Urban Warfare Project

By its very nature, urban warfare involves the presence of civilians. And when cities become battlefields, it may be necessary to evacuate noncombatants from them—either due to humanitarian imperatives or because military objectives require it. But an array of legal obligations and other considerations arise when civilians are evacuated. And because discussions of evacuations are closely linked to those surrounding the conduct of siege warfare, this raises further questions of the legal issues related to sieges and the obligations of parties on both sides of siege warfare. To explore these questions, John Spencer is joined on this episode by Laurie Blank, a clinical professor of law at Emory University School of Law, director of the International Humanitarian Law Clinic, and author of the book International Conflict and Security Law.

According to US military doctrine, legitimacy is one of the twelve principles of joint operations. But that concept—legitimacy—is a complex one. How is it defined? How should we understand the ways in which the laws of war, rules of engagement, national policies, and civilian harm mitigation measures overlap—and how they differ? How can rules of engagement and policies change in different missions, theaters, operating environments, and wars? This episode examines those questions and features an insightful discussion with an expert on the subject: Laurie Blank, a clinical professor of law at Emory University School of Law, director of the International Humanitarian Law Clinic, and author of the book International Conflict and Security Law.

In what has become a holiday tradition, the Urban Warfare Project Podcast turns its attention to an important question: What items should be on a military force's urban warfare holiday wish list? To do so, John Spencer is joined once again this year by two urban warfare scholars to discuss the unique capabilities, ideas, and initiatives they would like Santa to deliver. Major Jayson Geroux is a Canadian Army officer and urban warfare historian assigned to the Canadian Army Doctrine and Training Centre. And Mr. Stuart Lyle is the urban operations research lead for the UK-based Defence Science and Technology Laboratory. From new scholarship to cheap tactical drones, they discuss the items that would help militaries be best prepared for urban warfare.

When thousands of Hamas militants invaded southern Israel on October 7, 2023, there were only 110 police officers on duty spread across hundreds of square kilometers, concentrated in four police stations and several other posts. Despite their relatively small numbers, these officers played a critical role that day. On this episode, John Spencer is joined by Israel Police Chief Superintendent Shlomi Chetrit, head of the Israel Police History and Heritage Branch, who discusses the role of the police on October 7, including their actions during the battle for the Sderot Police Station.

Cities' complex man-made terrain, the presence of civilian populations and infrastructure to support those populations, a complicated information environment, and a range of political and other factors make planning for brigade and division urban operations extremely difficult. Too often, militaries rely on a limited set of options—such as the deliberate assault or an effort to bypass cities completely. But history yields lessons on how to overcome the unique challenges of urban warfare. Chief among these lessons is that developing operational approaches to major urban areas requires planners to account for unique, environment-specific considerations. In this episode, Dr. Jacob Stoil—the chair of applied history at the Modern War Institute, an associate professor of military history at the US Army School of Advanced Military Studies, and a senior fellow at the 40th Infantry Division Urban Warfare Center—explores these considerations and details several operational approaches for brigades or divisions in the offense, drawing on historical case studies to illustrate their value.

From ancient Jerusalem to today's urban battlefields in Ukraine and Gaza, we can find many examples of urban conflicts that have been heavily influenced by their underground components. But how should military forces categorize subterranean spaces and consider the different functions of underground structures? How does this subterranean dimension influence the conduct of military operations? What about the unique hazards of sending soldiers underground? And what are some of the planning considerations for attacking or defending subterranean positions? This episode addresses those questions and more in a comprehensive overview of underground warfare.

A strongpoint is a heavily fortified battle position tied to a natural or reinforcing obstacle. It is used to create an anchor for the defense or to deny the enemy decisive or key terrain. Throughout the history of urban warfare, buildings turned into strongpoints have played an outsized role. Multiweek battles have even been fought over single buildings used by the defender as strongpoints. In this episode, John Spencer is joined by Major Jayson Geroux, an urban warfare historian assigned to the Canadian Army Doctrine and Training Centre, and Mr. Stuart Lyle, the urban operations research lead for the UK-based Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, to discuss strongpoints on the urban battlefield.

What do engineers bring to urban operations? How do the basic capabilities resident in engineer units—like those in the US Army—enable maneuver forces to achieve their objectives when operating in cities? For commanders, what are the most important considerations to account for when employing engineers in combined arms operations, and what effects can they expect from specific engineer tactics and equipment? This episode examines those questions and more as John Spencer is joined by Lieutenant Colonel John Chambers, an engineer commander in the 1st Infantry Division.

John Spencer is joined on this episode by retired General David Petraeus. He served thirty-seven years in the US Army, culminating his career with six consecutive commands as a general officer, including five in combat. He served as the commander of coalition forces in Iraq during the troop surge there, commander of US Central Command, and commander of coalition forces in Afghanistan. Following his retirement from the Army, he served as director of the Central Intelligence Agency. He earned a PhD from Princeton University and is the coauthor of the recent book Conflict: The Evolution of Warfare from 1945 to Ukraine. He brings both scholarship and deep, firsthand experience fighting enemy forces in urban ares to this conversation.

In this episode, guest host Jayson Geroux is joined by retired Lieutenant Colonel Louis DiMarco, a professor of military history at the United States Army Command and General Staff College. Dr. DiMarco is the author of the influential 2012 book Concrete Hell: Urban Warfare from Stalingrad to Iraq. In the conversation, he discusses how he became interested in urban warfare and describes the urban warfare history course he developed and continues to teach at the Command and General Staff College. He also highlights a number of historical urban battles while also noting the themes that have consistently featured throughout urban operations history.

