text: Chapter 1
  1-43. An offensive operation is an operation to defeat or destroy enemy forces and gain control of terrain,
  resources, and population centers (ADP 3-0). Offensive operations are how commanders impose their will
  on an enemy. The offense is the most direct means of seizing, retaining, and exploiting the initiative to gain
  a physical and psychological advantage. Offensive operations typically include a sudden action directed
  toward enemy weaknesses, capitalizing on speed, surprise, and shock. The offense compels an enemy force
  to react, creating new or larger weaknesses the attacking force can exploit. (See ADP 3-90 for a detailed
  discussion of the offense.)
  1-44. A defensive operation is an operation to defeat an enemy attack, retain key terrain, gain time, and
  develop conditions favorable for offensive or stability operations (ADP 3-0). Normally the defense cannot
  achieve a decisive victory. However, it sets conditions for a counteroffensive or a counterattack that enables
  forces to regain the initiative. Defensive operations are a counter to an enemy offensive action, and they seek
  to destroy as many of the enemy forces as possible. Defensive operations preserve control over land,
  resources, and populations, and they protect lines of communications and critical capabilities against attack.
  Commanders can conduct defensive operations in one area to free forces for offensive operations elsewhere.
  (See ADP 3-90 for a detailed discussion of the defense.)
  1-45. A stability operation is an operation conducted outside the United States in coordination with other
  instruments of national power to establish or maintain a secure environment and provide essential
  governmental services, emergency infrastructure reconstruction, and humanitarian relief (ADP 3-0). These
  operations support governance by a host nation, an interim government, or a military government. Stability
  involves coercive and constructive action. (See ADP 3-07 for more information on stability operations.)
  LARGE-SCALE COMBAT OPERATIONS
  1-46. The focus of Army readiness is on large-scale
  combat operations. Large-scale combat operations are The Army is manned, equipped, and trained to
  extensive joint combat operations in terms of scope and operate in all operational scenarios or
  size of forces committed, conducted as a campaign categories, starting with the most lethal
  conditions first—large-scale combat against a
  aimed at achieving operational and strategic objectives
  peer threat.
  (ADP 3-0). During ground combat, they typically
  involve operations by multiple corps and divisions, and
  they typically include substantial forces from the joint and multinational team. Large-scale combat operations
  often include both conventional and irregular forces on both sides.
  1-47. Conflicts encompassing large-scale combat operations are more intense and destructive than limited
  contingencies, often rapidly amassing heavy casualties. Peer threats employ networks of sensors and long-
  range massed fires that exploit electromagnetic signatures and other detection methods to create high risk for
  ground forces, particularly when they are static. Army forces must account for constant enemy observation,
  including the threat from unmanned systems that saturate the operational environment. Army forces take
  measures to defeat the enemy’s ability to effectively mass effects while creating exploitable advantages to
  mass effects against enemy capabilities and formations.
  1-48. Urban areas are high risk areas that are a factor in many operational environments. Avoiding urban
  areas during large-scale combat through deception or other means is ideal, but generally not possible.
  Commanders may conduct urban operations because they provide a tactical, political, or economic advantage,
  or when not doing so threatens the joint campaign. Army forces conduct large-scale combat operations in
  urban areas either as specific, unique operations, or more typically, as one of a larger series of operations in
  a joint campaign. Urban operations focus on the threat to or within the urban area and allow other forces to
  conduct operations elsewhere. Conducting operations in dense urban terrain is complex and resource
  intensive. Combined arms operations that integrate joint capabilities, allies and partners, and conventional
  and irregular forces are essential to success. Commanders voice concern to higher headquarters when they
  do not have sufficient forces for the task issued, and they must arrange their forces and operations according
  to purpose, time, and space to accomplish the mission. Success in defeating enemy forces in large urban areas
  typically requires the ability to isolate them from physical, information, and human support. (See ATP 3-06
  for more information on urban operations.) During large-scale combat operations, Army forces focus on the
  defeat and destruction of enemy ground forces as part of the joint team, and they contribute to the defeat of
  forces in other domains. Army forces close with and destroy enemy forces in all types of terrain, exploit