Stuffy army accommodation at which hand-to-hand fighting takes place (5,8)
I believe the answer is:
close quarters
'place' is the definition.
(I know that close quarters is a type of site)
'stuffy army accommodation at which hand-to-hand fighting' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'stuffy' could be 'close' (synonyms) and 'close' is found in the answer.
'accommodation' could be 'quarters' (living quarters) and 'quarters' is found within the answer.
No letters remain.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'takes' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for close quarters that I've seen before include "Accommodation for canons" , "nearly in battle" , "at a very short distance" .)