At the cost of a single truck and perhaps a few casualties, the 35th Marine Brigade wreaked havoc on a Russian fortification and gained some useful intelligence on the Russians’ disposition.īut it’s worth noting that, three weeks later, it seems the Russians still hold that treeline west of Makarivka. That the Ukrainians retreated doesn’t mean the assault was a waste. They turned around and withdrew, as Russian videos of the skirmish clearly depict. Abandoning their damaged truck, the marines did the cautious thing. The Ukrainians had more tanks on the field, but they were hundreds of yards short of the tank ambush at the western end of the trenchline. But despite a single 35th Brigade truck posting up on the southern side of the treeline, apparently as a lookout, a Russian tank-a T-72 0r T-90, reportedly-managed to creep up the same side of the treeline toward the lead Ukrainian trucks and fire a 125-millimeter round through the trees and into one of the trucks. The Ukrainians were in a position to roll up the Russian infantry in the trenches. The trucks halted and dropped their ramps-and marines piled out and stormed the trenches. The trucks moved fastest, however, reaching the far end of the trench complex ahead of the tanks. The two columns moved fast, firing machine guns and cannons into the treeline and ignoring Russian artillery and rockets exploding behind and beside them. A few tanks formed the outer column and aimed their 125-millimeter cannons through the gaps between the trucks. This time a company of marines advanced west in parallel columns north of a thick treeline stretching west from Makarivka-a treeline along which the Russians had dug a complex trench network.Ī dozen or so marine trucks formed the inner column. The videos from the Ukrainian side underscore the speed and violence of the late-June attack. They didn’t work a week later when a battalion of the 35th Brigade attacked a Russian trench complex outside the liberated town. The thunderous assault tactics worked in Makarivka. “They didn’t expect such speed from us, going on Mastiffs,” one marine noted after the 35th rolled into Makarivka. This confused and terrified the bypassed Russians. But the tanks themselves fired on the move, their crews clearly understanding that the assault’s momentum mattered most. The trucks speeded right past Russian trenches, leaving them to the tanks to suppress. Marine vehicles formed a single column-Mastiff trucks followed by T-80 tanks followed by more Mastiffs-and rolled toward Makarivka along a dirt track. The 35th Brigade assault that liberated Makarivka the second week of June illustrated these shock tactics. Army’s fast-moving armored “thunder runs” in Iraq in 2003, the 35th Brigade in particular aims to achieve surprise and shock in order to confuse and fracture dug-in Russian forces. What the marines lack in firepower and armor protection, they make up for with speed and aggression. The 37th swapped out its tanks for wheeled AMX-10RC reconnaissance vehicles that weigh less than half what a tank weighs and are thinly protected. The 37th Marine Brigade is even lighter than the 35th is.
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