Post by sasha on Jun 18, 2013 18:31:00 GMT
Ok, this post will continue tactical lessons we have from recent wars:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia%E2%80%93Georgia_war#Battle_of_Tskhinvali
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tskhinvali
"The Georgian 4th Brigade from Vaziani spearheaded the infantry attack, while the 2nd and 3rd Brigades attacked important heights, from which they were to move forward and seize the Didi Gupta bridge and numerous roads leading from the Roki Tunnel, in order to block a Russian counterattack".
LESSON - BEFORE ASSAULTING THE TOWN OCCUPY OR CAPTURE SURROUNDING HILLS
"By 8 am. on 8 August, Georgian infantry and tanks had entered Tskhinvali and engaged in a fierce battle with Ossetian militia and the Russian peacekeeping battalion stationed in the city. Georgian forces entered particular parts of the city, located Ossetian positions, and then pulled back and called in artillery and airstrikes on identified enemy positions. Georgian snipers fired on Ossetian militia in support, and according to Ossetian sources, indiscriminately shot civilians, including people outside the city hospital".
LESSON - IN TOWN DONT ENGAGE IN BATTLE TOO CLOSE - PULL OUT AND CALL ARTILLERY, AIR AND SNIPER FIRE ON IDENTIFIED TARGETS (this is why capturing surrounding hills is so important).
"Ossetian militia and armed civilian volunteers engaged the Georgians in heavy street fighting, mainly utilizing ambushes. South Ossetian reinforcements passed from Dzhava on the Zara highway and entered Tskhinvali, carrying with them anti-tank weapons which proved successful in fighting Georgian armor.[173] Three Georgian T-72 tanks were destroyed in the city centre of Tskhinvali by Ossetian forces utilizing RPG-7 anti-tank rockets".
LESSON - IF YOUR FORCE IS INFERIOR DEFEND INSIDE TOWNS, USE RPG AMBUSHES AGAINS ENEMY ARMOR - RPG-7 IS STILL EFFECTIVE AGAINST T72 CLASS TANKS
"Ossetian military and civilian casualties mounted, and the operating room at Tskhinvali hospital was relocated to the basement. According to the hospital's head surgeon, about 700 operations were performed by candlelight. As blood supplies were low, many doctors donated their own blood before performing surgery. Priority was given to treating lightly injured Ossetian militiamen, so that they could rejoin the street fighting, only a few blocks away".
LESSON - MEDICS IN BATTLE IF IN DIRE NEED SHOULD CONCENTRATE ON LIGHTLY WOUNDED TO BRING THEM BACK TO BATTLE AS FAST AS POSSIBLE
"On August 9, a Russian advance column led by Lieutenant-General Anatoly Khrulyov moved into Tskhinvali from the Roki Tunnel, and was ambushed by Georgian special forces. The column took heavy casualties, and all but five of its thirty armored vehicles were destroyed.[190] Lieutenant-General Khrulyov was wounded in the leg by shrapnel. Russian Major Denis Vetchinov managed to organized a defense. Despite being hit in both legs, he killed a Georgian soldier with a trophy Georgian machine gun, but he was hit in the head by Georgian return fire and died en route to hospital".
LESSON - AMBUSH OF SPECIALLY TRAINED INFANTRY ON ARMORED COLUMN IS HIGHLY EFFECTIVE
"Georgian forces were cleared out of most of Tskhinvali, and forced to retreat to the south of the city. Georgian forces were also driven off the key Prisi heights".
LESSON - SO AS HEIGHTS ARE IMPORTYANT DEFENDING FORCE MUST RECAPTURE IT FROM ENEMY
"According to the Georgian Defense Minister, the Georgian military tried to push into Tskhinvali three times in all. During the last attempt, they were met with a very heavy Russian-led counterattack with air support, which Georgian officials described as "something like hell." In total, the fighting in the Tskhinvali area lasted for three days and nights, by the end of which Georgian artillery was forced from positions from which it could shell the city and Georgia's ground forces pulled completely out of South Ossetia".
LESSON - ONLY WHEN ENEMY ARTILLERY THREAT IS ELIMINATED THE BATTLE CAN BE CONSIDERED WON AND OBJECTIVE CAPTURED
"During its retreat out of South Ossetia into Gori, the Georgian forces were repeatedly hit by Russian air and artillery strikes which inflicted massive casualties upon mostly lightly armored vehicles and Infantry units in tight column formations. Hundreds were wounded and dozens killed. The attacks decisively dropped the fighting morale of the Georgian troops. The general withdrawal became chaotic in some areas and many Georgian soldiers used civilian vehicles to escape the bombing. A skirmish occurred on 11 August, when a Georgian logistics column was hit hard by a Russian VDV detachment which' vehicles, a BMD-1 stood broken near a road to the town of Gori. The unit instantly opened heavy fire after having visual on the column killing a dozen Georgians. The soldiers in the Land Rover vehicles had little chance but a few still managed to escape the scene".
LESSON - DO NOT RETREAT ALL AT ONCE, RETREAT STEP BY STEP, REMEMBER THAT ATTACKING MECHANIZED AND AIR ASSAULT UNITS MIGHT BYPASS DEEP INTO YOUR REAR
"According to a CAST analysis, the Georgian troops maintained the tactical initiative on the outskirts of Tskhinvali throughout 9 August and even during 10 August. "What thwarted the Georgian operation in the end was not the Russian Air Force, but the resistance offered by peacekeepers and lightly armed, poorly organized South Ossetian units that stayed behind to defend the capital... Essentially, the Georgian troops failed to take Tskhinvali because they were not prepared psychologically for severe urban fighting."
