Anthony King Profile picture
Mar 14, 2022 8 tweets 4 min read Read on X
1/ As the Battle of #Kyiv approaches, it may be worth remembering seven principles of #urbanwarfare in the 21st century that we've discussed together. @SpencerGuard @shashj @Stu_Lyle @JaysonGeroux @ChasAHKnight @RitaKonaev
1. As military forces contract, they will converge on and in cities. The decisive battles are likely to take place in urban areas.
2. The urban battle will concentrate into localised inner-urban micro-sieges around fortified positions. Defensive walls will be crucial, marking out the battlelines.
3. The airspace above the city will be an integral part of the fight. An aerial architecture will be as important as the physical topography.
4. Massive, sometimes accurate, firepower will be employed. Air and artillery will strike deep, close and direct targets.
5. Manoeuvre will be replaced by a war of position. Attrition will predominate. Bite and hold operations will become the norm.
6. Because of the lack of forces, the combatants will draw on partnered, proxy, foreign fighters to increase their mass. The fight will be politically complex.
7. Information operations will recruit and address diasporas, supporters, audiences and agents across the global urban archipelago. The battle of Kyiv will resonate across European cities.

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Anthony King

Anthony King Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @antbruceking

Jan 25
1/ Strategy for Ukraine:

The west’ strategy for #UkraineRussiaWar 2024 has become an urgent question. Many commentators @shashj @KofmanMichael @RALee85 @HoansSolo @Jack_Watling have already stressed that we are approaching a crux maybe even a climax in this War.
2/Ukraine’s counter-offensive of 2023 failed. Frankly, it was never likely to succeed, as much as its proponents claimed. UAF were trying to breach heavily fortified, prepared Russian positions, without air superiority, or favorable combat ratios.
3/ Even if UAF had breached the Surovikin Line it seems probable the offensive would have culminated in an urban battle around Tokmak, Melitopol, or Mariupol. They just didn’t have the combat power.
Read 22 tweets
Oct 26, 2023
1/Following, the infamous Hamas attack of 7 October, the IDF are poised for a major ground offensive into Gaza. The Battle of Gaza approaches. @johnspencer, David Kilcullen, @Shashj have already posted some analysis. Perhaps, it would be useful to add my thoughts 🧵 Image
2/In my book on Urban Warfare, I argued described the 21c urban battlescape. Because forces were much small than 20c, they can no longer hold dense fronts in the field. They converge on urban areas where the decisive strategic, operational, and tactical objectives are located. Image
3/ There, they engage in ‘inner-urban micro-sieges’. In 21st century, smaller forces concentrate on key objectives inside urban areas. Bitter attritional fighting follows; objectives are attacked and reduced in sequence. Image
Read 25 tweets
Jun 14, 2023
1/16 This is a fascinating, provocative, perceptive article. I would encourage everyone interested in command @LawDavF @almurray @WarintheFuture to read it. Thanks @Beags_Beagle for your and your team's work on this. I offer a few initial thoughts.

armyupress.army.mil/Journals/Milit…
2/@Beags_Beagle and his co-authors are surely correct to argue that the bloated divisional and brigade HQs of the 9/11 Wars are obsolete. They are far too vulnerable. At a UK divisional exercise in 2016, the commander observed that his static, tented CP was 'not an act of war'
3/ Consequently, @Beags_Beagle et al. argue that CPs must consist of 3 or 4 armd vehicles which are mobile, dispersed, with low signatures. However, because they draw on a cloud, are data-centric, AI-enabled, it will be possible to bespoke the situational picture for each node.
Read 17 tweets
Jun 13, 2023
1/UK Military doctrine emphasises the cognitive dimension of warfare. Avoiding attrition, the enemy's mind is the target. The contrast with current discussions of the #counteroffensive is marked. Like the FWW, it is all about re-taking terrain and settlements liberated.
2/ Are the #Ukrainians hopelessly old fashioned? No: nothing has a greater morale and intellectual effect than losing troops and ground - especially when it is vital terrain.
3/ However, critical though the current close battles are, the outcome of this #counteroffensive is probably going to be decided in the deep, where the #UAF have been striking hard and skilfully.
Read 4 tweets
Jun 7, 2023
1/The destruction of the #KakhovkaDam has rightly been deplored on humanitarian grounds. But what is its military significance, especially for understanding the Russian military and therefore the Ukrainian #counteroffensive?
🧵
2/#KakhovkaDam is an appalling act of terrorism. However, from a military perspective, it shows that the much derided Russian commanders are astute (and totally ruthless).
3/ The flooding the Dniepro river basin blocks off one possible axes of attack for the UAF for at least the next couple of crucial weeks. Viewed coldly, it is an effective military action.
Read 10 tweets
Nov 3, 2022
1/ @JohnSpencer and @LiamSCollins keenly expected book came out last month. Given my own interests in urban warfare, I was very much looking forward to it. In the light of the Ukraine War, it is highly pertinent. Having just read it, I thought I would do a short review.
2/ It may be worth readers knowing that the book is not a monograph, but a selection of the transcripts from the excellent series of @MWI podcasts which John has conducted over the last few years. It is therefore rich and wide-ranging.
3/ UUW of course connect closely with my own book on the same topic published last years. It discusses many of the same topics and some of the same battles including Fallujah 2, Mosul, Marawi, Ramadi, Sadr City, Ortona etc. Naturally, I agree with many of the arguments in it.
Read 16 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(