Storming the City

US Military Performance in Urban Warfare from World War II to Vietnam

De: Alec Wahlman

Narrado por: Robert J. Eckrich

In an increasingly urbanized world, urban terrain has become a greater factor in military operations. Simultaneously, advances in military technology have given military forces sharply increased capabilities. The conflict comes from how urban terrain can negate or degrade many of those increased capabilities. What happens when advanced weapons are used in a close-range urban fight with an abundance of cover?

Storming the City explores these issues by analyzing the performance of the US Army and US Marine Corps in urban combat in four major urban battles of the mid-20th century (Aachen 1944, Manila 1945, Seoul 1950, and Hue 1968). Alec Wahlman assesses each battle using a similar framework of capability categories, and separate chapters address urban warfare in American military thought.

In the four battles, across a wide range of conditions, American forces were ultimately successful in capturing each city because of two factors: transferable competence and battlefield adaptation. The preparations US forces made for warfare writ large proved generally applicable to urban warfare. Battlefield adaptation, a strong suit of American forces, filled in where those overall preparations for combat needed fine tuning. From World War II to Vietnam, however, there was a gradual reduction in tactical performance in the four battles.

The book is published by University of North Texas Press.

©2015 Alec Wahlman (P)2017 Redwood Audiobooks

Reseñas de la Crítica

"This is a very serious and well executed work. The quantity of knowledge packed into these pages is immense...this book has real value." (Anthony James Joes, Saint Joseph's University)

Collateral damage

How to attack a city if you have large amounts of artillery, tanks and other equipment, turning it into rubble and disregarding civilian life in the process.

Good coverage of war in the era

Contrary to what other reviewers have falsely stated, the protection of civilians is a topic of importance in this book. It's not treated with as much importance as we would today, but this is by no means a "war crime manual" and is simply covering the best tactics we had at the time with the technology. Shocking as it may be, we did not have precision guided weapons in ww2 and Korea. This book covers urban warfare with many of the principles still applying to today. It's a recommended read for anyone who expects to plan attacks against cities, or wants to write realistic ones for a novel or video-game.

Couldn’t finish, bad narration

Seems like a great book but I’ll be buying this one for kindle or hard copy. I couldn’t even get through the intro chapter. The narrator was very robotic and enunciated so precisely that it just grated on my ears. Didn’t speak naturally, very stiff, halt my and exact. Otherwise I’m sure the content is good.