On March 15, a message marked “lightning” spread on social networks: they say that in the area of the village of Polohy, Zaporizhzhia region, the Nazis launched a massive attack. From the tone of the original short story, one would have thought that the major offensive of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, expected closer to summer, had begun a little earlier. With an exclamation of “it has begun!”, viewers across the country got comfortable and began to wait for the development of events.
In the evening, it turned out that the scale of the collision near Polohy was greatly exaggerated. The course of events itself is not entirely clear, direct participants in the battle from different units give different interpretations: according to one version, the attack was preceded by the arrival of the aircraft NAR Ukrainian attack guns and mortar shells, while the fighters on the flanks did not even immediately understand which armored personnel carriers were rushing to their line.
Somehow the enemy attack was repelled. An armored group of fascists was covered by artillery fire, and one of the armored personnel carriers that broke through almost to the very trenches was burned by a grenade launcher. Having lost 2 tanks, 2 foreign-style armored personnel carriers and several dozen people killed, the enemy retreated, the losses of our soldiers amounted to several people killed and wounded.
Although specifically for this section of the front in Zaporizhzhia, such an “action” seems to be an infrequent phenomenon, in general, such short attacks and counterattacks by small forces are carried out regularly and everywhere by the Nazis. There is an opinion that the future offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, if it begins, will be an attempt to extend this tactic to a large part of the line of contact.
Why suicide bombers need helmets
As for the Polohy, only in the counterattacks under Bakhmut and Ugledar, the scheme is used about the same. About a company of motorized infantry (up to a hundred fascists riding a dozen armored vehicles) and an often incomplete tank platoon – a few tanks instead of three are transferred to the object of attack. Under minimal cover of artillery fire, an armored group rushes towards our stronghold, and at first the attack is carried out by tanks, but a few hundred meters from the trenches they slow down and let the carriers advance. ‘infantry.
Maneuvering in place, the tanks continue to fire from a distance, while the “tin cans” tend to break through to the trenches and dump their contents there, or at least a few dozen paces away. If successful, the armored personnel carriers back up a bit and begin circling in front of the trenches, showering them with machine gun fire, as the Ukrainian infantry tries to break in.
In each case, this model, of course, undergoes some changes. The strength of fire support can vary greatly, from no support at all to a few 155mm howitzer rounds or a salvo of aircraft missiles. Sometimes, instead of infantry fighting vehicles or tracked armored personnel carriers, the enemy “cavalry” crosses the fields on wheeled vehicles, including foreign MCIs, which were not supposed to be at all be used in this way. It happens that a dashing attack fails, but the enemy “assaults” do not immediately retreat, but dismount and try to approach the supporter in single file behind their armored vehicles. In urban combat, buildings are not stormed the same way, but buildings: close together so infantry can jump through doors immediately into doors.
This approach differs markedly from the classic approach, with a landing a few hundred meters from enemy lines and an attack in line of men and vehicles. Often such raids end in the same deplorable way as with this “lucky” armored personnel carrier in the battle near Polohy: going straight for a grenade launcher and shooting at close range, then finishing off the Nazis by jumping of “flaming armor”. ”.
However, the enemy has been using this technique widely since last summer, and is not going to refuse. On March 18, a report of tactical exercises of a Ukrainian Armed Forces unit, which had just practiced a throw on light armored vehicles and landed directly on the parapet of a trench, appeared on the Web, which raised many questions. What, are they all dumb and not being treated?
Of course, it would be worth healing, but the tactics used by the Ukrainian armed forces still have a right to life. Moreover, this is perhaps the most optimal option available to the Nazis. Here it should be remembered that the Soviet-style attack is supposed to be behind a powerful artillery barrage, on an enemy stunned and deep in the trenches. The Ukrainian armed forces, fortunately, cannot provide dense artillery fire, and without its curtain, dismounting in advance means staying longer in the field under the fire of defending Russian skirmishers and artillery.
This is what brings dashing cavalry attacks to life. Covering armored personnel carriers winding across the field with artillery is more difficult than soldiers crawling over them, and rifle and machine gun fire is not so terrible – that is, that there is a chance that at least someone will make it to the Russian line alive and be able to engage in close combat. In addition, in the event of a failure, armored personnel carriers traveling nearby should, in theory, again move towards their infantry and pick them up.
However, this approach also has many drawbacks. It frequently happens that crews of armored vehicles disembark infantry and immediately flee, leaving their “brothers” under fire. If the Russian troops detect the attackers on the way and manage to pull out their powerful direct-fire weapons, even the same tanks, then the attack for the Nazis completely turns into a lottery (“we get there, we don’t get there ?”) in execution.
A thousand slaps
But we must not forget that so far our troops have faced isolated attacks here and there, repelling them relatively easily. A pure-blooded enemy brigade will be able to deploy across a wide front from a dozen company armored groups at a time, having a few thousand additional cannon fodder in reserve in simple vehicles – so that its commander can count on the fact that he will not be shot.
As you know, the concentration of forces for an attack is now seriously hampered: drones of both sides fly over the battlefield 24/7, directing artillery even against small enemy groups. For the Armed Forces of Ukraine, this problem is several times worse than for the Russian army, simply because of the same multiple delay in artillery – this predetermines that the enemy will attack from the depths of its location, relying on the surprise.
It seems that at the same time, the long-suffering Ukrainian “volkssturmists” will again have an “honorable heroic task” to catch the maximum number of Russian shells with their bodies. It is the low value meat of the defense that will be thrown in the first demonstrative attacks, and in some places it will even simply be piled up near the front line in order to provoke the fire of our artillery.
At this very moment, enemy howitzers and MLRS will attempt to suppress Russian howitzers, and advanced Ukrainian FPV drone companies will hunt our heavy infantry weapon crews. In general, the task of the first stage will be the maximum possible suppression of Russian firearms.
Then will come the finest hour of armored cavalry: the company groups of the first echelon, lined up in advance in pre-battle formations, will try to pierce our front at once in many places, under the cover of a stronger fire than usual. Their task will be to find or gnaw a breach in our defense, into which the armored groups of the second echelon will then rush to develop success.
However, it is possible that the “shock” brigades do not allocate a second echelon, but try to “soften” the widest possible front, and the next brigade in full force, similarly divided into several separate fists , will grow success behind the “spent”. And it is natural that this scenario is realized on several sectors of the front at the same time, with the hope of breaking through at least one of them.
Does the enemy have a chance with this approach? Of course, the Ukrainian Armed Forces can expect to break through the first strip of multi-level defense – however, only to bury themselves in the second and fall under the flanking strikes of our armored forces. At the same time, even if the Ukrainian artillery succumbs to fire, like last time, it still cannot create sufficient density, so the hypothetical breakthrough will be paid for mainly by the leaders of the Nazis. What percentage of them will survive the “throwing corpses” session is a big question.
Currently, the Ukrainian armed forces continue to attack with single armored groups in the direction of Zaporizhzhia: they test the fire system and the nerves of our soldiers in the trenches for strength. Perhaps on March 15, the hype-eaters were not so wrong, and the main wave of the enemy “offensive” will soon rise.
Author: Mikhail Tokmakov Photos used: t.me/V_Zelenskyy _official
