How much time is needed to master the German “Beaver”? ArmyInform correspondents visited one of the military units where professional…
Fighters of the 4th Operational Purpose Brigade of the National Guard “Rubezh” in the Dobropillia area recently fought the Russians and cleared populated places.
Our correspondent asked the servicemembers how it happened.
Fighter “Aibox,” scout:
— We received an order: we had to establish a blocking line and, in particular, my comrade and I were to reconnoiter the area. According to our information there were about 40 civilians there; we were to go see who lived there, warn the people that fighting might occur, and check whether there were any enemy forces.
We arrived at the task and went house to house to see who was there. We walked down one street — it was small — there were two old men and a young couple, civilians. One grandfather looked after several houses, a local; the other was a very old disabled man who could not leave, and a young couple.
I told them: you’d better leave this place, because after all, there’s a war. They packed their things quickly, probably were already preparing, so they left fast.
On the second street we didn’t meet anyone until we reached the very end. There was a woman with a man. We went to them — there was a big dog running around the yard, barking. They said: “Guys, we’ll tie the dog now and let you in.” We felt something was off, intuition didn’t fail us, we split up to the sides, and then eight men ran out of the house.
Some were dressed in Russian military uniform, some in civilian clothes, but all were wearing body armor and carrying weapons, and they began shooting at us. And we shot back accordingly. They immediately realized these were the Defence Forces of Ukraine and began fleeing the village.
…Their food and water situation was poor. Their logistics were foot-based and very stretched.
I measured on the map — they had to carry about 26 kilometers, everything in backpacks. And 26 km is in a straight line. If you go through the groves and along side routes, it’s 30–35 km.
And they had to get through “contacts” with us. They didn’t fight hard: if they ran into some position, they tried to go around.
But there were difficulties. You see, these are places where there had been no war, with dense green growth; a small group — two or three people — would move guided by their drone. They very rarely formed into large groups. And they moved cautiously. When a drone’s battery ran out, the occupiers would stop, smoke, and wait until a new drone arrived.
They often ran across open ground. It was precisely at those moments that we detected them. Most were destroyed.
But look: one group of three moves through, forty minutes later another goes, and on a route there can be up to six groups at the same time. They’re being guided. A village may be occupied by us, but somewhere on the outskirts, in the last house or in a copse near the village, they already have a dug-in foxhole, a communications antenna set up; they can lay low there and then move on.
And the person sitting there coordinates the movement of the group in his sector. Say five groups went out. Three were destroyed, two got through, and the next day — the same. And it goes on without stopping. Their practice is: if a unit does not advance, the commander is sent at the head of the assault group.
Oleksandr, machine-gunner:
— We were tasked with clearing the enemy that reconnaissance had located. About ten “kaсaps” had holed up in the last house; we were to come to that house and tear it apart.
Then reconnaissance went in and cleared everyone.
The occupiers fled from there, ran through the bushes, scrambled into the thicket. We worked from the vehicle: we drove up, did the job, and pulled back. Reconnaissance did the clearing.
It turned out we hit them with a cavalry-style dash, and surprised them. A Browning machine gun is mounted on our Roshel vehicle; it has a 100-round ammo box. We fired it off in about a couple of minutes.
When you’re working, time flies. Then another box across the house, then another. The house caught fire, and there were further detonations in it for several hours, because the occupiers had time to bring ammunition into it.
