Enemy defense, which is saturated with message moves and firing points. View and depth fire shaft are determined by the characteristics of the enemy's defensive fortifications, the terrain, and also by the amount of artillery and ammunition stock of the attacker.

When organizing fire shaft they outline the main and intermediate lines, and in such a way that the main lines are located in the places of the most probable location of enemy defense units. Intermediate lines are organized to suppress the manpower of weapons and military equipment that are between the main lines, as well as to prevent any movement of the enemy along the lines of communication and trenches. The first main line, as a rule, is planned along the front line of the enemy’s defense, consistently shifting fire in depth.

The transfer of fire from one main line to another is carried out at the command (signal) of the advancing formations as they approach the lines of safe removal.

In addition to direct damage, the use fire shaft has a significant demoralizing effect on the enemy, makes it difficult to see the front line of defense, maneuver on the battlefield and coordinate the actions of forces and means.

Advantages fire shaft

• Easy to organize
• Does not require special flexibility in fire control
• Does not require detailed intelligence due to the large coverage area
• Not sensitive to the influence of meteorological conditions

disadvantages fire shaft

Tactical Options

Depending on the tactical situation prevailing in the breakthrough area, there are many varieties of application fire shaft. For example:

• The firebar can be created on one ( single firing shaft) or simultaneously on two ( double firing shaft) boundaries.
• False transfer is often used fire shaft forward, during which an attempt is made to provoke the enemy into active actions by reconnaissance in battle and to identify unsuppressed defense sectors and firing points. Then barrage“returns” back to newly discovered targets.
• Some use has been made of the so-called “fire crawl” method, which is essentially a compaction fire shaft:

In its most general form, this method of "creeping fire" was one of the methods of artillery support for the attack of rifle units. If at fire shaft gunners, firing at the lines in front of their infantry, transferred fire in jumps of 100-200 meters, that is, two to four divisions of the sight, then the “creeping of fire” fully corresponded to its name - artillery fire “slid” from the front edge of the enemy into the depths of his defense the smallest possible transfers - 50 meters each (one division of the sight), and often this small distance was divided in two with the help of a level. Such transfers of fire are blocked by the scattering of projectiles, so you do not see any jumps from the observation point. Artillery fire really creeps into the depths of the enemy's defense, weeding it clean, like a good vegetable garden. Of course, it is much easier for infantry and tanks to attack on such a "cleared" terrain. The natural question is: why is this method not applied everywhere? Why didn't the Red Army Artillery Headquarters recommend "creeping fire" to the artillerymen of other fronts? Firstly, because it required a significant amount of ammunition. And our opportunities for replenishing them were not unlimited - the factories gave as many shells as they could give. And if the Main Artillery Directorate had fully satisfied the needs of one front, which widely used "creeping fire", it would have left other fronts without ammunition.<…>

• The certificate of a divisional scout has been preserved G. Z. Katsa about using fire shaft parts of the Wehrmacht to take "tongues":

... In addition to the usual tactics of night reconnaissance searches, the Germans very often used the daytime capture of "tongues", in the style of "hapok". Shelling began along our front line, so much so that we couldn’t even raise our heads. close behind fire shaft a group of German scouts was moving, which broke into our front trench, grabbed someone shell-shocked soldier, and quickly retreated. They did it pretty well. Our attempts to imitate the Germans and try to take a prisoner in this way ended in failure several times ...

Description of eyewitnesses

Application results double firing shaft were described in the memoirs of a participant in the Iasi-Kishinev offensive operation:

Application history

"... I raise my head - the Afghans are all standing tall, shouting and pointing in the direction from which we came, and our soldiers are peacefully snoring, they seem to have passed out completely. I look where they point and - my God! It is coming at us shaft of fire. I immediately realized that this "Grad" works. I rattled the company commander and for the radio, for fire support and interaction we were given the call signs and radio frequencies of the deputy commander of the motorized rifle division, whose battalions went below and interacted with us. I call my call sign and shout:

Cease fire! Shooting is carried out on their units!
And the colonel calmly:
- It can't be, we are hitting the enemy firing points verified on the map.
I couldn't resist here. barrage rolled almost to the base of the peak on which we were:
- What to hell verified points! Explosions in company positions!

