Urban Combat: Fighting Positions 

The US Army released an extensive report on the Russian Army's experience with urban warfare in the Second Chechen War. It read as if it was based on internal Russian "lessons learned" documents. The gist of it was they had forgotten everything learned in Stalingrad and lost a lot of soldiers bitterly relearning how to engage in urban combat. This could make an interesting presentation by Military History Visualized.

7:53 Are you telling me snipers don't usually 360 quickscope off of bridges?

Very well organized, I love the diagrams, very informative video as always! Griff

I remember seeing a WW2 British video about this. One of the hardest things to teach is holding your fire until the enemy is in an effective range. This is also really important in urban warfare. Often the difference between wiping out an enemy patrol or fighting it for hours is does EVERYONE wait. It seems like there is always that one guy that screws the pooch. I've found this is true about life in general.

4:50 "Other stuff" picture of a locomotive. I will make sure to have one around in case I need to participate in urban combat. This reminds me of a story that has a little German wordplay in it. It was some sort of memoir of fighting in Stalingrad and there was a sentence: "Our train driver has fallen." What does a train have to do with infantry fighting in Stalingrad? Well, in German original there was the term Zugführer. Der Zug means train. So the translater thought it meant train driver. In fact Zug also means platoon, so actually the soldiers had lost their platoon leader. Quite an interesting translating mistake.

"A serious problem in planning against American doctrine is that the Americans do not read their manuals, nor do they feel any obligation to follow their doctrine." -Unknown german officer

My Grandfather was in a tank under Patton... He used the position many times... But there was the one case which they didn't know the house had a basement... Well, not until they found it with a tank... He and the rest of the tank crew were mostly unharmed, excluding there pride.

Other informative advice from the manual: "when shooting at the enemy, position your gun with the barrel muzzle facing the enemy, rather than your face." and "when driving a vehicle, observe the road ahead through the windshield, texting is not recommended..."

Why do i get the feeling youtube is trying to tell us something today.

Love the jokes you put in and the pictures that appear for a few frames

OK, but what do you do when the sectoid mind-controls the grenadier covering your flank?

One of the things to note here is that the reason we tend to stray from FM's is mostly because they've been mostly irrelevant to the type of enemy we've been facing the past 20 years. FM's were mostly developed over the Cold War years as a guideline for force-on-force engagements as opposed to the current asymmetric warfare that we engage in now and as such are not very useful. Additionally, the threats we face constantly change to counter our current tactics, and so we rely more heavily on SOP's and TTP's that we develop and constantly update ourselves to adapt to these threats.

my uncle was in stalingrad , 6th army 41st pionniers , he was 17 back then , i was 8 when he was lying on his deathbed, having survived the progress to staliingrad, the siege, the enveloppement and finally 10 years of gulag. He spent that night telling me what stalingrad was like , he always was very lucid. about gridding windows he said they used it at first, until the russians added hooks to their grenades, so it would get stuck and explode right in gront of the window, shrapnel doing collossal damage because at hight. he also told me about plenty other shit that would make any idealist drop everything and run in tears. i consider him a hero, despite beeing on the wrong side, just because he survived what so many could not.... he's one in a thousand... litterally

I think it should be pointed out that concealment is not just that you're not seen but that you're not in a building/feature that everyone and their mother is going to stare at. A Concrete house ontop of a hill looks like a great position, but its likely the first thing an enemy command had his heavy ordinance sight in on. consider in WW2 that it was standard practice for allied tank crews in Normandy to shoot every church tower/windmill they came across just to guarantee there were no snipers there. This style of thinking can also be used to a great advantage against less disciplined troops as they will fixate attention on obvious defensive features while not paying enough attention to their entire arc of fire.

8:42 when my grandfather told me that he didn’t trust manuals, I asked him why. He replied saying, “I listened to a manual in how to make a pillbox. It almost got me killed. The following night, I made a fire from the manual.”

0:36 protection Spread put 1:16 concelment 1:50 routes (escape resrurply) 2:12 fire threats 3:00 what position looks like 6:10 armord vehicles 7:17 missles 7:52 sniper

I love your sense of humor when adding icons. The "Windows Security Risk" made me laugh.

Never, ever let the muzzle of your rifle stick out through a window while waiting for the enemy. A gun barrel casts a distinctive shadow on the side of a building, pointing out your location. When the fighting starts, do what works for you at the moment inspiration strikes.

I remember we used to hang a thick blanket behind us, if we were positioned with concrete walls in our back. It was mainly to take the ricochets and rubble from the few rounds that eventually came through.

The only problem with putting defences on the roof top of the building is it tells the attacker where to drop their bombs or artillery. 155mm rounds are great for pesky troops hiding in buildings.

Would you ever consider doing a video on premodern urban combat? I think it would be quite interesting as in periods where melee engagements and/or short range exchanges of fire (think roman skirmishers or line infantry) were the only way infantry were used the tactics required would have to be completely different than those of today.

