Thanks Joe,
Just got an update this afternoon from some guys defending Bakhmut to the south. The Russians are making a desperate push to get road TO504 into Bakhmut under observation to cut off the defenders while also attempting to advance and tie down units to the east and north. Their objective for the last 6 weeks has been to cut off Bakhmut. If the Russians are running low on ammo it is not in the area around Bakhmut.
The Ukies have been told to defend Bakhmut and are afraid that if they get cut off they do not have the forces to extract them and they'll be isolated and die to the last man which has happened more than once.
Current Situation Map of the Bakhmut area
The daily Russian artillery barrages are at WWI levels and are described as rounds "falling like rain." The trees are mostly gone, just stumps, and much of the town is just 3 feet of rubble.
The Russians have resorted to WWII-style Human Wave attacks with the predicted negative results and high causalities. The Ukies call them "one-time-use soldiers." The Russian causalities have been estimated in the tens of thousands in the surrounding area.
YouTube link
Most of the time the Russians probe Ukie lines in groups of 15-25 men without armor support to find their trench lines or an undefended gap. It's not easy because the front is a maze of trenches and underground positions with most of the landmarks obliterated. If the probes can make an advance closer to the Ukie lines they immediately dig in and defend. This is how they can make small daily gains.
Large assaults are detected in their assembly area and pounded by artillery before they can attack. The same goes for large Ukie counterattacks. It's mostly Western light infantry without armor taking back the trenches at night in a see-saw battle.
The Ukies do not have enough men to man the forward trenches so there are gaps the Russian probes can move into. Then it's a lot like WWI complete with night trench raids and hand-to-hand fighting with no quarter from either side for the Westerners to take back the trenches. Both sides are desperate.
Yesterday, under pressure, a Ukie unit fell back and let the Russians take their trenches. Minutes later the drone feed showed 20 of the Russian occupants were described as turned into a "pink mist" from a friendly artillery barrage.
The Ukrainian artillery is still accurate but they are starting to run short of replacement barrels. The M777 barrel life is good for about 2500 rounds, fewer if firing from maximum range. The Russian guns are good for about 1500 rounds then the accuracy decreases significantly so they just target entire city neighborhoods and not point targets. There are reports of worn Russian arty barrels wearing out and exploding.
The Ukies along with some Western units are right now awaiting orders to counterattack and take the trenches back. The temperature is now freezing and sometimes at night, Ukies will crawl into no man's land and "pose" the frozen Russian corpses like the Finns did in WWII. Humanity is breaking down and Gallow s Humor rules the trenches.
The Westerners do not normally man the trenches in defense. They are mainly used for hit & run, probes, counter-attacks, and recon in force. Also drone and EW operations.
One of the US Marines has been rocking a Ukrainian Alligator: YouTube link
In the last 2 days, he has 54x dismount infantry and 3x BMPs confirmed kills. Definitely an insane target-rich human wave battlefield environment on an epic scale we have rarely seen.
Human Wave attacks, trench raids with HTH fighting, anti-tank rifles, and massive artillery barrages. So much for high-tech warfare. This is so last millennium and by far the most intense fighting of the war or anything we've seen since WWII. Hopefully, this is the Russian version of the German Battle of the Bulge. When they lose maybe it will be over.
They told me the "vacation" part of the warcation is over with a stark realization of their mortality but they are in it to win it or die trying.
Keep them in your prayers.
Wolfhag