I have come across reference to two Battle Schools for Urban Warfare set up in 1943 for formations to learn urban warfare skills - what today would be called FIBA - Fighting in a Built-up area. My references come from SOE files and refer to SOE para-military groups training in Battle Schools in Southampton and in Limehouse in East London. I wonder if any of our veterans have details of the training done in these schools, or have details of others?
On occasion I still jog through an area of Burlsedon and Hamble (Southampton) an area where a lot of amphibious work was carried out. Locals tell of very secretive training going on in the area with commando units. I believe a local news programme ran a story on the area some years ago.
In the memoir of a US Army paratrooper of the 17th Airborne Division he recounted using a bombed out section of London (IIRC) for live-fire training. If you are interested I could dig out the book and quote the sections. I don't think there is much detail, just that he was impressed.
I know a few years ago we had some threads on them, a member had an relative who was an instructor at one. If I find the old threads I'll edit in the links. edit: mmm, think this was it, sorry not as much info in it as I thought. http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/general/8938-street-fighting-wing-london-school-tactics.html
On the War Chronicle website, in an interview with Corporal Robert Littlar of the KSLI, there's a brief reference to urban warfare training in preparation for D-Day ... Q: Had you had much training for house-clearance, or house-to-house fighting? Mr. Littlar: Not a lot: we did some street-fighting in an area of bomb-sites in Limehouse, in the East End of London, and we’d done some house clearance in Edinburgh and Glasgow. When we were in the J-Camps, I seem to remember we had to climb up the outsides of three- and four-storey buildings. The full interview is on the website at Littlar interview KSLI WWII
