re: Latest Updates: Russia-Ukraine Conflict

quote:

---

So what should the following armor have done?

---

Honestly, I do not know the armor battle drill for encountering mines specifically, maybe Segundo or Vader can elaborate.

First, they should fall back following their tracks. I suppose spinning around on an axis makes the most sense for speed. The last thing they want to do is go forward or stay in the area. Any obstacle should be covered by direct or indirect fire. If you stay there either the enemy will be close and open fire, preferably by taking out the rear vehicle, or a forward observer which could be a drone now will begin to direct indirect fire onto the tanks. The artillery in the area should already have accurate coordinates for the minefield.

So move back to a safer area and either call in the engineers or start prepping and carrying out your breaching operation yourself. They may have to do the latter since engineer assets are limited. Even the US military has limited engineer assets and I have seen little evidence of combat engineers in the combined arms of Russia. I saw some in the initial column headed to Kyiv but the lack of it on the battlefield indicates a lot of it may be lost. One general rule on the battlefield is shoot the funny stuff. Vehicles and material that looks different from the rest are there for some specific purpose, taking them out almost always has a bigger impact on the fighting ability of a unit than something there is a lot of. Engineer vehicles "look funny" so they get targeted. The only engineer assets I have seen operating on the battlefield for Russia are rear-echelon bridging and trenching machines.

How engineers or infantry would breach the field depends a lot on the type and size of the field and what assets are available. In a perfect world, you would have a MICLIC (mine clearing line charge) available and move it up to the start of the minefield. It fires an "explosive rope" out 100 meters and when it detonates it blows all the mines in a 100m x 8m lane using overpressure. The lane still has to be proofed and marked (not so much in heavy fire and/or during a time sensitive operation). A MICLIC requires fairly good control of the area which is not always available. Combat engineers often have a very dangerous job. One alternative is using an armored vehicle with a mine flail or mine rollers to clear a lane. Less effective but still can be used is a cluster bomb which if properly placed can act line a MICLIC, artillery shelling can have a similar effect but isn't as effective and leaves those big craters. A group of combat engineers with blocks of C4 with timed fuses running through a surface laid field is effective but dangerous. You also have the old school slow version of disarming each mine but they have to be treated as if they all have anti-tampering devices. This makes for slow excruciating work even if it is surface laid on soil, if it is on concrete or asphalt where you can't dig and get your hand underneath to probe for an anti-tampering device it requires you to GENTLY slide each mine to the edge of the roadway.

The alternative to dealing with the minefield is to find an alternate route, however, if the enemy is using a minefield and natural obstacles to channel you in a particular direction you can be almost certain you will be entering a kill zone.


TLDR: go back from whence you came and formulate a plan, going forward is a likely death wish.



ETA I should say in fairness the tankers behind may have thought it was artillery.

British Defence Intelligence
INTELLIGENCE UPDATE
UPDATE ON UKRAINE 13 February 2023

As of 07 February 2023, open source imagery indicated Russia had likely further bolstered defensive fortifications in central Zaporizhzhia Oblast, southern Ukraine, particularly near the town of Tarasivka. As of 08 January 2023, Russia had established defensive fortifications between the towns of Vasilyvka and Orikhiv, Zaporizhzhia Oblast.

Despite the current operational focus on central Donbas, Russia remains concerned about guarding the extremities of its extended front line. This is demonstrated by continued construction of defensive fortifications in Zaporizhzhia and Luhansk oblasts and deployments of personnel. Russia's front line in Ukraine amounts to approximately 1,288 km with the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia oblast frontline at 192 km.

A major Ukrainian breakthrough in Zaporizhzhia would seriously challenge the viability of Russia's 'land bridge' linking Russia's Rostov region and Crimea; Ukrainian success in Luhansk would further undermine Russia's professed war aim of 'liberating' the Donbas. Deciding which of these threats to prioritise countering is likely one of the central dilemmas for Russian operational planners.

quote:

---

ETA I should say in fairness the tankers behind may have thought it was artillery.

---

apparently the driver of the russian armor has a very limited view (see videos of armor running over their friendly infantry or running into other armor units). like you said, they may have assumed the explosion was artillery, ATGMs, another tank. In these instances, they need to keep moving of risk being a sitting duck for the next round.

Honestly, i picture Boris and Natasha from Rocky and Bullwinkle and figure figure they tell themselves "commander say go here, so i go here....."

Speaking of engineers, I can only remember seeing one or two but I remember watching them use some kind of smoke generator vehicle.

It was like a 113 or something blowing all kinds of smoke for an obstacle. Pretty wild.

US and Brazilian embassies advising all citizens to leave Russia (Brazil included Belarus) citing expected full scale invasion of Ukraine and fears of mass mobilization.

ETA: obviously this sort of guidance isn’t new to the situation, but seems telling giving timing and speculation.

ETA 2: adding France specially referencing Belarus and impending offensive

quote:

---

Long shot - I hope the package includes a replacement for StarLink by the military. If there is a viable substitute it should have happened months ago.

---

can i ask why? did elon pull out or something that im not aware of?

quote:

---

(MENAFN- UkrinForm) The lack of winter uniforms in the Russian army led to a significant increase in frostbite cases. In healthcare facilities of Horlivka, Donetsk region, up to 30% of all wounded have such a diagnosis. This is stated in the report of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine as of 06:00, February 13, published on facebook .

---

LINK

Twitter

Russians appear to be staging again at Pogonovo, where they previously staged for the original invasion. According to Google that’s 346.5 km NE of Kharkiv.

quote:

---

Speaking of engineers, I can only remember seeing one or two but I remember watching them use some kind of smoke generator vehicle.

It was like a 113 or something blowing all kinds of smoke for an obstacle. Pretty wild.

---

That is an M1059 which is on an M113 chassis. In the reserves, my Engineer Battalion was attached to a Chemical Brigade that had a smoke generation platoon somewhere in the structure but I never actually saw the unit and I don't know where it was based. There is also a smoke generation platform on the M60 (or was) it could be equipped with a blade, mine flail, or proofing rollers. The heavy mech/corp mech units use the M1059 and/or the M60-based unit and corp motorized units use smoke generators on Humvees. I saw the M1059s the year we went to NTC and the amount of smoke they can produce is impressive.