Engineering support as a type of combat support for combat operations. Organization of the fulfillment of the task by the commander of an engineer-sapper platoon to make passages in mine-explosive barriers in front of the front line of the enemy’s defense Isr army
Original taken from onepamop
in Pro Guards Assault Unit of Engineering Troops
On December 1, 2014, in the city of Murom (Vladimir region), they began to form an engineering and sapper brigade of central subordination. The brigade was formed in order to increase the capabilities of engineering troops and the efficiency of their use, create a reserve for solving suddenly arising tasks and strengthen groupings of troops in strategic directions. The brigade is in the reserve of the Supreme Commander.
As part of the brigade, for the first time since the Great Patriotic War, the assault and barrage battalion was revived, designed to ensure the unhindered movement of general-purpose forces in urbanized areas, which can significantly increase the efficiency of actions during the assault on buildings, while avoiding losses as much as possible.
This time we managed to observe the work of the "stormtroopers" with a "watering can" and a notebook. From personal impressions: one of the most interesting of my army races.
By pressing the buttons, you help in the fight
Senior Lieutenant Dmitry Anatolyevich F., commander of the assault and barrage company of the 1st Guards engineer-sapper Brest-Berlin Red Banner Orders of Suvorov and Kutuzov Brigade, answers our and your questions.
It was not possible to squeeze all the questions into one interview, but there is an opportunity to leave questions in the comments and get an answer to them!
1. Very briefly about myself
I always wanted to serve in the army, I have been in military service since 2005. He graduated from a military school in St. Petersburg and, by the will of fate and his own, ended up in the ranks of the 1st Guards engineer-sapper Brest-Berlin Red Banner Orders of Suvorov and Kutuzov Brigade. Our brigade of central subordination was formed on December 1, 2014 in the city of Murom (Vladimir region). I am satisfied with the service in the brigade, this is exactly what I like to do.
2. Since time immemorial, there have been rumors that engineering troops are only needed to build bridges and install / remove mines. Still, they say, you can involve them in digging everything. What else is included in the range of real tasks of modern engineers?
Engineering troops, of course, not only build bridges, lay and remove mines. We are engaged in fortification, engineering reconnaissance of the terrain, we can equip approaches and lines for the convenience of our troops or make them unsuitable for advancing enemy troops, make a passage in minefields or secure an entire direction for the maneuver of our troops. Building bridges and crossings over water barriers is also our area of responsibility. In addition, military engineers provide troops in the field with electricity and water, including drinking water. We can greatly complicate enemy reconnaissance actions: where necessary, military engineers use camouflage and concealment of important objects or, conversely, imitation and arrangement of false objects, for example, using inflatable models of military equipment. We operate on land and at sea, in addition to army engineering and sapper units, there are also naval or naval engineering units in the engineering troops.
3. What is the task of the assault unit of military engineers?
The immediate tasks of my particular unit are blockade and assault. Barrage, simply put, is the elimination of enemy obstacles (including mined ones) by various methods, and assault is the destruction of the enemy in fortified points and entire areas. Plus, ensuring the unimpeded movement of infantry, artillery, tankers and other forces following us through the territory of the enemy.
Units like ours were widely used in the Red Army during the Great Patriotic War, there is enough information on them. Modern military conflicts, of course, differ markedly from the situation on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War, but there are also many common features. The creation of assault units is the call of the times and an adequate response to modern military realities.
4. What is the specificity of "stormtroopers"? Are there units with similar specifics in the RF Armed Forces?
It turns out that the specifics of assault engineers also include part of the work performed by special forces units, some of the tasks are consonant with those set for airborne assault units, and in terms of work in urban conditions, rubble and buildings, we in some sense intersect with the specifics of the police special forces (SOBR) and the special forces of the FSB. In the modern Armed Forces of the Russian Federation there is nothing similar to us (and with similar tasks).
5. What heavy equipment are the "stormtroopers" armed with?
The battalion has barrier and assault companies (from heavy equipment - BTR-82A armored personnel carriers and Typhoon-K armored vehicles) and companies of special heavy engineering equipment (engineering barrier vehicles - IMR-3, demining installations - UR-77 "Meteorite"). We are armed with robotic equipment (mine-clearing and firefighting robots), specially trained servicemen of the robotic equipment company work with robotics.
6. What small arms do assault units have?
From small arms, we currently have access to the AK-74 with underbarrel grenade launchers and AKS-74, PK, PKT (well, plus a 30-mm cannon on an armored personnel carrier). Of the desired - a sniper weapon is very necessary. But here the question is not so much about weapons, it is necessary to introduce snipers into our staff list. A group that approaches a building or ruins, and especially during operations in an urban environment, needs sniper support. This and losses in the group can prevent and the very progress to the point of "work" can be facilitated.
As for small arms, I would like to replenish our arsenal with AK "hundredth" series assault rifles. And, of course, we need a replacement for the legendary PM. He's the one in the state for me. And I would like to replace it with an APS (Stechkin automatic pistol).
7. If there was a choice not only from domestic pistols, but in general from any - what would you like to have with you in battle as a short-barreled personal weapon?
APS.
8. And from heavier weapons?
Possibly flamethrowers. There are certain plans for them, we are an experienced unit, and perhaps they will be implemented.
9. How are you doing with the connection?
We have all the novelties that appear in the Sun. I don’t see any problems with communication, including communication between the fighters of the assault group.
10. What are the "stormtroopers" equipped with?
I'll start with OVR-3Sh. The demining suit (assault version) is comfortable and thoughtful. Needs, of course, an individual fit, but this is normal. About weight and convenience, I will say this: all daylight hours today I was actively moving around the building in OVR-3Sh. Tired, of course, there is, but, without exaggeration, I am ready to pass the standards for physical training right now. Feelings of comfort come with time, the suit should “get used” to the person, then it works normally in it. In total, the suit has three sizes, but this is not the most popular option. There is a natural limitation - the "stormtrooper" should be of medium build. A big soldier is a big target and will not be able to crawl through everywhere, a small soldier may not have enough physical strength in battle to perform hard physical work.
The level of protection of the suit is determined by armor panels placed in special "pockets" on the chest, sides, groin, etc. What protection class they have is the same for the suit. We have panels of the 6th protection class, they shot at a suit with such a panel from SVD with an armor-piercing incendiary bullet from a dozen meters. Breakouts were not recorded. The visor on the helmet holds a pistol bullet. And, of course, fragments.
The molle straps on the suit are comfortable. They allow you to place the necessary equipment exactly where it is more convenient for you personally.
"Warrior". I approve. Except, perhaps, the location of the "unloading" on the chest. It must be moved to the hips, otherwise in fire contact it is impossible to minimize your own silhouette in the “lying” position, because you have to lie on the “armor” and compartments with magazines placed on top of the “armor”. In addition, if the unit is on a day or overnight stay, surveillance and security are provided, the soldier can take off his "armor" for the rest, without parting with the ammunition. In the "Warrior" this will not work. First you need to remove the unloading with ammunition and then the "armor". And one more detail: “unloading” well loaded with equipment and ammunition in its present form leads to excessive back fatigue when worn for a long time.
Multitools. There are regular and personal. It is not forbidden to have personally acquired. I personally have just such a one, I bought it even before the staff arrived. In general, I would say that the regular multi-tool is normal, it allows you to solve the whole range of tasks, but there are better tools. Life can depend on such an item of equipment as a multitool in our work, so I personally consider it wrong to save on a compact tool for myself.
Probably, not everyone knows that once a sapper from such tools had only a knife. During the war years in the Red Army, it was a Finnish-type universal knife, they did everything with it. In the post-war Soviet Army, it was already a folding knife "Demoman" with several blades. "Demoman" allowed something to be unscrewed, cut off (for example, a igniter cord), something to pierce, expose and strip the wire. With a modern multi-tool, there is more room for maneuver. Generally speaking, today without a multitool you can’t go anywhere, it’s like a third hand.
Machete. Or an assault knife "Sapper". Domestic. Cuts, cuts, sharpens easily. I won't say anything bad about him.
Supply in general. I note that we do not have a shortage of something. Among the regular allowances there are many new products. Somehow "upgrade" your property personally is not forbidden. This, by the way, allows again to sum up personal practical experience and broadcast it to the entire unit. One bought something, brought it, showed it, checked it in action - oh, you can take it! Reliable and functional thing never hurts. Again, no one canceled the duct tape, room for improvements and personal improvements. Of the things that are already obvious - we need hooks for automatic magazines. For the "Warrior" this is especially important: you put three magazines into each cell - it's not very convenient to get it out without a hook, and it can fall out in a hurry.
