How do real life armies clear cities?

[Pazam]

In real urban warfare, more and more armies are avoiding the streets and moving between buildings - I was watching CNN and saw how US forces in Iraq will cut through walls in order to avoid firefights in the street.

[Capt_White]

Well I dont know about any other army but I imagine the Soviet Union would have just used heavy bombers and lots of artilary to
a) create cover
b) demoralise
c) create fear
d) supress

They would then just roll through with tanks APCs and Infantry.

Apart from anything else I dont think the Commies would have been to bothered about collateral damage

[Mobhack]

I already posted a sticky pointing the USA manuals. See the sticky "I need tactical help".

FM 90-10-1
AN INFANTRYMAN'S GUIDE TO COMBAT IN BUILT-UP AREAS

http://www.globalsecurity.org/milita...0-1/index.html

FM 90-10
Military Operations on Urbanized Terrain (MOUT)
(The American Acronym for "Fighting in Built-Up Areas" (FIBA))

http://www.globalsecurity.org/milita...-10/index.html

cheers
Andy

[Mustang]

Thanks for all the information. It's interesting to hear that in real life an advance against an urban enemy force is almost impossible to do without a major advantage in numbers and firepower. Of course, this isn't true in SPBMT, probably due to the AI (most of the urban combat scenarios last only an hour and expect you to defeat an enemy larger than your own!).

I wonder, what are your tactics, how do they differ from reality, and why?

I already mentioned my light vehicle scouting idea. Now that someone told me you can use infantry scouts for the same purpose without getting them shot at, I'll try that. The problem is when you're in a kind of quasi-urban area, like a clearing in a dense city, where you're facing a dug-in enemy who has clear and probably flanking fields of fire on you. It's tough because it's hard to spot where fire is coming from, and you can't send scouts to them because they'd have to cross the kill zone. Basically, I buy several jeeps and some tanks, send the jeeps out until they get shot at, smoke off any ATGMs or tank threats and take out the enemy with long-range tank fire. Works well, except in terrain that is too close. In very close terrain, SMG or engineer infantry are best because of the short range combat takes place at.

I've heard the Israeli bulldozer idea before. Might work in real life, but in MBT your dozer is going to get immobilized going through all those buildings.