Slow Ukrainian counteroffensive and World War II. Example of the Battle of Caen in World War II

“Instead of throwing troops into defensive areas en masse and supporting crossfire, Ukraine is advancing the counterattack as far as the goal of minimizing casualties allows. Lack of air-to-ground fire capability It means that from Grupo Prensa Ibérica to EL PERIÓDICO DE ESPAÑA they cannot attack continuously and deeply, as the United States Army would do,” he explains. Michael Hennessy Professor of War Studies at the Royal Military College of Canada. “So the only option left to them is to go slow, as in the operation to break through the German defenses at Caen in World War II.”

Allied forces attempted to take this French city after successfully landing in Normandy in June 1944. key city as it is a communication hub and then they were allowed to reach the banks of the Seine to advance towards the capture of Paris.

However, the German Third Reich army had established a solid defense network in Caen. Lines of mortars and field guns, but mostly armored forces: the bulk of the Panzer tanks in Normandy, plus a few, were there. 100,000 soldiers commanded by one of the best German war strategistsGeneral Erwin Rommel. For this reason, Hennessy explains, the only option for attacking troops is to launch a series of slow, attrition attacks to pierce their defensive lines. They besieged the city and attempted four attacks in succession (first to surround, then to penetrate from the front). In the end, they managed to take the enclave at the cost of around 4,000 casualties. In this sense, the Ukrainian attacks could continue: a series of knife blows that managed to break through the Russian trench, as was done with the Germans in some important cities at that time.

Combination attack failure

When people started talking about the Ukrainian counteroffensive a few months ago and after the arrival of new NATO material (modern tanks and long-range missiles) in the country, the collective imagination had something like this: Kharkiv counterattack September last year. Thus, within four days, the Ukrainians recaptured 2,500 kilometers of their territory, and less than a month later, the Russian invaders, who had martyred the country’s second city with artillery fire, forced a retreat.

But this 2023 counteroffensive has been going on for almost a month and progress is scant. laid Defense against Russia around Bakhmut (a completely destroyed city, with almost no one left and nothing but dilapidated buildings) and in the two front zones south of Donetsk and west of Zaporizhia.

Is the counterattack moving too slowly? “No, it was expected. Ukraine cannot operate at battalion level (a tactical unit of about a thousand soldiers) and even less than a brigade (3,000 to 7,000) in a united arms waras we have condemned for months” Christian VillanuevaDirector of Army Magazine.

Combined armed operations are operations in which all units and all types of units act in perfect coordination to achieve far greater effects than they would have separately. Unlike individual attacks tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, drones or artillery. “The Ukrainians do not yet know how to carry out these combined attacks and do not have all the means to carry out them with guarantees,” Villanueva adds. “In this scenario, what they have to do after the early days’ setback is to resort to artillery and sequential tactics that barely move the front line but erode Russia.”

All hoping to reach a point the russians are so weak they will collapseor combined armed operations are possible because the level of resistance is much lower than what is available.

Suspicious movements of Russian troops

Recently, the statements of Serhiy Cherevaty, the spokesperson of the Eastern Group of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, did not go unnoticed. According to the military, Russian army collects more than 100,000 soldiers and there is a large amount of weapons in the area where the Donbass front is located. Port with Kupayansk. According to information developed by the Ukrainian media Censor.net in Spanish by the EFE, the goal will be to take this last city in the Kharkov region, as about twenty railway routes connecting it to both Russia and the rest of Ukraine intersect here. “In the Port-Kupiansk area, the enemy has gathered a very strong group: more than 100,000 soldiers, about 900 tanks, 555 artillery systems, 370 rocket launchers,” Cherevati said. “Russia has deployed its best motor infantry units to the region.”

Oleksandr Sirski, the commander of the Ukrainian ground forces, also said this week that Russia is carrying out. Offensive operations around Kupiansk with the aim of seizing the territory controlled by the Ukrainian army.

Analysts were skeptical of the figures given by Ukraine regarding the number of soldiers and especially Russian tanks. But don’t forget Russia continues to have troop mobilization capacity. “Russia is never as weak as it seems and can gather forces to threaten Ukrainian operations,” Hennessy said. But it would make sense for them to deploy their forces to reduce Ukraine’s ability to concentrate their forces elsewhere. endgameThey remember that the cost/benefit of Russia continuing the offensive brought Moscow to the negotiating table. Something that could happen over a long, long time.