Why Russia’s “New” Assault Units are 80 Years Old

[@WormholeJim]

I lost an uncle due to how a unit on mission can't evacuate casualties. He was in the french foreign legion and with his squad on patrol in the desert in Algier sometime in the 60's. During a rest he got stung by a scorpion and fell ill. The squad had to move on finishing the patrol and left him to pick him up on the return two days later. When they got back to him, he had died. They send his fez to my grand mother and thanked her for his sacrifice.

[@yohesmokingdaboof9920]

Rest in peace 🇫🇷🤝🇩🇿

[@mozarkozark]

You have to be pretty weak to die from a scorpion sting. Maybe he mine crafted himself after realizing he was brain washed into becoming a trained hit man for the rich and they made up a funny story to tell his relatives instead.

[@theulmateunit648]

@@mozarkozark EXCUSE THE FUCK ME?

[@dabo5078]

@@Josh_728 Nope his story is far more likely than death by scorpion

[@christophercao7027]

@@mozarkozark Feels less to me like it was because of the sting but rather because how the sting made him unable to keep up with the rest of the squad in the desert. Being stranded alone in the desert is one of the easiest ways to die. Even if he survived the sting I'd put the chances of him surviving a desert night or two at fairly slim.

[@michaelk19thcfan10]

The general concept of specialized trench assault units goes back to World War I. German Stormtroopers of the Great War were inspired by the tactics developed by General Brusilov of the Russian Imperial Army. Interesting Russian doctrine is the use of multi-day artillery bombardment. Previous doctrines was for brief artillery preparation so the enemy does not know where the assault will take place.

[@artiomleoncenko2994]

I was wondering what about making tracked drone, a modern version of the ww2 German goliath tracked mine with a lot of explosive mass that can advance straight into the trenches at night or covered by smoke.

[@vasiliymedvedev1532]

Multi day artillery bombardment is used due lack guided artillery shells

[@petrimakela5978]

I agree that this is pretty much adaptation of the good old Sturmtruppen. Especially as the tanks are used just as direct fire artillery unlike their WW2 counterparts. It's Bite and hold instead of breach for exploitation by mobile forces.

[@ArkBlanc]

Bombarding positions for days or even weeks is a tactic called "shaping the battlefield" iirc

[@petrimakela5978]

@@ArkBlanc Also a WW1 tactic

[@borismedovar9968]

0:30 forest protection zone is not a russian military's name for it. FPZs were planted across South Ukraine and Russia back in 50s to protect soil from wind erosion.

[@TheLordGhee]

I wonder what the term is in OK. my Grandfather stated all the tree lines where put in by the Civilian Conservation Corps call them wind breaks

[@BassGoThump]

@@TheLordGhee Yup. Same thing for the same reason. Different name.

[@dimitrius8095]

after a terrible agricultural experience in the USA ... when soil erosion occurred with large sown areas .... one of the causes of the famine is the use of the US example in the 20s ...

[@ТюринМаксим-т7т]

@@TheLordGhee в россии это называют lesopolosa (линия леса) или lesoposadka (деревья посаженые человеком)

[@ErraticThought]

Have at all across EU to be honest. keeps the top good soil from being blown away by wind.

[@roadhouse6999]

It's really not a bad tactic, just because it focuses primarily on "how" rather than "who, what, when, where, or why", and thus can be applied to a lot of situations without the enemy having a way to counter it in broad terms, kind of like battle drills used by the U.S. Army. It creates dilemmas, not problems. What would make it fail is company and platoon leadership using bad tactics within this methodology, or higher level leadership sending these assault detachments into fights they simply don't have the combat power to win.

[@diggman88]

Higher level Russian officers haven't really proved their metal so far. So I fully expect a few of these units to be lost like the U.S. Ranger battalions in world war II.Three battalions of Rangers were lost because a commanding officer did not understand their capabilities.

[@roadhouse6999]

@diggman88 yep. When I was a lieutenant, a captain told me, "your job is to win the fight. It's your commander's job to get you into fights you can actually win."

[@benlex5672]

@@diggman88 Whenever a commander succeeded in an operation, they switched him out of the role. There is no official reason why they do that but the logical explanation is political infighting.

[@willthorson4543]

@@diggman88 They were not lost because of a misunderstanding of theur mission, they ran into heavy german units. Tiger tanks jagdpanther ends so on.ot was in Italy. They did great in the huertgen forest after the ridiculous stalemate there for a month because US commanders refused to be up with their men. One of the few times during the war that happened. It was the largest firing/resigning of US officers in the war. Crazy stuff.

[@prinzalbatross9526]

@@diggman88 I can only find information on the 1st and 3d battalions being wiped out. The 4th survived and was folded into the 1st SSF.

[@OfficerRay101]

The animation and depth of information in your videos are so hard to find in the general commentary sphere. Keep it up man!

[@MrSwccguy]

Not really, this is all available

[@alco7117]

@@MrSwccguy Where?

[@volairn70]

yeah, curious what your sources in the commentary sphere are that discussed this as in depth as he has.

[@winter15motivation44]

He says flamethrower in modern war sounds deadly

[@Teutius]

With state department cash and resources anything is possible

[@MichaelSmith-pp3wp]

The organization seems incredibly fire heavy and rifleman light. Plan seems to be to win through sheer firepower with the assault platoon mopping up opposition and physically taking ground. The concentration of so much firepower assets compared to few infantry would seem to limit the number of assault detachments Russia could field and thus limit the extent of any offensive. Maybe good for concentrating on a select few trench lines, but only on narrow front.

[@sniperboom1202]

I think it gets even worse than that. Russian units are notoriously understaffed and even during world war II, a full Soviet division would only be around 8000 men as opposed to every other country is which would be between 14,000 to 16,000. While unit sizes have certainly decreased since world war II, the basic rifle, platoon and company composition really shouldn't change. If I recall correctly, American combat teams are broken up into squads of 12 guys six pairs of two, three pairs of four it gives you an organic composition that lends itself well to having one or two of men knocked out from casualties. The Russians only having nine men in the squad means that if one guy gets taken out, they're all but combat and ineffective.

[@merocaine]

Yeah that seems to be about the size of it. The Russians seem to have realised they can't ask married men with kids to charge enemy trenches, anyone watching this war take note. The Ukrainians seem to be the opposite, manpower heavy fire power light.

[@cattledog901]

​@@sniperboom1202 The modern U.S. Army squad is 9 men.

[@eliasziad7864]

@@sniperboom1202 They will probably take out 3-5 ukrainians in the trench anyways.

[@sniperboom1202]

@@cattledog901 yup you're right modern squad consists of 2, 4 man fire teams under the command of a of an NCO. For a total of nine guys. You still end up with four, two men "battle buddies", but I was wrong. I think my point still stands about the Russians being notoriously understaffed though.

[@gerardcurtis3911]

The word verbatim means "exactly as said", rather than "exactly". As such "I'll let you know what I hear verbatim" works, where as "the group is as old as the USSR verbatim" does not

[@daniels0376]

Verbatim can be used interchangeably with "literally" , no?

[@jakobc.2558]

You by far the best military focussed channel on YT. Your videos are incredible.

[@BattleOrder]

Thanks mate

[@krisviira8315]

Red effect is great also

[@lostspace2310]

Operations room, task and purpose, perun are all good as well

[@jaydonly2336]

@@lostspace2310 not really task and purpose, their videos have lots of common mistakes and they are kinda biased lol

[@angelchavez5811]

Total agree with this assessment made by one of your viewers. 100% effort equals 100% viewer satisfaction. Great work, keep it up.

[@danmorgan3685]

The fact the unit has historical analogues shouldn't be seen as a strike against it. The fire and maneuver tactics developed by the French in WWI are still adaptable to modern warfare. Those are over 100 years old.

[@OSTemli]

You should stop eating you government propganda. This tactics is russian world war 1 tactics by Russian general Bursilov which German copied. You people are the same who says Ak is copy of German gun when Russian where the one who invented assault Rifle first , the Avtomat battle rifle that ak is based on

[@stephena1196]

I remember reading many years ago of three attacks separated by hundreds of years on a larger enemy encamped between a river and a wood, all using the same tactic One from the Hundred Years War, one from the Peninsular War and one from WW2. The archers/infantry creep through the wood and opened fire when the cavalry/jeeps armed with machine guns charged in along the open ground parallel with the river.