Explosions were heard closer and closer, and the "greens" shouted even louder, saying something in their own language and waving their arms. Well, I think Khan. We stick out on the crest, like on the navel, there is nowhere to hide. But then, thank God, not reaching us a hundred meters, the gaps stopped ... "

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Write a review on the article "Fire shaft (tactics)"

Notes

Links

• Barrage- article from the Great Soviet Encyclopedia.

An excerpt characterizing the Barrage (tactics)

Jan 12 - RIA Novosti, Andrey Stanavov. A dense wall of powerful explosions rumbles up on the front line of the enemy and gradually moves into the depths of battle formations, sweeping away and grinding everything in its path. Large-caliber shells fall almost continuously. A fiery tsunami slowly rolls over neat grids of trenches and communication passages, dugouts, concrete defensive fortifications, guns and machine guns dug into the ground.

Behind is a burning field plowed with funnels, along which the tanks and motorized infantry of the advancing troops are already moving in a swift avalanche. They meet almost no resistance - the enemy is defeated and demoralized, and the bunkers are turned into piles of concrete and red-hot fittings. About the most formidable and proven tactics of artillerymen that leave no chance for the enemy - in the material of RIA Novosti.

fire dance

According to the official version, for the first time the Soviet command resorted to the tactics of the fire shaft in 1943 to support the breakthrough of the infantry and tanks of the 65th Army of the Don Front during the counteroffensive near Stalingrad. However, a number of sources indicate that this tactic has been used before. According to the author of an article published in February 1941 in the Smena magazine, it was thanks to the powerful artillery support of the Red Army that the Mannerheim Line was broken through during the Soviet-Finnish War.

"On Sunday, February 11, at 8:20 in the morning, the Russians began artillery preparation ... The power of the fire - about a hundred concentrated batteries - was so great that it can only be compared with the largest artillery battles of the world war ... In the most dangerous sector of Lyakhtee, the entire area, starting from the front line and two kilometers behind the base line, was densely dotted with shell craters," Finnish Colonel Yosse Hannula recalled that assault.

From a tactical point of view, the barrage method is a massive use of artillery against enemy positions, combined with the onset of mobile formations. They fire, as a rule, high-explosive fragmentation and smoke shells. Unlike the classical artillery preparation, which traditionally precedes each attack, in this case we are talking about the total "processing" of enemy battle formations from long-range guns, resembling a giant fiery skating rink. So that the stunned enemy does not have time to come to his senses and grab the machine guns, tanks and infantry are let in after the "skating rink". Moreover, they go almost close to the line of discontinuities. The scale and suddenness of such an assault demoralizes the enemy and makes it possible to "swoop" through defense lines in depth.

At the same time, the gunners have the most difficult job - they are required to conduct an avalanche of gaps synchronously with the advancing units. The intensity of fire and coverage areas are specified in real time. If the infantry gets stuck - the shaft is stopped, if it breaks through - they are moved further, into the depths of defense. In order not to cover their own, the firing lines are coordinated and discussed in advance. To concentrate fire, positions are usually chosen that are as saturated as possible with cannons, machine guns and mortars. The distance between the lines is 300-400 meters. Each battery is assigned its own section of the front. The barrage of fire, as a rule, is preceded by classical artillery preparation on reconnoitered targets, in the intervals between raids, "combing" fire is used to suppress point pockets of resistance that have withstood the first onslaught.

A scheme of false transfers of fire is also provided, when a flurry of explosions suddenly shifts deep into the battle formations. The defenders perceive this as a signal to attack, many lose their nerves - they begin to shoot feverishly. Prematurely opened return fire betrays camouflaged machine-gun and artillery positions. Spotters fix them and return the fire shaft to the front line. This procedure is repeated until all guns and machine guns are silenced.

Despite its high efficiency, the fire shaft method also has significant drawbacks. The main one is the need to concentrate a huge amount of artillery and ammunition on a relatively narrow breakthrough section. On average, about four artillery divisions were required per kilometer of the front, and this is more than 70 guns. Usually, such activity in war does not remain a secret for enemy reconnaissance and clearly indicates the area where the main attack is being prepared. In addition, shooting at a fast pace is accompanied by a monstrous consumption of shells, which literally melt in arsenals.

I call on myself

The barrage in its classic form was "withdrawn from service" by Soviet artillerymen in the 1980s, replacing it with a similar tactic - the so-called mobile fire zone method. This is about the same, only fragmentation shells are no longer exploding in front of their advancing troops, but ... right above their heads, in the air. Naturally, the line of attackers consists only of armored fighting vehicles - tanks and infantry fighting vehicles with infantry sheltered inside. A deadly hail of fragments and striking elements moves synchronously and, without harming the attackers, completely sweeps away anti-tank weapons and enemy manpower. On the front line, up to 95 percent of the defenders are affected, including those sitting in trenches.

