"As the UK leads training for Ukrainian troops fighting against Russia's invasion, it's finding that parts of Western doctrine don't hold up, prompting changes to its own training. Key lessons are in trench warfare. Along the front lines in Ukraine are crisscrossing trench networks reminiscent of the earthworks of World War I battlefields. The West hasn't fought a war like this in a long time."
"Maj. Maguire, a British military officer who led part of the Operation Interflex training for Ukrainian troops, told Business Insider that in the British mindset, "we arguably had this idea that trenches were all pretty clean and sort of surgical." Maguire, who spoke to BI on the condition that only his rank and last name be used, said that in the UK's training estate, trenches were built to "British building standards, and with treated wood, gravel bottoms for drainage.""
The UK assumed trench building and clearing would be clean and surgical. Ukrainian frontline trenches are often messy, irregular, inconsistent, and filled with traps and tree roots. Western training trenches adhere to British building standards with treated wood and gravel bottoms for drainage, but those standards are frequently absent in Ukraine. Trenches remain essential for survival amid relentless artillery fire and drone threats, yet digging exposes troops to vulnerability. Speed and practicality often take precedence over perfect construction when time and danger make lengthy works impractical. The nature of trench networks in Ukraine is prompting changes to UK trench-warfare training and doctrine.
Read at Business Insider
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]