On the OVR there are special fixing elastic bands for magazines that allow you not to lose the magazine in motion. A trifle, but an important one. There are no such trifles on other pouches, we are modifying them for ourselves, because it is checked and convenient. There is an adopted third-party experience. In SOBR they spied: the "shieldman" on the left hand had spare magazines attached to the pistol with a bandage or tape. Itching to reload - you do it without taking your hands off the shield. We also have two types of shields in service - light and heavy. You can make three shields into one. The heavy shield is equipped with wheels, which can be very convenient in a building.
11. Who completes the assault units of the engineering troops?
And "contract" and "conscripts". When recruiting our battalion, it is customary to pay close attention to contract servicemen who have served urgent service or who previously served as "contract soldiers" in reconnaissance units and special forces, in the explosives. We greatly appreciate the skills they have previously acquired.
For me, as a company commander, a desirable candidate for a unit looks something like this: "contract worker", age - 20-25 years old, athlete, physically developed, strong build. Pay attention to height and weight. A plus for the candidate will be previously acquired skills of a sapper profile and a driver's license. It’s great if the candidate has already received a military specialty, for example, a machine gunner, a radio operator. And a very important aspect for me personally, as a commander, is the desire of the candidate to serve in our battalion. More than 30 people came to us, "selected contractors" in six months. It could have been noticeably more, but no one canceled the selection and screening.
Someone who wants to serve in an assault unit himself is easier to learn new things. In our country, every “contractor” at least knows how to shoot, drive an armored personnel carrier, handle explosives and provide first aid. And, of course, follow the safety rules.
12. How are things going with shooting training?
We pay special attention to shooting training, our practice is constant and systematic. An assault unit that is not capable of excellent shooting cannot, I think, be called an “assault unit”. The “attack aircraft” is obliged to master the standard weapon perfectly. The same applies to mine-explosive specifics. In addition, it is necessary, at a minimum, to be able to handle foreign models of small arms. While we are being formed, not all samples have the opportunity to get acquainted “live”, we manage with electronic documents and plan notes, but work is being carried out in the direction of expanding and replenishing the material base specifically for us by the command.
13. Is there a shortage of personnel or certain specialists?
At the moment, I can’t say that we have a shortage of personnel. Our own "cadres" are working, and there are many who want to get into our service. The same applies to the "conscripts" soldiers, immediately after the KMB (course of a young soldier), the majority seeks to serve in our battalion. The motivation of the “conscripts” is different: someone is “according to rumors”, someone sees how and what we are doing in the course of daily combat training. She's a lot. Some are surprised that we have drill training. And how without it? This is the foundation of group warfare. Whoever is good in the ranks is also good in battle, a well-known fact from the time of Suvorov. To increase the level of coherence of the unit, the drill is indispensable. Fire, sapper, special, physical training - we have something to do in the service. I personally observe how a set of measures makes today's men out of yesterday's boys. Including with the help of morning physical exercises.
14. Physical training - is it just a struggle for "good sports shape" or are there any other super-useful aspects?
Our servicemen, in principle, have increased physical activity. However, over time, this “increased” level is leveled out due to personal growth, people are constantly developing and at some point in time you begin to regard high loads as normal. You just get stronger and more resilient. This is also an observation from personal experience.
15. How much does an "average contractor" earn in an assault unit?
On average, a “contract worker” receives about 30 thousand rubles, and if he is successful and persistent in terms of individual physical training, has (and can confirm) sports “classiness”, he is entitled to a cash bonus of 10-15 thousand rubles. Maintaining excellent personal fitness, as you can see, pays well. In such a matter as working on oneself personally, I consider the financial incentive very useful.
16. Is there something from the equipment that is not yet available, but would like to have specifically for the commander of an assault company?
UAV. We don’t have them yet, but personally, they make my job of making decisions based on operational intelligence much easier. I had experience of interacting with UAVs.
If we don’t touch on technology, I think that it would be very useful for us, as for a young unit with unique specifics, to be able to attract third-party experts and instructors. For learning. We are now actively forming a base of combat experience, here the instructor experience of "narrow" specialists from other units is invaluable to us. For example, I would like to master the nuances of actions in the mountains, in practice to study the experience of the same SOBR police officers in working in a building, instructors from the intelligence of the Special Forces would introduce their experience of actions in the forest. It all needs to be summarized, accumulated and adapted. Now we are filming our classes with subsequent “debriefing” and analysis. We study continuously. Again, let me remind you that our “contractors” who came from special units also become sources of new knowledge and, to some extent, play the role of instructors. This is just part of my job as a commander: highlight the main thing, summarize, adapt, accumulate and transfer to subordinates.
In this vein, in the near future, we plan to cooperate with the SSO (Special Operations Forces). From what I can tell you about this, it will be a practical course of versatile training conducted by the forces of the MTR instructors on the basis of the MTR for all our officers and "contract soldiers". Such a training course awaits, including me. It is great that we have such an opportunity, and it is very right that cooperation with the MTR is planned as permanent. After all, we were also created as a unit to perform special tasks within the framework of engineering and sapper topics.
17. If your unit would be given the task of "Take Koenigsberg!" - how would you act?
So right away, “on the knee”, in a couple of minutes planning the assault on Koenigsberg is not right. But if we are given a similar task, we will do it. Speaking in general: the personal armor protection of a fighter has advanced a lot since then, modern small arms, armored vehicles, demining installations - in general, Keninsberg of the last years of the war from today does not look absolutely impregnable. Moreover, our grandfathers took him without all of the above.
By the way, we studied the experience of both Chechen companies when we had to fight in low-rise urban areas. UR-77s were successfully used there. Why are human casualties needed when a fortified building with militants inside can be remotely thrown from UR-77 and only after that a cleansing operation is carried out by personnel. Although there was often nothing to clean up after the UR.
Sometimes it happens that you have to break into a building through a gap in the wall. Which is yet to be done. Here it is important to have maximum information about the building and the enemy: what kind of building, what approaches, who is inside, how many of them, what they are armed with. Based on these data, we determine tactics for a particular case: which of the groups in which composition works on the first floor, which on the second, who covers the central and emergency entrances and exits. Let's say, sometimes it's more convenient to enter simply through the door, and sometimes from above, breaking through the ceiling or roof. If the situation and the door allow - you can do without an explosion, hydraulic shears or a circular saw. In a nutshell and without specifics, you can’t really tell here. In the general case, one person under the cover of a group approaches the building, installs a charge (there are many different ones) and detonates explosives in one of the ways. Further assault through the breach or simultaneously through the breach and other entry points.
18. Suppose we are talking about a large one-story brick house, inside up to 30 people, presumably these are militants of the ISIS banned in the Russian Federation and, probably, they are all armed. How to be?
Fit UR-77. If there is no such equipment, then we will have specialists who can accurately “fold” the building. This is not the pinnacle of demolition skill, there are tasks and more difficult.
19. Is it true that demining is a thing of the past, and now everything that was mined is simply destroyed?
Yes, that's right, if we are talking about "neutralization" on the spot or the evacuation of an explosive device for subsequent destruction. A sapper is a highly qualified specialist, a vain risk is contraindicated for a specialist, he can still save someone's life. Why once again engage in neutralization when, without danger to others, you can destroy an explosive device with a water cannon, an overhead charge, destroy it on the spot with a directed explosion without subsequent detonation, and at least primitively and reliably pull it off with a “cat” or just shoot it? It's only in the movies that the wiring is cut when the brilliant "good guy" has to outplay the brilliant "bad guy."
But cases when it is necessary to neutralize on the spot or remove an explosive device for subsequent destruction also exist in practice. This is just a job for a highly qualified sapper associated with a risk to life. A huge amount of experience has been accumulated in this part of the experience, including from the time of the Great Patriotic War. And in modern engineering troops there are enough real geniuses in mine-explosive business.
20. What can you do useful in peacetime? Are engineering troops involved in, say, civil defense tasks?
Engaged as needed. We can conduct reconnaissance in the zone of natural disaster, accident or catastrophe. We can work as lifeguards. We can work as firefighters. We can provide first aid and evacuate. We can build a bridge and build a crossing. We can work underwater, we have our own divers. In general, we can save the lives of people in distress or in an emergency zone.
21. What do you consider a sign of professional excellence? Pilots, for example, perform complex aerobatics at low altitudes, snipers hit wristwatches from 300 meters, but what about “attack aircraft”?
