{"id":40495,"date":"2019-02-26T16:01:56","date_gmt":"2019-02-26T16:01:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/02\/26\/the-subterranean-battlefield-warfare-is-going-underground-into-dark-tight-spaces\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T02:58:48","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T02:58:48","slug":"the-subterranean-battlefield-warfare-is-going-underground-into-dark-tight-spaces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/your-army\/2019\/02\/26\/the-subterranean-battlefield-warfare-is-going-underground-into-dark-tight-spaces\/","title":{"rendered":"The subterranean battlefield: Warfare is going underground, into dark, tight spaces"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

FORT BRAGG, N.C. \u2014 It is darkness like you\u2019ve never seen. The air you breathe could kill you in moments<\/a>. All of your fire support \u2014 air, armor, artillery \u2014 is useless. The walls and ceiling could collapse. Communications will fail. A wrong turn leaves you utterly alone<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Going underground, in dark, tight spaces, can trigger feelings of helplessness in even experienced troops<\/a>. It is the most primitive and close combat<\/a> a fighter may face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou think you\u2019ve been in a dark environment?\u201d a former special operations soldier-turned trainer said. \u201cWait until you get into a deep underground facility and the power\u2019s cut. That is scary.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Welcome to the subterranean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is happening in Syria <\/a>now. Iraqi forces faced it in Mosul. Russia, China, North Korea, Iran all boast complex facilities laced with reinforced command and control and the ability to deploy thousands of troops, tanks, missiles and even launch planes from underground runways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As with guerrilla fighters in Vietnam, militant groups from Islamic State to Hamas to rebel groups in Africa have expanded their use of the \u00adunderground, whether in remote caves or by \u00adburrowing their way through cities such as the city of Darayya, Syria, for what became tunnel-on-tunnel warfare with the regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve gone underground to match our \u00adovermatch,\u201d said retired Army Maj. John Spencer, chairman of Urban Warfare Studies with the Modern War Institute at West Point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Zhawar Kili complex, Navy SEALs encountered a cave system in the early days of the Afghan War. They thought it would take a day to clear. Nine days later they had searched 70 reinforced tunnels, destroying 50 of them, including 60 structures inside a facility that included a mosque, repair shops, a medical facility and communications center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that was far from civilian populations. Armies today do not have that luxury.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Fighting underground: It is the most primitive, close combat a fighter may ever face.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n

\u201cI think it starts with the likelihood of warfare in a city,\u201d said Dakota Wood, Heritage Foundation senior research fellow and retired Marine officer. \u201cAlmost all futures documents predict an urban environment wave.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nearly any city troops may enter tomorrow has mazes of sewers, telecommunications lines and subway tunnels beneath its streets, concealing untold threats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They may vary in type and scope, but all underground terrain accomplishes a major feat: reducing, balancing, even negating U.S. military technological superiority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Minor nods to underground training, from small tunnels or trenches used by opposing fighters at Army and Marine Corps training centers have been a \u00adfeature for years. Serious manning, equipping, funding and training across the force has been lacking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFrom a mere tool of war, underground warfare has evolved into a global security threat of concern to all states,\u201d Daphn\u00e9 Richemond-Barak wrote in her 2017 book, \u201cUnderground Warfare.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tactical<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marine Corps\u2019 experts in underground fighting in Twentynine Palms, California, declined to be interviewed for this piece. Experts at their tactical operations group were involved in force-on-force training at the time of reporting and were unavailable for comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But news reports reference side-by-side tactical \u00adlevel underground training by Marines with Israeli \u00adcounter-tunnel work and with Norwegian troops \u00adrelated to weapons stocks stored in massive caves to protect NATO against potential Russian aggression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Army is taking a multiprong attack to the threat. All those interviewed applauded it for the focus on a terrain that will surely plague commanders and troops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At least two years ago, the Army assessed its \u00adunderground combat capabilities and found gaps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With knowledge gleaned from the battlefield and years of study it quickly updated manuals, pushed funding and deployed training teams with the \u00adAsymmetric Warfare Group with fighting know-how to spread the gospel across brigades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is driven by the Army\u2019s vision for being \u00adprepared to fight in any terrain across the globe against near-peer threats and nonstate actors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Top leadership has emphasized the need for troops to be ready to fight in megacities and the \u00adunderground is a feature that cannot be ignored.<\/p>\n\n\n\t