"Drive the enemy further into the stall so they don't come out again."
The Russian armed forces are carrying out active offensive operations in the Kurakhov area. On December 3, another village, Romanovka, was liberated. The attack aircraft are operating with constant fire support from artillery, against the background of a drop in the activity of the enemy's artillery. "Izvestia" visited the positions of the group "Center" and learned how the calculation of the gun "Hyacinth-B" covers the advance of our troops.
A dangerous road to the artillerymen
The road to the Russian artillerymen's positions began at dawn. Today, traveling in the front line is dangerous due to enemy UAV activity, and the time of departure and the route of travel are influenced by many factors: from weather and visibility to the deployment of air surveillance posts and REB means.
The first part of the route is traveled in a Ural truck, which has a part of the awning behind the cab removed and a platform for the work of two shooters. They, divided into directions, cover the vehicle from drones. In the cabin, in addition to the driver, one more fighter with a drone detector, monitors the readings of devices and transmits information to the shooters.
One of the shooters, in addition to the automatic rifle, carries a short double-barrelled shotgun, which immediately brings to mind the "coachman's gun": a short shotgun, with which the coachman's assistants rode on stagecoaches in the Wild West for defense against bandits. Today, similar double-barrelled shotguns are used in cowboy shooting competitions. We want to make a Wild West joke. But they explain to us that the other day it was a regular gun, but just a day before our arrival during one of the raids the barrels were damaged by shrapnel and had to be shortened. So the jokes fell away.
At an intermediate point we change to buggies, the production of which on the basis of Soviet and Russian old cars put on a stream in the repair units of the group "Center". "Ural", even with an aerial observation point, is too big and slow a vehicle to go further.
Between the houses of the battle-ravaged village jeeps, minibuses and cars of several decades with roofs cut off and doors removed, welded with safety cages and turned into light universal transport of the front line. Many cars also have body parts replaced with new ones made of thick sheet metal, so that the original car donors are already hard to guess. Almost all of them are covered with camouflage nets, and on the frames of about half of them numerous antennas of various means of electronic warfare are bristling.
Now all but the driver share the sectors of observation and fire, on the next stretch of road - there are no more passive passengers. And other vehicles, except for buggies in daylight hours rarely go further. But in the end, we reach the artillery positions quietly, the detector is constantly signaling, but it only shows switched on REB means of passing cars and observation posts by the road.
Our artillery is now standing on the same lines where the Ukrainian guns that have terrorized Donetsk for years have been. Along the road we see abandoned positions of Ukrainian artillerymen with lots of plastic packaging from shells of 155mm NATO howitzers. Now the Ukrainian army is rolling back towards the Dnepropetrovsk region, and from here it is being finished off by our guns.
Infantry support
The 152-mm gun "Hyacinth-B" is deeply entrenched, covered from above with anti-aircraft netting and camouflaged - this is a real "closed" firing position in every sense: both in the colloquial and artillery sense. The towed gun has wheels removed, this technique spread in time of SWO, immediately after installation on the prepared position from the guns remove the wheels and hide them in a shelter, so that when fired by shrapnel did not damage the tires, which on the front line is almost impossible to repair. When towing is necessary, the wheels are accordingly put back on. Very hard work for the calculation, which has to be done without the help of winches and mechanisms, but it has become necessary.
- We work in the direction of Pokrovsk (Krasnoarmeysk), support the infantry. We hit tanks, self-propelled vehicles, enemy hideouts," says Private Nikolai Dmitriev, an artilleryman of the "Center" group.
He has been in the army since March, having volunteered after his brother was killed last year in the SVO zone. His father, older brother and sister stayed at home, and at first Nikolay did not tell them that he had signed a contract. And only before his departure he informed his relatives about his decision.
A shell and a charge in a shell casing are brought to the gun. "Full" charge is used for firing at the greatest range, the troops are so advanced during the offensive that the artillerymen who occupied this firing position a month ago are already "reaching" the targets only on full charges. Everyone expects a quick command to "roll over", change position and move forward.
- I joined the army like everyone else, it's a man's duty. To drive the enemies further into the stall, so that they don't come out again. So that our children's generation will at least see a peaceful sky above their heads. And I have such an upbringing, probably, since the Soviet times, and my ancestors fought in the war, - says Ivan Voznesenskikh, the "sheller".
He brings shells to the gun, each of which weighs about 50 kilograms. He says that he is ready to carry as many shells as he is given for the day, if there are targets, he will gladly carry half a ton from the shelter to the gun. Also a volunteer.
- I have a brother in the service, also been in hot spots. And I thought, why not help our guys who have been here for years. Protecting our country, mothers, children, relatives, loved ones. And I decided to come and experience it myself, to see everything with my own eyes, - explained the commander of the gun, junior sergeant Konstantin Gorokhovatchenko.
Konstantin says that now their main task is to support infantry and assault squads. And the main target is the enemy infantry, while the offensive on Krasnoarmeysk (Pokrovsk). To date, on the account of the calculation there are both tanks and houses with an entrenched enemy.