A good attack engineer returns alive after successfully completing a combat mission.
Part two, photographic
I arrived at the unit still dark, before getting up.
I had breakfast in the soldiers' canteen.
For breakfast they were given millet porridge with gravy, chicken, lard, cow butter, bread, chicken egg, sweet tea, caramel, gingerbread, cookies, milk.
Salo and chicken in my plate in double size, finally found the first vegetarian in the army! A whole lieutenant colonel turned out to be.
Cabbage, carrots, beans, peas for breakfast to choose from. I couldn't eat everything, even though I was hungry. Breakfast, by the way, was enough for a whole day of running around the outskirts of Murom, the food is good, satisfying, although not the most delicious.
After breakfast, we went to get acquainted with military engineers from the obstacle and assault company. By prior arrangement, they had to demonstrate the process of putting on new protective equipment.
OVR-3Sh has three standard sizes.
Costumes are transported and stored in such bags. The round compartment is designed for a helmet.
The main components of the OVR-3Sh are laid out on the table: fragments of the cooling system, a lightweight jacket, trousers, a “sleeveless jacket” and a protective helmet are visible on the left.
The cooling system consists of two parts - jersey and underpants.
Lightweight flexible plastic hoses are sewn on the entire inner surface of the jersey and underpants.
Hoses drive water from such a tank using an electric motor. The battery lasts for about a day of work. The refrigerant is designed to be ordinary water with ice (with ice!?).
Generally speaking, I didn’t quite understand about ice: in winter it is in bulk, but a cooling system is not needed, and in summer where can I get it? It was not possible to find out how effectively ordinary water (without ice) will cool the user.
In any case, a system filled with drinking water can serve as a portable water supply.
The cooling system is put on with tubes to the body directly on the thermal underwear. The connectors for connecting to the water tank are visible.
No cooling system required in winter, worn for demonstration purposes only.
On top of the thermal underwear and the cooling system (or without the latter), such a lightweight jacket is put on, in fact, these are just sleeves, while the jacket serves as a forced supporting element.
A lightweight jacket is more convenient to put on and adjust together, but the task is quite feasible for everyone alone. Lacing on the back does not allow the suit to crawl over the body, regulates the "stroke" of the arms and shoulders and overall comfort.
Pants are put on after the jacket.
The trousers are connected to the jacket with special snap-on straps, they are visible on the left in the picture.
It remains to put on a "sleeveless jacket" with shoulder pads.
On the sides, on the chest and in the groin of the suit there are special "pockets" for placing armored panels.
The panels can be different, in this case they have class 6 protection, they hold a shot at close range from an SVD with an armor-piercing incendiary bullet.
Shoulder protection works on the same principle, only it is flexible and not of such a high protection class. But it protects reliably from splinters, cuts and burns.
Armored helmet "Warrior Kiver RSP" with a visor. The visor holds a 9mm pistol bullet.
The visor on the helmet is removable. In the picture, it was fresh from the frost, so the room was fogged up. On the street fogged up much weaker, specially paid attention.
The shield made of three-layer plastic is heavy, superbly transparent, but it changes the center of gravity of the helmet.
Mounting points on the helmet allow you to place a variety of items on the helmet, such as a flashlight.
Communication, hearing protection and a connection node for a mine detector.
Attack aircraft engineer in OVR-3Sh. The helmet visor has been removed.
To demonstrate progress in the individual armor protection of the “stormtroopers”, a couple of modern replicas of the CH-42 steel breastplates were brought.
The cuirasses were specially made for demonstration purposes at one of the enterprises according to drawings and photographs, and one of the officers sewed the fastening elements and the “damper” with his own hands.
The steel helmet, apparently, is not the most authentic, but this will come with time. But the infantry shoulder blade with the stamp "1917".
PPS layout. It is strange to see such “remake” inscriptions on weapons made in the USSR. This also applies to our, domestic, "modelers".
Or is there some special valor in the emasculation (sometimes simply barbaric), albeit old, but military weapons? Or is it some kind of legal requirement?
By popular demand of interested parties, some photo details from the life of the NS-2 multitool and the Minesweeper assault knife.
A cover with a regular multi-tool is visible on the left fighter on his left thigh.
The use of the multitool for its intended purpose.
Multitool in a case. Table knife from the soldier's canteen for scale.
The case can be attached to a waist belt or equipment in several ways.
Assault knife "Sapper".
The scabbard with an assault knife is visible on the right thigh of the "stormtrooper".
The assault knife "Sapper" immediately attracted my attention with fairly common grammatical errors.
Just in case, I inform you that in the phrase "Armed Forces of Russia" all words should be written with a capital letter.
But in the phrase "Engineering troops" the word "troops" would be correctly written with a small letter.
I talked with Minesweeper users, they expressed themselves in the spirit that such a knife is useful and necessary, there are no complaints specifically about this product yet.
But a secret doubt crept in on me: I had amazing ownership experience and the use of a miracle survival knife, proudly bearing a similar "moose" brand.
A complete mystery for me was the image of the anchor on the plastic handle. Does anyone know what the anchor is for on the Minesweeper?
I tried to chop up an ancient log with Minesweeper a little. It didn’t seem very comfortable with a bare hand, the handle is narrow at the bottom, where the fingers are.
Wearing gloves is much more convenient.
On this, it is proposed to calm down with the equipment and move on to viewing photographs from the training of "stormtroopers" on the ground.
Instruction, construction. Two attack aircraft in OVR-3Sh, two in historical costumes from the Great Patriotic War (replicas of Amoeba camouflage and CH-42 bibs), four in Ratnik.
BTR-82A are placed at all entrances and exits in the brigade. In case of preventing a possible terrorist threat.
We plunged into the army "Ural" and arrived at the territory of the former weaving factory "Red Luch".
The sappers received weapons, blank cartridges and screwed bushings on the machine guns for blank firing.
The weaving mill, apparently, has long been abandoned by people and now serves as a training ground for training "stormtroopers".
It is convenient to work out the tactics of the assault group in the city ruins.
The foreman counts the cartridges, pouring them from the packs into his hat. A very common picture in the army.
Buildings of the former Muromsky KhBK Management Company LLC, or the Krasny Luch plant, which was part of the Russian Textile concern.
In 1900, paper looms first started working here, but today the plant has turned out to be unprofitable and is now undergoing an unsurprising transformation from a classic "cast" to ruins.
Judging by the abundance of all kinds of inscriptions on the walls, Murom teenagers have already gone through a harsh school of life here.
While the sappers were discussing their plan of action, I walked around the building a bit. Around the traces of active, in the past, life.
Divided into combat "twos", we began training to storm the building. The fighters in the OVR-3Sh are the first to go, followed by the core of the assault group.
A couple of times the guys kindly walked around with weapons without “blank” bushings, especially for photographs. Further, just photos of the workflow for storming the city ruins.
All the money, as they say, is on the screen!
For those who have watched everything to the very end, there is a consolation prize. This is an individual army diet, menu 2.
The box was signed by the commander of the assault company and will go to the author of the most interesting question about the service of the assault unit of the engineering troops.
Expert opinions, comments and recommendations, as always, are welcome.
I will send a link to determine the winner and receive explanatory answers to a comrade of the guard, senior lieutenant. The winner will be announced on March 1 this year.
Engineering position company (IPR).
Engineering road company (IDR).
Company of engineering barriers (RIZ).
Engineer-sapper company (ISR).
The engineering and sapper company is designed to perform the tasks of setting up barriers and making passages in minefields.
The composition of the ISR:
2 engineer platoons;
Controlled mining platoon.
Armament of the ISR:
BGM drilling machine - 1 unit;
Cars Ural-43202 - 10 units;
Trailer 2-pm-4 - 3 units;
Chainsaw "Friendship" - 9 units;
IMP mine detectors - 12 units;
KRI reconnaissance kit - 6 units;
DSP-30 - 6 units;
PFM - 3 units;
PD-530 - 1 set;
PBU-50 - 3 units.
Capabilities of an ISR company (for 10-12 hours):
1. Install - 3-6 minefields;
2. Make 6-9 passes in minefields;
3. Arrange 1-2 barrier nodes;
4. Set 1-2 INP;
5. Prepare to blow up 2-3 bridges .
Composition of RIZ:
2 platoons of obstacles;
1 remote mining platoon.