"This is a very complex process," Colonel Viktor Murakhovsky, editor-in-chief of Arsenal of the Fatherland magazine, explains to RIA Novosti. "Before each such attack, a planned interaction table is drawn up, where all elements of tasks, lines and artillery operation time are coordinated to within tens of seconds. The command to shift the fire of the first line is given by the commander of the advancing battalion, which is in a tank or infantry fighting vehicle.This requires a very high qualification of officers, a reliable system of combat control and high training of units.I want to note that the Soviet army has repeatedly managed to successfully implement such tactics in large-scale exercises . Even with units manned by conscripts."

According to him, the mobile firing zone method is a non-standard artillery tool. It is used in special cases when you need to quickly break through the enemy defenses in a strategic area without wasting time reconnaissance of firing points. To do this, the attacking unit is given several additional artillery divisions, which are removed from other sectors of the front. However, as the experience of modern conflicts shows, such emergency measures are now resorted to less and less. Artillery and missile troops have learned to work on targets more accurately, economically and efficiently.

Individual approach

“Today, gunners and tactical missilemen mainly operate as part of the so-called fire reconnaissance and strike circuits,” Murakhovsky says. “Roughly speaking, targets in the area of ​​responsibility of a unit or formation are hit as they are identified - online. This work is carried out continuously and pointwise, without the accumulation of artillery and shells. Such tactics are spelled out in most modern combat regulations. "

It is noteworthy that the introduction of automated combat control loops makes this process intelligent - after detecting and identifying a target, the system itself determines how to suppress it: for example, "put" a pair of 152-mm howitzer shells next to it or cover it with a salvo of the Smerch multiple launch rocket system . Many parameters are taken into account here, including the degree of combat readiness of the installation, the distance to it and the type of loaded ammunition - anti-tank, high-explosive fragmentation or cluster.

Although, Murakhovsky notes, in case of urgent need, Russian artillerymen can even now arrange a barrage of fire without any problems. Moreover, due to the introduction of automated systems, it is much easier to control the fire rink. Today they are in service and tested the latest artillery and operational-tactical missile systems, which hit faster, more accurately and farther.

Thus, the promising self-propelled 152-mm howitzer "Coalition-SV" can send a projectile to 70 kilometers, remaining inaccessible to enemy artillery. One self-propelled gun is capable of hitting a target simultaneously with several projectiles fired along different trajectories. "The sweat of the artillery saves the blood of the infantry" - apparently, this old soldier's saying will not soon lose its relevance.

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The use of artillery fire - "fire shaft"

January 10, 1943 is considered the birthday of the method of using artillery fire, called the “barrage of fire”. However, a massive artillery attack on the enemy's defensive positions, which preceded the offensive actions of infantry and tanks, was used during the Second World War and earlier.

In the initial period of the Great Patriotic War, when the German troops won resounding victories, their daily routine sometimes resembled some kind of established system: breakfast, artillery shelling of enemy positions, similar to a barrage of fire, infantry attack, mandatory breaks for lunch and dinner, sleep. Naturally, this routine was sometimes violated, but, in general, German commanders often adhered to this procedure.

The aforementioned "barrage of fire" was distinguished by the absence of concentrated fire on a certain segment of the front line from a large number of gun barrels, as well as a certain pause between the end of the artillery strike and the transition of friendly infantry to the attack. The offensive was suspended at the time of artillery fire so as not to endanger their own advancing units.

But on January 10, 1943, this “template” was broken. During the operation "Ring", aimed at destroying the 6th German army surrounded in Stalingrad, the commander of the 65th army, Lieutenant General P.I. Batov concentrated 200 artillery pieces and mortars on 1 km of the front. In the offensive zone of the Soviet troops, a single fire shaft was applied.

It is very curious that after 2 days during the operation "Iskra" (which was carried out from January 12 to January 30, 1943 by the forces of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts), the fire shaft method was also used. On January 12, 1943, after a massive night air strike on enemy positions, in the breakthrough zone at 09:30, both fronts began artillery preparation, which lasted 2 hours and 20 minutes in some areas. Even before its completion, at 11:50, under the cover of a “barrage of fire”, the advanced divisions of the 67th Army began to cross the Neva.

