Townsend on Mosul Lessons for Future Megacity Conflicts
Thursday, May 24, 2018
The Iraqi city of Mosul would never be mistaken as a megacity, but there are lessons in the nine-month battle to retake it that are worth considering as the U.S. Army prepares for the possibility of urban warfare, says Gen. Stephen J. Townsend, Army Training and Doctrine Command commanding general.
Townsend, commander of Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve during the October 2016–July 2017 Battle of Mosul, said it took five months to surround the city as Islamic State fighters were closely pushing into smaller and smaller areas, but surrounding true megacities the size of Manila, the Philippines; Bangkok; and Seoul, South Korea would be difficult and maybe impossible.
https://www.ausa.org/news/townsend-mosul-lessons-future-megacity-conflicts
