CONCRETE
HELL
CONCRETE
HELL
URBAN WARFARE
FROM STALINGRAD TO IRAQ
LOUIS A. DIMARCO
Concrete Hell is a masterful study of the
brutal realities of modern combat, tracing
the development of military operations in an
urban environment from the Soviet defense
of Stalingrad in World War II to the recent
operations of the US Army in Iraq. The
author has synthesized 24 years experience
in the US Army, where he wrote several
of the key doctrinal manuals including
FM 3-06 Urban Operations (2002), and
in doing so created a blueprint for urban
warfare in the future.
Former Lieutenant Colonel Louis DiMarco
describes nine urban conflicts with an expert
eye; Stalingrad 1942, Aachen 1944, Inchon
and Seoul 1950, Algiers 1956–57, Hue 1968,
Northern Ireland 1969–2007, Grozny
1995, Jenin 2002, and Ramadi 2006–07.
He highlights the different challenges posed
by conventional or counterinsurgency
operations and the developments that took
place as the 20th century became the
21st, covering tactical, strategic, operational,
and political considerations in this most
challenging form of combat.
DiMarco describes the warfare of the future
where the classic battle in the open field
will no longer take place, where military
operations will be conducted in cities and
urban environments instead, and where war
will still be hell but it will be a concrete one.
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