On September 27, 1942, German forces attacked a house occupied by Soviet soldiers during the Battle of Stalingrad. Held by a single platoon, the Germans laid siege to the four-story building relentlessly. The defenders had reinforced the area immediately outside the house with barbed wire and landmines, while inside they knocked holes in walls to enable soldiers to move between fighting positions. For weeks the Germans attacked but were unable to seize control of the house. After nearly two months, a Soviet advance reached the house and relieved the siege.
The building would become known as Pavlov’s House—named after the Soviet Army sergeant who was instrumental in the fight to defend it. It is a textbook example of a strongpoint—a heavily fortified battle position tied to a natural or reinforcing obstacle, used to create an anchor for the defense or to deny the enemy decisive or key terrain. Throughout the history of urban warfare, buildings turned into strongpoints have played an outsized role. Multiweek battles—like that at Pavlov’s House—have been fought over single buildings. In this episode, John Spencer is joined by Major Jayson Geroux, an urban warfare historian assigned to the Canadian Army Doctrine and Training Centre, and Mr. Stuart Lyle, the urban operations research lead for the UK-based Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, to discuss strongpoints on the urban battlefield.
You can listen to the discussion below or find the episode on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, TuneIn, or your favorite podcast app. Be sure to subscribe, and if you’re enjoying the Urban Warfare Project Podcast, please take a minute and leave the podcast a review or give it a rating!
Image credit: Spc. Elizabeth Hackbarth, US Army