Urban Warfare Project

Latest Episodes:

Inside the Battle of Shusha Nov 12, 2021

Show notes

Observers watched the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War closely, searching for indicators of the character of warfare on tomorrow's battlefields. The lessons extracted have covered advanced technology and unmanned platforms, proxy dynamics, the ongoing relevance of armor, and more. But some of the most important lessons have received much less attention. They center around the increasingly unavoidable importance of combat in cities and are drawn principally from the battle for the city of Shusha—a fight that arguably decided the outcome of the war. Listen as John Spencer, chair of urban warfare studies at MWI, explains why.

The US Army’s First Urban Warfare Planners Course Oct 29, 2021

Show notes

In this episode of MWI’s Urban Warfare Project Podcast, John Spencer is joined by Brig. Gen. Robert Wooldridge. He is the Deputy Commanding General for Support of the 40th Infantry Division, California Army National Guard—which just held the Army’s first urban warfare planners course. Listen as he explains the gaps that drove the division's leaders to create the course, the challenges in designing the course, the lessons they learned executing the course, and what comes next as the team works toward institutionalizing standard operating procedures for urban operations planning.

The Man in The Tank Wins: IDF Armor, Part 2 Oct 15, 2021

Show notes

In this episode, the second in a two-part series, John Spencer continues his conversation with retired Brig. Gen. Yom Tov Tamir. In the previous episode, he reflected on his long career as an armor officer in the Israel Defense Forces, in which he held positions from tank commander to division commander. Part two picks up with a description of his experiences during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, including the last battle of the war, the Battle of Suez, which ended disastrously. Based on his experiences, he shares his his thoughts on the role of armor in urban warfare and complex layered defenses. The conversation ends with an explanation of two popular IDF Armored Corps mottos: “The tank is iron but the man is steel,” and “The man in the tank wins.”

The Man in The Tank Wins: IDF Armor, Part 1 Oct 01, 2021

Show notes

In this episode, the first in a two-part series, John Spencer is joined by retired Maj. Gen. Yom Tov Tamir. He served a long career in the Israel Defense Forces as an armor officer holding positions from tank commander to division commander. In 1973, he was an armor battalion commander during the Yom Kippur War. In part one of the conversation, he reflects on his career as an armor officer—from a secret trip to Germany in 1964 to learn about American tanks, through his service in the 1967 Six-Day War, to Yom Kippur War. The discussion lays the foundation for part two, which covers the role of tanks in urban warfare, including drawing lessons from the 1973 Battle of Suez City.

Book Talk: Dr. Anthony King on Urban Warfare in the Twenty-First Century Sep 17, 2021

Show notes

In this episode, John Spencer is joined by Dr. Anthony King, a professor of war studies at the University of Warwick and the author of a new book, Urban Warfare in the Twenty-First Century. He talks about his book, including an important conclusion: because of discernible trends in urbanization, weapons development, and the size of modern military forces, Western militaries will be unable to avoid fighting in cities in the future.

Discovering Jerusalem’s Hidden Lessons for Urban and Underground Warfare Sep 03, 2021

Show notes

In this episode, John Spencer is joined by Ze’ev Orenstein, director of international affairs at the City of David Foundation. He explains the history of ancient Jerusalem and the discovery of the City of David—the lost and original city of Jerusalem and a place of importance to billions of people today. Over its four-thousand-year history, the city has been deeply shaped by a variety of forces, including urban planning, warfare, and underground operations—the conversation even includes the story of one of the earliest recorded episodes of offensive underground warfare. As you'll hear, the lessons gathered from the history of this ancient city have a range of modern urban operations implications.

Deep Futures and Urban Warfare Jul 23, 2021

Show notes

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.

Urban Breaching Jul 09, 2021

Show notes

In this episode, John Spencer is joined by Staff Sgt. Nicholas Garner, an instructor for the Urban Mobility Breacher Course, which is a part of the US Army Engineer School. As a tactical task, breaching can be challenging. That becomes especially true in the unique conditions of dense urban terrain. Staff Sgt. Garner explains how the course trains soldiers to understand and overcome those challenges, and the importance of having urban breaching capabilities in units.

Policing a Major City Jun 25, 2021

Show notes

In this episode, John Spencer is joined by Colorado Springs Police Chief Vince Niski to discuss urban policing. In the conversation, Chief Niski explains the basics of urban policing, how the size of the police force and frequency of patrols in dense urban areas is determined, technologies that can be used to assist in urban policing, and recommendations for the military about advising police forces.

Rebuilding Fallujah Jun 11, 2021

Show notes

A few episodes ago, John Spencer spoke to retired Colonel Leonard DeFrancisci about his Marine Corps civil affairs detachment's role during the Second Battle of Fallujah. He joins the Urban Warfare Project Podcast once again to continue the conversation, this time describing the massive coalition effort to rebuild the city after intense fighting and major destruction of the urban battle.

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