From 14 to 18 November in Komorowo (Ostrowski County) and Słupno (Wołominski County) a course of fighting in urbanized areas was conducted by the 5th Mazovian Territorial Defence Brigade. The five-day course was attended by nearly 30 soldiers serving in 5MBOT sub-divisions and as part of cooperation and exchange of experience to participate in the project, soldiers from 12 Wielkopolska OT Brigade were invited.
The Territorials are trained to defend and support local communities in their Permanent Areas of Responsibility. This requires not only excellent cognition of the area, but above all the ability to carry out activities in both woody and urban areas. Importantly, ongoing armed conflicts show that most of the fighting is conducted in cities. In order to deepen the cognition of the territorials on the specifics of fighting in the city and to make appropriate methods to counter the opponent, at the initiative of the 52nd Light Infantry Battalion in Komorów, a combat course in urbanised areas was organized in 5MBOT. During the course, we tried to make the soldiers aware that it was time to decision distant from the old paradigms. Following the training of soldiers of any units, 1 can see that they usage anti-terrorist tactics typically, and we as light infantry soldiers must follow procedures according to the specifics of our formation - said Lt. Jarosław, an teacher from 52blp in Komorów.
Prior to taking applicable classes, the trained learned the characteristics of the urban area, the planning of tasks and the priorities for conducting specified activities. An crucial component was the discussion of the experience of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, which verifies the concept of "modern battlefield" and requires the soldier to constantly supplement his cognition in this area.
The following days were devoted to improving applicable skills. The territorials conducted patrols in a comparatively safe area, trained to decision in formation, approach the object, overcome intersections and breakdowns, and decision during the fight against the opponent.
- I'm sorry. While conducting classes, we emphasized to the students that the threat is not only from land, but mainly from the air, but besides from deficiency of movement, grouping and besides long stay in open ground in urbanized areas leads to failure. Another crucial aspect of our emphasis is teamwork, taking care of the safety of our colleagues and rapidly filling gaps and errors that we will never avoid, but we can make appropriate reactions and reflexes. – added Lieutenant Jarosław
The completion of the course was performed by sections of the light infantry set task based on abandoned buildings in Słupno. Soldiers had to show both individual and squad tactical preparation adapted to the specificity of specified activities. The realism of fighting in urbanized terrain was added by OPFOR – i.e. the forces of the opponent and the usage of conversion sets with UTM-colored ammunition to the MSBS GROT carbine.
Text: krp. Elżbieta Obrębska/ 5 MBOT
