History instructs that for a variety of reasons, cities have always been targets for attack by adversaries. From the earliest of times, attackers came bearing weapons ranging from knives, arrows, and spears, while in modern times, they have brought weaponry the Industrial Revolution made available: cannon, rocket artillery, and ultimately bombs and rockets delivered from aerial platforms and even thermonuclear warheads, not to mention the potential for chemical and biological payloads. In turn, cities have responded to most of these threats. Early on, for example, they thickened city walls and erected other barriers to entry. But attackers seeking to subdue the cities simply countered with new and better weapons. So the game of measures and countermeasures-the adult, and much more deadly, version of the familiar children's game of rock, scissors, paper-has continued apace for centuries. In short, there is a need for the U.S. military to explore new ways of conceptualizing urban operations. But that exploration must be grounded, in part, in the empirical data contained in the historical record. Our judgments about the future must be informed by our experiences of the past. And that is what the variety of historical case studies in this book offer: a solid factual and analytical basis on which to conceptualize future urban operations. These studies should not wed today's analysts to traditional ideas and concepts but should serve rather as a "reality check" when those analysts discuss new approaches to the age-old problem of conducting operations on urban terrain and attempt to answer such questions as: How might we expect to have to fight future battles, if any, in cities? Against whom and under what conditions might we expect to fight? What capabilities are resident in the forces and equipment of the threat(s) we might expect to encounter? What does technology offer in terms of countering a threat or providing a margin of capability over an anticipated threat?

Attacking the heart and guts: urban operations through the ages / Lou DiMarco -- The Battle of Stalingrad / S. J. Lewis -- "Knock 'em all down": the reduction of Aachen, October 1944 / Christopher R. Gabel -- The Battle of Manila / Thomas M. Huber -- The Battle for Hue, 1968 /James H. Willbanks -- The 31 December 1994-8 February 1995 Battle for Grozny / Timothy L. Thomas -- The Siege of Beirut / George W. Gawrych -- The Siege of Sarajevo, 1992-1995 / Curtis S. King -- The takedown of Kabul: an effective coup de main / Lester W. Grau -- Operation JUST CAUSE in Panama City, December 1989 / Lawrence A. Yates --- Todo o nada: Montoneros versus the Army: urban terrorism in Argentina / Alan C. Lowe -- Humanitarian operations in an urban environment: Hurricane Andrew, August-October 1992 / Jerold E. Brown -- Urban warfare: its history and its future / Roger J. Spiller -- Appendix A: the future.