In the subsequent periods of the war, the "barrage of fire" method was modified depending on the task being performed. So, in the book “So we went to victory”, according to the memoirs of Marshal I.Kh. Bagramyan, you can read the following: “In an effort to hide from the enemy the moment of transition to the attack of infantry and tanks, we outlined a plan for artillery preparation: first, a short, only five minutes, but powerful fire raid, then a twenty-minute pause, and after it - control of sighting. The Nazis will come out of their hiding places, take up positions in the trenches, and we will continue firing for destruction and suppression for about an hour. And only then, after a volley of four hundred and fifty Katyushas, ​​will we bring down the entire force of fire on the enemy. In fifteen minutes the infantry will go. The raging fire shaft will gradually move into the depths. The infantry and tanks will follow.”

The fire shaft method applied on January 10, 1943 looked as follows: initially, the front line of the enemy’s defense was subjected to a short five-minute artillery attack, the fuses on the shells and mines were set to a fragmentation action, which inflicted the greatest defeat on the German infantry rushing through fortified knots during rapid fire defenses and trenches. The next phase involved a strike with high-explosive munitions, dealing devastating blows to the enemy's defensive infrastructure. Long-range artillery shells weighing two, three, or even six pounds smashed the firing points, headquarters, warehouses and reserves of the Germans along the entire length of the front line.

The innovation of artillery preparation on January 10, 1943 was the fact that the final strike of the Katyusha rocket launchers, which was supposed to complete the shelling, was delayed. The tanks and infantry had already moved in to attack, and the rocket-propelled mortars opened fire 5 minutes later (in artillery language, this is called "Ch + 5"). The blow was delivered on the reverse slopes of the hills in the depths of the enemy defense, where German units could be concentrated to deliver counterattacks. Explosions of Soviet shells went ahead of our infantry at a distance of only 100-200 m, as if leading the troops behind them deep into the enemy defenses. The "Fire Shaft" cleared the way for the attacking units up to the Rossoshka River, helping to break through the dense defenses of the Germans. Such actions soon led to the liquidation of the Paulus group.

For the operation "Ring" Lieutenant General Pavel Ivanovich Batov was awarded the Order of Suvorov, 1st degree.

MOSCOW, 12 Jan— RIA Novosti, Andrey Stanavov. A dense wall of powerful explosions rumbles up on the front line of the enemy and gradually moves into the depths of battle formations, sweeping away and grinding everything in its path. Large-caliber shells fall almost continuously. A fiery tsunami slowly rolls over neat grids of trenches and communication passages, dugouts, concrete defensive fortifications, guns and machine guns dug into the ground.

Behind is a burning field plowed with funnels, along which the tanks and motorized infantry of the advancing troops are already moving in a swift avalanche. They meet almost no resistance - the enemy is defeated and demoralized, and the bunkers are turned into piles of concrete and red-hot fittings. About the most formidable and proven tactics of artillerymen that leave no chance for the enemy - in the material of RIA Novosti.

fire dance

According to the official version, for the first time the Soviet command resorted to the tactics of the fire shaft in 1943 to support the breakthrough of the infantry and tanks of the 65th Army of the Don Front during the counteroffensive near Stalingrad. However, a number of sources indicate that this tactic has been used before. According to the author of an article published in February 1941 in the Smena magazine, it was thanks to the powerful artillery support of the Red Army that the Mannerheim Line was broken through during the Soviet-Finnish War.

© Infographic Tactics of the battle "Fire shaft"

© Infographic

"On Sunday, February 11, at 8:20 in the morning, the Russians began artillery preparation ... The power of the fire - about a hundred concentrated batteries - was so great that it can only be compared with the largest artillery battles of the world war ... In the most dangerous section of Lyakhtee, the entire area, starting from the front line and two kilometers behind the baseline, was densely littered with shell craters," Finnish Colonel Yosse Hannula recalled that assault.

From a tactical point of view, the barrage method is a massive use of artillery against enemy positions, combined with the onset of mobile formations. They fire, as a rule, high-explosive fragmentation and smoke shells. Unlike the classical artillery preparation, which traditionally precedes each attack, in this case we are talking about the total "processing" of enemy battle formations from long-range guns, resembling a giant fiery skating rink. So that the stunned enemy does not have time to come to his senses and grab the machine guns, tanks and infantry are let in after the "skating rink". Moreover, they go almost close to the line of discontinuities. The scale and suddenness of such an assault demoralizes the enemy and makes it possible to "swoop" through defense lines in depth.

