The ongoing struggle for the city of Bakhmut lying in the contested
province of the Donbass has been the focus of most major military
operations in the War for these past few weeks. Although the city
had been undergoing intermittent shelling and attacks since the
beginning of the War and particularly from May of last year onwards
when Russian Forces launched their offensive in the Donbass, actual
Russian assaults aiming to encircle and capture the city only began in
earnest in November.
The assaulting forces are composed mainly of Mercenaries under
contract and Convicts serving under the banner of the Wagner Group
which describes itself as a “Private Military Company”.
Symbol of PMC Wagner, Shown above
It is nothing short of a death sentence with modern warfare devolving to the now more than century old trench warfare of the First World War with gains counted in mere yards not miles and the insistence of Russian Commanders to indulge in “Soviet Style” Human Wave Assaults resulting in hundreds of casualties in these units being recorded every day.
Soldiers of the Russian Army tasked with holding their defensive positions aren’t in a much better situation than their comrades in the Wagner Group. They are mostly composed of freshly mobilised conscripts usually referred to as “Mobiks”. They haven’t had adequate training, nor do they have adequate resources at their disposal to be capable fighting units.
The Ukrainian Forces still holding parts of the city in danger of being encircled and cut off are a hodgepodge of different units from Regular soldiers of the Pre-War Ukrainian Army to Territorial Defence units and even Special Forces detachments.
There can be no doubt however that the Ukrainian Forces holding the city although they are vastly outnumbered by their Russian Foes are more or less trained, capable and organised fighting units with high morale and even a degree of fanaticism for defending their homeland.
The Russian Forces are slowly but steadily gaining ground in their pincers around the city and most military analysts theorise that it is only a matter of time before the City’s Ukrainian Defenders will have to pull back to prevent their own encirclement and destruction.
However, they have made the Russians pay in blood for every inch of ground gained. Total Wagner Group Casualties in the battle rising to over 10,000 just for the units of the Wagner Group and over 30,000 for the entirety of Russian Forces engaged in the area. NATO analysts place Ukrainian casualties to be about a fifth of this figure.
The Battle has been called the Passchendaele of the 21st century referring of course to the famous World War 1 battle where in a period of about 3 months over 500,000 soldiers from both sides became casualties of war for the gain of hardly any land.
The great artillery duels, trenches and static warfare along with the brutality of close quarters combat more often than not resulting in the use of bayonets or melee weapons are stark reminders of the Horrors of the First World War echoing even after a century of military advancement.
The trench lines near Bakhmut today
Trenches from the First World War
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