RIZ armament:
GMZ-3 - 3 units;
PMZ-4 - 4-3 sets;
Cars Ural-43202 - 12 units;
Trailer 2-PN-4 - 3 units;
Set of controlled minefield UMP-3 - 3 sets.
RIZ capabilities (for 10-12 hours):
1. Set up 2-3 guided minefields;
2. Allocate 2 mobile detachments of barriers;
3. Make and maintain 3-4 passes in minefields.
It is intended for equipment and maintenance of extension routes, building low-water bridges for loads of 60 tons.
The composition of the IDR:
2 road engineering platoons;
obstacle platoon;
A platoon of heavy mechanized bridges.
Armament of the IDR:
Tracklayers BAT-2 - 6 units;
TMM-3 set - 2 sets;
Installation UR-77-3 units.
IDR capabilities (for 10-12 hours):
1. Equip and maintain 2 road sections of 75 km each;
2. Equip 1-2 obstacle crossings;
3. Make up to 6 passages in the minefields of the enemy, directly during the battle (the length of the passage is 100m, the width is 6m).
Designed to perform tasks on fortification equipment of the defense area, positions, command posts, water supply to subunits and units.
The composition of the IPR:
2 engineering position platoons;
Platoon of engineering structures;
Department of water supply;
Paint department.
IPR armament:
Pit machine MDK - 3 units;
Trench machine BTM - 3 units;
Excavators EOV-4421 - 4 units;
Truck crane KS-2573 - 1 unit;
Set KVS-A (KVS-U) - 3 sets;
Filtration station VFS-10 - 1 set;
Sawmill LRV-2 - 1 set;
Lighting station AD-75-VS - 1 set;
Power plant ESB-8I-1 set;
Painting station POS - 1 set;
Power plant ED-16RAO - 1 set.
Possibilities of IPR (for 10-12 hours):
1. Equip 1-2 water supply points;
2. Equip 1-2 NP of the unit commander;
3. Dig 30 km of trenches and communications;
4. Open 20 covers for vehicles;
5. Prepare up to 50 m 3 of lumber;
6. Produce the manufacture of 50 linear meters. bridge meters per shift;
7. Equip 2-3 sets of crusher.
Designed to provide forced obstacles on floating bridges or with equipment for landing crossings.
Composition of PonR:
2 pontoon platoons;
A platoon of floating transporters;
Coastal department.
Armament PonR:
0.5 set of PMP park;
6 boats of the BMK-T type;
4 ferry-bridge machines;
BAT-2 - 1 unit;
PTS-2 - 6 units.
PonR opportunities (for 10-12 hours):
1 floating bridge with a length of 117 m for loads of 60 tons.
1 bridge with a length of 314 m for loads of 20 tons.
Soviet military miracle 1941-1943 [Revival of the Red Army] Glantz David M
ENGINEERING (ENGINEERING) TROOPS
ENGINEERING (ENGINEERING) TROOPS
Engineer and sapper regiments and battalions
Throughout the war, the engineering troops of the Red Army included sapper troops as part of the active fronts and sappers under the jurisdiction of the leadership of the RGK or RVGK, which were allocated by the Stavka to the active fronts and armies as needed. Both those and others were supposed to be engaged in the construction and renovation of defensive structures and the provision of various kinds of engineering support to field troops during offensive and defensive operations.
The engineering troops as part of the active troops of the Red Army included separate engineer battalions (squadrons) in rifle and cavalry divisions, motorized engineer battalions in mechanized corps, engineer battalions (squadrons) in rifle and cavalry divisions, pontoon-bridge battalions in tank divisions, light engineer battalions in motorized rifle divisions, sapper companies or platoons in rifle and cavalry regiments and in tank and motorized rifle regiments and brigades, as well as sapper platoons in regiments of the RVGK and corps artillery.
The sapper battalions of corps and divisions consisted of three sapper companies of three platoons and a technical company in battalions of a corps or technical platoon in battalions of divisional subordination, a bridge-building platoon and a platoon of secret weapons and a small rear service. The total number of corps engineer battalion was 901 people, divisional - 521 people. Depending on the division to which they belonged, these battalions moved either on foot or on horseback. On June 22, 1941, the field forces of the Red Army included over 200 engineer battalions, all of which retained their pre-war structure until December 1941, when the People's Commissariat of Defense (NKO) reduced the size of the battalion to two companies, mainly due to the creation within the RVGK larger and more efficient engineering and sapper troops.
The engineering troops of the RGC included 19 engineering and 15 pontoon-bridge regiments stationed in military districts, which the NCO formed in the first half of 1941 from 22 separate engineer battalions and 21 separate pontoon-bridge battalions. Of this number, ten engineer and eight pontoon-bridge regiments, seven engineer battalions and two engineer battalions were attached to active fronts, two engineer and two engineer battalions were directly subordinate to the RGC, and the rest were in military districts and inactive fronts.
The engineering regiment of the RGC consisted of a headquarters, two engineering battalions (one of them motorized), a technical battalion with electrical, electro-protective, hydraulic and camouflage companies, a light pontoon-bridge park (NPL), 35 engineering vehicles, 48 trucks and 21 tractors. The pontoon-bridge regiment included a headquarters, three pontoon-bridge battalions (but only one personnel), a technical company with platoons for laying roads, building bridges, lumberjacks, electrical and field water supply, an H2P pontoon-bridge park and an officer school equipped with pontoon bridges and technical equipment.
On the eve of the war, the military plans of the General Staff required the NPO to have in each field army at least one separate motorized engineer battalion, one motorized pontoon-bridge battalion and separate field water supply companies, disguise, electrical and hydraulic support, a training unit for sappers and a separate reserve pontoon-bridge park equipped with a H2P kit. In addition, each field army should have a reserve engineer regiment and a separate reserve technical company for special engineering tasks.
However, in addition to the general shortage of engineering troops in the engineering regiments and battalions of the RGC existing on June 22, 1941, from 35 to 60 percent of the regular command staff, from 20 to 70 percent of the regular sergeant and senior staff were absent. They lacked an average of 35 percent of their regular strength and about 50 percent of their regular equipment.
In addition to the engineering troops, on the eve of the war, the People's Commissariat of Defense also had 25 military construction departments. 23 of them were engaged in the construction of fortified areas and field defenses in the western military districts, along with the majority of engineering and sapper troops belonging to future fronts. As a result, with the outbreak of the war, most of the combat formations were deprived of the necessary engineering support.
When the Wehrmacht troops inflicted a brutal defeat on the Red Army during Operation Barbarossa, the already fragile Soviet engineer troops suffered great losses. The NPO reacted to this by hastily and practically from scratch starting the formation of new engineer-sapper battalions for the RGK (later - RVGK) with their subsequent allocation to the active fronts. For example, in July 1941, all engineer and pontoon-bridge regiments of the RGC were disbanded, and their remnants were used to form 100 small engineer battalions equipped only with rifles and other hand weapons, as well as entrenching tools, explosives and anti-tank mines. 25 such battalions were assigned to rifle corps, and another 75 to rifle divisions.
As a result, the total number of engineer-sapper and pontoon-bridge battalions in the Red Army was constantly growing, from 20 on July 1 to 178 on November 1, including 140 attached to the active fronts. However, during the same period, engineering support for rifle divisions declined markedly. For example, on July 29, the NPO disbanded technical and pontoon platoons in the engineer battalions of rifle divisions, and in July 1942, after the liquidation of three battalion engineer companies in December, it reduced the strength of the battalion by 60 fighters, also reducing the number of anti-tank and anti-personnel mines.
Starting from the first months of 1942, the NPO began to compensate for the shortage of engineer troops by giving the active fronts and armies one or two new engineer or engineer battalions, and the fronts with new pontoon-bridge battalions. Separate engineer battalions could be either on foot or motorized, they consisted of three engineer companies with three engineer or motorized platoons and one technical platoon in each (the latter had power supply, lumberjacks and transport sections). The total strength of the battalion was 405 people. Separate sapper battalions had two or three sapper companies with a total strength of approximately 320 people.
While the number of separate engineer and pontoon bridge battalions in the Red Army increased over the period described from 82 and 46 on January 1, 1942 to 184 and 68, respectively, on January 1, 1944, the number of separate engineer battalions decreased from 78 to three .