Hmmm, now I wonder why this specific video was recommended to me now.

You've also got to consider backblast effects of weapon systems to effectively employ them inside a structure (most nations don't use Armbrusts) and not kill yourself or allies. Depending on the nature of the enemy being fought, many tanks have limits to elevation and depression of their weapon systems. Effectively, this means that at a given distance that there are certain elevations (and depressions) that a tank cannot fire upon, and armor tends to be weaker on the top. Chechens capitalized upon this during the Chechen Wars. Chechens tended to use multiple three person teams against armor; each team consisted of one machinegunner (to suppress infantry) one sniper (to engage tank commander/make tank button up and suppress infantry) and one RPG to engage armor. A fully buttoned up tank loses situational awareness and is far less effective. The Chechen method was extremely effective at destroying armor. Other ways of fighting armor in urban environments involve halting them in a confined area, such as with dummy antitank mines. The Hungarians used upside-down soup plates (they looked like AT mines) in 1956, then attacked halted armor with Molotov cocktails or live electrical wires from above. Cover varies depending on the weapon system--what may stop a 7.62*51 round may be mere concealment against a .50 BMG. As with regular fighting positions, it is wise to have alternate and contingency positions. The use of and consolidation of range cards is a force multiplier. Stakes may be useful to delineate fields of fire, particularly with crew served weapons. Urban environments are excellent locations to set traps; an entire building can be covertly rigged with explosives to destroy many adversaries at one time. Doctrine has its limits--strict interpretation of doctrine allows for an adversary to anticipate and preempt your moves. Most snipers don't go for the absolute highest elevation, because those locations automatically attract attention. The use of command detonated explosives against your enemy is highly recommended. Removing stairs inside a building and placement of nail boards can be useful to deny enemy access and channel enemy movements.

covering Windows will get you additional XP :)

Murphy's combat law: "The most dangerous thing in the combat zone is a 2nd Lieutenant with a compass and a map" (and a manual for field operations). Those informations are basic informations like the theoretical driving lessons. Useful, but it is only a shadow of the experiences of a real confrontation. I noticed, that the preparing of those buildings take a lot of time and this all is for defending them. Very structural, controlled, based on time, perfect reinforcement and medical support. Is war really like this? Didn't we forgot, that there are some other guys, trying to kill us?

Great video, but I disagree with the Sniper positions segment. From what I learned, snipers are much more mobile and dangerous. Snipers usually jump off buildings in a clockwise spinning maneuver while firing upon the enemy with their sniper rifle before landing onto the ground. Usually results in a "trick-shot" to the head followed by cheers and bellows from children who witness the feat with some asking their "Mums" for "cameras"

You're hidden gags are so funny 😙😉

3:11 love the humor lol. Great video, and very helpful with recent events!

5:05 Dammit MHV, you got me again with your windows joke.

"Cities are the graveyards of armies" The Germans learned this at Stalingrad, and the Russians learned it at Berlin.

"Military operations on urbanized terrain." Such a lovely PC phrase. Call it what it is. "FISH and CHIPS", or "Fighting in someones house and causing havoc in peoples streets".

Holy shit I actually read this portion of the marine manuel and you hit it spot on.

Taking notes in canadian to prepare for big igloo

RU-vid sure picked a hell of a time to make this recommendation

This suddenly became relevant again

Pause the video right at the middle of 4:40 😂🤣 it’s a half second long. Thank you so much for that!

Great, now I have to play Rainbow Six: Siege again.

from shell shock to post traumatic stress disorder from killing to neutralizing from barbed wire to thectical wire what's next from gun to tactical tool ?

the fact that there are Ukrainian translations tho

First lesson is; stay well back from the window and do not put your barrel through. That will make it too easy to spot you. Stay back in the shadows and behind cover instead.

3:10 “make sure the area underneath is wet to reduce friction-I mean to avoid dust” I’ve not seen any comments referencing this, and I’m ashamed it’s taken a couple years to notice it

04:56 Windows security risk are so real, that even military took it into consideration

I am a CQC combat veteran and expert as well as a former CQC instructor with SOTG and I can tell you even the basics of urban combat alludes Russians in Ukraine as well as other operations they have been involved in.

RU-vid be like : you might be drafted soon , here watch this.

Why am I watching this in 2022 analyzing my own house? Oh, right.

All the jars into one basked, the pause afterward was perfect.....

Why did I think this was about imperial guardsmen from the thumbnail

I knew saving this video on my computer would be useful. Gotta prepare for that martial law

I love this channel.

I never knew I had an interest in urban combat tactics until I was halfway through your video. Lol. Really good video man. I'm a damned chef. My military experience is limited to gi joe and laser tag. Lol I have almost no use for this information,(Well I hope not at least. Haha) yet somehow I found myself listening intently like I was somehow gonna be dropped into an active combat zone at the end of the video. Haha. Serious respect and heartfelt gratitude for all of you out there that have served. I sincerely thank each and every one of you.(except you Josh, I want my high cap magazines back ass hole. Lol)

6:52 Noob tank driver, learn to sidescrape.

