Conquering a Metropolis with near-zero own casualties

manpreet Best Answer 2 years ago

You have a trillion dollar/year military budget. You can buy all the toys (that are physically and financially possible to build with current technology). You can hire the manpower, command the airpower, harness the firepower, fire up the research labs. You've had years to prepare and train.

Before you stands the mighty city of Oppela, population (pre-war) about 4 million. Densely built, many high-rises, a metro system, a few wide roads with lots of back roads. It's been taken over by the evil bad guys (at least according to the massive PR-campaign by the media that you mostly control). There's very few civilians left (at least according ... well you get the idea). There's also tens of thousands (maybe 100,000) dug-in, well-supplied and well-motivated enemy fighters, many of whom have vowed to fight your forces to the death.

It should be pretty straightforward. Just go in and crush them. The only problem is that for all your military might, your home front is ridiculously sensitive to own-team casualties, and you're about to engage in the largest urban assault operations since Berlin (victory, but 350k casualties for attackers) and Stalingrad (defeat, 850k casualties for attackers).

Is it possible (using any and all available tech and the best tactics) to win this siege with near zero (own side) casualties? You can safely assume that you won't be able to talk your foes into submission (also, playing Justin Bieber songs really loud probably won't work either).

PS: No nuclear weapons. I have a severe allergy to nuclear detonations. They give me these rashes, makes it almost painful to shower in the morning.

PPS: Edited in from comments:

Q: Are there international or other laws you care to stick to?
A: I fired my legal team when I was elected to my high office. Nobody told me about any international treaties. If I don't know about them, they don't apply, right?

Q: Do you want the city itself to remain physically intact(ish), so that it can easily be repopulated by your guys, or are you happy for it to be flattened if need be?
A: City? What city? There was a city there? I don't know of any city. But if we're talking cities, we'll build a great, huge city. We build the best cities. It will be glorious.

manpreet 2 years ago