Sapper brigades and armies
Although during the initial stages of the German operation "Barbarossa" the number of engineering troops of the Red Army was greatly reduced, the State Defense Committee (GKO) ordered
Headquarters to build new strategic defensive lines and positions to slow down the offensive of the Wehrmacht, using the newly created engineering and sapper units for this. For example, on June 24, the GKO ordered the construction of a strategic defensive line along the Luga River south of Leningrad, on June 25, a second line from Nevel through Vitebsk and Gomel along the Dnieper to Dnepropetrovsk, and on June 28, a third line from Ostashkov through Olenino, Dorogobych and Yelnya along the Desna to Zhukovka, 50 kilometers west of Bryansk.
When the offensive of the Wehrmacht accelerated, in mid-July the State Defense Committee ordered the Stavka to build two more large defensive lines, the first to protect Odessa, the Crimean Peninsula and Sevastopol, the second to protect the approaches to Moscow. The Moscow line, which blocked the Wehrmacht offensive in the Volokolamsk, Mozhaisk and Maloyaroslavets directions, started from Rzhev, went through Vyazma, south from the Moscow reservoir along the Lama River, then through Borodino and Kaluga to Tula.
The Headquarters assigned responsibility for the construction of these defensive lines to Main military engineering department NGOs and the Main Department of Hydrotechnical Construction ( Glavgidrostroy) under the NKVD. The first was to use military construction battalions for the construction of lines, which were subordinate to the front and army departments of military field construction in the areas allotted to them; in turn, the latter was to use its construction troops to build defensive lines in the deeper rear. When such an organization of work proved ineffective, on August 22 GKO transformed Glavgidrostroy into the Main Directorate of Defense Works (GUOBR) under the NKVD and made it responsible for coordinating the construction of rear defensive lines.
Despite all the efforts of the State Defense Committee and the Headquarters, the Wehrmacht's rapid offensive inflicted heavy losses on the engineering troops of the Red Army, preventing most of them from taking part in the construction of defensive lines. The Germans preempted many of the Stavka's attempts to build defensive lines. In August and September, German troops overcame the Vitebsk-Gomel and Luga lines of the Red Army, and in early October they broke through the strategic defenses in the Vyazma and Bryansk sectors, surrounding and destroying large forces of Soviet troops. Alarmed by the possibility of the Germans reaching Moscow, the Headquarters formed the Moscow Defense Zone on October 12, which was to consist of a series of defensive belts around the city. The most important of them passed through Khlebnikovo, Skhodnya, Zvenigorod, Kubinka and Naro-Fominsk, along Pakhra and the Moscow River.
Since the Red Army did not have the engineering and construction troops necessary for the construction of these and other defensive lines, on October 13, the GKO ordered the NPO to form six engineer armies, consisting of engineer brigades, by November 1, 1941, and transferred all engineering and construction troops to the Red Army as part of active fronts and in the rear under the command of the GUOBR (NKVD). Numbered 1 to 6, these armies were formed in Vologda, Gorky, Ulyanovsk, Saratov, Stalingrad and Armavir, with a total strength of 300,000 men.
The GKO made the GDOBR responsible for creating by December 10 all rear defensive lines and positions, especially to the west of Moscow, and ordered it to prepare all personnel attached to the newly formed sapper armies and other engineering troops of the Red Army.
Each sapper army was to have approximately 50,000 men, mostly reservists under the age of 45. It was supposed to involve in them the personnel of engineering and construction units from the zones of the active fronts, as well as other specialists mobilized in the rear. The sapper brigades consisted of 19 sapper battalions, one autotractor battalion and one mechanized detachment. By order of the GKO, the sapper army was to have 3,000 trucks, 90 cars, 1,350 caterpillar tractors and 2,350 tractors with trailers, 12,000 wagons of building materials and the full number of necessary building tools. In addition, the departments of other commissariats and the civilian population were involved in the construction of defensive lines.
By order of the State Defense Committee, the local population was mobilized for the construction. Mostly they were women, old people, schoolchildren and adolescents of pre-conscription age. By order of the military councils of the fronts and military districts, as well as regional and district party and administrative bodies, work battalions [mobilized] were formed from them, which were then subordinated to sapper armies.
In the end, nine sapper armies were formed, numbered from 1st to 9th. These armies consisted of 30 engineer brigades and had a total of 570 engineer battalions, numbered 1200 to 1465 and 1543 to 1771. The total number of sapper armies on November 1, 1941 was 299,730 people. However, an acute shortage of engineering and construction troops limited the size and capabilities of these armies and brigades.
Each of the first nine sapper armies consisted of a headquarters and two to four separate sapper brigades. The sapper brigade included a headquarters, 19 separate sapper battalions, divided into three companies with four platoons each and a total battalion strength of 497 people, a mechanized detachment with one road and one bridge platoon, a lumberjack platoon, a position construction platoon and an automobile and tractor platoon with four branches. Although the strength of each sapper brigade was supposed to be 9979 fighters, most of the brigades remained understaffed. As a result, the personnel of the engineer battalions, who were supposed to be engaged in construction work for 12 hours a day and another two hours in military training, were forced to work on the construction of defensive structures for 12-14 hours a day and did not undergo any military training at all. The tenth engineer army, which received the number 1, completed its deployment on the Western Front in January 1942, consisted of ten engineer brigades with eight engineer battalions each - a total of 80 engineer battalions and 45,160 fighters.
Initially, the sapper armies were subordinate to the GUOBR under the NKVD, but they worked under the direct supervision of the Main Military Engineering Directorate of the NPO. However, such a command organization was not entirely effective, and on November 28, the Stavka subordinated these armies to the head of the engineering troops of the Red Army. In December 1942, the head of the engineering troops attached nine sapper armies and 29 sapper brigades to military districts and active fronts (two to the Western Front and one to the Karelian Front). By mid-January 1942, the structure of the engineering troops of the Red Army expanded, now they had ten sapper armies, 40 sapper brigades, three engineering regiments and 82 engineer-sapper, 78 sapper and 46 pontoon-bridge battalions.
These sapper armies and brigades were primarily responsible for erecting strategic defensive lines in the deep rear of the Red Army. The first of these lines, located in the Moscow, Stalingrad, North Caucasian and Volga military districts, were of a permanent nature and consisted of a complex system of fortified battalion defensive areas and company strongholds located in the likely directions of the German offensive and around large cities. However, on December 27, 1941, after the victory of the Red Army near Moscow, the GKO ordered a halt to defensive work around Moscow so that more resources could be allocated to transport refugees, grain and bread for the needy population, and limited construction work on other defensive lines.
In addition to fulfilling their construction duties, the sapper armies also served as a training base for the engineering troops of the Red Army as a whole. For example, in November-December 1941, the NPO assigned two, and then three battalions in each brigade, the designation of training and eventually transferred over 90 of these battalions to the active fronts. Having been trained as ordinary engineer, pontoon-bridge or road-bridge battalions and equipped with the most experienced personnel, the units intended for transfer to the front immediately stopped all defensive work and engaged in intensive field training. After their departure to the front, sapper brigades formed new battalions and companies to replace those who left. However, the chaos caused by the constant flow of personnel between the sapper armies and the active fronts had a negative effect on the effectiveness of the actions of the former.
The ten sapper armies proved their worth during the Red Army's winter offensive of 1941-1942, helping to maintain security in the rear, increasing the engineering and sapper capabilities of the fronts. However, they turned out to be clumsy, ineffective and difficult to control, especially in a constantly changing combat situation. Therefore, in February 1942, the GKO ordered the NKO to disband half of the sapper armies and brigades, assign the rest to active fronts, and use the personnel of the disbanded troops to assist in the formation of new rifle divisions and brigades.
In February-March, the NPO disbanded the 2nd, 4th, 5th, 9th and 10th sapper armies and six sapper brigades, increasing the strength of the 7th and 8th sapper armies of the Southwestern Front, respectively, to five and ten brigades. In addition, he gave the active armies and the Moscow defense zone four sapper armies, three separate sapper brigades and many newly formed special engineering units.
At the same time, the Main Directorate for the Formation and Manning of the Red Army Troops under the NPO withdrew command personnel from the engineer armies and brigades for transfer to the active troops, and also reduced the number and strength of the engineer battalions in the engineer brigades. The NPO took its second step in April, reducing the strength of the engineer battalions from 497 to 405 men, replacing the autotractor battalions with companies with four automobile and one tractor platoons each, and reducing the strength of the engineer brigades to seven battalions with one autotractor company, out of a total brigade strength of 3,138 people.