[@laszlokiss483]

@@stephena1196 as the saying goesm there is nothing new under the sun.

[@soup31314]

fire and maneuver goes back alot further then ww1... fix and flank is basic tactics from med evil times.. where your bowman would suppress, your infantry would fix and the cavalry would flank.. only thing that has changed is the engagment distances

[@soup31314]

@@stephena1196 Patton was able to recount battles in Europe from the Roman legion days because he believed you was there

[@jannegrey]

yeah. When I saw someone referring to this as "innovative" I almost spilled my drink. I'm pretty sure you could find even older examples (WW1?), where sapper/assault groups were used in similar manner. Though this would depend on the front.

[@norbi1411]

Yes you can. It's basically the same tactics employed by Stoßtruppen and Arditi during WW1 to overcome even the same problems Russains face now XD.

[@nathanielnachtigall7074]

@@norbi1411 That's much older concet. Think about grenadiers or Dutch verloren hoop detachments. Doppelsöldner were also used as stormtroopers of some kind. Concept of units specialized in breaking through enemy formation (entrenhced infantry is some form of formation) dates back to at least middleages (from what i recall and if i remembered it correctly)

[@norbi1411]

@@nathanielnachtigall7074 if try hard you could even trace it back to ancient greek hoplites, but in terms of organisation, tactis, equipment WW1 is the most adequate.

[@wardaddy6595]

It's a concept called the "forlorn hope" and goes back at least to medieval times if not earlier.

[@killer3000ad]

It's "innovative" to the Russians, but not to anyone else.

[@rockin3404]

The 'officer' in the team is the NCO equiv more or less in western armies, its not really the case that the tasks of the NCOs aren't performed ('cos there's no NCO per se), rather they are performed by officers (with different training and pay, along with some other platoon and company level specialists).

[@vatodanelia5411]

Tactics & organisation videos are the best as always Edit: Russian movie best in hell closely represants what u show us where 3 groups are each 9-12 men with attached AGS-17 mortar and armour teams to them. Its almost exactly same what u showed us

[@OSTemli]

Best in hell most realistic war movie ever seen

[@vatodanelia5411]

@@OSTemli it's not as realistic it has russian propaganda ellements but in general this mivie is close to military tactics and equipment

[@taxult]

@@vatodanelia5411 its not so much propaganda to say like ukranians are nazis, it respects both sides, especially with that scene with the picture of mary and the Russian and Ukranian said their grandfathers fought in Berlin together

[@vatodanelia5411]

@@taxult it definetly contains propaganda with that scene russians wanted to show that ukrainians and russians aren't so different and thay are same and this war is by the west and bullshit like that

[@genericbit677]

@@taxult It just employs a different brand: ""It's a Brothers War!". Not a word of Ukrainian language throughout, aforementioned ww2 bit /orthodox faith and so on. A Ukrainian is everything a Russian is, blah blah, why fight, smth smth.

[@MrDoctorCrow]

Multi day artillery barrages, rolling barrages to cover the shock troops. Fighting from trenches. What is this, the summer of 1916?

[@toysoldier6093]

These videos have really engaged my interest in graphic design. Your capacity for conveying imformation with visuals is, in my opinion, without peer.

[@nicholaswalsh4462]

This reminds me of the Stosstruppen of World War One. Personally, I'd like a translated version of this manual so I can read it myself. The use of a lengthy prepatory barrage against a trench line seems to be a repeat of the mistakes of 1914-1918, where barrages that lasted sometimes up to weeks were entirely ineffective at suppressing enemy positions.

[@noobster4779]

They can work, however you definitly need the artillery volume to do it. In theorey you just bombard several trench strongholds and basically soften up the defense (or more accuratly exhaust the defenders) and then only attack one of the bombarded strongpoints in the end, denying the defender the knowledge of where you attack but also getting the benefit from prolonged bombardmeant. The problem with this tactic in WW1 was that after the artillery a massive attack on a huge part of the frontline usually followed, resulting in the attacks not being focused enough However this compleatly depends on artillery ammunition....and I very much doubt Russia has the capabilities for mass bombardmeant for long. And while this tactic might have difficulties against very determeant defenders or long term veterans, both sides are at this point fielding mobilized personal armies and have barely any pre war troops left. And the quality of territorial units in Ukraine for example also varies heavily, same as with the russian mobiks. This type of bombardmeant simply doesnt require much training or coordination by officers, two things russia has a crippling lack of.

[@Ταυρικήσιδηρίτις]

This is called positional combat. And to put it simply, both sides are in fortified positions. Artillery works on both sides. The Ukrainian side in this case is in more fortified positions, many trenches and dugouts have been built since 2014, when Ukraine was politically captured by the West and was preparing for this. I'm not inventing anything, just listen to Merkel, Macron and Poroshenko, who signed the Minsk agreements. They are talking about it now. They were not going to fulfill the agreements, as the above-named persons say, they simply played for time and prepared their proxies. When the Russians entered and helped the republics (Donbass), the Ukrainian troops were surrounded in several places and practically demaralized. Proxy owners immediately appeared and got out of the situation. That is, the EU simply deceived Moscow that the Minsk agreements would be implemented, and they are the guarantors of their implementation. Note that under these agreements, Donbass would remain part of Ukraine, but would receive broad autonomy and freedom of choice of language. I digress from the topic. In short, such sluggish positional battles last for years and are won by the more wealthy side in terms of resources. Either they destroy the routes for the supply of reserve troops and shells from the rear, and then storm the weaker sectors of the front. So far, nothing of the kind is visible from either side. And in general, I see that there is a kind of game of giveaway or playing along for the sake of a third force. Otherwise, the Carpathian tunnel would have been in ruins for a long time. Like all seaports. They are not even blocked. Not destroyed locomotives and railway infrastructure. Bridges in the rear and flyovers were not destroyed. Despite the fact that decision-making centers are located outside of Ukraine. We do not see the destroyed buildings of the likely habitat of the cocaine puppet, i.e. Zelensky and other Ukrainian officials. Needless to say, there is a lot of military equipment in Russia, but the Russians partially use old tanks from storage. Maybe they are preparing a reserve against other US-controlled countries like Poland and other East European US puppets.

[@nicholaswalsh4462]

@Noobster I'm aware. However, it doesn't change the fact that lengthy preparatory barrages had a very low success rate, due in large part to the fact that once the fire stops, the enemy is no longer suppressed. One of the advantages of Stosstruppen and late war Allied and Central Powers Doctrine was that the barrages were shorter, more intense, and didn't end until the assault was already leaving the trenches, when it would then jump to second line trenches. But without spotting or correction, the fire is even less effective, which will hamper the effectiveness of these units and increase casualties in an already high-casualty mission.

[@bladfadsfblaadsfsadf900]

