The area in Donbas has been fighting crazy these days. A small 327-meter-long earthen bag, the two sides fought to the death for it. The Ukrainian army gritted its teeth and refused to withdraw. The Russian army played a new trick, creating a "super bomb" and tried to test the water on the battlefield. The pace of this battle is completely different from before.
This 327 elevation is a small mountain, and the altitude is also three hundred miles, but it is a place that is so unobtrusive, that it has crushed the life of the whole eastern region. The railway line from Bokrovsk to Slavyansk, through this area, the Ukrainian front 70 percent of ammunition grain must be transported by this line. You think, if this point is lost, the back supply line is crushed, what will the forces of the front fight?
Standing up this high ground and looking around, the movement of a dozen kilometers around the square can be seen clearly. If the Russian army is taken here, it is equivalent to tearing a big mouth on the Ukrainian defense line, can directly threaten to the core position on the side of Kuramatolsk. so the Ukrainian army is determined to keep, it is not a matter of mind, it is really not to lose.
Those foreign media compared this battle to "a modern version of Stalingrad", which is really not nonsense. What has this place become in recent weeks? It's no exaggeration to say it's hell on earth. The Ukrainian army dispatched 50 brigades of guys back and forth, throwing tanks and armored vehicles into them one by one. The highland was occupied by the Russian army today, and it was recaptured by the Ukrainian army tomorrow. It may change hands again the day after tomorrow. Every piece of land is covered with craters and blood, and the mud smells of gunpowder smoke and rust.
The attitude of the Ukrainian army is very clear: even if there is the last person left, this highland cannot be lost. No matter how difficult the supply is, no matter how worn the equipment is, you have to hold on. In their eyes, if this battle is lost, the entire Donbass may not be saved.
At this point, it can no longer be regarded as a normal military advance. It is a pure war of attrition, depending on who can't afford it first. The Russian army sent in the 150th Motorized Infantry Division, still using the same old "sea tactics". A wave of people rushed up and fell down, followed by a second wave. This kind of play on the modern battlefield is simply filling a hole with human lives.
It was that only 17 of the 200 people who fought the first wave survived the drone and artillery blockade line. When the soldiers in the back pushed forward, the soldiers who stumbled under their feet were the fellow soldiers in the front. How terrible this scene was, imagine yourself.
Although the Ukrainian army is not equipped, it makes good use of its terrain advantages. They dug three layers of fortifications on the highland, reinforced concrete bunkers, crossed fire networks, and densely lined sniper positions. It is said that Ukrainian snipers can take down one of three bullets, and the hit rate is terrifyingly high. Under such circumstances, even if there are many Russian soldiers, it will be difficult to chew this hard bone.
The U.S. Institute of War Studies estimated that on the 15th of October, the Russian army killed about 1,300 people in this direction, the highest record of a single day. on the Internet, there were also photographs, the day there were 12 military vehicles damaged, including 3 tanks and 8 armored vehicles. This battle, the Russian lost not only people and equipment, morale was also hit.
But the days of the Ukrainian army were also better. In order to slow down the Russian army's offensive rhythm, they bombed three bridges in the vicinity in advance. This trick indeed blocked the Russian army's supply line, but itself became an island. Now the Ukrainian army's supply is completely dependent on people to pick up, sometimes the parts of tanks have to be used with 3D printers. In the face of the Russian "Louis Knife" suicide drones, the Ukrainian army's old T-72 tanks are basically the live targets.
This battle has been fought until now, and neither of the two sides has retreated, depending on who can not withstand first.But everyone can see, the resource and technical gap is slowly emerging.
As soon as the 327 heights were unavoidable, the Russian army took a massive move in the south – tested an improved UMPB D-30SN flying bomb. The thing was actually to modify the old-fashioned bomb, add wings and navigation system, the range from the original 70 km directly doubled to 140 km. The key is that this thing is cheap, large production, precision is good, and can be launched in places in the Ukrainian air defense system is not enough.
On October 16, Russian Su-34 fighter jets fired this gliding bomb from over the Black Sea and accurately hit the logistics supply point in Nikolayev city. That place is more than 100 kilometers away from the front line, and the Ukrainian air defense system cannot reach that far.
This test is not an ordinary weapons upgrade, it is in the face of aid from the West.These years NATO has sent Ukraine a lot of air defense equipment, "Patriot" missile systems, such as NASAMS, but the range and deployment speed of these systems can not completely keep up with the production speed and frequency of the Russian Army's flying bombs.
The Russian army can now basically "consume" the Ukrainian army's front-line resources at a distance with zero risk. Even if the Ukrainian army holds the high ground, it will not be able to escape the bombs falling from the sky. This is very embarrassing. Although the position has been held, people and supplies are still decreasing.
The fighting on the battlefield has been transformed from a "hunt" to a "technology".From "Human Sea tactics" to "unmanned operations", from "step by step" to "distance precision strike", the Russian army is rewriting the rules of the battlefield in a cost-effective way.
As of October 16, the Ukrainian army also guarded 327 highlands, but the Russian army did not give up. They continued to infiltrate in the direction of Bokrovsk, while pushing the border of Sumy and Donetsk, eating on average two or three villages a day.
The pressure on Ukraine now is unprecedented. First, there is insufficient manpower, second, Western aid can't keep up, and third, technological gap and production capacity.
The course of this war is changing, and it is no longer simply “who can hold the position” but “who can upgrade the weapons system faster”. The Ukrainian army forced the Russian army to surrender with drones and suicide robots in July this year, and also created a historical record of “robots capturing humans.”
If the West cannot produce counter-weapons of equivalent range in a short period of time, the Ukrainian army can only continue to support it in the passive situation of "preserving the highlands and avoiding bombing".
The persistence of the 327 Highland does reflect the fighting will of the Ukrainian army, but the deeper problem is the confrontation between technological gap and resource consumption. The Russian army's use of this "King of Bombs" to break through the air defense circle is not only a simple weapon test, but also a redefinition of the way modern warfare is played.
Positions can be contested repeatedly, soldiers can be continuously replenished, but time does not wait for anyone. Who can first adapt to the rhythm of technological iterations, who can master the initiative of war.
In Ukraine now, time and resources are increasingly tight. Defending a high ground doesn't mean that you can defend the entire defense line. When long-range precision strikes become the norm, how long can traditional positional defense last? This issue is not only in front of the Ukrainian army, but also worthy of consideration by all those who pay attention to this war.
Which do you think is more important in modern warfare, technological advantage or will to fight? When one side can strike accurately from a long distance and the other side can only rely on positional defense, how much suspense is there in this war?