At the end of June, two months after the completion of this reorganization, the NPO faced the difficult task of stopping the Wehrmacht's new summer offensive, Operation Blau. In addition to providing support for the active fronts, the 1st, 3rd, 6th and 8th NPO sapper armies were to strengthen the defensive lines west of Moscow, build new lines to defend the approaches to Stalingrad and the Caucasus and allocate manpower from their ranks to compensate for losses in the Red Army troops.
The five sapper armies were building these defenses at an accelerated pace, but on 26 July the GKO ordered the NPO to withdraw 400,000 men from non-combat units by 20 August, including 60,000 sappers to be assigned to combat formations. The remaining sapper armies and brigades were supposed to be reduced, since they "too large and organizationally immobile and cannot effectively fulfill their tasks of engineering support for the combat operations of our troops, especially in offensive operations".
The GKO intended to create more flexible and efficient engineering troops, which the Headquarters could use in defensive and offensive operations in the most critical sectors in the late summer and autumn of 1942. As a result, it was decided to disband the remaining sapper armies and part of the sapper brigades, and to transform another part of the brigades into specialized engineering brigades designed to support the active fronts.
By order of August 17, 1942, the NPO began the transformation of the remaining five sapper armies and 27 sapper brigades into defense departments (see the Construction Troops section below). Six sapper brigades were reorganized into RVGK engineering brigades subordinate to the active fronts, and 8 more were disbanded. 30,000 people from the former 1st, 7th and 8th sapper armies were transferred to staff the newly formed rifle divisions. Later, already in September, the 1st, 3rd, 6th and 7th sapper armies were reorganized into the UOS (Defense Construction Directorate), the 8th sapper army became the UOS in October. 12 sapper brigades became engineering brigades as part of active fronts (see table 9). The remaining 18 sapper brigades, assigned on October 15 to the active fronts, now performed dual functions, providing the troops of the fronts with engineering support and serving as bases for the formation of new, more specialized engineering brigades and battalions.
Sapper armies and brigades made a significant contribution to the Red Army's victories at Leningrad, Moscow and Stalingrad, preparing defensive lines, providing active fronts with engineering support and serving as a base for the formation of other, more specialized engineering troops transferred to active fronts. For example, in 1941, nine sapper armies organized, trained and sent more than 150 specialized engineer battalions to the active troops; in 1942, sapper armies and brigades formed 27 specialized RVGK engineering brigades, 23 of which served until the end of the war, and five still exist today. Finally, the sapper armies contributed more than 150,000 men to staff and form new rifle divisions.
Engineering teams
In disbanding its sapper armies in the spring of 1942, the NPO at the same time took into account the demands of the front commanders who proposed the formation of specialized and flexible engineering brigades that would better meet their needs. Therefore, at the same time, the creation of a wide range of new engineering brigades and battalions began. For example, responding to the March demand of the head of the engineering troops of the Western Front, the NPO began to form special-purpose engineering brigades (IBON) from April 18. The first of these, the 33rd Special Purpose Engineer Brigade of the Western Front, formed in May from the 33rd Engineer Brigade of the 1st Engineer Army, consisted of six engineer battalions of barriers, two electrical engineering battalions, one searchlight battalion, an electrification detachment, an electric generator convoy, a special technical engineering company, a motor transport company and four electrical companies (seconded), with a total brigade strength of 4757 people. Ultimately, the NPO formed six special-purpose engineering brigades by July 1 and eight more by November 1, giving them to the field forces one brigade per active front.
Although the structure of these special-purpose engineering brigades could vary, most of them consisted of a headquarters, an autotractor company, five to eight engineer battalions of the barrier, one of which was converted in October 1942 into a special mine battalion, an electrical battalion and an electrification detachment, with a total number of 3097 people per 5-battalion brigade. The main task of the brigade was to carry out special tasks, such as laying and removing minefields, placing controlled minefields, creating electrified and other barriers, but they often had to perform more dangerous combat missions. For example, the 33rd Special Purpose Engineer Brigade of the Volkhov Front, during a breakthrough in January 1943 of the blockade of Leningrad, used its engineering barrier battalions as assault groups.
In addition to these special purpose engineer brigades, the NPO also formed separate mine engineer battalions in April 1942. One such battalion was assigned to each of the anti-tank brigades of the Red Army with the task of erecting anti-tank barriers and destroying enemy tanks together with artillery troops.
The NPO continued this process at the end of the summer of 1942, when the formation of the Guards mine battalions began - the most interesting and most secret of all specialized types of engineering troops. In August, two Guards mine battalions were deployed on the Voronezh and North Caucasian fronts. By October 1, the field forces already had ten such battalions - as a rule, one battalion per active front. Formed specifically to carry out sabotage operations behind enemy lines, the battalions usually operated in small sabotage groups.
In addition to the guards mine battalions, on August 17, the NPO formed a guards mine brigade in the Moscow Military District, subordinating it to the direct leadership of the Headquarters. Formed from two sapper battalions of the 37th sapper brigade of the 1st sapper army, the 1st guards mine brigade consisted of a headquarters group, a control company and five guards mine battalions with a total brigade strength of 2281 people. Like individual battalions, this brigade not only laid and removed mines, but also formed and deployed small groups to carry out sabotage operations (often in conjunction with partisans) against German lines of communication and important rear installations.
In the summer of 1942, the NPO also created a wide range of smaller specialized units, including five high-explosive flamethrower companies, several field water supply companies, and an artesian drilling team to provide drinking water to active troops.
In preparing the Red Army for major counter-offensives and the subsequent winter campaign, the Stavka ordered the NPO to form larger and more specialized engineering troops to support these offensives. As a result, many of the existing engineer battalions in October were consolidated into engineer-sapper brigades (isbr), each of which consisted of four to five engineer-sapper battalions, an NLP light pontoon-bridge fleet and a motorized engineer reconnaissance company. Several such brigades were formed as mining engineering brigades, subdivided into four mountain engineering sapper battalions, capable of operating effectively in mountainous terrain.
On November 12, responding to the request of the head of the engineering troops of the Red Army, Major General M.P. Vorobyov, the NPO transformed part of the sapper brigades into 15 mine engineering brigades (IMBR), which received numbers from 1st to 15th. These brigades, responsible for setting up operational barrier zones, consisted of a headquarters, a headquarters company and seven mine engineering battalions, with a total strength of 2,903 men.
In addition, on November 26, 1942, the NPO ordered that five sapper brigades of the Transcaucasian Front be converted in November-December into mountain engineering mine brigades of the RVGK (from the 1st to the 5th). Each such brigade (gimbr) consisted of five mountain engineering mine battalions, whose companies and platoons had not tractors, but horses and donkeys as vehicles, the total number of the brigade was 2344 people.
In the autumn of 1942, the NPO began to form larger and more effective pontoon-bridge units - primarily because the Stavka considered the enlargement of bridge-building units an important condition for achieving success in expanded offensive operations. In early autumn, the NPO sent reinforcements to the active fronts and armies in the form of 11 separate RVGK pontoon-bridge parks, and in November 1942 formed two pontoon-bridge brigades and gave them to the Stalingrad Front for use in the counteroffensive near Stalingrad. These brigades consisted of a headquarters company, three to seven (usually four) H2P motorized pontoon-bridge battalions, one DMP-42 pontoon-bridge battalion with a total bridge carrying capacity of 50 tons, and several diving detachments for underwater work. When the winter offensive unfolded, in January 1943, the NPO attached the third pontoon-bridge brigade to the Leningrad Front. In February, four new heavy pontoon-bridge regiments were added to these brigades, each of which consisted of two battalions equipped with new TMP pontoon bridges with a 100-ton load capacity.
During 1942, the NPO not only formed and transferred to the active troops an impressive number of new engineering brigades, but also strengthened the existing engineering forces, including new engineering units in existing structures. For example, sapper battalions were included in all the new guards rifle and mechanized corps, and mine engineering companies were included in the new tank corps.
Thus, by February 1, 1943, the structure of the engineering troops of the Red Army expanded and included 13 special-purpose engineering brigades, one sapper brigade, 17 sapper brigades (including five mountain), 15 mine engineering brigades, 185 separate engineering battalions, ten separate engineer battalions, one guards mine brigade, 11 guards mine battalions, three pontoon bridge brigades, four pontoon bridge regiments and 78 pontoon bridge battalions.
All these special-purpose engineering brigades, engineer-sapper, engineer-mine, pontoon-bridge brigades and the guards mine brigade, as well as pontoon-bridge regiments and mine-sapper and pontoon-bridge battalions, together with the guards mine battalions, were created by the NPO specifically to carry out specific combat missions during offensive operations, either as part of the active fronts and armies, or under the direct control of the Headquarters.
