Squad Attack Drills VIDEO Examples pulled from YouTube
I’m going to take a leap here – I’ve been looking at videos on YouTube to see what I can pull up with any decent training value, related to my previous post about use of terrain and maneuver, such as flanking assault etc. I have found some videos that have utility.
However, my disclaimer – some of these videos also have a large comedy factor and most of them involve OTC Cadets who are being run through the basic drills on their summer battle camp. So no, not high speed active duty super soldiers. But the basics are in there and if you can suspend the comedy there is value to be taken from it. There are plenty of mistakes due to insufficient training and experience, but there are also some good basic mechanics on display. These guys get points for effort. Consider that if you are not super high speed yourself, then you will need to train and learn these basics. The Squad Leader must be a University Cadet so he does well.
FIRST VIDEO HERE – this has some good mechanics in it. The section (squad) consists of two 4 man fire teams, named Charlie and Delta. Explanation:
The section (squad) are advancing (‘advance to contact’) in an ‘extended line’ formation (skirmish line), a bit of a gaggle until at 1:34 they come under enemy contact. Delta is to the left and Charlie are to the right.
1:40 the squad leader gives a fire control order. They were still identifying the enemy location so this could have been a target indication followed by a fire control order. He calls for “deliberate fire” but this could have been “rapid fire’ as an initial effort to ‘win the firefight’ before slowing to a lesser rate of fire once it was won and the enemy were suppressed.
At 1:55 he moves his ‘Delta’ Fire team “up to the streamline” – this is moving his fire support team ‘off the X’ and positioning them better to provide fire support from a covered location, using the stream bank.
At 2:18 the squad leader shouts “2 I/C take over” by which he means for the commander of Delta fire Team to run the firefight, continuing to suppress the enemy and control fire. You see the squad leader (who is also the leader of Charlie Fire team, different from the U.S. Army set-up for a squad) pull back a bit and look around. He is doing a quick ‘combat estimate’ to decide how he is going to assault the enemy position. He will decide the go left flanking.
At 2:30 he has Charlie fire team peel out from the right to go left behind Delta, who remain in fire support. There is a cluster as the right hand guy moves forward by mistake before he is instructed to ‘peel’ around the back of the fire team. It’s training, right?
You then see them use the terrain by utilizing the cover of a bank to run up to the left flank of the enemy position. Once they get to the top they stop and begin to fire and move towards the enemy as a team. Their inexperience shows here but they are going through the mechanics. They continue to move forwards by buddy pairs, as a fire team, until they come into contact with the enemy again.
I can’t tell if they are using a ‘point of fire’ or just fighting through as a fire team in buddy pairs. When they come across the enemy, they are in the open and they use automatic fire to clear the position, no grenades. It’s probably all they had for the training. Fighting through as a team is appropriate for enemy in the open like this, not in a bunker.
Once they clear through the enemy position, you hear shouts of “Regroup” calling in the fire support team to consolidate on the position.
SECOND VIDEO HERE – this is a rather silly video by some cadets playing enemy – the utility is to see what is going on with a section (squad) attack from the perspective of those playing enemy.
DEMO IN OPEN FIELD – this is a family open day for graduating infantry recruits. There is a demonstration run in an open field with contrived cover. You therefore can’t see any use of ground but you can see the mechanics gone though in the form of a demonstration. The section is lined up behind cover suppressing the enemy. They send a team right flanking. They drop off a ‘point of fire’ in the wood line to provide intimate fire support and then a buddy pair crawls up to grenade the enemy trench, with a bit of Hollywood at the end for the families.
COMPANY LIVE FIRE ATTACK – this a a video of a company live firing attack exercise with the British Army Platoon Sergeants Battle Course. These are all infantry sergeants going through a course and playing roles for the purpose of the exercise. If you watch it, you can identify the squads and elements going through the assault cycle of Assault – Fire Support – Reserve. You see sections supporting by fire, moving to a flank to assault, assaulting and also waiting in the low ground for their turn to move up. They are all in the streams because the streams are the low ground and the best cover as they move up.
Slightly unrelated:
80’s Classic on Fighting in Woods – British Army Guerrilla Tactics – delaying the SOVIET ADVANCE in Germany. Good stuff.
So anyway, that’s some video that I was able to find. Until I can make my own videos with a ‘super high speed’ squad of graduates from my courses, it will have to suffice!
Let me know if it helps as a graphic/visual explanation of some of these concepts and battle drills?
The diagrams and detailed explanations for this stuff are in ‘Contact! A Tactical Manual for Post Collapse Survival.’
Live hard, die free!
MV