At the same time, the gunners have the most difficult job - they are required to conduct an avalanche of gaps synchronously with the advancing units. The intensity of fire and coverage areas are specified in real time. If the infantry gets stuck, the shaft is stopped, if it breaks through, they are moved further, into the depths of defense. In order not to cover their own, the firing lines are coordinated and discussed in advance. To concentrate fire, positions are usually chosen that are as saturated as possible with cannons, machine guns and mortars. The distance between the lines is 300-400 meters. Each battery is assigned its own section of the front. The barrage of fire, as a rule, is preceded by classical artillery preparation on reconnoitered targets, in the intervals between raids, "combing" fire is used to suppress point pockets of resistance that have withstood the first onslaught.

A scheme of false transfers of fire is also provided, when a flurry of explosions suddenly shifts deep into the battle formations. The defenders perceive this as a signal to attack, many lose their nerves - they begin to shoot feverishly. Prematurely opened return fire betrays camouflaged machine-gun and artillery positions. Spotters fix them and return the fire shaft to the front line. This procedure is repeated until all guns and machine guns are silenced.

Despite its high efficiency, the fire shaft method also has significant drawbacks. The main one is the need to concentrate a huge amount of artillery and ammunition on a relatively narrow section of the breakthrough. On average, about four artillery divisions were required per kilometer of the front, and this is more than 70 guns. Usually, such activity in war does not remain a secret for enemy reconnaissance and clearly indicates the area where the main attack is being prepared. In addition, shooting at a fast pace is accompanied by a monstrous consumption of shells, which literally melt in arsenals.

I call on myself

The barrage in its classic form was taken out of service by Soviet gunners in the 1980s, replaced by a similar tactic, the so-called mobile fire zone method. This is about the same, only fragmentation shells are no longer exploding in front of their advancing troops, but ... right above their heads, in the air. Naturally, the line of attackers consists only of armored fighting vehicles - tanks and infantry fighting vehicles with infantry sheltered inside. A deadly hail of fragments and striking elements moves synchronously and, without harming the attackers, completely sweeps away anti-tank weapons and enemy manpower. On the front line, up to 95 percent of the defenders are affected, including those sitting in trenches.

“This is a very complex process,” Colonel Viktor Murakhovsky, editor-in-chief of the Arsenal of the Fatherland magazine, explains to RIA Novosti. “Before each such attack, a planned interaction table is drawn up, where all the elements for tasks, lines and artillery operation time are coordinated to within tens of seconds. The command to shift the fire of the first line is given by the commander of the advancing battalion, which is in a tank or infantry fighting vehicle.This requires a very high qualification of officers, a reliable system of combat control and high training of units.I want to note that the Soviet army has repeatedly managed to successfully implement such tactics in large-scale exercises . Even with units manned by conscripts."

According to him, the mobile firing zone method is a non-standard artillery tool. It is used in special cases when you need to quickly break through the enemy defenses in a strategic area without wasting time reconnaissance of firing points. To do this, the attacking unit is given several additional artillery divisions, which are removed from other sectors of the front. However, as the experience of modern conflicts shows, such emergency measures are now resorted to less and less. Artillery and missile troops have learned to work on targets more accurately, economically and efficiently.

Individual approach

“Today, artillerymen and tactical missilemen mainly operate as part of the so-called fire reconnaissance and strike circuits,” Murakhovsky says. “Roughly speaking, targets in the area of ​​responsibility of a unit or formation are hit as they are identified – online. This work is carried out continuously and pointwise, without the accumulation of artillery and shells. Such tactics are spelled out in most modern combat regulations. "

It is noteworthy that the introduction of automated combat control loops makes this process intelligent - after detecting and identifying a target, the system itself determines how to suppress it: for example, "put" a pair of 152-mm howitzer shells next to it or cover it with a salvo of the Smerch multiple launch rocket system . This takes into account many parameters, including the degree of combat readiness of the installation, the distance to it and the type of loaded ammunition - anti-tank, high-explosive fragmentation or cluster.

Although, Murakhovsky notes, in case of urgent need, Russian artillerymen can even now arrange a barrage of fire without any problems. Moreover, due to the introduction of automated systems, it is much easier to control the fire rink. Today they are in service and testing the latest artillery and operational-tactical missile systems that hit faster, more accurately and farther.

