Mini-Manual for the Urban Defender

John Spencer is one of the world's leading scholars and experts in the field of urban warfare. He has studied, taught, and written about urban warfare for over a decade. He has conducted field research on urban battle around the world, from Iraq, Israel, India, Panama, to Nagorno-Karabakh. He has advised militaries around the world on to get better at military operations in urban areas. He is also a veteran of urban warfare having two urban centric combat deployment  to Iraq - one during the invasion in 2003 and again in Baghdad in 2008 during the U.S. "surge" and Battle of Sadr City.

Download the PDF "Mini-Manual for the Urban Defender" from his web-site at: https://johnspenceronline.com/urban-warfare

 

Spencer’s Standing Orders
(for the Urban Defender)

1. The defense is the strongest form of war. The attacker must come to you and you must be in
prepared positions. He must cross the open street to attack you. Kill him in the streets and alleyways.

2. Never stop preparing the defense. Even when you are fighting you should be continuing to
improve your positions.

3. Make the attacker go where you want, not where he wants. Build barriers as high as you can. Block
all streets, alleyways, doors, and windows. Turn the city into a fortress of walls that make the enemy
enter your prepared traps.

4. Use concrete. It is your greatest defensive resource. Do not use wood and sandbags, they are
weak. Concrete reinforced by steel bars (rebar) is one of the strongest materials. Build barriers and
fighting positions out of it.

5. Always hide yourself, your position, your weapons. Always believe the enemy can see you from
above. If he can see you, he can strike you with missiles, bombs, and mortars. If you are always
hiding, moving inside buildings, under tarps between buildings, the enemy will not be able to strike
you.

6. Use any and all underground. If there is none beneath you, start digging. The attacker will bomb
you before attacking. You can use the underground to hide, escape, protect yourselves, store
supplies, move, and attack.

7. Surprise is everything. The attacker cannot see through concrete. You decide when and where the
fighting will occur. The enemy fears urban snipers deeply. Make him think every window holds a
sniper.

8. Fight in groups. One fighter is not enough. Fight in a minimum of 3-5 person teams.

9. Always attack from a protected and hidden position. It does not matter if you are throwing
something or shooting something, do so from inside a building, from high or low floors, piles of
rubble, popping up from the underground.

10. Always have an escape plan after attacking. Put holes in walls, floors, and ceilings so you can run
between rooms and buildings when the enemy bombs are falling, or they are too close to you. Dig
tunnels under buildings and houses to escape through. Make lots of different attacking position to
move to. Pre-position supplies everywhere: ammo, grenades, rocket-propelled grenades, water.

11. Do not get surprised. The enemy fears urban warfare. He will attempt to sneak past your
defenses. Never have more than 2/3s of your fighters asleep.

12. Drink water. You cannot fight if you are dead. You can survive only 3 days without water, but 3
weeks without food. Purify any water (boil it, add bleach or iodine). If your pee is clear nothing to fear;
yellow or brown you are going down.

13. Wash your hands before eating. Disease can kill you more than enemy bullets. When you eat and
drink ensure your bathrooms are more than 100 meters away. Do not let flies touch your food.

14. You must follow the laws of war. You must wear markings to identify you as fighters. No matter
the enemy’s tactics, you must follow the laws of war to include handling of captured enemy fighters.