In 1943, the NCO continued to expand and improve the structure of its engineering troops. For example, in February, the formation of five rear barrier brigades began, consisting of five to seven engineer battalions each. The task of such brigades was to clear the liberated territory from mines and obstacles. After a long process of formation, in December 1943, the Stavka transferred one of these brigades to the Moscow Military District, two to the newly formed Kharkov Military District, and one each to the North Caucasus and Ural Military Districts.
And more importantly, given the growing intensity of ground fighting and the increased strength of the defense of the Wehrmacht, the NPO began on May 30 to create assault engineer-sapper brigades. Transformed from existing engineer brigades, these new brigades consisted of a headquarters, five assault engineer battalions, one motorized engineer reconnaissance company, a light fleet for crossing rivers, a demining company (which included mine-searching dogs) and a small rear service. These new brigades were to assist the infantry and tank forces in overcoming well-prepared enemy defensive lines and fortified positions.
When the Red Army began new offensive operations in the late summer and early autumn of 1943, clearing minefields became more important than laying mines. Therefore, the NPO began to replace the RVGK engineer-mine brigades with the RVGK engineer-sapper brigades, creating new and reorganizing existing engineer-sapper brigades to increase their effectiveness. As a result, the number of mine engineer brigades in the structure of the RVGK decreased from 15 on February 1 to 12 on July 1, and by December 31 - to zero altogether, but at the same time the number of engineer sapper brigades increased from 12 on February 1 to 13 on July 1, and finally - until December 22 to December 31, 1943. In addition, by July 1, 15 new assault engineer-sapper brigades were created, and by December 31 there were already 20 of them.
Finally, in June 1943, the NPO commissioned new tank regiments equipped with 22 T-34 tanks and 18 PT-3 minesweeps. Formally, these regiments were not part of the structure of the engineering troops, but their main task was to clear passages through the numerous minefields laid by the Germans throughout their defenses.
Thanks to these NPO efforts, the number and diversity of the structure of the engineering troops of the Red Army increased dramatically in two years - from 32 sapper brigades, three engineering regiments and 206 battalions of various types on January 1, 1942 to 68 brigades of various types, six pontoon-bridge regiments and 270 engineering and pontoon bridge battalions on December 31, 1943. When the Red Army began the 1944 campaign, the structure of its engineering troops already fully met the increased operational needs.
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A reconnaissance company is designed to conduct tactical reconnaissance in combat. Consists of two reconnaissance platoons. One of the platoons is armed with four BRDMs, and the other platoon is equipped with BRMs based on BMPs.
On the offensive, a company can send out one or two reconnaissance patrols and set up one or two observation posts, or act in full strength as a reconnaissance detachment.
ENGINEERING COMPANY is intended for:
conducting engineering reconnaissance of the enemy and the terrain;
· devices of engineering barriers;
inflicting losses on the enemy by mine-explosive and other means;
making passages in barriers and destruction;
devices for crossing obstacles;
clearance of terrain and objects;
· equipment of ways of the movement and crossings;
· mechanized excerpts of trenches, trenches, communication passages;
Implementation of engineering measures for camouflage;
equipment and maintenance of water supply points.
In its staff, the company has:
Engineering platoon;
Engineering and technical platoon;
Transport department.
Engineer-sapper platoon consists of four engineering departments. The departments are armed with:
IMR - engineering obstacle blocking vehicle - for preparing paths for movement and blocking debris and destruction.
GMZ - caterpillar mine layer - for the mechanized installation of anti-tank mines (laying out one ammunition load of 208 PTM into the ground in 11-14 minutes, on the surface - in 6 minutes).
Engineering Platoon in its composition has:
· road machinery department with BAT-M track-laying machine. The speed of laying column tracks - 4-8 km / h, earthmoving work to move the soil - up to 150 cubic meters / hour (trenches);
· earthmoving machinery department with a regimental earth-moving machine PZM. Productivity - 120-150 linear meters / hour (trenches), with a fragment of shelters - up to 10 cubic meters / hour;
· water department with automobile filtered station MAFS. For extraction and purification up to 8 cubic meters of water per hour.
· heavy mechanized bridge section.
Within the department:
ТММ is a heavy mechanized bridge for the construction of a 60-ton bridge 40 meters long through an obstacle up to three meters deep. The bridge is installed in one hour.
MTU - bridge layer for the installation of a bridge with a carrying capacity of 50 tons through an obstacle 18 meters wide. Installed in 5 minutes.
Transport department is armed with:
Wheeled mine trawls - 12 pcs. (with means of transportation).
Roller and knife track mine trawl KTM 5 (weight - 7.5 tons);
Knife gauge mine trawl KTM-6 (weight - 1 t);
Trucks.
CHEMICAL PROTECTION PLOT is designed for:
Conducting radiation, chemical and non-specific bacteriological (biological) reconnaissance;
Implementation of dosimetric and chemical control;
Carrying out special processing units;
Equipment of degassing kits and devices in subdivisions.
It consists of a RHR department and two special processing departments. In service there is:
Radiation and chemical reconnaissance vehicle (BRDM-2rx);
Filling stations for 12 or 14 sleeves (ARS-12, ARS-14);
Two degassing sets in the special processing departments of the DKV.
Platoon capabilities:
For special processing - 1.5-2 battalions;
For reconnaissance of routes - three taxiways at a distance of up to 20-30 km;
For reconnaissance of areas - reconnaissance of the area up to 100 sq. km.
| By the scope and nature of the tasks performed | By affiliation | ||||||
| Strategic | District (front) rear | ||||||
| army rear | |||||||
| Operational | |||||||
| Corps rear | |||||||
| Divisional rear | |||||||
| Military | Regimental rear | ||||||
| Rear of battalions (rear of divisions) | |||||||
Fig.1. The structure of the rear of the Armed Forces
GAZ-66 -3 pcs. for personal belongings PAK-200 -3 pcs. - field automobile
ZIL-131 -1 pc. for kitchens and kitchens and 1-P-1.5 -1 pc. -trailer
food Total: 8 people (3 drivers)
URAL-375 -3pcs. under ammunition
ATMZ-5 -3 pcs. for fuel
Total: 10 people (all drivers)
BREM-2 -1 pc. - armored MTO-AT -1 pc. -technical machine
automotive repair and recovery vehicle
Total: 6 people (2 drivers) Total: 5 people (1 driver)
Fig. 2 Organization of a platoon to support a motorized rifle battalion
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Rice. 3 Option location of the support platoon on the ground.
Captain 2nd rank D. Rumynov
In the ground forces (SV) of Germany, the solution of the tasks of engineering support for combat operations is entrusted to the engineer-sapper battalions (ISB), which are part of the motorized infantry (tank and mountain infantry) brigades.
The conceptual documents regulating the degree of readiness and the procedure for engaging national military contingents determine that each of the two units (battalion tactical groups) simultaneously participating in two different operations outside the national territory should include an engineering and sapper company to ensure the overall and direct engineering support.
Based on an average four-month recruitment cycle for the Bundeswehr in international military contingents abroad, it may be necessary to recruit six units of this type during the year. Taking into account the need to provide a 20-month period of rehabilitation and training of personnel between participation in combat operations, it was determined that the ground forces should have 12 engineer-sapper companies.
As part of the reform of the armed forces of the FRG, engineering and sapper units are being transferred to a new standard organizational and staffing structure. Instead of the existing (as of the second half of 2014) one separate engineer-sapper regiment (three isb), four separate engineer-sapper battalions and five separate engineer companies, the new structure of the ground forces will include six of the same type deployed isb, two engineer-sapper companies (ISR), as well as two battalion-level field engineer units.
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| Prospective deployment of engineering units of the ground forces of Germany |
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| Engineering troops in the prospective structure of the ground forces of Germany |
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| Typical structure of an engineer battalion |
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| Typical structure of an engineer company |
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| Typical structure of a company of engineering vehicles |
In accordance with the plans in the NE of Germany, by the end of 2015, the following will be disbanded:
- The 100th engineer-sapper regiment (Minden), while the 1st engineer-sapper and 130th heavy engineer-sapper battalions included in it will be transferred to the 21st and 9th tank brigades (tbr), respectively, and the 901st engineer battalion of the reduced composition - under the direct subordination of the commander of the 1st tank division with the assignment of the name "heavy";
- 90th, 200th and 260th separate engineer companies.