@@Ταυρικήσιδηρίτις I think you need to come to terms with the fact that Russia isn’t as powerful as you might have believed it was. I certainly thought so before they started this more official invasion, but those notions have been utterly shattered. To believe that the Russians are holding back is just bonkers. They severely miscalculated Ukrainian resolve and didn’t believe that the small amount of support that Kyiv had been provided through military aid would be enough to stop them. With the ramping up of support, Moscow can at best hope for a stalemate. Think of it this way. Did the US “hold back” when it formed the coalition to oust Saddam from Kuwait? No. They deployed at least 6 carrier and expeditionary strike groups in and around the Persian Gulf to support combat operations on the ground, which themselves involved hundreds of thousands of infantry and support personnel and additional Air Force assets in Saudi Arabia. Same with the invasion in 2003. If overwhelming resources aren’t implemented in taking offensive actions, you more than guarantee prolonged fighting, and in turn, higher casualties for your force, as we see for the Russians now. They either did not have the necessary resources to mount a proper invasion or hadn’t taken away the proper lessons from their participation in the preceding war in the Donbas, or both. The Russians should be thankful that Washington and Brussels haven’t really gone all in in terms of more sustained and substantial support for Kyiv. Put simply, unlike the Americans, the Russians just don’t have a high level of combat readiness. They may be adapting, but so are the Ukrainians. Nothing is static, and the one chance the Russians had to catch their opponents off guard has long passed. And I’m sorry to say that I find your notion of a Russian expansion of the conflict to areas like Poland to be beyond the realm of any reality. It would ensure a collapse of the Russian Armed Forces if they were to do that. This deployment of obsolete equipment is a clear indication of glaring deficiencies in combat power. And on your views of the geopolitics: It is the Russians and not the Americans who have driven countries like Poland and Ukraine toward the Western camp. Whether it be deep wounds from the Soviet era or a clear lack of regard for their equal sovereign rights by the Kremlin, governments in Warsaw and Kyiv have seen the clear benefit of aligning with Washington. These countries you call “puppets” have agency. And where you get the notion of the Minsk agreements being a trick of the West is beyond me. I don’t deny there was likely mutual shelling along the LOC, but I don’t know how the DPR capturing the Donetsk International Airport is a defensive action, nor their continued attacks that ended Minsk I. After the disastrous battle of Debaltseve, which was an undeniable sign of broader and direct Russian involvement in the Donbas, it put Putin in a prime position to call the shots in establishing the de facto border of his two satellite states in Donetsk and Luhansk through Minsk II. Without his intervention, the DPR and LPR would likely have been unable to sustain themselves in prolonged fighting, let alone conducted a broader offensive. Putin has used them as a useful stepping stone, waiting for the opportunity to arise for him to make a more deliberate strike against Ukraine. And he did so under the veil of a quite obvious car bombing false flag attack conducted before he moved even more troops into the region and redeployed troops to areas with propositioned equipment from earlier exercises like Zapad 21. The Russian information space has been quite good at convincing people around the world that the Kremlin is somehow in the right. In reality, this is just naked aggression against a sovereign state, fueled by Moscow’s neuralgia of the Color Revolutions that took hold in the post-Soviet space.

[@doncarlton4858]

Lengthy barrages are needed when your guns are so inaccurate, your ammo so unreliable and your gunners are so poorly trained that only a small fraction of fire drops near the intended target.

[@comentedonakeyboard]

The Problem with creating "Sturmtruppen" (or in Italian it would be "Ardititi" i think) is that this depletes the regular units of the best Soldiers. As seen in Germany 1918.

[@giuseppe7361]

Arditi.

[@Slavic_Goblin]

It's not not that much of a problem if the entirety of combat is small scale "trench cracking".

[@comentedonakeyboard]

@@giuseppe7361 exactly those (unfortunately i dont speak Italian)

[@oblivionzzzmike]

Arditi - the brave

[@comentedonakeyboard]

@@oblivionzzzmike makes sense.

[@davidlisovtsev6607]

imma put this video in the officer academy here, excellent work

[@MaxwellAerialPhotography]

I would say this concept is even older than you suggest. This seems in many ways similar to British (and other nations) practice going back to at least the Napoleonic Wars of have grenadier companies in every Regiment or battalion. Made up of many of the best and toughest soldiers in a Regiment, the Grenadier company would often be the first to initiate a bayonet charge against an enemy line or position after the exchange of musket fire.

[@RazorsharpLT]

Well, maybe not THAT old But it's definitely similar to German stormtrooper tactics of WW1

[@REDACTED_shenanigans]

You could even argue that this concept can be traced even further back to the heavy shock infantry of the late medieval area, which was a type of unit specifically meant to be the first to storm baricades or punch through a hostile line Really, assault/shock units are as old as organised warfare itself

[@richardthomas598]

The amazing part is how some 250 dudes are standing off and shooting the place up, all so just 9 actual shooters can assault the position.

[@OSTemli]

That's how war is 20% fighting 80% supporting. And who gets the medal ? The 80%. If they don't do this, it will become human wave tactics

[@TheArklyte]

Do you have a video on hedgehog defense or on how radios and long range artillery changed the siege not only for attackers, but also for defenders, who can nowadays act as artillery spotters for their comrades?

[@MrSwccguy]

Radiomen aren't forward observers

[@Seasniffer1969]

Forward observes would be scouts or long range recce. That's a diff mission set than big army. I'd imagine they use drones nowadays to extend the FO and get more precise troop locations. Which LRR can do. And did in Vietnam alot. Send in a LRR to find a bunch of troops, give coordinates to the arty battalion and the planes then retreat, wait for a BDA.

[@kevinkattrup7225]

We all gotta love that Battle Order makes videos on everything they can. Not just to make 1 side happy, respect.

[@ФедяКрюков-в6ь]

Important note: the video is based on ukrainian yellow article which imply some russian manual which predates the conflict by 5 years is intended specifically against ukrainian fortification, which is simply cannot be true. It's just a manual based upon standard practices, it has nothing to do with Ukraine or current conflict experience, there is little proofs it is actually used in combat as written.

[@user-huyuser.781]

its true, someone noticed it, thanks 🥲

[@nikolaisalikov1257]

They are 100 years old. "Stormtroop Tactics: Innovation in the German Army, 1914-1918" by Bruce I. Gudmundsson

[@fujjokdk7100]

I was going to point this out, but you all did it. so thank you

[@OSTemli]

You should stop eating you government propganda. This tactics is russian world war 1 tactics by Russian general Bursilov which German copied. You people are the same who says Ak is copy of German gun when Russian where the one who invented assault Rifle first , the Avtomat battle rifle that ak is based on

[@G.A.C_Preserve]

Fun facts: their aim is really good

[@MagiconIce]

Actually these tactics are probably even older. It reminds me of the German Stormtrooper Squads of WWI, which can be seen as a precursor to "Blitzkrieg" tactics from WWII, where they concentrate modern and heavy equipment and firepower in elite troops, which would concentrate it on a single section of frontline to overwhelm the enemy there, achieve a breakthrough and cause havoc in the backlines. So the idea is even older than 80 years and the Soviets didn't invent it either. And probably you can trace thoughts of this idea even to earlier wars in human history. Napoleons "Defeat in Detail", to overwhelm an enemy in a small section of the battlefield with local superiority, is somewhat similar, although the concentrated strength there comes from numerical superiority, not necessarily heavy weaponry.

[@obsidianjane4413]

The Soviets didn't, but Imperial Russians did. General Brusilov's assault tactics were copied by the Germans. Also "Blitzkrieg" was very different from assault tactics. It is "maneuver warfare". You avoid assaulting strong points and exploit weak ones to bypass them and envelope enemy forces instead of attacking them directly. All of these historical tactics were on a much larger scale that the tactical level of the Sturmtruppen. Not really comparable.

[@fridrekr7510]

Bewegungskrieg (what laymen call Blitzkrieg) is fundamentally focused on avoiding strongpoints and cutting deep into enemy lines, thereby destroying the lines of supply and communication to avoid war of attrition, and is based on old cavalry tactics that became viable again with large armoured formations in WW2. Stosstrupptaktik is fundamentally focused on taking the strongpoints, and are rooted in light infantry and pioneer tactics that probably also go back to siege warfare. Today, all infantry is basically trained in Stosstrupptaktik while Bewegungskrieg became the Western way of war. They are very much opposites with Stosstrupptaktik being something you fall back on when Bewegungskrieg is no longer possible, like in WW1 or now in Ukraine.

[@obsidianjane4413]

@@fridrekr7510 Stosstrupptaktik is still necessary to create the break through because a "weak point" in a defense is relative. It could still be formidable. And then there is the need to reduce bypassed positions at some point if nothing else than to force their capitulation.

[@kiennguyenanh8498]

@@obsidianjane4413 German developed their own tactic way before Busilov, already 1915. How the heck they copied the Russian?

[@jonathanwerner3664]

I find it insane how transparent and brutal this conflict is. It's heartbreaking to see all these people perish for the sake of territorial gains that may or may not be relevant for the bigger picture. Thank you Battle Order for bringing this Intel into the *mainstream* light.

[@kalashnikovdevil]

The Russians really don't want to talk big picture. Finland just formally joined NATO, and immediately ratified Sweden's membership. Their strategic picture is just looking ugly.

[@jonathanwerner3664]

@TwoHeavens when the price for saving polticial face is throwing the citizenry into a meat grinder, I believe we have a despotic tyrant on our hands.

