(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .



Ukraine: A few thoughts on dragon teeth. [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags']

Date: 2022-10-18

The Dragon teeth fortifications near Hirske

Recently Mark devoted part of his daily article on Ukraine to discussing some fortifications Russia is building near Hirske. I just wanted to add my own thoughts to the discussion. I have nothing conclusive here so feel free to treat the comments as an open discussion on these fortifications. On all my maps the dropped pin is the area of fortifications in question.

When Mark asks “why here” it’s a question that should be asked on both the tactical and the strategic level. On the strategic level, the question is rather easy to answer. The Russians need to set up a defensive line somewhere. It’s back from the front because its hard to construct these types of fortifications while being shot at. The Russians look like they are attempting to piece together a line somewhere. If we look at the map below the area to the SE of Hirske is a group of mid sized towns. Apparently the Russians felt these towns held something of value to protect (it’s really hard to know what Russia values as they appear willing to demolish the land they are trying to take). I checked some basic mineral maps and nothing jumped out at me. So the strategic answer is “We had to put it somewhere”.

Hirske is the dropped pin the upper left corner. From there to Brianka is a series of towns.

Here’s a map to show where it is relative to Bakhmut:

Hirske is the dropped pin on the upper right hand corner of the map. Currently out of easy artillery range. Ukraine could hit it, but they’d have to use the good stuff to do so.

So let’s talk tactical. It’s easiest to begin with a larger zoom out than the photo at the start of the piece.

Hirske is the buildings from center to lower right. The fortifications are the dropped pin about a quarter mile west of the town in the lower mid-left.

If we look on the map above to the north of town we see some sort of large ravine. The ravine stretches out to the NE and connects to the Donets river. So this ravine is presumably the part of the natural landscape the Russians are deciding to use as part of their defensive line. This would also presume they are preparing to use the Donets river as well. Here’s the map showing Hirske to the Donets river.

Dropped pin fortifications is in the lower middle left. The Donets river is in the upper right. North of there is Severodonetsk.

Now what’s to the south of Hirske? Here it’s much less clear where Russia intends to connect the fortifications to. There is a ravine at the bottom of the map below but it runs E/W.

Fortifications are dropped pin in upper right. Maybe they’ll tie into the ravine on the bottom?

As for the trenches themselves: The first trench (back to the photo at the start of the article) is a straight trench and I agree with those who thought it is meant as a vehicle hazard, not for Russian infantry. The second trench does zig/zag and is probably meant for troops. Also remember that the town is just a quarter mile from the dragons teeth. The town serves as buildings to house troops, hide ammunition, and act as additional defensive structures. This field is a kill zone meant to deny Ukraine the ability to run tanks or Jeeps quickly through the field. Then infantry need to cross a big wide open space exposing themselves to machine gun and artillery fire. The wooded areas running E/W will be either heavily mined or the trees taken down.

Sometimes armies build fortifications in areas with natural defenses to improve on the defensive value of the area. But sometimes there are gaps between the natural lines. Then armies sometimes build up fortifications to hold the gap between the natural lines as is most likely the case here.

Personally, I think this is a fools errand on Russia’s part. Not because these fortifications won’t help if Ukraine attacks here, but because I don’t think Ukraine will attack here. Some Russian general is doing their best attempt at making a defensive line out of a bad situation. I don’t know if there is a better line and I’m not interested in pointing it out to Russia if there was. But then I’ve always been of the opinion that Russia’s wisest course of action and the best possible outcome for Russia is for Russia to leave Ukraine (including Crimea). Regardless, this looks like the line Russia will attempt to “freeze” the conflict behind.

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/10/18/2129862/-Ukraine-A-few-thoughts-on-dragon-teeth

Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/