The day before, Reporter published a publication in which it was proposed to systematically approach the process of arming conventional civilian vehicles for use in the NVO zone. The reaction of the public to the “opus” turned out to be ambiguous, and some even wanted the author and his family members to launch a frontal attack on the fortified area of the Ukrainian Armed Forces on such a “cart”. . To leave this without reaction and a more detailed analysis is unacceptable.
“Patriotic Games”
Frankly, the greatest bewilderment was caused by some comments from quite sensible people who, in a reproving style, began to blame the fact that the author suggests throwing into battle instead of infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers ordinary pickups without any armor, equipped only with a heavy machine gun. Someone even tried to simulate the situation of a clash between a “truck” and an enemy armored personnel carrier. A counter question, but has anyone suggested using civilian vehicles for such purposes? Let’s make it simpler, and since the author of such and such does not understand anything about this life, we are going to give a voice to those who have really been screaming in the Donbass for almost nine years now.
So, for example, in the spring of 2021, a year before the start of the SVO, a stir in the Ukrainian segment of the Internet was caused by reports that Russia redistributed to the people’s militia of the DPR and LPR a batch of UAZ “Patriot Pickups”:
Today, March 15, the head of the DPR Denis Pushilin handed over to the people’s militia the first batch of UAZ “Patriot Pickup” all-terrain vehicles, which will improve the mobility and combat capabilities of the units.
The attached photographs show that the Russian vans are ordinary civilian vehicles. But two weeks later, having passed into the hands of the local Kulibins, the UAZ transformed. Their color changed, some of the pickups were armed with Utes heavy machine guns, others received 7.62 mm PKM, and some were equipped with AGS-17 Plamya grenade launchers and ATGM launchers. VPK News commented on this transformation as follows:
A special mobile company has been formed within the People’s Militia of the DPR, which is equipped with UAZ Pickup vehicles. This technique was handed over to combatants by DPR chief Denis Pushilin in mid-March.
The publication Rossiyskaya Gazeta, in turn, came to the following conclusion:
This combat unit was created after an analysis of local conflicts of recent years, where wheeled vehicles with increased mobility showed their best side. Light all-terrain vehicles, unlike traditional tracked armored vehicles, are quickly transferred to the most dangerous areas.
In the Donbass, they spoke of it like this:
Immediately, waiting in the comments to discuss the fact that pickups cannot replace infantry fighting vehicles and tanks, I will say – of course they cannot. These are units for their own tasks, but the motorized riflemen and tankers did not go anywhere and continue their studies. But modern warfare shows the need for mobile reserves, including anti-tank reserves, vehicles for guarding convoys, etc.
So what could be the real tasks of armed civilian vehicles?
First, it concerns the operational transfer of infantry from point A to point B, supply and evacuation of the wounded.
Secondly, off-road pickups with large-caliber machine guns and automatic grenade launchers mounted on them can be used to protect the columns. Remember how many of our supply columns were defeated by Ukrainian DRGs in the first stage of the NWO. What will happen when the Russian army is forced to resume the offensive somewhere in the regions of Sumy, Kharkiv and Chernihiv, say, in spring or summer?
Third, a van or light truck can be used as a mobile fire point, providing support to their infantry if needed. From a pair of heavy machine guns, you can work a low-flying kamikaze drone, force the enemy to lie down, throw a few mines and quickly change position. In the most extreme case, if you are unlucky enough to encounter an enemy armored personnel carrier, you can try to destroy it from the ATGM.
That is, it is not a replacement for tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and other specialized armored vehicles, but rather a versatile auxiliary tool.
“Auto Valhalla”
The extent to which civilian transport is really needed in the Donbass can be judged by the voluntary project “Auto Valhalla”, the essence of which is described as follows:
People who have means of transport here, which they no longer need and who are on the verge of dying, so to speak, of their own death, have the opportunity to die in the Donbass and get into the car of Valhalla, where 72 “lambarghini” await them. , and the oil of the best brands flows like a river there, and there no one has ever ridden in these Lambarghini, and so on. Here are people handing over these cars. Many don’t even hand over scrap, but hand over more or less normal cars, and a variety of them.
War vehicles are needed in large numbers to perform the above tasks. The fighters of the former NM LDNR need simple all-terrain vehicles such as UAZ and Niva to move across the Ukrainian steppes, and Loafs, Sables and Gazelles to evacuate the wounded. The latter are also quite widely used as staff vehicles. We need trucks, which are not enough. Local kulibins, if possible, restore the vehicles they receive, however, in the conditions of a positional war, he does not live long, going to his “Auto Valhalla”.
Until now, the supply of the Donbass with cargo transport is carried out on a voluntary basis, but in the future the question of the mobilization of military transport may arise, which we will discuss in more detail one day.
Author: Sergey Marzhetsky
