The World War II capabilities we need for today’s urban battlefield

A key message of this site is that contemporary armies are unprepared for the challenges of operating in cities. In some respects, though, we are actually much less prepared now than in the past. Last year John Spencer offered a wish list of tools the US Army does not have but that he would want if sent to fight in a dense urban environment, as he did in Baghdad in 2007–2008. Ironically, there were weapons systems available in 1944 that were better suited to the problems of urban combat than those we have today.