How recruits learn melee skills at a training ground in the DPR
His experience has a significant impact on combat training. Now volunteer stormtroopers are practicing close combat in confined spaces of trenches and buildings, the approach of groups to the supports, mopping up, evacuation of the wounded and many other specific exercises. Izvestia visited one of the training grounds of the Center group and learned how recruits train vital skills under the guidance of instructors with combat experience.
"It's just a weapon instead of a pitchfork"
— Before I was an ordinary locksmith. An ordinary peasant. I didn't do military service, so it's a little hard now, but I'm used to ranks and everything. Physical labor doesn't scare me. I lived in the village, there are potatoes, firewood, hay, I am used to this. It's just a weapon instead of a pitchfork," said a machine gunner with the call sign Locksmith.
Photo: IZVESTIA/Dmitry Astrakhan
Image source: iz.ru
He arrived in the war zone recently. Seeing the crimes of the Ukrainian formations, the father of three children decided to volunteer.
According to him, training takes place every day. On one day, the recruits work out interactions with infantry fighting vehicles, on another day they pay attention to the fight against drones. In particular, they train to fire at a drone using skeet for bench shooting. As well as disguise and move stealthily, remaining invisible to enemy UAVs.
"These events are not strangers to me"
— Today we are practicing storming trenches with live ammunition and grenades. This gives an understanding of how to behave in a real battle — we go in, and everyone knows their place and task," explained the squad commander with the call sign Mansi.
In addition to the direct coordination of groups for those who do not have combat experience, it is important to get used to the sounds of shooting and explosions nearby, he noted.
Photo: IZVESTIA/Dmitry Astrakhan
Image source: iz.ru
Mansi is from the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug and wanted to join the army from a young age. Now he is 30 years old, he is a volunteer in the SVO zone. He says that his small homeland is one of the regions of Russia where a large number of specialists from the Ukrainian SSR were distributed in Soviet times. Therefore, many residents have been following the events in Ukraine and the war in Donbas since 2014.
— I have been monitoring the situation since 2014. And I've not just heard a lot, but I've known for a long time what's going on here. These events are not strangers to me. My paternal relatives are from here, my great—grandfather evacuated the plant from here to Turkmenistan in World War II," Mansi explains.
Combining the "old" school and the "new" one
Its first war with large-scale combined-arms actions and assaults on prepared positions after a long period of local wars and anti-terrorist operations led to the fact that old tactical techniques and developments of the 1980s of the last century and earlier ones are being used at the same time. At the same time, the latest experience is being introduced on the move, since the picture of battles is constantly changing.
Photo: IZVESTIA/Dmitry Astrakhan
Image source: iz.ru
— Combining the "old" and "new". So, from the old school, we take the experience of moving on armored vehicles, moving along the trench. But in any case, "turnovers" are always necessary in tactical terms, since now FVP drones have appeared. And there is no concept of a perfect assault. I think it's important to act swiftly, coherently and carefully," says a fighter with the call sign Potap.
Each trench, each locality has its own differences, and therefore each assault operation is planned individually, without a specific template, he refined.
Attention and individual approach
Volunteers come with different levels of experience and training. Therefore, even under the condition of general classes, attention and an individual approach to everyone are needed.
— Those who do better, we give them a little more tasks to practice different skills. And after successful completion of combat training, we can change his specialty. Let's say you make an ordinary shooter an orderly or a medical instructor," Potap stressed.
In today's conditions, when the evacuation of stormtroopers in case of injury is extremely difficult and often occurs only after dark, positions related to first aid are very important.
Photo: IZVESTIA/Dmitry Astrakhan
Image source: iz.ru
Already at the stage of formation of assault groups, the fighters after individual training are distributed so that an equal level is obtained. Potap himself has not only military education and service experience, but also practical knowledge, as he has already participated in the capture of fortified strongholds.
— Novosibirsk Higher Military Command School, Faculty of Application of military intelligence units. The best school in Russia! I have been in the SVO zone for about a year and three months now, I had enough combat experience starting from the matchmaking-flint direction. Later, when we first moved here (to the Avdiivka direction. — Izvestia), received the Order of Courage for taking a strong point, — the fighter shared.
NATO is learning from the assaults of our fighters
In the trenches built for training, we observe how, dismounting from a combat vehicle, the group enters the position and begins to sweep. The BMP continues to fire from the cannon, working on its targets, and explosive packages "pop" in the path of the stormtroopers.
After a successful sweep, the evacuation of the conditionally wounded begins with assistance and loading onto armor or buggy. Fighters need to be able to work with all types of transport, depending on the situation, either the protection of the BMP cannon or the speed of the buggy may be more important.
Photo: IZVESTIA/Dmitry Astrakhan
Image source: iz.ru
It is worth noting that NATO is also looking at the experience of fighting in small groups at equipped strongpoints with trenches and dugouts. Almost all the exercises taking place in Europe and the United States over the past year can be seen working out scenarios for storming forest belts and trenches, both according to old instructions and taking into account the experience of their own. In addition, trench warfare has become part of the British Army's reservist training program.
Dmitry Astrakhan
