If You Don’t Like This, You May Resign And Go Home: Commanders’ Considerations In Assaulting A Fortified Position

The author studies the experiences of British, German, American and Soviet armies in assaults on fortified positions to find critical considerations for contemporary commanders. A fortified position is a series of mutually supporting areas comprising bunkers, pillboxes, weapons emplacements, entrenchments, wire, mines and other obstacles. Assaulting such a position held by determined defenders is a uniquely brutal and bloody event. The author systematically studies fighting at El Alamein, the No