Upon completion of the reform, each of the six brigades, which are the basis of the Bundeswehr ground forces, will include one engineer battalion:
- as part of the 9th tank brigade - 130 isb (deployment point - Minden, federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia);
- in the 21st tank brigade - the 1st engineer-sapper battalion (Holzminden, Lower Saxony);
- in the 41st motorized infantry brigade (mpbr) - 803 isb (Hafelberg, Saxony-Anhalt);
- in the 23rd mountain infantry brigade - the 8th mountain isb (Ingolstadt, Bavaria);
- the 4th engineer-sapper battalion (Bogen, Bavaria) will be included in the 12 brigade;
- to the 37th motorized infantry brigade - 701 isb (Gera, Thuringia).
The rapid reaction division and the Franco-German brigade will include, respectively, the 270th paratrooper (Seeddorf, Lower Saxony) and the 550th separate (Stetten am Kalten Markt, Baden-Württemberg) engineering companies.
In the divisional set of tank formations there will be two engineering and sapper units:
- 901st reduced heavy engineering battalion (Hafelberg, direct subordination to the commander of the 1st TD). The headquarters and support company included in it, as well as one of the companies of engineering vehicles, are rigged and do not have standard equipment; two heavy pontoon-bridge companies and a company of full-strength engineering vehicles are designed to be transferred, depending on the task, to any of the separate engineer-sapper battalions.
- 905th cadre engineer battalion (Ingolstadt, direct subordination to the commander of 10 TD), which included two cadre ISRs and one company of engineering vehicles. They are assigned to certain engineer-sapper battalions and, based on the current situation, can be transferred to their disposal.
After the reform, the total number of personnel of the engineering and sapper troops of Germany should be 3,950 people (up to 13.2% of the German ground forces, taking into account the military personnel of the training center for training specialists of the engineering troops).
In addition, the 164th (Husum, Schleswig-Holstein) and 464th (Speyer, Rhineland-Palatinate) special engineering battalions of the joint support forces of the Armed Forces of Germany.
According to the plans for reforming the armed countries, the 464th Special Engineer Battalion will be disbanded before the end of 2015.
Organizational and staffing structure of engineering and sapper units of the German ground forces. The typical structure of engineer-sapper battalions, which are part of motorized infantry (tank, mountain-infantry) brigades of the ground forces, involves the simultaneous allocation of the necessary forces and means (up to two reinforced engineer-sapper companies) for the engineering support of two independent operations. In turn, the regular structure of the engineering and sapper company, as well as the provision of its special equipment, must guarantee the involvement of this formation outside the national territory within four months.
The new standard structure of engineering and sapper units and subunits of the German Army was developed on the basis of six fundamental principles: - planning and organization of engineering support should be carried out at all levels (from battalion to divisional);
- the main unit intended for engineering support of hostilities is an engineer company, and when performing tasks related to bringing construction work, a company of engineering vehicles;
- in order to maintain 70% readiness of engineer-sapper companies for combat use in accordance with the new concept, the individual structural elements of the companies of engineering vehicles and pontoon-bridge companies allocated to them must undergo enhanced training;
- in the preparation of engineer-sapper companies and companies of engineering vehicles, increased attention must be paid to planning and conducting construction work;
- the fight against mines and improvised explosive devices is one of the main tasks of all engineering and sapper units (forces and means of demining are included in the engineering and sapper companies and companies of engineering vehicles);
- reducing the ability of engineering units to install mine-explosive barriers.
Engineer Battalion according to the state, it is part of the motorized infantry (tank, mountain infantry) brigade of the German ground forces. The commander of the engineer battalion is the head of the engineering service of the brigade (operational formation) and is responsible for the following issues:
- organization of engineering support for the operation at the brigade level;
- planning, organization and execution of construction work in the area of combat mission;
- Conducting engineering reconnaissance.
The engineer-sapper battalion organizationally includes an engineering work planning department, which includes an engineering reconnaissance platoon, as well as four companies: headquarters and support; two engineering sappers and a heavy sapper (company of engineering vehicles).
Engineer Intelligence Platoon ISS is designed to collect information about the terrain and infrastructure facilities necessary for planning an operation (combat actions). When performing reconnaissance tasks, a platoon can act independently or in cooperation with reconnaissance subunits of motorized infantry (tank) brigades, as well as be assigned to combat companies in groups. Organizationally, it consists of a control group on the Fuchs-1 armored personnel carrier and four reconnaissance groups on the Fennec engineering reconnaissance vehicles. In total, there are 32 personnel in the platoon, one Fuchs-1 armored personnel carrier and four Fennec reconnaissance vehicles.
Engineering sapper company is the main tactical unit of the engineering troops, carrying out the appropriate support for the operations carried out by the ground forces to stabilize the situation at the level of the battalion tactical group, including:
- direct engineering support for combat units;
- clearing mine-explosive barriers in tactical depth;
- mine protection of combat units;
- ensuring that units can overcome natural obstacles up to 24 m wide;
- performance of construction works on the engineering equipment of the districts using engineering machines.
The engineer-sapper company organizationally includes an engineering work planning department, as well as four platoons - engineer-sapper, demining, heavy demining and engineering vehicles.
Engineer platoons engineer companies during the operation can be attached to combat companies, providing them with direct engineering support, or perform other specific tasks.
mine clearing platoons provide mine protection for units in tactical depth and check objects for the presence of mines and IEDs.
Heavy demining platoons in the prospective structure will be equipped with the new RCS demining system and will be able to perform the tasks of ensuring the unhindered movement of military columns.
Company of engineering vehicles engineer-sapper battalion, along with the ISR, solves the tasks of engineering support for operations at the level of a battalion tactical group, such as:
- planning, organizing and carrying out construction work with the use of regular engineering machines;
- clearing mine-explosive barriers in tactical depth;
- mine protection of combat units;
- ensuring that units can overcome natural obstacles up to 40 m wide;
- restoration of infrastructure facilities.
A company of engineering vehicles organizationally includes:
- department of engineering work planning;
- Department of planning of construction works;
- engineering and sapper platoon;
- a platoon of engineering vehicles (protected), armed with automotive and special equipment with modular armor;
- a platoon of engineering vehicles (unprotected), equipped with equipment, without additional armor;
- demining platoon.
The above structures, being typical, have a number of differences in the number of engineer companies in individual engineer-sapper battalions, as well as in their composition. In particular, the 701st battalion of the 37th MBR in its permanent composition has not two, but one engineer company, and when performing assigned tasks, if necessary, instead of the missing second company, it can additionally include 550 squadrons of the Franco-German brigade (not involved brigade plan).
In contrast to a typical engineer-sapper company, this company has not one, but two engineer-sapper platoons and one (instead of two) demining platoon. It is armed with nine Fuchs armored personnel carriers, four Bieber tank bridge layers, three Dax sapper tanks, three Kyler tank minesweepers and six Scorpion mobile mining installations.
Thus, the 270th Airborne Engineering Company has four platoons (two light engineering platoons, a platoon of engineering vehicles and a demining platoon). It is intended for engineering support of the actions of the forces of the airborne brigade (parachute regiments) of the rapid reaction division, as well as operations carried out by special forces;
4 isb as part of a company of engineering vehicles has a platoon of drilling rigs. The main purpose of this unit is the development of water wells and the provision of water to the field camps of the Bundeswehr contingents in areas of combat use or during humanitarian operations.
The 4th, 130th and 803rd teams of engineering vehicles, which were previously part of the 4th, 130th and 803rd squads of engineering vehicles, equipped with FFB bridge layers, an FSB pontoon-bridge fleet (two pontoon-bridge platoons, platoons of engineering vehicles and divers) and a self-propelled pontoon park with M3 amphibious amphibious transporters (two pontoon- bridge platoons with M3 amphibians, platoons of engineering vehicles, divers-miners and a mine-clearing platoon) were transferred to the partially deployed 901st heavy engineer-sapper battalion.
Thus, due to the combination of the available forces and means of six engineer-sapper battalions, the creation of engineering units capable of performing the entire range of tasks of engineering support for operations carried out by contingents of German ground forces outside the national territory is achieved. If it is necessary to solve specific problems, they are given specialized engineering equipment from the 901st heavy isb.
Depending on the situation, when the Bundeswehr conducts an operation to protect the national territory or an operation within the framework of allied obligations, as well as in the course of measures to eliminate the consequences of natural disasters (man-made disasters), it is planned to create a single engineering unit on the basis of the 901st and 905th battalions, which will be used under a national plan or under coalition leadership.