[@e2rqey]

Saw the video about a week ago where the guy in the thumbnail got smoked at extremely close range from an absolute beast of a UA soldier nearly singlehandedly repelling a Russian assault. Wild that he's already a KZbin thumbnail. Especially since that picture is literally like the moment B4 he gets about 5-6 rounds of 7.62x39 directly in his side from like 10 yards away.

[@anthonyniemiec9409]

Imagine getting smoked on a Friday just to become a meme on Monday

[@herptek]

@@anthonyniemiec9409 Meme warfare is the most advanced evolution from the WWI tactics that has been seen in this war.

[@anthonyniemiec9409]

@@herptek I know it’s joke, but we genuinely are in the beginning of a propaganda and psychological operations golden age.

[@herptek]

@@anthonyniemiec9409 That was the point. Social media is giving every conflict from now on a very weird new dimension in information space.

[@someretardontheinternet]

I thought the dude was rockin' an AK-74/101(5.45x39) with Zenitco furniture Or any of the Kalashnikovs that use 5.45

[@evoluxman9935]

Nice to see Battle Order paying small companies to mention them in his videos 🙏 /s

[@BattleOrder]

Yes very generous of me indeed

[@yaceya]

"Forested Protection Zones" are not called that way just by Russians. They are called that way by anyone who've heard anything about agriculture there (or heard someone who knows about agriculture mentioning лесные полосы or лесозащитные полосы). Ukrainians call those forests that way too. They are needed to protect fields.

[@johnfarley2365]

Wow imm glad I randomly found this channel. Very informative

[@tonyhawk94]

Excellent content as usual ! This tactics doesn't seem that stupid from the Russians to be honest at the point they reach it's not getting any better than this for them... A video about comparing Marine units around the world could be interesting (USMC, Royal Navy, Troupes de Marines, Corean Marines, Chinese Marines,...) :)

[@dimitrius8095]

If we also take into account that the Russians are trying: to save the lives of the Ukrainians, who are seized on the streets by the police and thrown into the trenches; Save the ecology do not use pesticides, chemicals and napalm with the atomic bomb and biological weapons.

[@spartanrating8210]

This tactic allows Russia to live in easy mode, to be honest! The Ukrainians, on the other hand, have mobilised up to a million men. But such tactics are also lethal for Russia on the other hand. Imitation is never good, unless it is a treaty war, which more and more Russians are becoming convinced of. All this show, first Kovid, then the stupidest war-no matter who raised his fist first, this war could not be avoided. Overthrow Putin, you get even worse conditions, a choice without a choice! That's why Ukraine was so important to the US, a lever to control a lot of things! The main thing is not to overdo it, otherwise it will all blow over. Gas goes through Ukraine, Oil goes through Ukraine, Ammonia pipeline goes through Ukraine. Russia doesn't break supply bridges, it doesn't hit the energy industry - the power plants, the turbine halls - it just hits the transformers next to it. This war is a fake. A show that pays for the lives of both Ukraine and the Russian guys, organised by the US and Britain! Do you see any explosions-diversions in Russia? There are many of them. In Ukraine zero...no activity at all, absolutely! Not in 2022 or 2023!

[@lukejohnston4666]

Troupes de Marine is just a French Army unit with a special history as colonial troops. Their cavalry for instance is just like the other French cannon wheeled tank units that use a mix of AMX-10RC/ERC90s and soon EBRC Jaguar and VBLs.

[@filipinorutherford7818]

They are basically a sections worth of dudes with the firepower of a battalion attacking a enemy position.

[@irrelevant-username]

Thanks for putting this together

[@GrimReaperBRR]

So they invented ww1 stormtroops? Genius, if only someone had thought of that before

[@OSTemli]

You should stop eating you government propganda. This tactics is russian world war 1 tactics by Russian general Bursilov which German copied. You people are the same who says Ak is copy of German gun when Russian where the one who invented assault Rifle first , the Avtomat battle rifle that ak is based on

[@iplaygames8090]

They openned the soviet doctrine books.

[@G.A.C_Preserve]

That will be the German

[@eralorn.7]

Again, amazing content. I appreciate this great quality work. Battle Order, you are by far the best on KZbin. I am very happy to see how much you confirm, point by point, the "non-event" around these lies of "change in Russian tactics". Keep going, you are great. I can't wait to see your next video on France and its armies. Greetings from France ! 🇫🇷🤝🇺🇸

[@geniusderweise400]

What lies? They did change tactics didn't they? Maybe I missunderstand what you are saying but i didnt even hear the "change in tactic" from any non pro-ukraine sources.

[@eralorn.7]

@@geniusderweise400 You misunderstood me. The tactical reorganization within the Russian army for a few months is effective. There have indeed been changes. And these changes have been regularly mentioned by pro-Russian propagandists, or sources close to the Russian Ministry of Defense. However, despite the turns of phrase, the manipulations and the lies, there is nothing new there, nor revolutionary, and above all not effective. Old tactics, out of date, and inappropriate. The situation has not changed for Russia, it continues to lose the war against a "small country" of 44 million inhabitants in the most total incompetence and idiocy. By "lies", I meant above all the fact that this subject of "Russian tactics" has been brought up again and again for a year. To demonstrate that Russia had the capacity to resolve its incompetence, which is obviously not the case.

[@edsherwook5196]

It’s impressive how they’ve dug so many trenches and bunkers by hand in the middle of combat

[@AndRei-yc3ti]

Its all thanks to those magical wagner shovels Man we seriously need to get our hands on those shovels

[@adillakandi.r]

Russian currently has the best shovel technology out there

[@mspicer3262]

Assaults are still a fairly sophisticated operation, especially when you add in smoke. Smoke is both friend and foe on an assault, it hides you from the enemies defensive fire, but it also hides the enemy from you. It makes it hard to see where you're putting your feet, to see others in your unit, and to become lost. The motivation for an assault force is more important. If one assault force, or even part of one, decides they'd rather let some other guy die for Mother Russia, the entire assault is in jeopardy, and is probably going to suffer badly overall. That seems to be a problem for them in reality too. The other big failing, in my opinion, is the lack of artillery direction. Being shelled for days can be mentally taxing for defenders, but they can also get used to it. My great-grandfather's both wrote about similar experiences in WW1. Despite my military experience, I wasn't shelled, but I did used to live directly behind a Fire Hall in my city. Sirens at literally all hours, after a couple of months though, I didn't even notice them anymore. Humans can get used to things, they just become background noise. Accurate artillery fire directly on top of the target immediately before an assault is what I trained to do. That and assaults without preparation, which were usually in built-up areas or isolated defenses, surprise was the idea. Hit them while they don't know you're there. When we practiced assaults with artillery, barrages could last a few minutes, or a few hours. We were told how long the preparation was, sometimes it would be "creeping" over the target. We knew when we would conduct the actual assault to capture the enemy position. We didn't have issues with op/sec in the field, no cellphones at the time. We learned to conduct assaults on fortified positions before we would ever actually assault one. I didn't do that, just practiced a lot. The Russians seem to be doing their training entirely on-the-job though, which isn't really a good way to learn how to do something as dangerous as a frontal assault on a fortified position.

[@ryoga5000]

Not to mention, smoke will alert opposition of your squads general position and will likely take a lot of gunfire

[@MothHouse]

Immediately subscribed. Excellent summary of this tactic. Historical context is appreciated as well. Keep up the good work.

[@espositogregory]

at 8:25, notice the shock waves emitting from those blasts. When movies show heroes taking direct hits in arty fire, know they should be red jelly down to their boots irl

[@cccc285]

Thats an animanmtion

[@artiomleoncenko2994]

I was wondering what about making tracked drone, a modern version of the ww2 German goliath tracked mine with a lot of explosive mass that can advance straight into the trenches at night or covered by smoke.

[@Yora21]

What advantage would it have over an artillery gun a few kilometers back? Or even just a tank?

[@brokenpotato438]

Theres a video of Ukrainians doing this on telegram and using it on a hostile trench. I think it’s uncommon because its simply impractical, since if the enemy has no electronic jamming and thus allows the tracked vehicle to just drive into their position, that means that lack of electronic jamming could be used to attack the position with drone dropped grenades instead (which would be much cheaper and easier to do)

[@llamallama1509]

Did you mean to give platoons two dots on their symbol? I've always thought that was section and three dots was platoon.

