain Wrangle''', ''Discworld/NightWatch''

* The ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novel ''Discworld/NightWatch'' notes some of the things which men on horseback are and aren't suited for...such as how they fare in Urban Warfare against an enemy without a uniform.

Seen at least as early as UsefulNotes/WorldWarII (especially the Battle of Stalingrad), though there are several Napoleonic war battles (most notably the Sieges of Zaragoza) that foreshadowed the urban warfare of the 20th century and such battles likely occurred even earlier than that. Unfortunately this kind of warfare still takes place in various conflicts around the world.

** The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was the Jewish resistance that arose within the Warsaw Ghetto in German-occupied Poland. The resistance was so successful, even with almost no supplies and after being starved for years, that the Nazis resorted to systematically burning houses block by block using flamethrowers and blowing up basements and sewers.
*** To further prove the point, the Ghetto resistance in one district lasted nearly as long as the entire Polish military did against the Wehrmacht across the entire country!

** It's interesting to note that in the German/Soviet situations in city fighting earlier in the war, such as at Stalingrad, the Germans had superior firepower and air support while the Soviets were underequipped and fighting desperately for their lives, were totally reversed in its late stages, such as in Berlin in 1945. Stalingrad is probably the most infamous example. Nicknamed "''Rattenkrieg''" ("Rat War") by the Germans, some would bitterly joke about capturing the kitchen but still fighting for the living room and the bedroom. Buildings were literally cleared out room by room, floor by floor. The urban warfare

* ''Film/FullMetalJacket'' has some urban scenes where a sniper takes out one of the Marines, leading to others being shot trying to save him.

* ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'' does this, especially its ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare'' incarnations. The Rio De Janeiro levels, especially the first one, are infuriatingly difficult and often referred to as "urban-warfare hell".
** Most of the Russian missions in ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty2'' and ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyWorldAtWar'' are fought in cities.

Known in the [[UsefulNotes/YanksWithTanks US Army]] as MOUT (military operations in urban terrain) and in the [[UsefulNotes/BritsWithBattleships British Army]] as [[FunWithAcronyms FISH (fighting in someone's home)]].

* [[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/90939/shell-shock Shell Shock]] takes place in a ruined urban area.

* ''Manila, Open City'' follows the 1945 [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqTxvh4PX9E Battle of Manila]].

* ''VideoGame/CommandAndconquerGenerals'': Many levels against the GLA are set in cities, where infantry can enter the nearest building and turn it into a stronghold, and quickly get into another when the first is destroyed. However, combat is made much easier than in reality due to every faction having a weapon that instantly kills all infantry inside a garrisoned building (flashbangs for the US, flamethrower tanks for China, and toxin-spewing tanks for the GLA, although you aren't penalized for destroying the city and killing civilians.

** The popular ''VideoGame/ProjectReality'' mod takes this a step further by [[RealPlaceBackground using real-world cities]] such as Beirut, Muttrah, Basrah, Fallujah, and Karbala.

** To some degree, this was simply taking advantage of circumstances. Generals [[GenreSavvy knew that]] by the time they got into the city, some soldiers would be too crazy to act in a rational manner (and military police systems were extremely crude) so they might as well make sure to remind the city of the fact.

!!Examples

[[folder:Fanfiction]]

[[folder:Film]]

* ''{{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.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' 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.

[[caption-width-right:350:some caption text]]

[[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/RedOrchestra2HeroesOfStalingrad https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/red_orchestra_2_sandbag_bunker.jpg]] ]]

[[quoteright:350:[[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/urban_warfare_1777.jpg]] ]]

* ''VideoGame/RedOrchestra'', set mostly in one of the textbook examples of this trope - the barely standing ruins of Stalingrad.

** It's interesting to note that in the German/Soviet situations in city fighting earlier in the war, such as at Stalingrad, the Germans had superior firepower and air support while the Soviets were underequipped and fighting desperately for their lives, were totally reversed in its late stages, such as in Berlin in 1945. Stalingrad is probably the most infamous example. Nicknamed "''Rattenkrieg''" ("Rat War") by the Germans, some would bitterly joke about capturing the kitchen but still fighting for the living room and the bedroom. Buildings were literally cleared out room by room, floor by floor.

** The Warsaw Uprising the following year lasted more than twice as long. Despite the Polish defeat, the Home Army inflicted heavy casualties on the far better-equipped SS divisions sent to suppress them. The Germans responded by flattening almost the entire city in revenge.
** The UsefulNotes/SecondSinoJapaneseWar had its share of battles in cities such as Shanghai, Nanking, Changsha, Changde, Wuhan and Taierzhuang. The defense of Nanking was a CurbStompBattle for the Chinese army, but while Shanghai ended in defeat, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defense_of_Sihang_Warehouse 423 Chinese troops]] defended a warehouse for 4 days against the Japanese 3rd division, killing 200 Japanese and destroying several armored cars with stick grenades. Wuhan was defended furiously by the Chinese, with an entire quarter ''of their total ammunition'' being used up, but ultimately fell to Japan. That all said, Taierzhuang saw the first Chinese victory of the war, with fanatical warlord soldiers (often armed with [[SwordAndGun just swords and Mauser pistols]] along with stick grenades) literally turning the streets red with blood in hand-to-hand combat with the Japanese. Meanwhile, better-equipped Central Army troops successfully encircled the Japanese, then engaged in truly fierce house-to-house fighting, to the point where platoons would fight for hours to capture ''one room.'' Changsha is remarkable for being successfully defended three times, from 1939-41, until it fell in 1944. The bloody battle of Changde saw the city fall to Japan in January 1944, but the Japanese were quickly forced to withdraw following a successful Chinese counterattack with air support.

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 tactics here--ambushes, snipers, booby traps, and shotguns.

* The 1948 film ''Film/BorderStreet''.

** Most of the Russian missions in ''2'' and ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyWorldAtWar'' are fought in cities.

* ''VideoGame/{{Crysis}} 2''. The whole game is set in [[BigApplesauce New York City.]]

* The end of ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' takes place in [[spoiler:mostly-destroyed London,]] with brutal fighting from building to building trying to clear the streets for vehicles to get through. Prior engagements include a running fight through the Citadel Presidium, a battle with Cerberus troops in a city on Benning, and an attempt to extract important intel from a key location in the heart of one of the oldest metropoli on Thessia.

* Seen in the first chapter of ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4''. Depending on your perspective, a few examples in chapters 2 and 3 as well.