World War II Street-Fighting Tactics

World War II Street-Fighting Tactics cover

Description

Osprey's study of street-fighting tactics during World War II (1939-1945). In a continuation of the tactics mini-series, this new book describes and analyzes the physical tactics of the close-quarter fighting that took place in the ruined cities on both the Western and Eastern Fronts of World War II. Street-to-street fighting in cities was not a new development, but the bombed-out shells of cities and advances in weaponry meant that World War II took it to a new level of savagery and violence.

New tactics developed around the defenses that ruined cities offered. This book examines these tactics, describing how a small group of infantry could now destroy whole tank units for very little cost before melting away into the cities' rubble. It also analyzes the need for infantry units to clear ruins of the enemy, and looks at how this was done, and the cost of the slow house-to-house fighting that was seen across the war, from Stalingrad to Berlin. Packed with eye-witness accounts, tutorials from original training manuals, maps, and full color artwork which illustrates these tactics, this is an eye-opening insight into the tactics and experiences of infantry fighting their way through ruined cities in the face of heavy casualty rates and vicious resistance.

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION·'BLITZKRIEG' IN URBAN AREAS: Prewar doctrine: German – British; 1940: anticipating invasion; American responses·THE EASTERN FRONT, 1941–44: The opening rush; Stalingrad: the academy of street fighting; Warsaw: improvisation and terror; Lessons from Warsaw: the German analysis·THE ITALIAN EXPERIENCE: The Canadians in Ortona; British analysis: Fighting in Built Up Areas (1943); Cassino; Air support: Training Manual No.5·THE US ARMY IN NW EUROPE: Doctrine: FM 31-50; The urban environment – squad organization – house-to-house fighting – tank/infantry co-operation – raiding; Practical experience: 23rd Infantry at Brest – 26th Infantry at Aachen – 410th Infantry at Schillersdorf·GERMANY, 1945: German forces; Allied forces – flamethrowers·CONCLUSIONS·PLATE COMMENTARIES·INDEX

Product details

Published Sep 23 2008
Format Paperback
Edition 1st
Extent 64
ISBN 9781846032912
Imprint Osprey Publishing
Illustrations 60 b/w; 8 col
Dimensions 248 x 184 mm
Series Elite
Short code ELI 168
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Author

Stephen Bull

Dr Stephen Bull worked for the National Army Museu…

Illustrator

Peter Dennis

Peter Dennis was inspired by contemporary magazine…

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