Thus, the promising self-propelled 152-mm howitzer "Coalition-SV" can send a projectile to 70 kilometers, remaining inaccessible to enemy artillery. One self-propelled gun is capable of hitting a target simultaneously with several projectiles fired along different trajectories. "The sweat of the artillery saves the blood of the infantry" - apparently, this old soldier's saying will not soon lose its relevance.

A command and staff exercise of the 191st motorized rifle regiment of the 201st Russian military base in Tajikistan has successfully completed at the Sambuli mountain range near Kurgan-Tube. For five days, Gatchina warriors improved their skills in a possible attack, blocking and repelling illegal armed formations of a mock enemy in difficult conditions of a mountainous desert area.
The format of the exercise involved practicing the tasks of combat coherence and field training of personnel in an environment of confrontation with many times superior enemy forces. The leaders of the exercise paid special attention to improving the practical skills of commanders, chiefs of staff of military branches and services, organizing combat operations, developing high combat and moral and psychological qualities among personnel, increasing physical endurance, and improving the techniques and methods of educational work.

Dust and bullets
... The wind from Afghanistan brought a sandstorm with it. She is called here - "Afghan". A corrosive brown veil covered the Tajik sky. According to operational intelligence data, another attack came from Afghanistan - a column of militants of a radical extremist persuasion. According to the scenario of the upcoming maneuvers, armed Islamists treacherously invaded the territory of a sovereign state and moved deep into the country.
According to the legend of the exercise, the 201st Russian military base prepared to repel an attack by vastly superior paramilitary formations. The first to set up a barrier on the path of advance of the aggressor forces were the servicemen of the motorized rifle regiment of Colonel Dmitry Kasperovich.
In accordance with the task received, the 191st regiment had to make a march and reach the area of ​​concentration in the shortest possible time. Difficulties in the form of unexpected introductions hit the column of the regiment from the first minutes of the march. Radical-minded local residents, who fell under the influence of Islamic fundamentalists, made efforts to block the advance of the column of our troops through settlements. The bridge was blown up along the column, and several more acts of sabotage were carried out. Thus, the head of the exercise - the deputy commander of the base, Colonel Viktor Kindeev, tried to "thicken the clouds" as much as possible over the upcoming theater of operations.
It is worth noting that the chosen scenario of the exercise looks very relevant, especially against the backdrop of intensified hostilities in neighboring Afghanistan. Now the total number of Taliban there is about 30,000 Mujahideen. In addition to them, up to 2.5 thousand foreign fighters, as well as local Islamist groups, are participating in the war. Even despite the tenfold superiority of the coalition forces over the Taliban army, the armed confrontation near the Tajik-Afghan border is escalating. The Taliban are becoming more and more daring, demonstrating the ability not only to set up ambushes and lay mines, but also to attack strongholds. In addition, according to military experts, the flow of foreign fighters entering Afghanistan from Pakistan has recently increased markedly. Financial receipts from Islamists from other countries are also growing.
The ongoing war on the other side of the Pyanj is also reflected in Tajikistan. At the end of May of this year, a bandit group of up to twenty people, ten of whom are citizens of Afghanistan, armed with small arms, grenade launchers and hand grenades, was blocked by the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the center of the Tajik city of Kulyab. The fighters were well prepared. They managed to break through the dense cordon ring and scattered around the city in small groups. One of these groups began to move towards the permanent deployment of the Russian 149th motorized rifle regiment and took up defensive positions in the dispensary building in the immediate vicinity of the military camp. However, the police managed to neutralize this group only after the militants had used up all the ammunition.
What happened indicates the instability of stability in Tajikistan and the possibility of penetration into its territory of Afghan citizens involved in illegal activities, capable of providing armed resistance and acting as a destabilizing factor.
storm gate
... At the appointed hour, the regiment went to the concentration area and "dissolved" in the mountains. The infantry bit into the ground, tanks and artillery took up combat positions. The military personnel of the 201st base prepared to “play out” the exercise as part of a classic combined arms battle. In accordance with the combat order received, the regiment commander worked out a plan for the upcoming maneuvers and reported it to the head of the exercise. But then surprises followed, to which the participants in the exercise had already become accustomed. Colonel Kindeev questioned the commander's plan and, as the head of the exercise, demanded that it be changed. He explained that the academic scheme of fighting in the mountains, and even subject to a multiple superiority of the attackers, was doomed to failure in advance. Indeed, according to the scenario of the exercise, an armada of a full-fledged army corps was approaching one motorized rifle regiment. This power would easily have swept away the regimental defenses in its path. It is clear that such a situation required the adoption of only non-standard decisions.
