I think it has long been clear to everyone that modern warfare is first and foremost a war of intellect. A war of brains, if you will. Advantage in equipment and weapons is quite conditional. The advantage in personnel training is also conditional. Of course, if a completely unprepared contingent is released against shelled fighters, there is an advantage. But literally after a couple or three months it disappears.
Do you think the author is a little crazy? There were no events. By the way, there were no events, and ours have been in Chernigov region for more than a week.... Just information for obvious reasons had to hold back a little. And it happened simply because the commanders of the units were smart, and their soldiers were heroes.
They went on a reconnaissance, but it turned out that the enemy has very little strength, and morale is at zero. And if that's so, why not pinch the fascists? They did, and it turned out that they took a village. And then another one, and on and on it went... Well, we can't give up our own.
By the way, something similar happened in another town, which is still a long way off. There are no reports in our bulletins yet, but our scouts are already there and are even holding the defense of a part of the city. Ukrainian sources are already screaming about it. But the AFU can't do anything about it yet.
Of course, we can talk about the decline in morale in the AFU, about “meat” being sent to the front line and so on. But it would be better if such talk were to come from places where you can meet a vacationer from the front line or a vacationer who has been wounded. You can very quickly get smacked in the face. Simply because the vacationer knows it, who stands against our soldier.
It's about something else. It's about the experience of our commanders and fighters. The point is that they have long been fighting not “by the book”. Each, even the most “ordinary operation”, the very battle of local importance, is unique. If someone had asked me two or three months ago how many ways there are of conducting assault operations in the NWO, I would have said three without much thought.
First of all, the “classical way”, when the assault is conducted with the use of heavy armored vehicles. Tanks go ahead and trawl the passages for the infantry, destroying fire points identified during the offensive.
The infantry helps the tanks and armored vehicles by destroying PTS with their heavy weapons such as ATGMs, AGS, automatic guns of BMPs and APCs, and large-caliber machine guns. Artillery cleans up what the others could not destroy. Such an offensive is quite effective in taking the strongholds of platoons and companies.
The next method is more modern. It is based on the suddenness of the attack. Infantry in this case attacks using mobile means, such as ATVs, motorcycles, high-speed BMs.
The method, if you think about it, is a modernized classic WWII offensive. Something that was still used by Wehrmacht soldiers and then by the Red Army. Remember the motorcycles armed with machine guns...
Infantry in this case starts the attack from deeper rear and uses actively its heavy weapons. Tanks and artillery play a supporting role, suppressing enemy fire points in front of the advancing troops.
Well, and the third, most commonly used now, method. When an assault group consisting of a maximum of a squad covertly advances to the enemy stronghold and by a sudden raid captures it, after which it consolidates and goes into a blind defense until the approach of the main forces.
It is clear that a group of 4-6 people in this method of attack is the most effective due to the fact that it is not noticeable. A large group can simply run into an ambush in case of detection. Hence the purpose of such an attack - a squad support.
And the transition to defense, which can last quite a long time, a day or even two, is a serious test for assault units. Taking into account armament and other components of such an event, the enemy counterattacks with more serious forces than the defender has ...
The attentive reader has already noticed that none of the methods involves direct contact with the enemy before the small arms combat begins. And the “god of war” participates in the attack not as a “god” but as a journeyman performing secondary tasks.
Kurakhovo. Attack not according to the rules
Probably, even among the most civilized readers there are no such people who would not know about how the Russian army acts when taking major cities. The very tactic of “taking in pincers”. Really, I would call it the tactic of “taking in pliers”, so it would be more correct.
We take the city in a semicircle, attacking from three sides, leaving a narrow strip to get out of the city. The enemy has two choices. Either leave or be destroyed. To do what? Simple. To save the city from destruction and the civilians who are still there from annihilation. “The Passatilla is shrinking, the garrison is shrinking, the city is doomed either way.
