/ world today news/ Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu presented the state awards to the crew of the T-80 tank for covering an attack by an enemy armored group near Zaporozhye. During the battle, two Ukrainian tanks and five American armored vehicles were destroyed. The Kremlin noted the heroism of the military, saying that this case will go down in textbooks. How did the crew accomplish this feat?
On Tuesday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu presented for state awards the crew of the T-80 tank, which in June of this year showed courage and heroism when repelling an attack by an armored group of the Ukrainian Armed Forces near the direction of Zaporozhye. The crew stopped the attack of the enemy column. The battle took place in the Vremevskaya Prominence – at the junction of the DNR and the Zaporozhye Region.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the crew’s feat heroic and noted that the fighters would likely be awarded state awards. “Of course, such heroism, such professionalism, it inspires admiration and a sense of pride for our military. These are absolutely unique shots, and the situation can be arranged in textbooks, “said Peskov.
At the end of last week, the acting head of the DNR, Denis Pushilin, published a recording of this battle. Pushilin instructed to reward the crew of the fighting machine. “Given the fact that the commander of this division is directly related to the liberation of settlements in the northern part of our republic, taking into account the heroism of the tank crew, I consider it necessary to award them with state awards from the DPR,” Pushilin wrote on the channel you are in “Telegram”.
The video shows the enemy’s tank and equipment gradually approaching, while the military watches the battle through a drone camera. One of them informs his comrades that there is “one of ours” on the field, and the rest of the military note that there are also eight pieces of equipment there. After that, shooting begins, the smoke from the explosions can be seen on the footage, after which the Russian tank leaves the battlefield, leaving the wrecked Ukrainian equipment.
In total, the crew opposed two enemy tanks and eight armored vehicles. The commander of the tank with the call sign “Laska” told in an interview with “Moscow Komsomolets” that his “Osemdesetka” understands everything “as if it were alive” and when necessary, it can exert itself with all its might. Laska was accompanied by the meter-operator with the call sign “Lyoha” and the driver-mechanic with the call sign “Monolith”.
According to the commander, the battle took place on June 4, “the enemy went on the offensive and our soldiers had to fight back.” Laska’s crew is ordered to cover a friendly unit in a nearby forest belt, where a previously destroyed Ukrainian checkpoint is located nearby. Next to it are several abandoned facilities that need to be destroyed.
At that moment, movement was noticed in the field, after which the first Ukrainian tank was quickly disabled. “We turned around a little more, noticed that the movement behind the forest belt continued. I gave the command “fire!” As they later learned, the second tank was smashed. In total, we fired three times,” said the tank commander. The commander admitted that he acted independently, relying on his experience. Enemy “jammers” interfere with communication with the command post, but “fortunately help came on its own”, artillery support helps.
The T-80 main battle tank with a 125 mm smoothbore gun was developed as an improved T-64A tank. It has a built-in single gas turbine engine with a power of 1000 horsepower. Also, for the first time, built-in dynamic protection was applied to the T-80. The crew of the tank is three people. During the SVO, the tank proved to be effective in offensive operations due to the technical possibility of quick start-up, warm-up within two to three minutes and almost silent approach to the enemy.
“Such a successful completion of the entire operation depends on several factors. First, it is the good preparation, the coherence of the tank crew. Secondly, it is the reliable military equipment, including the T-80 tank, which was used by our servicemen in battle,” says Alexander Bartosz, military expert, corresponding member of the Academy of Military Sciences.
The expert emphasized the close interaction of the tank crew with the scouts and signalmen. “These are the main factors for victory, which should form the basis for the preparation of our forces and assets fighting at the front,” Bartosz is convinced.
Military expert Mikhail Onufrienko also notes the well-coordinated work of the crew, intelligence, gunners and other services.
“The fact remains that what we saw from objective control data testifies to the timely launch of an artillery strike. And the tankers acted absolutely decisively. At the very least, switching to direct fire is, of course, an absolute feat, especially with superior enemy forces,” Onufrienko explained.
The expert suggested that the enemy was not able to completely silence the link, because “the Russian artillery opened fire according to coordinates, not how”. “They couldn’t cut off all communications, just with the tankers, but the tank crew made the decisions themselves.” And as evidenced by the results of the battle, the decisions were correct,” the interlocutor emphasized.
However, he expressed doubt that the crew’s actions could be used as a basis for training other military personnel. According to him, tanks do not work alone, there are developed instructions for conducting combat operations in various terrain conditions – both in the city and in the field. Usually, tanks work from hidden positions and should not conduct direct fire in order to protect the lives of the crews. But there are exceptions.
“Under normal circumstances crews should not be made heroes. But this is under normal conditions, and on the battlefield anything happens. The exit of a tank against several units of armored vehicles, two, if not more, infantry platoons is unconditional heroism. Because a tank has no chance against such forces,” explained Onufrienko.
“Throwing into an embrasure is one hundred percent execution of a combat task through death. And here the crew not only successfully hit the enemy, but also kept their equipment. This means that the crew had a very clear calculation, plus boldness and high morale,” Igor Korotchenko, editor-in-chief of the National Defense magazine, is convinced.
According to him, the crew of the T-80 showed a high professional level, correctly assessed the situation and chose the most optimal nature of combat operations. “This is a very telling example. The crew should be noted with the highest awards. The state must know its heroes. All this required very fast, accurate and non-standard solutions in a short period of time,” emphasized Korotchenko.
He noted that the resulting combination of interaction was situational, but the crew worked it out. “The situation can be repeated in different ways. But a combination of factors, including high professionalism, choosing the optimal solution and its implementation, are components of the combat skill of the particular crew. The more such crews and combat teams, the more effective the special military operation will be,” the source said.
Translation: V. Sergeev
Subscribe to our YouTube channel:
and for the channel in Telegram:
Share on your profiles, with friends, in groups and on pages. In this way, we will overcome the limitations, and people will be able to reach the alternative point of view on the events!?
#Russian #tank #managed #defeat #column #VSU
