Street Fighting for Junior Officers

This wartime booklet, issued by the Aldershot publishers Gale & Polden in 1941, aims to acquaint army officers with the tactics employed in street fighting which, as the author underlines, demands more qualities of leadership and gallantry than any other type of warfare, involving as it does close quarter and house to house combat. The booklet divides street fighting into three types: a) combat against highly trained and well-armed troops; b) combat against determined and fairly well-armed but not highly trained troops; and c) combat against mobs of disorganised and ill-armed rioters. The book’s chapters cover platoon attacks; how to enter occupied houses and buildings; how to deal with dominating features such as churches; crossing open spaces such as squares and market places; building barricades and digging trenches. There are sections on equipment and weapons - including small arms, grenades and tanks. A final concluding chapter deals with the suppression of civil disturbances, including an appendix on reading the Riot Act and the legal position of the army.