An experienced and competent regiment commander, Colonel Dmitry Kasperovich, instantly reacts to amendments and makes a new decision. It excludes a continuous line of defense with traditional trenches and focuses the main efforts on strengthening platoon strongholds. Tactics are also changing. Now the numerical superiority of the enemy troops will be countered by the skillful use of the terrain and weapons. But that's not all. The head of the exercise proposes not only to make the most of the experience of local armed conflicts, but also to apply enemy tactics in the regiment's maneuvers. That is, to adopt non-standard forms of warfare. This means setting up land mines and organizing ramparts of fire in areas where the enemy is most likely to break through, making extensive use of fire ambushes and minefields.
The use of their own "method" against the militants, to tell the truth, was perceived by the regimental officers ambiguously. But the departure from the usual canons in the tactics of the actions of our troops in itself became a small sensation of this doctrine. The head of the engineering service of the unit, Major Maxim Gabov, confirmed that his subordinates are able to install a sufficient number of land mines in the areas of the most probable advance of the enemy forces and thereby tie the militants in a fire bag. Then the equipment will be blown up and significant damage will be done to the enemy's manpower. While the militants will come to their senses and resume further movement, a real fiery shaft will fall on them. It will be a continuous fiery strip about 800 meters long. This wall of fire should delay the enemy for about half an hour. The divisions of Colonel Kasperovich, dispersed on the mountain slopes, will destroy the enemy as he approaches. For artillery and infantry, the main task is to prevent the enemy from simultaneously reaching the line of transition to the attack. Thus, battalion commanders will have the opportunity to skillfully transfer the forces of their unit to the most dangerous direction of attack.
Thus, the head of the exercise taught a valuable lesson, which was appreciated by the officers of the regiment already at the end of the maneuvers. And many of them learned that in a real combat situation, the unit commander is required not only personal courage, independence, but also the ability to find non-standard solutions. Decisions that will affect tens and hundreds of lives.
The regiment coped with the assigned combat mission. The "enemy" was stopped and partially destroyed. By the way, the current deputy commander of the 201st military base, Colonel Viktor Kindeev himself studied this science not from notes. A graduate of the Ulyanovsk Higher Tank Command School, he began in the reconnaissance of a tank regiment. He went through all the hotbeds of blazing fratricidal conflicts. Azerbaijan, South Ossetia, Transnistria - in the first half of the 1990s, twice Chechnya and Abkhazia - in the second half. In Pridnestrovie, already when he was the commander of a reconnaissance company of the 506th motorized rifle regiment, he received his first military award - the medal "For Courage". Even then, the young officer took responsibility for non-standard decisions. And soon another war called his company - in Chechnya.
There, Kindeev's scouts, with a daring night throw, took a height of 382.1 with a TV tower. We found a place for crossing a water barrier, along which the regiment quickly jumped to the other side in order to move to block the militants in Argun and Mesker-Yurt, and then clash with them in fierce battles near Germenchuk and Serzhen-Yurt. Then there were the August battles in Grozny ... Kindeev left home with the Order of Courage, the medal "For Merit to the Fatherland" II degree and pride in one important and eloquent fact - not one of his subordinates laid down his life on the soil of Chechnya.
Next - 1998. Georgia. Zugdidi region. Urta is a temporary deployment point and area of ​​responsibility of the peacekeeping battalion, in which Kindeev served as chief of staff. And a new hotbed of war in the Caucasus did not break out, did not swallow innocent lives ...
But the war broke out in another place, already familiar. In December 1999, the 506th motorized rifle regiment, having mastered the Tersky ridge, again goes to Khankala and Grozny. Confidently and without nervous throwing, battalion commander Kindeev leads maneuver groups, refracting his decisions through combat experience - both bitter and victorious, accumulated by the regiment in the past hot five-year plan. By the end of January, motorized riflemen were recapturing the southern part of Minutka Square in Grozny from the militants and were continuing to gain a foothold in the city. A valuable gift and a nominal watch from the President of Russia were then presented to Viktor Kindeev for his professional contribution to the operation to eliminate one of the odious leaders of the militants.
In the most brutal part of the second Chechen war, he again did not lose a single soldier. Returned everyone to their families.