[@BattleOrder]

Normally platoons are three dots, and I gave them three dots for their reinforced configuration at 7:08 , but I think it'd be extremely generous to display 3 fire teams and an HQ alone with three dots

[@llamallama1509]

@@BattleOrder Okay, thank you!

[@Dekapons]

@Battle Order when you say platoon it should be 3 dots otherwise it should not be called a platoon. If the platoon is less force than sub-sub unit it should have the (-) size modifier. That's what I was taught... also, your coloring.... red means En, blue is friendly Forces. Interesting analysis nevertheless!

[@BattleOrder]

​@@Dekapons I don't use NATO coloring because red is harder to see against green satellite imagery. Orange is much easier to see because it is more luminous (brighter) than red, especially when talking about tactical markings like the attack arrows and positions As for the size, they call it a "platoon" so I label it as a platoon. You will find that different countries use the word platoon to describe different echelons. Same goes with other things, like what constitutes a regiment or a section varies wildly between countries and the symbols shift accordingly. I can see in this case that it is more of a squad/section assault element that can be reinforced to platoon strength. So in its unreinforced base state, I use two dots because that more clearly depicts what it is, and when reinforced I depict it as a task organized platoon with three dots. I don't think a (-) would necessarily be appropriated because it hasn't had sub-units taken away from it. It's just that small

[@aspielm759]

2:37 Just wanna add to that. Generally the concept of units specialized for assaulting in a way that we recognize has been a thing since WW1 and arguably probably even before that if you wanna be technical but I think many like me would probably remember „Kampfgruppen“ when first hearing of what the Russians are doing in Ukraine right now. From a quick Google search and a 5min read on it, there are many parallels that one could draw. It is around this time, the early Cold War, where new ideas like „Kampfgruppen“ are being tested, improved, adapted and possibly implemented that created the foundations that eventually led to the Task Force Tactics we have today. Whilst NATO had several individual countries to train with the USSR was somewhat isolated. Leading to why the Russian Tactics seem so „WW2-ish“ as I heard someone call it.

[@Thaidory]

This SOSRA by the book always turns out to be “rush B b cyka blyat!” in practice.

[@patb5266]

Just found this channel. Interesting and refreshing to see no battle in comments like so many other channels. Even channels that just do analysis it seems to always devolve into bashing. Not here, that says a lot for those coming here😊

[@geniusderweise400]

Great video, though i dont quite understand the point about russia not having enough "motivated" soldiers, this and its possible consequences always seem to be based mostly on assumptions. I also dont think that when discussing a fairly complex topic such as this, videos from either side should be valued that highly, as they are almost always out of context, heavily edited or sometimes even staged, not that this is an issue in this particular video.

[@warfumble12]

There is some truth to it, both sides lack people capable going into enemy trenches, compared to how many they need with crazy fortified areas. I suppose no country in the world has enough people like that. Its almost always a guaranteed casualty on your side and you still gotta go on a prepared enemy through minefields, jump into trenches, repel counterattacks on unknown terrain etc. You just gotta be elite to be able to do it

[@EdReed-r8n]

He's just lying

[@tokyorave5847]

I will give an explanation of why no help is provided to the wounded in the shootout. It's written in blood. The reason is that a wounded person may be in the field of view of the enemy, who is waiting for the wounded to receive medical care, and as a result we will get not 1 wounded, but two or more. therefore, first of all, he must help himself or hide in a safe place. in my practice, there were many cases when they tried to help, but came under fire from the enemy, who was waiting.

[@PersonalityMalfunction]

You don't mention the actual "birth" of the dedicated assault units. The first use of specialist assaulters was by Imperial Germany in 1915, but became a staple of German offensive operations with the Battle of Verdun in 1916. The German "Sturmtruppen" were an innovation due to the small unit sizes, the very light armament (mainly hand grenades, daggers and entrenching tools) and the by-passing of heavily protected pill boxes and bunkers in order to penetrate the front line. A Sturmtruppen assault was preceded by heavy shelling and smoke, and casualties were left behind for follow up infantry mopping up. The concept was initially developed by General Ludendorff and refined by Major Willy Rohr who actually implemented the new concept into practice as a solution to the trench warfare stalemate on the western front. If you want to be pedantic, the British used what they called "Forlorne Hope" units during the Napoleonic Wars, but those units were ad hoc and only cobbled together for particular incidents, mainly breaching fortifications, and did not form part of any standing structure or battle order.

[@neurofiedyamato8763]

Sturmtruppen evolved into squad tactics and mission command rather than assault groups.

[@PersonalityMalfunction]

@@neurofiedyamato8763 Since you have yet to master German plurals I'll put you in the folder "don't worry about it ".

[@ФедяКрюков-в6ь]

Plus, you seem to get the assault group (you call 'assault platoon') wrong, it should consist of an assault element with three 3 man "fire teams", and support element with three 3 to 4 man "fire teams", plus a platoon commander. That's a three platoon dismount squads total, but mixed differently (half a squads with heavy weapons are in support element, and riflemen are in assault element).

[@nekoill]

If it works, it works, no matter how old it is

[@christopherwang4392]

If I understand correctly, the "assault detachments" are for breakthrough operations while the "battalion tactical groups" or BTGs are for the exploitation phase?

[@kurousagi8155]

Do BTGs still exist as a concept within the Russian military? I was under the impression that the lack of infantry made the BTG too fragile a unit formation to be useful. So the Russians are using Regiments, Brigades, and Divisions.

[@kalashnikovdevil]

@@kurousagi8155 Russia presently exists in a hybrid stage. There are BTGs, but there are also regiments and the like. Russia tried to modernize to a BTG based system... and instead thanks to corruption and other issues, had to stop part way.

[@juliantheapostate8295]

@@kalashnikovdevil It seems that most formations in the war are brigade size

[@Marcellogo]

Tactic is already changed, in the sense that they send the tank very close (less than 50mtrs) to the trench they want to sweep to shove them with continuative fire of both gun and coax MG, so that enemy cannot organize themselves after it the infantry enter in action clear it and all the group move forward almost immediately to the next line of defence, so not to give enemy the time to organize itself. Once they feel no more advance is possible in front of enemy reaction and their own weariness they are even tasked to retreat of one step back instead of trying to hold all conquered territory. So, they are going toward a faster way to advance in order take a series of positions in short sequence but allowing themselves to not keep all what they have taken at any cost. Probably they do because they consider now drones, loitering munitions and long ranged guided projectiles to be more a menace for their own tanks than close quarter RPGs.

[@mach533x]

i mean, it works and the marines had assaulters aswell, unless they got rid of them recently.. its what modern warfare degrades to eventually.

[@SVD-63]

I think Russia has enough motivated soldiers and due to the long war these soldiers can rise up and be new squad leaders (which they actually do btw) and the fact that Russia has no mobilization law (besides ones in okt 3 2022) and all their new soldiers are volunteers, and that are a 1.000 daily. So I think we can remove “the lack of motivation” from the list.

[@mikhail6518]

“Volunteers”…they’re volunteering for the money, not the idea. Their motivation disappears as soon as they realize the money is not worth loosing their life.

[@tenarmurk]

​@@mikhail6518in most cases it literally is though far eastern volunteers will make their family more money then they would earn in maybe their whole life working by dying on the frontline and getting the whatever Veterans claim or what its called for their family

[@britishexplorer4437]

2:44 music : Crime Scene Investigation - Adam & Dan Skinner. It is also a Warno Soundtrack Under the same name.

[@SeattleJeffin]

Great video, I was hoping someday you would do a video on where both German and U.S. units assigned Panzershreck and Bazookas

[@SeattleJeffin]

during WW2 also I would add in recoilless rifles

[@fakeprofile9502]

The Letter Kenny hustle was what made me sub. Got your back.

[@hl2bigboss]

I find it funny how the thumbnail in the video is real. It’s from a video where that Russian soldier dies from 3 shots.

