Most major cities and many smaller cities across the land are surrounded by a loop of highway that facilitates travel. The above pic is the DC Beltway. In my professional life I have come to know the city and suburbs very well.
I also know how few assets it would take to virtually shut down travel in the greater DC Metro area. If one looks at the various cities across the country with a looping highway, consider it a fence. Sure, it won't be an airtight fence, but if the Enemies of Liberty chose to shut down DC by using the Beltway as a perimeter, moving would become seriously impaired.
Now consider units at major intersections throughout the area, both inside and outside the Beltway. Add roving patrols. Add your See Something, Say Something neighbors.
Consider trucks being stopped from delivering to your food stores. Consider rationed electricity and water. Consider those of us who are on a List, and how easy it becomes for OpFor to visit us, while E&E becomes exponentially more difficult.
Remember that Hitler shut Jews into Ghettos.
How easy would it be for a relatively small force to shut down your city? It would not need to be a long-term blockade to be effective. Your neighbors are lucky if they have 72 hours of supplies. Without power, gas, water, making use of those supplies becomes difficult. 90 days of control would turn a city into a death camp.
Consider if the Enemies of Liberty chose a metropolitan area in the middle of a desert, such as Phoenix, and decided that it would become "Home" to Bad Guys like you and me? Cutting off an entire city is not hard in America, if FedGov decides to do it. Turning that city into a prison is easy, especially if walking out into the desert is your only escape route.
Consider movement in your AO, Patriots.
It will not be as easy as you may think, especially in the opening phase.
If you live beyond the immediate quarantine zones and choose to go to where the action is, think very hard about the challenges of even getting to the fight.
Get into the nitty-gritty.
Entire cities can be turned into prisons. I can tell you that those prisons will devolve quickly into death camps.
Kerodin
III
Also bear in mind other terrain features that may be problematic, such as rivers and steep hills. For instance, while my house somehow is outside the major interstate choke points in my city, there is a nearby river that is about 200m across, with no bridges for several miles in either direction. The other side of the river is fairly low population, but has a lot of open ground that you'd have figure out how to cross (it's also very close to an airfield, so you'd have little to no warning before you could be seen from above). Both banks are densely wooded for about 10 yards - it'd be hell trying to cross it if somebody on the other side had a rifle and didn't want you coming across, as they'd have good cover and would have some long-ass shooting lanes.
ReplyDeleteThe river combined with two nearby major roads leaves an exit vector approximately 100 yards wide, narrowing to less than 30 yards at one point (where it coincidentally passes through a homeless encampment). After that, you're pretty much out of the city and might be substantially more difficult to track down, as there is substantial cover. On the other hand, you'd be crossing a lot of private property with people who are rightfully skeptical of city folk coming across their land. Not pretty at all.
There have been studies done on the necessary 'boots on the ground' it would take to secure one major city, say, New York...or Atlanta, or even DC.
ReplyDelete14 Divisions to do it properly. 10 divisions and there's a good chance the cunning can come and go without too much trouble.
8 divisions or less, well, it's not a 'green zone'.
The US Army only has 10 combat divisions; the Marines even fewer. So-called "fly over" country is not going to be very fun to occupy and place under 'martial law'. Not fun at all. Especially when one factors in that every single one of the divisions necessary to lock down even one city has family that is at risk out in the same areas they're trying to lock down. Threat? Not at all. The problem is that many will not have the discipline to restrain themselves from taking out their anger on non-combatants once discovered they're directly related to those covering them with 240's.
While there is some danger in being inside a 'loop' that can be controlled by local or state LEO's and possibly some national guard back up, a non-compliant, force-multiplying core of citizens can really, really gum up the works.
Bottom line is it's not going to be either fun or pretty, but it's certainly not hopeless...for those who are preparing and training now.
For those reading this and with wide eyes, I suggest linking up with people you know, training, prepping, and most of all, following Patton's advice: Never take counsel of your fears.
Trainer has some good points. If it evolves into that point, I believe we will see the introduction of UN troops & the use of PMC's to secure cities.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the use of brutal tactics that will be inflicted on the civilian populace. Just like what was used by the Russians, Gestapo, etc.
This is how they will lock down the city, by use of snitches.
This is why I enjoy living out in the boonies. The same landscape that I know and can utilize for movement, will hinder any ground forces. Deer lease roads, logging roads, private roads, etc. Learn them, know them, live them.
Spot on was just thinking the same thing coming home from work today. Traffic accident caused me to look for alternative route.My city has the exact type of loop around the city. only a few ways accrossed every one leading out was bottlenecked.
ReplyDeleteI'm lucky to live in a city that is crisscrossed with alleys on about half the city blocks. You can literally travel from one side of town to the other using nothing but alleys. It would take a human net to stop travel, especially pedestrian travel.
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