“The Street Was One Place We Could Not Go”: The American Army and Urban Combat in World War II Europe
Abstract
Much has been written about the nature of the United States Army in World War
II and the topic of military effectiveness. This dissertation examines how the United
States responded to a combat environment, specifically, fighting in built-up areas, that it
had not planned to fight within before World War II. By following three infantry
divisions, the 1st, 3rd, and 5th Infantry Divisions through their combat in World War II,
this dissertation investigates how the Army of the United States fought within the urban
setting to see whether the American Army improved and became more effective as the
war continued.
It argues that the 1st, 3rd, and 5th Infantry Divisions learned and became more
proficient at urban combat over time. This dissertation asserts that as these divisions
embraced combined-arms operations in general, that is, mastered the coordination of
infantry weapons, armor, and artillery into battle, so they applied those lessons to the
urban environment. Whereas the American military had neither doctrine nor tradition of
urban combat before World War II, combat units learned to develop methods of fighting
within towns and cities. Further, the United States Army processed and incorporated
these battlefield lessons into military doctrine at a slower rate. The infantry divisions’
combat experience had a greater impact on army doctrine than the doctrine had on the
divisions’ warfighting practices.
Subject
urban combatstreet fighting
military effectiveness
lesson learning
United States Army
World War II
1st Infantry Division
3rd Infantry Division
5th Infantry Division
Aachen
Nuremberg
Metz
infantry doctrine
wartime adaptation
Citation
Beall, Jonathan A (2014). “The Street Was One Place We Could Not Go”: The American Army and Urban Combat in World War II Europe. Doctoral dissertation, Texas A & M University. Available electronically from https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /152802.