[@KoRnBulleT]

He got mag dumped a few moments later in the same video, the Ukrainian sees him moving on the ground and just pulls the trigger to finish the job. Also very sick.of you finding this funny, Russian looks like a kid, maybe 19/20ish years old. War sucks.

[@hl2bigboss]

@@KoRnBulleT Not as in the Russian Soldier dying, just as in the surrealness that Battle Order is using it in its thumbnail

[@alexandervolkov5205]

The animation of the battle reminds me of the Endless war franchise, legends remember.

[@dontknowmuchbutitry218]

I don’t understand why people keep saying how bad Russia is doing the clearly changed up the game plan and are starting to take apart Ukraine captured bahkmut even breaking through the new defense lines they’ve stopped the Ukrainian newest counter attack Ukraine did receive a lot of equipment but it’s gonna take a few more months to get trained on that equipment the only good thing going for them is they have 200k trained soldiers coming to the front but being trained and having combat experience is two different things I feel like the battle field is changing up and this is a classic way Russia fought there wars

[@MultiNike79]

Despite such straightforward offensives, the Russians (including the inhabitants of the eastern part of the former Ukraine) suffer many times less losses than the Nazis. So they seem to be on to something.

[@_zqn]

lol

[@MultiNike79]

The fact is that in the past, Russia fought a maximum against a united Europe (Napoleon and Hitler). Now the fascists are about twice as strong, as more Anglo-Saxon countries have joined, along with the classic Nazis. Let's see. Fortunately for the whole world, Russia has a lot of nuclear weapons.

[@_zqn]

@@MultiNike79 You're funny

[@MultiNike79]

@@_zqn where are you from?

[@ashifabedin]

Your videos are incredible.

[@stardekk1461]

I see you are a WARNO OST enjoyer, Mr. Battle Order

[@greybuckleton]

This was quite helpful thanks. Hard to find out what is in these units other reporters talk about. Perhaps you could go in to why they have these units and equipment some time?

[@MultiNike79]

As far as I understand, there are very severe restrictions on media freedom in Western countries. Therefore, Western journalists are at great risk if they publish up-to-date information that has not been filtered by the Ukrainian Nazis. Therefore, in general, in the West there are very funny ideas about events, sometimes diametrically opposed to reality.

[@greybuckleton]

@@MultiNike79 no restrictions at all. That's why channels like The Duran exist. But they are very willing to sell bull shit because it's popular. The New York Times has some actual coverage.

[@chaosXP3RT]

Thank you for such a detailed video! I had no idea such Russian documents had been captured!

[@darthvader4594]

Russian documents were being captured from dead soldiers since day 1 of the invasion,this is how literally how Ukrainians found out that it was supposed to be 3 day "special military operation".

[@VikingTeddy]

I wonder if anyone actually uses them? We've seen so many cases where Russians attack with just one or two untrained squads, without even basic fire support.

[@MultiNike79]

@@VikingTeddy There are many volunteers at the front who operate separately from the Ministry of Defense. They bear the main losses.

[@JayC470]

Be careful on Underestimating enemy it will leads to fall on your own

[@realCarlosMazda]

The implicit message encoded in this video title is 'Russia is so desperate that they are resorting to antiquated military formations'. It's essentially an appeal to novelty - which is problematic. Ideas & practices over "80 years old" generally have Lindy properties AKA long track record of success. Sun Tzu/Clausewitz, religion, jab-cross in boxing, E4 opening in chess, missionary sex - all are over "80 years old" yet remain effective & relevant today. New things are shiny & 'better' in theory but often worse in practice.

[@maksimfedoryak]

If new things were worse, we will still use stones as tools, being hunters and gatherers (son of our tribal leader will be Gatherer Biden)

[@Shaqiliciouss]

While I agree that appealing to novelty is a common fallacy, none of the examples you mentioned are driven by technology, while formations definitely are. We no longer require the phalanx to counter cavalry charges, or expect our soldiers to stand in a neat line now that we have have weapons that can decimate such a formation in seconds. Technology demands adaptation

[@realCarlosMazda]

@@Shaqiliciouss Very weird timing by you. Every single 1 of the west's wonder weapons has failed epically in Ukraine. From to Abrams & Bradley's to HIMARS & Patriots

[@shaidorsai4834]

Actually I'm strongly reminded of World War I. Germany's Storm Troops is very close to what you are describing. Update the weaponry and such and the tactics are very similar.

[@Karathos]

This is literally just the SOP's for an attack on an enemy unit as I was taught in Helsinki as part of a Guard Jaeger Battalion 13 years ago. But good for the Russians that they're catching up I guess! Excellent video, very good presentation with the animations.

[@Paterrrr]

Question, how would you counter a tactic like that as an armed forces? Trench organization, communication, intelligence and specific firepower?

[@kalashnikovdevil]

Basically yes. Strong ISR, aggressive counter battery fire to suppress or destroy enemy bombardments of your lines. You can also tune your defenses as time goes on. If trench raiders become a standard problem we'll likely start seeing anti personnel land mines and man traps to help make like miserable for the raiders, along with more protected dug out entrances and the like. A little concertina wire goes a long way in terms of making your trench a pain to get into without waking everyone and their cousin up.

[@brokenpotato438]

@@kalashnikovdevil also, the final assault relies on heavy direct fire from armored vehicles supressing the position. Using friendly armor/anti armor units held in reserve once the final assault begins would be important. Of course all this is difficult to apply to reality, and the most essential aspect is proper communication and coordination among defending units so they can coordinate defensive fires and commanders know where and when to send their armor/anti armor reserves to repel the assault

[@G.A.C_Preserve]

Shotgun, The US did that to the German back in WW1

[@filipbonek8629]

This video was so goddamn good. Concise pertinent information with accompanying specific graphics and video/image. Mentions of previous historical context. Please keep it up and similar videos for world war 2 doctrine for various nations/units would be great.

[@lexchaotica190]

Combat engineer flame thrower man packs and dedicated flamethrower tanks must come back into sevice for urban combat.Those old OT-55s still have a use.

[@Nagibaka_32]

Hohol Podor

[@malegria9641]

👎

[@ariesmp]

Very good video. The kind I like. Straight and to the point.

[@bhero6]

In HOI4 they're called "Shock Troops" and mine always get encircled 😢

[@kortexounet]

Oh that miniature is tough to watch, it still give me chills The dude looked too young to be sent like this to Predator

[@RuneSeidleitr]

The British Army's 1982 King's Ride Exercise indicated that Soviet Stormgroup tactics were more effective than NATO tactics in clearing urban areas, mostly notably in their speed.

[@jamesscalzo3033]

Loved the video @Battle Order! Can't wait for the next video man! The Assault Detachments out in Ukraine, From what I can tell with what you've said, is Putin's Smaller Scale Resurrection of the Spetsnaz Units of the Soviet Union because they'd go into their Starting positions either under the cover of darkness or an Artillery Barrage and when either Dawn Broke or the Barrage lifted that's when they'd go into the Assault and clear the way for the Larger Offensive Forces!

[@right584]

They seem work just fine

[@rowdy8814]

yep, this video is just propaganda

[@zombieoverlord5173]

@@rowdy8814 You think anything that doesn't suck Russian dick is propaganda

[@blorb32]

@@zombieoverlord5173 Yeah, basically.

[@sam8404]

How have I never heard of this channel, it's great!

[@alexaber9786]

14:57 - grainy black and white video of a maxim - the currently used machine gun by russia because they've run out of every other more modern machine gun.

[@scaucymancannotdiebaby7034]

​​@@olegsobolev5458 wrong.

[@k.g.b5816]

Maxims are mostly used by Ukranian forces,and also by DPR and LPR forces,i dont think Russia regular forces use them.

[@dauzlee2827]

Ukrainians mostly use those M1910 machine guns. The worst thing Russia could have been using is older PK machine guns. At least make sure to think twice before commenting

[@iplaygames8090]

​@@dauzlee2827 and DP machine guns being used by the militias.

