Block to block combat

A US soldier fired an anti-tank rocket at the second floor of a darkened school building, blasting an entry to get at snipers barricaded there. But as troops climbed a ladder to the hole, half a dozen were killed in a flash of mortar fire. Several more collapsed in the courtyard, picked off by the snipers.

Rising from the mangle of debris and concertina wire were the electric screams of Led Zeppelin, broadcast by the US military in between warnings that civilians should take shelter - "It's been a long time since I've rock and rolled ...," then, "Stay calm. We are here to protect you."

In a chaotic night of urban warfare, a remnant US force "liberated" a small city, but at the cost of killing civilians, razing large buildings, and losing dozens of its own. When day broke over the concrete battlefield, the streets were hazy with green and purple smoke and littered with bodies and crumpled vehicles.

Fortunately, this battle was bloodless, waged with lasers and pyrotechnics rather than live bullets and artillery. Hundreds of light infantrymen from the 10th Mountain Division, backed by armored units, fought their way through a mock city rising from the Louisiana swamps in the toughest urban training the US Army offers. Military observers give this unit high marks: On most assaults, losses are even higher.

Yet US ground troops may soon face a real-world test of their block-to-block combat skills: a battle for Baghdad. Iraq's elite Republican Guard units are erecting concentric rings of defense around the city of 5 million. Outmatched in a desert tank war, Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein is apparently planning to hold out in cities and lure US forces into a deadly urban struggle.

American military officers acknowledge that a drawn-out battle in Baghdad would erode US superiority and likely present agonizing scenarios and heavy casualties. "Baghdad would be incredibly hard, sort of like attacking Los Angeles," says Capt. Rick Roper, who coaches some of the thousands of troops mounting urban assaults here at Fort Polk each month.

This mock battle underscores the harsh dilemmas US soldiers may face: How to overcome Mr. Hussein's home-turf advantage in defending sprawling cities without becoming trapped? How to balance the risk to civilians against dangers for US troops - especially when Iraq has threatened to use human shields?

Inside Iraqi cities, military operations would be vastly more complicated. Buildings constrict troop and tank maneuvers, interfere with radio communications, and limit close air support from helicopters and gunships. Dense populations make airstrikes - even precision ones - costly in civilian lives. From sewers to rooftops, cities are multilayered, like three-dimensional chessboards, creating endless opportunities for ambushes and snipers. Worse, Iraqi forces defending the cities could try to halt invading troops by shelling them with chemical weapons.

"Urban warfare is ... close, personal, and brutal," says an Army report. "Tall buildings ... sewer and storm drains, allow unobserved shifting of forces, and streets become kill-zones."

Brutal as it may be, urban conflict is increasingly likely, military commanders say. More than 75 percent of the world's population is projected to be living in cities by 2020. As a result, the Pentagon has intensified urban training while drawing lessons from recent US military actions in Somalia, Haiti, Panama, and the Russian fight for Grozny, Chechnya.

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