denver.
I specified just infantry because I figured that air support would make things too lopsided for them, and where would you hide planes in a city? We’ll say…500 troops for you, 1,000 for them? And for the purposes of this question (which it occurs to me now may not fit here as well as I thought) the Canadian and Mexican borders are held.
Almost all the ways in/out do involve bridges at various points, but there are many more than two ways.
A couple of RPGs on the levees and buh-bye New Orelans.
Link was wrong, yeah: supposed to be this one.
And I don’t know whose ignorance you’re fighting, but of course I know it was written as a poem first. Nevertheless, we did end up with a song out of the event, as I said.
I can’t defend the music it was set to, though. 
The poetic part is all right, but there’s nothing decent about a tune that 9 out of 10 people can’t sing, drunk or sober. When you’re sober you know you can’t sing it, when you’re drunk you only think you can. Even the classically trained and indefatigueable Mike Rowe can’t quite make it…notice how he goes sharp on the lowest notes.
I googled the song to find out what in heck anacreon meant. Apparently during it’s days as the Anacreon Society’s theme the song was used as a test of sobriety. If a person could sing it, he wasn’t drunk enough.
from Wikipedia
SS
I vote for KC. Look how much territory you have to conquer to get there.
I’m thinking that Manhattan would be very defensible.
When the enemy lays out their cannon and mortar positions in Newark, Elizabeth, Staten Island, the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens, you’re surrounded. Literally. Bang bang bye bye Manhattan.
Er, wait. Are light and medium artillery permitted?
Despite the fact that it has/had forts all over the place, Manhattan has never been successfully defended against an attack from the sea. The British took it from the Dutch by a display of naval force against which their one fort did no good. The British took it away from the American Revolutionaries by an overwhelming naval force.
The historical lesson is that you can hold Manhattan if you control the sea as well; if not, you’ll lose it.
And if you don’t have total control of the water you’re vulnerable. I could easily see a mobile force of, say rubber rafts attacking Manhattan from Brooklyn unless you’ve got a LOT of ships in the East River. And there certainly aren’t enough fortifications along that side of the island to hold off anyone trying to establish a beachhead.
YMMV, depending on how you visualize the situation and allowable forces, but a relatively small but well-equipped force could easily invade manhattan.
Had no idea Mike was classically trained and a great singer!
Heh, being a comedian and anthematologist I know plenty of funny stories about national anthems (like the one that was written by a poet whose girlfriend trapped him in a room of her parents’ house (lured him in there with promises of sex) and refused to let him out until he entered the lyric contest for the national anthem; or the national anthem that was made up on the spot when the government official didn’t want to appear backwards by answering “we don’t have one” to the visiting British delegation’s request for their anthem so they can play it), I’ll add that one to my repertoire.
I underestimate the Dope sometimes, I often have to fight that ignorance outside the Dope, I forget that Dopers are smarter than the av-er-age bear. Thanks for reminding me.
U.S. Government attempts to isolate and quarantine Manhattan failed miserably, but not for lack of trying, in both Stephen King’s The Stand and the Will Smith remake of I Am Legend.
I’d think somewhere like San Francisco would be the best bet. Rough terrain and a peninsula would combine to give the defenders a real advantage.
Of course, they might have to cede parts of the city to make the best defensive lines, which is true in most places.
Quite literally. You know to hang your head in shame when Minot takes out tourism billboard ads to get you to come there.
I’m thinking infantry only. Bring in artillery and a navy and things would go very differently.
Give the invading army some credit cards and they’ll be too busy shopping to fight.
Maybe we should define this a little better. Are we talking modern-day infantry formations (companies, battalions, brigades, divisions)? or are we talking a bunch of guys with rifles, pistols, grenades and anti-tank weapons?
The reason I ask is because most infantry formations big enough to take a city (brigade/division) have integral artillery and sometimes even helicopter assets. Their subordinate units usually have mortars as well- for example, infantry companies have 60mm mortars.
But hasn’t all of the US, by definition, fell to someone at some point in time (the English, the Spanish, the French, or the US itself)?
I was thinking swords and shields.
By redefining the conditions, the nature of the game changes considerably. We don’t really have to imagine what a modern day attack on Manhattan would look like.
Are we talking about the best natural defenses, really? Because there you have to knock out most high-population cities and concentrate on small/medium populations. I’m trying to come up with any US city which could survive 2-3 weeks without outside water piping in, and I just can’t find a single one.
It’s also important to note that most areas of high natural defense already have military fortifications.
\hijack in the process I came across this: http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/brady-photos/images/fredericksburg-battery.gif Is that guy riding an elephant? /hijack
There’s no way you and you can keep them out of a city. People had a hard time keeping invaders out of fortified cities throughout history, and most modern cities aren’t surrounded by walls. They can have 750 guys start a firefight in one area that you will be forced to throw your weight into then have 250 guys walk around the whole city under the cover of night and swim in from the one place you thought impossible. You just can’t cover 360 degrees around a city 24/7.
You want to let them in, then fight a guerrilla warfare in the city until they’re all dead or have had enough. I’d pick New York because it’s big and you could move underground. There’s nearly infinite possibilities for ruining their day inside a city like that, but trying to keep them out of the city will have you running around frantically just trying to survive a war of attrition. Let them in and make them run around trying to survive while inside.