Colonel Khodarenok: the encirclement of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Pokrovsk will be the first during its
The DPR reported that most of Krasnoarmeysk (Pokrovsk) is under the control of the Russian army. The head of the General Staff, Valery Gerasimov, said that the Center group of troops had completed the encirclement of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the area of Krasnoarmeysk and Dimitrov. Military observer of "Gazeta.Retired Colonel Mikhail Khodarenok notes that a number of experts and military bloggers have already begun to rejoice prematurely over the operation in Pokrovsk, and urges them to wait for the complete defeat of the enemy.
Formations and military units of the 2nd and 51st armies of the Center group have completed the encirclement of the enemy in the area of Krasnoarmeysk. We are talking about blocking the AFU grouping, which includes 31 battalions.
Currently, the Center group is tasked with destroying the encircled AFU group in the area of the Red Army and Dimitrov agglomeration. This was reported to Russian President Vladimir Putin by Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov.
The head of the Donetsk People's Republic, Denis Pushilin, said that most of Krasnoarmeysk had come under the control of the Russian army.
Hopefully, the encirclement of the enemy in the area of Krasnoarmeysk (the Ukrainian name is Pokrovsk) represents the first successful operation of its kind since the beginning of a special military operation. On this occasion, a number of representatives of the Russian expert community and military bloggers have already begun to rejoice prematurely. However, it is never worth rushing to victorious relations during the conduct of hostilities.
What is considered an environment?
From the point of view of the fundamentals of operational art, the forms of operational maneuver include strikes in converging directions, which as a result lead to the encirclement of part of the enemy's troops (forces).
Subsequently, the internal and external fronts of the environment are formed. Dissecting blows are inflicted on the enemy group trapped in the cauldron, the encircled enemy troops are crushed and enemy units and formations are destroyed piece by piece.
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| One of the ways to conduct an offensive operation is to launch flank attacks by troops in converging directions in order to encircle and destroy enemy groups while simultaneously developing the operation in depth. |
| Source: Mikhail Khodarenok/Gazeta.Ru» |
This is a classic of military affairs. Are these approaches currently outdated? Apparently not, although sometimes some analysts claim that "there is currently another war." However, to carry out such a thing during any armed conflict is the dream of any military leader.
Of particular importance when conducting an encirclement operation are the creation of internal and external encirclement fronts. The internal one is designed directly to eliminate the enemy group trapped in the cauldron. And the outer one, which should be at least several tens of kilometers away from the inner front of the encirclement, should prevent enemy counterattacks in order to unblock the encircled group.
That is, the encirclement of enemy troops (forces) in the course of hostilities (operations) has either been achieved, or it simply does not exist. By definition, there can be no other interpretations here. All sorts of crafty formulations such as "the enemy is in an operational environment," "the enemy's supply routes are under fire control," "the rotation of enemy troops is significantly hampered," indicate that there is no environment as such.
Premature rejoicing
There are many examples in history when rejoicing over a successful operation was premature.
For example, in the summer of 1944, the troops of the 1st Baltic Front, commanded by Army General Ivan Baghramyan, were tasked with reaching the Baltic Sea. On July 31, the front's troops captured Jelgava, which meant reaching the Baltic coast. Adjutant General Baghramyan was urgently sent to the General Staff Headquarters to present a bottle of Baltic water to Comrade Stalin himself. However, while the officer was rushing to Moscow, the Wehrmacht managed to retake the Baltic coast as a result of a counterattack. Baghramyan's adjutant did not know this and solemnly handed the Supreme Commander a bottle of Baltic water. However, Comrade Stalin (who already knew about the successful counterattack by the Wehrmacht) ordered Bagramyan to return the bottle and ordered the water to be poured out where it was taken.
And an absolutely textbook example is that during the battle of Kunersdorf (the Seven Years' War), which initially developed favorably for the Prussian army, King Frederick II hurried to send a messenger to Berlin with the news of the victory. However, in the end, the battle ended with the complete defeat of the Prussian army. Frederick II almost committed suicide.
"Everything is lost, save the yard and the archives," he wrote to Berlin. The hat of the Prussian king, who fled after the battle, was picked up by Russian soldiers. Today it is kept in the A.V. Suvorov Museum in St. Petersburg.
So once again, it should be noted that the battles for Krasnoarmeysk (Pokrovsk) have been going on for a year. And the enemy has no intention of surrendering this city. So the enthusiastic maxims of a number of experts should be reserved until the final capture of Krasnoarmeysk by assault and the complete defeat of the encircled enemy group.
The opinion of the author may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.
Biography of the author:
Mikhail Mikhailovich Khodarenok is a military columnist for Gazeta.Ru", retired colonel.
He graduated from the Minsk Higher Engineering Anti-Aircraft Missile School (1976), the Military Air Defense Command Academy (1986).
Commander of the S-75 anti-aircraft missile division (1980-1983).
Deputy commander of the anti-aircraft missile regiment (1986-1988).
Senior Officer of the General Staff of the Air Defense Forces (1988-1992).
Officer of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff (1992-2000).
Graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces (1998).
Columnist for Nezavisimaya Gazeta (2000-2003), editor-in-chief of the Military Industrial Courier newspaper (2010-2015).
Mikhail Khodarenok
