Helmet Cam: Ukrainians Assault Russian Position with Tank Support

Excellent helmet camera footage released by a Ukrainian Soldier shows a near textbook combined arms assault against a Russian position in a heavily wooded part of Ukraine.


It's unclear where this was recorded. It is however worth clicking the setting icon and turning the quality up to 1080 on this video.


To the untrained eye, this video could look fairly chaotic. What you're looking at however is a near textbook combined arms assault with a tank acting as a mobile support by fire. The target is a Russian line of trenches just in the distance, and the mission of the Ukrainian troops here is clearly to take that from the enemy and destroy that position and troops inside of it through close combat.


Like any combined arms assault, conditions must first be set before an attack can commence. In this instance, you can tell that the infantry troops are escorting the tank to a support by fire position where the tank can set up shop and start laying down suppressing fires on the Russian positions. Tanks are notoriously easy to kill by infantry when they aren't supported by friendly infantry, and that still holds true today with the introduction of drones to the battlefield because there is a latency between the surrounding information from the drone getting to the tank's crew, and the crew's time to act on that relevant information. With support infantry, the crew can focus simply on maneuvering and preparing to attack instead of worry about every bush potentially hiding an anti-armor ambush.


Once the tank is in position, conditions are set for the infantry to begin their assault. We see that happen in this video. The tank scoots up into position and starts engaging the Russian positions with its main gun and coaxial machine guns. As soon as the tank is firing, we see the infantry conduct a movement to contact with the Russian forces while the tank continues to maneuver and fire with the infantry. This is where it's worth noting that return fire from the Russian positions is nearly non-existent because the Ukrainian tank is forcing the Russians to keep their heads down below the top of the trench in a position of cover.


The video ends before the assault itself is actually completed, but I'd be willing to bet that this assault was successful. The very nature of a combined arms attack like this makes it impossible for the enemy to respond in any meaningful way. Troops in their fighting positions are paralyzed by the withering fire of the support by fire position and are unable to respond to advancing infantry until the infantry is right on top of them. A trench is a great place to be when the enemy is 200-1,000 yards in front of you, but that same safety doesn't apply when the enemy is right on top of the lip of your trench firing in on you like you're a fish trapped in a barrel.


For those of you who like reading about this kind of stuff, I highly recommend checking out the 1985 warfighting publicationThe Maneuver Warfare Handbook by William S. Lind. I also highly recommend giving MCDP 1 - Warfighting a read as well. Both titles are full of excellent information, and having a solid understanding of both will really open your eyes to the reality of the situation on the ground in Ukraine. Every single day the war in Ukraine goes on, we get to see the Ukrainians utilizing warfighting doctrine that was specifically developed to defeat the Russian military in the field, and every single day those warfighting tactics (that were developed in the 1980s) are proving to be relevant even still in 2022.


josh brooks

Published 1 years ago

Excellent helmet camera footage released by a Ukrainian Soldier shows a near textbook combined arms assault against a Russian position in a heavily wooded part of Ukraine.


It's unclear where this was recorded. It is however worth clicking the setting icon and turning the quality up to 1080 on this video.


To the untrained eye, this video could look fairly chaotic. What you're looking at however is a near textbook combined arms assault with a tank acting as a mobile support by fire. The target is a Russian line of trenches just in the distance, and the mission of the Ukrainian troops here is clearly to take that from the enemy and destroy that position and troops inside of it through close combat.


Like any combined arms assault, conditions must first be set before an attack can commence. In this instance, you can tell that the infantry troops are escorting the tank to a support by fire position where the tank can set up shop and start laying down suppressing fires on the Russian positions. Tanks are notoriously easy to kill by infantry when they aren't supported by friendly infantry, and that still holds true today with the introduction of drones to the battlefield because there is a latency between the surrounding information from the drone getting to the tank's crew, and the crew's time to act on that relevant information. With support infantry, the crew can focus simply on maneuvering and preparing to attack instead of worry about every bush potentially hiding an anti-armor ambush.


Once the tank is in position, conditions are set for the infantry to begin their assault. We see that happen in this video. The tank scoots up into position and starts engaging the Russian positions with its main gun and coaxial machine guns. As soon as the tank is firing, we see the infantry conduct a movement to contact with the Russian forces while the tank continues to maneuver and fire with the infantry. This is where it's worth noting that return fire from the Russian positions is nearly non-existent because the Ukrainian tank is forcing the Russians to keep their heads down below the top of the trench in a position of cover.


The video ends before the assault itself is actually completed, but I'd be willing to bet that this assault was successful. The very nature of a combined arms attack like this makes it impossible for the enemy to respond in any meaningful way. Troops in their fighting positions are paralyzed by the withering fire of the support by fire position and are unable to respond to advancing infantry until the infantry is right on top of them. A trench is a great place to be when the enemy is 200-1,000 yards in front of you, but that same safety doesn't apply when the enemy is right on top of the lip of your trench firing in on you like you're a fish trapped in a barrel.


For those of you who like reading about this kind of stuff, I highly recommend checking out the 1985 warfighting publicationThe Maneuver Warfare Handbook by William S. Lind. I also highly recommend giving MCDP 1 - Warfighting a read as well. Both titles are full of excellent information, and having a solid understanding of both will really open your eyes to the reality of the situation on the ground in Ukraine. Every single day the war in Ukraine goes on, we get to see the Ukrainians utilizing warfighting doctrine that was specifically developed to defeat the Russian military in the field, and every single day those warfighting tactics (that were developed in the 1980s) are proving to be relevant even still in 2022.


josh brooks

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