Marine Rifle Squad

9-2
Urbanization is characterized by changes in land usage and the spread of
manmade features across natural terrain. There are four categories of urban
terrain; strip areas, villages, towns and small cities, and large cities with
associated urban sprawl.
The full range of manmade and natural terrain features exists on the urban
battlefield. One end of the scale consists of small built-up areas dispersed
along lines of communications. The force attacking through such an area
may be able to bypass or easily sweep aside any resistance without losing
the momentum of attack. The other end of this spectrum consists of a complex
urban area which totally involves maneuver units in building-by-building,
floor-by-floor, combat.
9102. Structural Classification
There are generally two types of structures; frameless and framed.
a. Frameless. (See fig. 9-1.) Frameless structures are those structures
wherein the mass of the exterior walls performs the principal load-bearing
functions of supporting the following:
• Dead-weight of roofs, floors, and ceilings.
• Weight of furnishings and occupants.
Building materials for frameless structures are mud, stone, brick, cement
building blocks, and reinforced concrete. Wall thickness varies with material
and building height. Frameless structures have much thicker walls than
framed structures and are therefore more resistant to penetration by projectiles.
Frameless buildings are usually restricted in the amount of area
devoted to doors and windows.
Windows are usually in vertical alignment to maintain integrity of the loadbearing
walls. Window dimensions may increase with higher placement in
the building facade. The subtypes of frameless buildings vary with function,
age, availability, and cost of building materials. Older institutional
buildings, such as churches, are frequently made of stone. Reinforced concrete
is the principal material for wall-and-slab structures (apartments and
hotels), and in structures used for commercial and industrial purposes.
Frameless structures are widely distributed. Brick structures, the most
common type, dominate urban areas (except in the relatively few parts of
the world where wood-framed houses are common). aose set brick structures,