World War II Street-Fighting Tactics

Description

In a continuation of the tactics mini-series, this book analyzes the physical tactics of the close-quarter fighting that took place in ruined cities during World War II. Street-to-street fighting in cities was not a new development, but the bombed-out shells of cities and advances in weaponry meant that World War II took such strategies to a new level of savagery and violence. Packed with eye-witness accounts, tutorials from original training manuals, maps, and full-colour artwork, this is an eye-opening insight into the tactics and experiences of infantry fighting their way through ruined cities in the face of heavy casualty rates and vicious resistance.

Dr Stephen Bull is the Curator of the Museum of Lancashire in Preston, which incorporates the collections of several local regiments. Born in 1960, he graduated from the University of Wales with a BA (Hons) in history in 1981, and obtained his doctorate from University College, Swansea, with a study of English Civil War weapons. For several years from 1984 he worked at the National Army Museum, on a fortifications project and later in the Weapons Department. He has written numerous articles for specialist journals, including a number on the weapons and tactics of World War I.

"Probably the most difficult type of warfare involves fighting in urban areas ... author Stephen Bull covers the variety of methods used by the major combatants in Europe when fighting in an urban environment. He shows how the tactics changed with the introduction of new weapons and as new things were learned ... a fascinating read..." --Scott Van Aken, modelingmadness.com (October 2008) "... based on rare wartime British, US, German and Soviet training documents which describe how house-to-house combat was to be conducted." --California Bookwatch (November 2008)