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The significance of urban areas for military operations is increasing due to the proliferation of cities and the amount of people living in them; armed forces must, to a higher degree, fight in these urban areas in the future.

This essay highlights that, despite the increasing importance of urban areas for armed forces, there is a lack of developed theory regarding how armed forces fight in urban areas and how tactics, techniques, and procedures result in casualties. Using previous research on urban warfare, this essay posits three hypotheses and applies these on exercises from the Swedish Armed Forces’ training area for military operations in urban terrain.       

The results show that mortars are responsible for a large number of the casualties incurred during the exercises. When exercises involve vehicles the combat ranges, at which casualties are suffered, are longer in comparison to exercises without vehicles. A small percentage of casualties are suffered in close-quarters combat.

Finally, the essay elaborates on the meaning of the results and offer some possible explanations that also are suitable for further research. It concludes that further research is warranted, especially regarding close-quarters combat and the use of hand grenades.