[@R4002]

The PM1910 (Maxim 1910) machine gun is (was) used by the Ukrainians as well, at least at the start of the war when they were using everything they could pull out of storage. PM1910 Maxim machine guns [7.62x54mmR], M1819/30 Mosin PU rifles (which are actually effective as designated marksman rifles [DMR] assuming it has an optic on it and somebody bothered to sight it in) [also 7.62x54R], various other WWII and early Cold War machine guns, AKMs (7.62x39 - keep in mind the standard Ukrainian infantry rifle round is/was 5.45x39), etc. Now they’ve got more modern Western small arms (5.56x45 NATO assault rifles, 7.62x51 NATO battle rifles, modern western 7.62x51 NATO, .300 Win Mag, etc. sniper and DMR rifles - including American bolt-action .308 Win hunting rifles with quality scopes on them), a mix of Soviet 7.62x54R and Western heavy machine guns (DShK - 12.7x108mm, the M2 Browning .50 cal - 12.7x99mm NATO), various 7.62x51 NATO machine guns including the MG3…yep, the MG3 is a MG42 in 7.62x51) and so on. Counter-battery capability, effective electronic warfare, effective short-range tactical communications, military vehicles designed for *crew survivability* are all important. The Russians have adopted their tactics and equipment. Where possible, they’ve swapped in hardline field telephones to reduce the reliance on a mix of older VHF-FM 30-80 MHz Soviet military radios and commercial off the shelf non-secure VHF/UHF handheld push to talk radios (yes the Baofeng UV-5R Baofeng UV-82 UV-82HP etc. are still in use on both sides, often in a secondary short range squad radio role)..plus the Russians are actually using their electronic warfare equipment, especially electronic attack equipment (radio jammers) to disable and disrupt drone control links, disable GPS, etc.)

[@HeWhoLaugths]

These assault tactics were first developed in the first world war. Although a lot of the tactics weren't fully adopted until the interwar period in Russia.

[@Firefalse]

I don’t think that the tactics of the First World War are weak. After all, a trench war is going on in Ukraine now, the last counteroffensive was a year ago. And these tactics have been tested by time

[@Thaliathegodslayer]

I love how peaceful the comments are better then most KZbin channels. Peace and love and a hope this ends soon. Keep up the good work Battle Order. By the Way. I would love to see more specific videos. Like Artillery from the Battery groups up to the regiments, Medical detachments, engineer detachments. Since the US and Russia like Regiments. Expanding from the headquarters units all the way down. I can Find TOEs of most units but it doesn't always go into personal strengths or role. Such as 40 man Engineer platoon with 2 engineering vehicles. Maybe even Squadron/Air Regiments of US/NATO/China/Russian military's.

[@T33K3SS3LCH3N]

A recent series of videos by Ukrainian K2 unit gave one hint of how they may intend to counter it. The videos were filmed by a drone and showed a attack on the "T-position" trench, which was claimed to be defended by 8 men. The Russians appeared to attack on a scale of perhpas 2-3 assault platoons if they followed a similar structure as here, so in the range of 24-36 men. At least half of them took up positions in nearby treelines, while the rest approached the trend, in part through the open field. The defenders were sufficiently suppressed that they could not hold the assault elements back very effectively. K2 first reacted with close artillery support, close enough that they had to accept at least some risk of hitting their own. This greatly slowed down the attack and caused significant casualties under the assault units. I would assume that a better trained unit would have tried to take the trench much faster to avoid this, but most of the assaulting element was still stuck some 25+m away and only 3-5 men were able to close in to the trench through a treeline. Some time later, seemingly just as close quarters fighting for the trench had begun with both sides tossing grenades at each other from less than 5 meters,, 2 Ukrainian tanks and a BMP arrived at the position. This completely stopped the attack. This situation lead to the already infamous video on which a tank broke through a treeline and rolled up right behind a platoon sized Russian infantry group, which was withdrawing and had apparently lost their hearing as they didn't appear to hear the tank coming. So their counte protoco may look like this: 1. When Russia starts shelling a trench over a longer period of time, use it as an indication where the next assault may take place. 2. Possibly scan the area with a drone from time to time to try to detect the enemy assault early. Stay in radio contact. 3. Keep some artillery and vehicles as a quick reaction force and rush them to the scene when the assault arrives.

[@hdhdnfbxbdbd]

Может скинете видео, чтобы это не смотрелось как враньё

[@TGRIE402]

​@@hdhdnfbxbdbd телеграмм в помощь

[@pincermovement72]

The closest to this is the British tactics in 1918 and how they had evolved when they embarked on the 100 day offensive.

[@DonaldWilson]

This was a really solid video.

[@luminescentlion]

Seems like the child of the storm troopers from WWI which would make them even older.

[@westphalianstallion4293]

Edit: Everyone can be a Nebelwerfer. kzbin.info/www/bejne/l2m6eaJsbJmBnbM So using smoke screens is in the manuals, why dont we see any good footage in the media?

[@klassehkhornate9636]

In the manuals does not mean you actually have the supplies

[@BattleOrder]

I mean I've seen some videos of them using smoke, like here: twitter.com/PStyle0ne1/status/1621883311290257408?s=20 But as I talk about a little at 13:15 , I think it comes down to a lot of units just not being very good at this lol

[@norbi1411]

you can't use smoke screen if you don't have smoke ammunition. simple as that

[@kingslefthand]

I suspect it is most often due to selection bias in the drone footage both taken by, and released by the UAF. Open source footage we see tends to show the failed offensives, but there must be successful examples of these kinds off small tactical pushes as evidenced by the slow, but continuing Russian advance in localized areas of the front line.

[@westphalianstallion4293]

@@BattleOrder I admire that there are not more mutanis. No western soldier would take up with that. Barriers (Wire and Mines) and Smoke are as important as Fire and Movement. Knowing when and where to drop the scatter mines and smoke screen was literally main achievment of my time in officer school.

[@TurboHappyCar]

Fantastic video! I love the animations. Really makes it easy to understand. Great work. 👍

[@ramonnajar1974]

The thumbnail is the brutal moment this Russian gets KIA up close & personal with a rifle...

[@nixles2577]

It's strange, why not show 10+ similar videos with killed Ukrainian mercenaries and soldiers, half of whom filmed their death themselves? Perhaps too brutal?

[@ramonnajar1974]

@@nixles2577 nyet, Ivan, the only mercenaries in this war are Putin's orcs, getting their asses handed to them for all the world to see. Keep on hating! Slava Ukraine 🇺🇦

[@nobodyherepal3292]

@@nixles2577because there far more footage of the Russians getting killed out there, then Ukrainian.

[@solidzaku2]

I've seen the video the thumbnail comes from. Brutal stuff.

[@leonardomafrareina7634]