You should have mention that most ATGM and LAW are very dangerous to use indoor and are best placed on roofs.

Anyone see this in their feed June 1, 2020......while our country is being burned to the ground by domestic terrorists? Weird.

7:33 tree from Afrika Korps logo

in most scenario's warring parties wont have access to helicopters, so its ground up clearing of buildings (like in syria for instance) so this manual leaves out a lot of very relevant stuff.

Funny how the RU-vid Algorithm decided that it's important to rewatch a 5 year old video from MHV. They were right, though.

Need to know how the Chinese fight, in case they show up

Nice for RU-vid to recommend this now

Shelter against combat and shelter against the elements are not compatable. You cannot do both. This is why protective Clothing is so important and weather Intensive. Logistics is essential

Lmao that RU-vid is recommending this to me today

Anybody else watching this in June 2020 taking notes?

Watching this from the azovstal complex, thanks for the tutorial

All Jars(Heads) in one basket. I like that pun.

Funny how YT is recommending this during the Riots🤦🏻 not hate on the video tho, very informative 👍

Dude my country's army should employ you as a full time presentation maker, it's much better than the trash tier PowerPoint presentations in courses

The videos get's proposed by the algorythm... official ukrainian subtitles are now on it. Hmmm wonder who could be using it lmao!

Just in time for my upcoming war I'm masterminding

I love how they immediately have Ukrainian translate for this video

Love your videos man, the added umlauts and small jokes make for a delightful experience! :)

The thumbnail is weirdly cute....

According to the internet, everything you said is considered "lame" and/or "camping", and also the best tactic is to run around while jumping like a mad rabbit and master the quickscope technique. So I will stick to the vast experience of digital warfare from anonymous persons of the internet, thank you very much! No wonder the US loses war after war, they ought to listen that rushing B first always wins.

RAINBOW DASH!

One of the gratest games back then.. We were playing this for hours. Just missing the handtohand combat occurrance in this sequence.

2:20 "I don't like sand..."

Thank you! Finally the perfect video to train my clone ar- i mean, the perfect video to learn more about urban fighting positions!

I play sniper in many games, and I am guilty of, at times, engaging many targets. Those times are generally when trying to stop a general assault on the position my fireteam and I are in. That being said, when we roam the battlefield as two-man sniper teams, we generally try to limit engagement. We go after effective enemy snipers (those guys that can actually shoot, not the blow through 47 rounds to glance a shot guys), heavy weapons operators, and a few well entrenched soldiers. Anything to cause the enemy to have to stop, and look for us, or go to ground, or whatever. We like to be general annoyances, and do tend to break up enemy pushes by peeling units off the attack, or by popping a few helmets. We also leave traps behind, decoys, etc., just to be pains, and make the enemy sweep every inch of ground they just went over.

@demolitionranch 4:40 I know how thick this is bc of your christmas special and just about EVERY other Demo Ranch video!!! Thanks Matt!!!!! #Demolitionranch

Why can't I like it twice?

Lmao I love the quote at the start! Also thanks for alerting me to this document. 'Hasty firing positions' is a nice part to read for gamers!

What are the RU-vid algorithms trying to tell me? Riots are headed my way?

Thank u youtube algorythm i guess im glad you care about my protection👍

3:12 Took me 3 seconds to realize and understand the joke xD

3:10 I see what you did there -- wasn't expecting that from your channel, but a welcome surprise, to be sure.

* Subtitles: English (auto generated) Ukrainian *

5:05 - Showing the Windows(tm) logo gives the phrase "Windows security risk" a completely new meaning 😄

Today on ukraine urban survival training we are going to show you how to properly disable a russian tank

One rare secret of urban combat that has not been talked about is the fact that if you make shooting noises with your mouth and echo it off the walls, your guns will shoot more dakka.

US manuals are hardly ever used or read. Every other nation seems to actually read their own manuals :P

Just started using this for arma reforger, is that strange?

Didn't say "Panzerkampfwagen" once. Unsubbed.

I think I saw you in the Augarten filming that. Really cool video!

Captions in Ukrainian default. Nice.

Is that an old Nazi Flak tower at 1:25 ? I believe they're called a "Flaktürme" in German. Those Nazis were crazy assholes, but they did have impressive Infrastructure.

What does MCWP 3-35.3 say about rushing C?

Guerilla fighters be like: hmm, interesting.

I hate sand... it stick everywhere

Landed here during the 14th day of the invasion of Ukraine. This is going to be super relevant as the conflict progresses and direct combat starts in major cities. I hope notes were taken

Thumbnail soldier be like: "Sup."

As a person who spent 9 years in war and urban battles i agree with 50 precent of what is mentioned in this video

2020 has made this video very relevant.