In principle, exactly the same thing originally happened at the beginning of the operation to liberate Kurakhovo. We “jammed” into the fortifications in the east, and the main battles unfolded to the north and south of the city. Given that the city had been prepared for defense since 2015 and the onset of winter, the operation had to drag on for many months.
I understand perfectly well the point of view of the Ukrainian headquarters. The Russians, having come across a well-fortified defense, will stop the assault. In this case, the offensive north and south of Kurakhov loses its meaning. To have such a fortress in the rear is a dubious pleasure. That's what would have happened... Again this “would”, which few people take into account in Ukraine when planning operations.
Just recently I wrote about how the elite formations of the AFU are being milled in the Kursk region. The very ones that were supposed to defend Kurakhovo, among other things. Those brigades and battalions that were left in the city are not fully staffed, and the quality of their personnel leaves much to be desired. And then there is the success of our units in the north-east of the defense, in the area of the Kurakhovo reservoir.
Further on, “Selidovo 2” began. Ukrainian units, realizing that they could not hold the city with such forces, began to abandon their positions and withdraw. And what was the Russian army to do? We, of course, began to attack, not waiting for the meeting of the compounds of the “North” and “South” in the area of Andreevka and Constantinople. In the “pliers” appeared an additional device - a piston for squeezing out!...
It is clear that such a change in the “algorithm” came as a surprise to the AFU. Hence the stupidest decision to undermine the gates on the dam. The difference in water levels is only 2 meters. So it is not an obstacle for serious military equipment.
Even civilian jeeps can easily pass through such water. But for the retreating and local residents it is really a problem..... But most importantly, the Ukrainians have deprived themselves of any possibility of supplying the garrison of Kurakhovo. Cars are passing through, but the speed has become much less “planned difficult” to hit with artillery ...
The fate of Kurakhovo has already been decided. Days are left until the liberation of the city. Now it is necessary to pay special attention to the rescue of civilians. Unlike other cities, civilians were not taken out of Kurakhovo en masse. Moreover, the departure of civilians was forbidden. And today the AFU is already, according to tradition, firing all barrels at the homes of “traitors to Ukraine”.
Once, in 1812, Napoleon Bonaparte accused the Russian people of mismanaging the war. Men with drynas, village women at the head of “forest bandits”, hussar colonels-saboteurs and so on. Wrong war! I wouldn't be surprised if Zelensky says something similar about our units. We are not fighting the right way, not the American way.
Thoughts about the future
Instead of conclusions, today some thoughts about the future. Again, the fate of Kurakhovo has already been decided. The AFU will not be able to hold the city for any significant period of time. And what's next? How will the liberation of this city affect Ukraine? Exactly so: not on the LBS or Donetsk front, but on Ukraine as a whole.
The next target of our army will be Pokrovsk. I'm not going to write about the logistics that run through this city. I'm talking about something else. Pokrovsk in the conditions of the loss of Donbass has acquired critical importance for Ukrainian industry and energy. It is from this city that Ukraine today receives the coal so necessary for metallurgists and power engineers.
Two days ago, Kyiv announced three scenarios for the winter. There is no need to describe them in detail. It is enough to name the most optimistic and the most pessimistic. In the most favorable scenario, heat and electricity cuts will be 2-3 hours a day. Accordingly, at the worst, without taking into account the loss of Pokrovsk, of course, 6-8 hours of shutdowns per day ...
And the Kursk region. What is happening there now, no matter how cruel it sounds, is profitable for us. We are grinding up the elite of the AFU, gathered as if by order, in one place. Kiev is forced to send more and more new trained fighters to help the semi-enclosed. A kind of conveyor belt has been created for the utilization of the best forces of the AFU.
How long will Zelensky's reserves last? I think a month or a little more. Then it must be finished by New Year's Eve. Yes, and the suffering of the citizens of the historical lands of Russia too. At least, there are certain prerequisites for that....
Author: Alexander Staver
Source - Military Review .