It would be just like using WWI Stormtrooper tactics, combining both the German (Wily Rohr) and Russian (General Brusilov) doctrines into one. As Dan Morgan commented here: "the fact the unit has historical analogues shouldn't be seen as a strike against it. The fire and maneuver tactics developed by the French in WWI are still adaptable to modern warfare. Those are over 100 years old." However, the problems with these start to arise when you take into consideration the practice on terrain. First: Russian logistics have never been exactly "effective", even back in WWII. Generalfeldmarschall Walter Model used to exploit the poor Russian logistics to organize quite effective defensive lines, back in an era when ATGMs weren't a thing. Nowadays, Ukraine showed us how poor Russian logistics is, to the point the battlefield is turning back to something it was in WWI, that being a lot of trenches. Second: Not only Russian logistics are bad, their overall doctrine is very unreliable in the modern context. Even in WWII, the Soviet Union suffered the heaviest losses of the war. Wasn't for the Western Allied support, Russia would probably have suffered even more to the point of a stalemate, even a defeat would be possible if not for the idiot leadership of Germany at the time. These tactics were already archaic back in WWI, with the German Empire delivering humiliating defeats to the Russian Empire, and a lot of these things were repeated in Afghanistan and Chechnya. Relying in strengh in numbers would have worked 100 years ago, but today, technological supperiority has nullified it. Even Michael Smith comented here: "the organization seems incredibly fire heavy and rifleman light. Plan seems to be to win through sheer firepower with the assault platoon mopping up opposition and physically taking ground. The concentration of so much firepower assets compared to few infantry would seem to limit the number of assault detachments Russia could field and thus limit the extent of any offensive. Maybe good for concentrating on a select few trench lines, but only on narrow front." Third: Russian Assault Groups rely heavily in support from regular units, generally BTGs, which already proved to be outdated by 21st century standarts. Wagner Group mercenaries already act like that, stormtroopers that charge to enemy positions to seize objectives, but the scale of their attacks and the heavy losses make them very unsustainable to be used en masse, that is, in the same scale as the Russian Army. These Assault Groups don't have much strengh on their own, depending heavily in the BTGs and other regular forces to fill in the gaps, which would be the normal, except for the fact that, as in the video, the first 4 steps are not taken into consideration, they basically skip all of the most important parts just to initiate desperate attempts to breach the Ukrainian defenses. Fourth: Low morale and low quality of soldiers. No, I'm not talking about the ones of the Assault Groups, though this might be the case. The soldiers that were supposed to support the "stormtrooper" formations are, by now, mobilized troops who, in their vast majority, unwilling to fight but were forcefully drafted. The more combat hardened soldiers that have been fighting since February 24th 2022, that is, since the very beginning, are more prone to be used in creating these Assault Groups, and the support, as explained before, would be more regular troops. That means that the "elite" units are to be supported by draftees who have received one week or two of training to go fight in Ukraine, and are heavily demoralized. The number of mutiny incidents since the start of this mobilization has increased a lot, and in some cases, ended up in mass desertions. How can a strategy based on support from demoralized draftees work? Long story short, it simply doesn't. Fifth: The theory is not followed in practice. The idea is textbook perfect, it was already proven, but in a context when technology was not yet so advanced. To quote @roadhouse699: "What would make it fail is company and platoon leadership using bad tactics within this methodology, or higher level leadership sending these assault detachments into fights they simply don't have the combat power to win." This is what is happening in practice, Russian units lack competent NCOs to lead these units, and putting Comissioned Officers in the frontlines has already been proven to simply not work. The number of Colonels and Generals eliminated since last year was only seen during WWII, and even worse, promotion in the Russain Army is by loyalty, not competence, which means their Generals and Colonels are not very good tacticians. Some of them are, for sure, but the majority is not as well knowledgeable as a few of them. Yet, Field Grade Officers are far too valuable to riske being KIA. Sixth: Political disagreements. Politics always have negative impacts on war effort. Take WWII Germany as an example. Hitler was so sure that it was a political war he decided to take measures on his own hands, ignoring the advices of Generals like Heinz Guderian, Erich von Manstein, Erwin Rommel, Adolf Galland, to name but a few. The political nature of the German leadership at the time helped more the Allies rather than Germany itself. THE SAME THING IS HAPPENING HERE. In recent events, Minister of Defense of Russia, Sergei Shoigu, and the Chief of the General Staff of Russia, Valery Gerasimov, have been in a power struggle with Yevgheny Prigozhin (don't know how to write his first name, sorry). This has a direct impact on the organization and morale of the already battle hardened soldiers, as orders become more contradictory and basically start serving as a way to gain political favours from the head of state, in this case, Vladimir Putin. It is almost like the political comissars of WWI Soviet Union, the orders of the Party were enforced to the point of basically foiling the Russians' own plans, just because of fricking politics. Even now, Russian started to use the same "no step back" policy of Stalin out of sheer desperation. To summ it up, here are the reasons why these tactics could work in paper, but in practice are failing [at the time this was written]: 1- Poor logistics 2- Outdated by technological supperiority 3- Heavy reliance on regular units, which themselves use very archaic tactics in a century when we have DRONES 4- Low morale and low quality of the troops that are supposed to support the Assault Groups 5- Incompetence of the unit commanders for not following the manual correctly 6- Incompetence of the higher-ups for using the war as a means to get political favours and influence Like I said, In theory everything is beautiful, but in reality, several factors may impact negatively in these tactics. So it was for Nazi Germany, so it is for Putin's Russia, what I like to call the "Russian Third Reich", a lot of parallels can be drawn between them. This is, of course, just my opinion, but I still decided to quote some people from the comments to consolidate my claims a bit, shout out to these amazing people, I don't know you, but you are breathtaking. As a military enthusiast, I feel like there are a few things I can add up to the knowledge of the people here, just like they add to my own, and I thank the comment section and the video for that, it was a lot of fun to watch and share my thoughts on this one. Cheers everyone. [EDIT] Minor grammar mistakes were corrected

[@unholyknight786]

Low morale? As usual - westerner wishful thinking. Yes, there are some cases when soldiers have lower morale, but in general soldiers, even mobilized one, have a decent level of morale. In start of war, where there was general confusion - yes, morale was a lower then general, because of lack of understanding why the all out war was needed. Now, seeing general abuse of Russian POWs, torture of POWs, lack of medical assistance and all out slaughters and butchering, generously showed by ukranian soldiers and mercenaries, almost all Russian soldiers know who there are fighting and why. A lot of russians demand outright vengeance and what to see ukranians suffer, when earlier there was a lot of sympathizers. So yes, there was wonderfull shoting themselves in the leg, made by ukranians - in russian segment of internet there is saying "you have no need of propaganda machine, only thing you need to do is to show what ukranians are saying about us, and what they are doing to our POWs". So yes. Wishful thinking at best.

[@Firefalse]

Author, you said that there is a company of flamethrowers in the assault company of Russia. But flamethrowers have ceased to be used since the 1980s, no?

[@BattleOrder]

Some countries, like China, still use traditional liquid flame flamethrowers. But in the Russian case, flamethrowers generally refer to thermobaric munitions

[@Firefalse]

​@@BattleOrder Got it, thanks for the info

[@unrealassasination]

IMO it's active defence. Hence why it doesn't seem to fit an offensive doctrine. It's to keep pressure high and move the defensive line forward at a slow pace.

[@syarohussein8063]

I thought I was watching a video about WW1 tactics

[@HugoDiasR]

Wait, they are not using the human wave tatics?? 🤔

[@commiedoggo8367]

"Exactly! And that is what is so brilliant about it! It will catch the watchful Hun totally off guard! Doing precisely what we've done eighteen times before is exactly the last thing they'll expect us to do this time!" ~ General Melchett

[@dreed7312]

There are several weaknesses with this idea. It doesn't seem mission focused. Thats a lot of command and control for 2-3 companies of infantry with some mech and artillery. It's like a Swiss army knife vs a K-bar. You need K-bars on an assault, not scissors and a corkscrew. And like the BTG's, they split their armor up and are using them as mobile bunkers, not assault forces. Just as the aerial photos indicate, these armies are stuck in WWI. They don't need overhead cover, they have air defense lol. Ya see how that worked out.

[@ramilv739]

Russian here. I think you are describing Vagner tactics. They are way more organised and skilled than regular army. They even used war dogs to clear the trenches. However in regular army , success is mainly achieved by the "Shturmovik" volunteers. Who are basically born attackers and are very comfortable in battle.

[@Archer89201]

These tactics are best they can manage with the poorly trained conscripts and mobiks because their professional units were heavily attritioned in the opening phase when they marched down to Kiev thinking they would be greeted by flower bouquets. Their tiny budget meant either they cut corners in training or maintain the huge arsenal so they choose the latter and add to that blatant corruption the equipment upgrades also were not complete

[@georgekaradov1274]

cope harder...

[@Archer89201]

​@@georgekaradov1274 coping is for Russians and Ukrainians, I'm not even in the same continent

[@georgekaradov1274]

@@Archer89201 still, some copium will do you good...

[@voidtempering8700]

​@@Archer89201 Did you watch the video? It explicitly states very few troops are organized like this as they lack the motivation to do it.

[@eliasziad7864]

Seriously? Russian troops are much better trained then Ukrainian conscripts and mobiks. Literal Ukrainian soldier complaining that his assault unit is made up of mobiks with 3 day crash course training.

[@ordomaliosangeloseterna6832]

I said this so damn long ago but further in a larger formation have a surveillance drone an attack drone and a recon drone with minimal attack capability.

[@thegoldeneagle9890]

Please do more aircraft videos the carrier one is so good maybe squadron layouts and their ground support

[@advancetotabletop5328]

Thanks for the info! Would like examples, if possible, of its success and failure. One of the few videos I‘ve seen that explains the military formations. And the dog is cute, too. :D