Many will be familiar with the major facts about the October 7 Hamas terrorist attacks against Israel. Over 1,200 people were killed and another 240 kidnapped and brought to Gaza as hostages. But what do we know about the specific sites—more than twenty in total—that the attackers selected as targets? What about the specific tactics they employed? And since many of the sites targeted were in built-up, inhabited areas, what lessons on urban warfare can be extracted from the attacks? John Spencer explores those questions and more, based on firsthand research, in this episode.

In this episode, John Spencer is joined by retired Colonel Kevin Felix. He served 30 years in the US Army, with his last assignment as chief of Army Capabilities and Integration Center's Future Warfare Division. He describes the Army’s different approaches for thinking about and studying the future of warfare, including major efforts beginning in 2014 to focus on global urbanization, including by incorporating it into wargames like Unified Quest. The discussion highlights the complex challenge of predicting the future, developing warfighting concepts informed by those predictions, and ultimately making decisions about what the future of warfare will require of the US Army.

During the 2022 Battle of Mariupol, approximately three thousand Ukrainian defenders, vastly outnumbered by Russian forces, were quickly surrounded in a steel plant with their backs to the Sea of Azov and little hope of anyone coming to their rescue. Running out of ammunition, short of medicine, and with casualties mounting, they were in desperate need of resupply. A bold plan was conceived, which would involve risky helicopter flights to the besieged defenders. In this episode, John Spencer is joined by retired Colonel Liam Collins. Together, they discuss their research in Ukraine and what they learned about these resupply operations during the battle.

Over several dozen episodes, the Urban Warfare Project Podcast has explored many of the unique challenges of urban warfare. But what is urban warfare, exactly? The simple answer is that it's simply combat that takes place in the man-made terrain of cities. But going deeper, what are the variety of urban patterns and urban functions, for example, and how do they influence the conduct of military operations? What about building types and construction materials? And how do all of these variables inform the way militaries conceptualize urban environments? These questions and others form the foundation of our understanding of urban warfare and are addressed in this special episode.

When Russian forces invaded Ukraine in February, one of their first targets was the city of Mariupol. The battle that followed is an epic story of resistance in which a very small number of Ukrainian fighters defended the city for over eighty days against a Russian force five to eight times their size, preventing the Russians from diverting to other parts of Ukraine. In this episode, John Spencer is joined by Aiden Aslin, a British citizen who took part in that battle and was captured by Russian forces there in April 2022. His experiences offers a unique view of how the Battle of Mariupol unfolded, and the details of his captivity as a Russian prison of war for over five months offer a glimpse into an often unseen aspect of the war.

Iraq, Syria, Nagorno-Karbakh, Ukraine, and now Israel. The past year has seen no shortage of urban warfare. In this holiday-themed episode of the Urban Warfare project, Colonel (CA) John Spencer is joined by two urban warfare scholars to talk about the unique capabilities, ideas, and initiatives they hope Santa will bring. Major Jayson Geroux is a member of the First Canadian Division Headquarters and Mr. Stuart Lyle is the urban operations research lead for the UK-based Defence Science and Technology Laboratory. From urban operations training and education to unique equipment designed specifically for the challenges of urban environments, the discussion highlights what is necessary for militaries to improve their preparedness for urban warfare.

In this episode Dr. Charles Knight joings John Spencer to discuss the Battle of Marawi. A senior lecturer in terrorism, asymmetric conflict, and urban operations at Charles Sturt University and a senior researcher at the University of New South Wales, Dr. Knight has researched and and written about the 2017 battle, in which the Philippine Army fought against Islamic State fighters over the course of five months. With the two sides fighting through the streets, alleys, and buildings of Marawi, it was one of the biggest and most high-intensity urban battles of the modern era.

The laws of war govern the initiation and conduct of armed conflict. What can be legitimately targeted? What constitutes a war crime? The laws of war provide answers to these questions and others. They apply everywhere, but there are unique considerations in certain environments—especially in cities. The hostilities in Gaza over the past several weeks offer a case in point. To examine the laws of war and their application in urban areas, and to specifically explore the case of Gaza, John Spencer is joined in this episode by General Charles Dunlap, a retired major general and former deputy judge advocate general of the US Air Force who is now a professor of the practice of law and executive director of the Center on Law, Ethics, and National Security at Duke Law School.

In this episode, John Spencer is joined by Dr. Deane Baker, an associate professor at the University of New South Wales, Canberra at the Australian Defence Force Academy. He specializes in the ethics of armed conflict, and he joins the podcast to discuss his research on military ethics and how ethical dilemmas present themselves on the battlefield. In particular, he explains why urban warfare creates a context that generates unique ethical concerns—concerns that remain unresolved and are of interest to both warfighters and ethicists.

Almost immediately after Hamas launched its brutal set of terrorist attacks in Israel, it became clear that the Israel Defense Forces would respond militarily. That meant a campaign against Hamas targets in Gaza. Because of Gaza's heavily urban terrain and the specific location of Hamas military forces, the fight has occurred—and will continue to occur—in deeply challenging environments for military forces, places where the law of armed conflict's provisions aimed at protecting civilians must be followed. To understand the specific measures in place to do so, John Spencer is joined on this episode by Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus, a spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces. He describes the range of mechanisms adopted by Israeli forces to minimize incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians, and damage to civilian property in urban warfare.