Divisions in Large-Scale Urban Battles: The Essential Headquarters
Abstract
The 2017 National Security Strategy and the US Army's FM 3-0 Operations formally directed the US Army to prepare for large scale combat operations (LSCO) against adversaries with peer military capabilities. LSCO campaigns in this context will likely center on controlling a globally-connected, regionally-dominant large city (population two hundred thousand to two million people), where the possibility of high casualties and collateral destruction pose a strategic risk to US legitimacy and a tactical challenge to employing joint firepower. US task forces will overcome these challenges and mitigate the risks of LSCO urban battles by assigning an Army division to both defeat the peer adversary and seize control of the city without destroying it. Case studies of the Russian Army in Grozny (1994) and the US Army in Baghdad (2003) indicate that divisional roles in planning, commanding, and controlling LSCO are essential to winning urban battles. With the right operational approach, a US division can avoid the high casualties and physical destruction that historically characterized urban combat, and convert tactical control of the campaign's decisive city into strategic success.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 23, 2019
- Accession Number
- AD1083315
Entities
People
- Nicolas Fiore
Organizations
- United States Army Command and General Staff College