The Logistics of Military Operations in Built-Up Areas OR Logistics in Support of Urban Operations

Over the past month we have witnessed the appalling consequences and rapid escalation of urban warfare on the streets of Bangkok following an extended period of civil unrest.

Paradise Lost
As hopes fade that talks can prevent a full scale military assault, there have been escalating casualties on a daily basis - we ask 'how could it come to this?" Logistics however is playing a central role in the provision of both the delivery of force and emergency assistance to those both directly and indirectly caught up in the conflict.

Waking the Tiger
What we have also seen is the relative effectiveness of the logistics efforts behind both the Government security forces and protestors. Conventional military logistics is often reliant on only four key factors Food, Fuel, Equipment & Ammunition. The mobilization of tens of thousands of conventional soldiers and security personnel with their lethal weaponry and heavy transport vehicles has identified potential gaps in the availability of military apparatus necessary to engage in urban operations within its own capital.  For example when water is turned off to the protest area (during the start of the monsoon) it is likely to have more of an adverse impact on fire services who will need to respond to large scale arson rather than depriving protestors who have access to individual building water storage tanks (and even the city aquarium).

Using What You Have
For many of the protestors, their logistics resources have been very limited and relied on a different set of variables: Mobility, Money, Defenses, Evasion and Communication. The protest groups have been able to rapidly secure and maintain a grip on a sizable area of the centre of Bangkok with relatively low cost and freely available materials such as car tyres, bamboo poles, petrol and plastic screening.  They have had to reinforce and extend their logistics capabilities, resorting to ambushes and traps in which arms, ammunition, vehicles, and other resources have been captured. Light weaponry such as slingshots and energy drink bottles used as Molotov cocktails have been only slightly effective - however burning tyres and screening have done their job to protect against discriminate shooting. One of the most challenging logistics problems facing the protestors has been the sourcing and transportation of protective and defensive materials and then assembling it where it is needed. This had to be accomplished even when the there were cordons and roads blocked.

What Should Have Been
The military logistics machine of a country would normally include the procurement, transport, storage and delivery of emergency, life saving material and possibly casualty clearing stations to areas affected by disaster or conflict. With urban warfare often it is the ability of that country or community to support their own logistical infrastructure which is affected early on in a crisis. However amid the confusion of the current crisis this has in turn exacerbated, or in some cases, given rise to increased crisis casualties or untreated gunshot injuries.

Objectives Achieved?
When Russian forces attacked Grozny in 1999, the Army handled the issue of civilian casualties by warning the inhabitants that they were going to launch an all-out assault and that all civilians leave the city area. Due to the complexity of what was only intended to be use of proportional force, the army had to resort to an artillery bombardment and point blank fighting consuming large quantities of equipment and materiel. Despite the destruction of much of the financial and retail infrastructure of the city, logistics played a key role in the overall response because of the scale and dimensions that were involved in the operation.

Porous Cordons
Defenders in Grozny had the advantage of detailed local knowledge of the area, right down to the layout inside of buildings and means of travel not shown on maps. Buildings provided many sniping posts while alleys and rubble-filled streets proved ideal for planting massive booby traps using LPG cylinders. Defenders were able to move from one part of the cordoned area to another virtually undetected.

Intricate Logistics
Meanwhile, the attackers tended to become more exposed as they had to use the open streets more often, unfamiliar with the defenders' local and hidden routes. During a building-to-building search the attackers were again exposed.  Complicating factors in urban warfare are the presence of civilians and the complexity of the city terrain. The means whereby each of the agencies involved in that operation collaborated with the host population and with each other to try and bring basic protection of life through provision of health care logistics and food was an intricate one.

Many Dimensions
Some benign protestors may be difficult to distinguish from combatants such as armed militias and gangs, particularly if individuals are simply trying to protect their homes from the attackers or simply just staying put in support of their cause. Tactics are complicated by a three-dimensional environment, limited fields of view and fire because of buildings, enhanced concealment and cover for defenders, below ground infrastructure, and the ease of placement of large scale flammable booby traps and snipers.

Logistic Determination
Conventional military logistics refers to the maintenance problems for an army or a regular armed force, transported in vehicles with fixed bases and supply lines. With impending urban warfare, there will not be another army to face but multiple small armed groups, intentionally fragmented. They will have no dedicated vehicles, nor fixed bases. Their supply lines will often be precarious and insufficient, and will have no established base except in the rudimentary sense of hidden caches and reliance on popular support from local communities.  

Breakdown after the Assault
Having experienced first hand the mass break down of law and order in Jakarta during May1998, the logistics complexity of the urban warfare challenge will only grow as cities in developing countries continue to gather in the poor and disaffected where traditional cultural, religious and social bonds among young males fuel ongoing conflict. The logistics effort in that situation related to the rapid mobilization of well organized and highly mobile mobs that rapidly multiplied the level of destruction and resulting casualties. Once basic income sources were interrupted and food supplies restricted, mass looting of retail and food stocks then occurred driven by necessity and survival.

Widespread Escalation or Peaceful Resolution?
The security forces in Thailand now face the prospect to repress widespread urban and rural rebellion.  Whilst the protest elements need to sustain operations, logistical lines of supply and evasive tactics, (which have nothing in common with conventional warfare), their efforts will be directed against the conventional military or security forces.  In view of the humanitarian urgency this process must be quick and it must be accepted politically and operationally by the community.  

The author is an ex-military logistician experienced in rapid deployment, combat logistics and humanitarian aid.


This article is adapted from Weekly Link, published in the Bangkok Post and is co-ordinated by Barry Elliott (BJElliott@ABf1Consulting.com) and Chris Catto-Smith CMC of the Institute of Management Consultants Thailand (cattoc@cmcthailand.org).  It is intended to be an interactive forum for industry professionals; we welcome all input, questions, feedback and news.