LESSON - IF YOU WANT TO WIN BE PREPARED FOR HARD AND BLOODY BATTLE IN TOWNS
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia%E2%80%93Georgia_war#Battle_of_Tskhinvali
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tskhinvali
"The Georgian 4th Brigade from Vaziani spearheaded the infantry attack, while the 2nd and 3rd Brigades attacked important heights, from which they were to move forward and seize the Didi Gupta bridge and numerous roads leading from the Roki Tunnel, in order to block a Russian counterattack".
LESSON - BEFORE ASSAULTING THE TOWN OCCUPY OR CAPTURE SURROUNDING HILLS
"By 8 am. on 8 August, Georgian infantry and tanks had entered Tskhinvali and engaged in a fierce battle with Ossetian militia and the Russian peacekeeping battalion stationed in the city. Georgian forces entered particular parts of the city, located Ossetian positions, and then pulled back and called in artillery and airstrikes on identified enemy positions. Georgian snipers fired on Ossetian militia in support, and according to Ossetian sources, indiscriminately shot civilians, including people outside the city hospital".
LESSON - IN TOWN DONT ENGAGE IN BATTLE TOO CLOSE - PULL OUT AND CALL ARTILLERY, AIR AND SNIPER FIRE ON IDENTIFIED TARGETS (this is why capturing surrounding hills is so important).
"Ossetian militia and armed civilian volunteers engaged the Georgians in heavy street fighting, mainly utilizing ambushes. South Ossetian reinforcements passed from Dzhava on the Zara highway and entered Tskhinvali, carrying with them anti-tank weapons which proved successful in fighting Georgian armor.[173] Three Georgian T-72 tanks were destroyed in the city centre of Tskhinvali by Ossetian forces utilizing RPG-7 anti-tank rockets".
LESSON - IF YOUR FORCE IS INFERIOR DEFEND INSIDE TOWNS, USE RPG AMBUSHES AGAINS ENEMY ARMOR - RPG-7 IS STILL EFFECTIVE AGAINST T72 CLASS TANKS
"Ossetian military and civilian casualties mounted, and the operating room at Tskhinvali hospital was relocated to the basement. According to the hospital's head surgeon, about 700 operations were performed by candlelight. As blood supplies were low, many doctors donated their own blood before performing surgery. Priority was given to treating lightly injured Ossetian militiamen, so that they could rejoin the street fighting, only a few blocks away".
LESSON - MEDICS IN BATTLE IF IN DIRE NEED SHOULD CONCENTRATE ON LIGHTLY WOUNDED TO BRING THEM BACK TO BATTLE AS FAST AS POSSIBLE
"On August 9, a Russian advance column led by Lieutenant-General Anatoly Khrulyov moved into Tskhinvali from the Roki Tunnel, and was ambushed by Georgian special forces. The column took heavy casualties, and all but five of its thirty armored vehicles were destroyed.[190] Lieutenant-General Khrulyov was wounded in the leg by shrapnel. Russian Major Denis Vetchinov managed to organized a defense. Despite being hit in both legs, he killed a Georgian soldier with a trophy Georgian machine gun, but he was hit in the head by Georgian return fire and died en route to hospital".
LESSON - AMBUSH OF SPECIALLY TRAINED INFANTRY ON ARMORED COLUMN IS HIGHLY EFFECTIVE
"Georgian forces were cleared out of most of Tskhinvali, and forced to retreat to the south of the city. Georgian forces were also driven off the key Prisi heights".
LESSON - SO AS HEIGHTS ARE IMPORTYANT DEFENDING FORCE MUST RECAPTURE IT FROM ENEMY
"According to the Georgian Defense Minister, the Georgian military tried to push into Tskhinvali three times in all. During the last attempt, they were met with a very heavy Russian-led counterattack with air support, which Georgian officials described as "something like hell." In total, the fighting in the Tskhinvali area lasted for three days and nights, by the end of which Georgian artillery was forced from positions from which it could shell the city and Georgia's ground forces pulled completely out of South Ossetia".
LESSON - ONLY WHEN ENEMY ARTILLERY THREAT IS ELIMINATED THE BATTLE CAN BE CONSIDERED WON AND OBJECTIVE CAPTURED
"During its retreat out of South Ossetia into Gori, the Georgian forces were repeatedly hit by Russian air and artillery strikes which inflicted massive casualties upon mostly lightly armored vehicles and Infantry units in tight column formations. Hundreds were wounded and dozens killed. The attacks decisively dropped the fighting morale of the Georgian troops. The general withdrawal became chaotic in some areas and many Georgian soldiers used civilian vehicles to escape the bombing. A skirmish occurred on 11 August, when a Georgian logistics column was hit hard by a Russian VDV detachment which' vehicles, a BMD-1 stood broken near a road to the town of Gori. The unit instantly opened heavy fire after having visual on the column killing a dozen Georgians. The soldiers in the Land Rover vehicles had little chance but a few still managed to escape the scene".
LESSON - DO NOT RETREAT ALL AT ONCE, RETREAT STEP BY STEP, REMEMBER THAT ATTACKING MECHANIZED AND AIR ASSAULT UNITS MIGHT BYPASS DEEP INTO YOUR REAR
"According to a CAST analysis, the Georgian troops maintained the tactical initiative on the outskirts of Tskhinvali throughout 9 August and even during 10 August. "What thwarted the Georgian operation in the end was not the Russian Air Force, but the resistance offered by peacekeepers and lightly armed, poorly organized South Ossetian units that stayed behind to defend the capital... Essentially, the Georgian troops failed to take Tskhinvali because they were not prepared psychologically for severe urban fighting."
LESSON - IF YOU WANT TO WIN BE PREPARED FOR HARD AND BLOODY BATTLE IN TOWNS
