For Soviet troops engaged in combat in mountainous and
forested areas, the Red Army advocates the use of small units
to infiltrate through mountain defenses and harass an enemy's
lines of communication. Although this tactic is not new--the
Japanese have used it extensively in jungle fighting--the Russians,
unlike the Japs, employ infiltration units as carefully
coordinated parts of a general offensive operation designed to
encircle and destroy mountain strongpoints and their defending
troops.
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No type of terrain is considered an obstacle, and
full advantage is taken of routes over cliffs and other terrain
features normally impassable. |
These infiltration units may vary in size, a typical unit being
composed of an infantry section or an infantry platoon. Such
a unit is heavily armed with submachine guns or automatic
rifles, a mortar, and possibly a machine gun or more. It is
not unusual for engineers to be attached to a unit, their function
being the reduction of obstacles which might impede the
advance of the unit.
The Red Army conception of mountain warfare envisages the
employment of large masses of troops, despite terrain. An
enemy line of mountain strongpoints is softened by powerful
artillery and air bombardment. Then, under cover of its own
mortars and direct fire weapons, an infantry assault is launched
in an endeavor to pin down the enemy defenses and perhaps
secure a breakthrough.
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A typical infiltration unit is heavily armed with submachine guns or
automatic rifles, a mortar, and possibly a machine gun or more.
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It is during this assault, when the enemy troops are fully
occupied defending their positions, that the infiltration units
take advantage of unguarded terrain, or move through the breakthrough
to establish themselves deep in the enemy rear area. No
type of terrain is considered an obstacle, and full advantage
is taken of routes over cliffs and other terrain features normally
considered by the enemy to be impassable. Several infiltration units
may move independently through the same general area.
The mission of these small groups is to emerge eventually in a
predesignated sector on the main supply and evacuation route
in the enemy rear area. Here they occupy dominating terrain and
endeavor to block all movement of supply and evacuation
to and from the enemy mountain strongpoints. Small patrols
roam over a wide area harassing indiscriminate targets in an
effort to create the impression that a much larger force had
penetrated to the enemy rear. Vehicles are wrecked and used
as road blocks, and main roads are interdicted with small-arms
fire until the enemy is forced to use secondary roads for
communication, or to cease temporarily all movement to and from his front.
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Small patrols roam over a wide area, harassing
indiscriminate targets in an effort to create the impression that a
much larger force has penetrated the enemy rear. |
However, the Red Army realizes that small units cannot count
on remaining unmolested once their harassing tactics become a
serious threat. Consequently every effort is made to reinforce
the groups with the continual infiltration of other such units
until the strength of the Soviet troops behind the enemy lines
grows progressively to a company. then a battalion, and finally
a regiment.
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Infiltration units occupy dominating terrain, and main roads are
interdicted with small-arms fire until the enemy is forced to use
secondary roads or to cease all movement temporarily. |
The Red Army has discovered that by the time the infiltration
has reached this stage, enemy supply operations have been
seriously hindered, and resistance to assault upon his strongpoints
has declined. It is then that an all-out Soviet assault
must be launched, not only from the front and flanks of the
positions, but from the rear by the now greatly reinforced infiltrated
troops. Often, in such a situation, the enemy abandons
his positions under the threat of encirclement. In such a case
it is the mission of the infiltrated Soviet troops to attack and
destroy retreating enemy groups. If the enemy stays to be
encircled, the strongpoints are bypassed by the main strength
of the assault, and are left to be liquidated by the encircling troops.