The week now drawing to a close was marked, among other things, by numerous and varied live-fire exercises. Firing was conducted both with individual and crew-served weapons. At the training facilities, soldiers of the 10th Armored Cavalry Brigade (10BKPanc) honed their military skills, while their commanders had the opportunity to assess the level of training at individual command levels.
Tank crews from the 1st Battalion, who could be seen one day at the Tank Combat Firing Range and the next on the tactical range, took part in directing fire during defensive operations, first at platoon level and then at company level.
“Organizing such training is the sum of several components: preparing the target area, providing logistical and technical support, and completing the appropriate documentation,” explains tank company commander Capt. Jakub Słobodzian, the officer in charge of the tank platoon fire-direction exercise.
Such training is intended to improve platoon commanders’ skills in planning, organizing and directing a platoon during defensive operations. It also assesses the platoons’ tactical and fire training. “It is important for each crew to work as a cohesive unit. During reconnaissance, every commander is assigned a position and a specific method of operation. During the actual fire-direction exercise, the platoon commander must, in addition to supervising his own crew, oversee the actions performed by the crews of the other three tanks. Therefore, broadly speaking, he directs the battle more than he actively participates in it,” adds tank platoon commander 2nd Lt. Hubert Stefaniak.
To move on to the next stage, the company commander had to assess his subordinates. “The platoon commanders are performing very well, as confirmed by the effectiveness of the platoons’ fire: targets are destroyed 100% of the time. Their level of training is the result of intensive work, including simulator training and appropriate preparation of the equipment for the exercises,” Capt. Słobodzian summarizes.
The next day of competition for the tank crews involved directing company fire during defensive operations. Compared with the previous day’s exercise, this one covered a much broader scope. Each platoon was not assessed separately; instead, the entire company, together with its commander, was evaluated. Lt. Col. Krzysztof Kacperek, the officer in charge of the exercise and commander of the 1st Tank Battalion, described what the training on the tactical range looked like:
The company conducted fire while withdrawing to successive firing lines. The company commander efficiently directed both the maneuver and the fire of his subordinate platoons. The difficulty is that when tanks fire during an attack or defense while moving, they must maintain the battle line in order to meet safety requirements, so that none of the vehicles advances ahead of another. When withdrawing, the crews have limited observation capabilities. The Leopard 2A4 has no rear-view driving camera. The commander continuously guides the driver while also directing the actions of the entire crew.
The fire-direction exercise held that day on the tactical range served, in a sense, as a summary of the tank company’s training period. As Capt. Słobodzian emphasized:
Fire effectiveness was very high. Until now, however, defensive operations had focused mainly on firing from a “static position,” whereas this time we carried out tasks involving delaying operations, consisting of successive changes of firing positions.
In addition to the tank crews, soldiers from the self-propelled artillery battalion were also training near Presidential Hill, firing 2S1 Goździk self-propelled howitzers. They took part in a fire-direction training exercise which, as the battalion commander, Lt. Col. Marek Lewandowski, explained, was “a preparatory exercise during which we coordinate the battalion’s team elements in carrying out activities involved in preparing and executing fire missions.” Lt. Col. Lewandowski adds:
The essence of this type of training is to prepare, among other things, gun crews to carry out fire missions under various conditions; here, we are conducting them both during the day and at night.
During such training, the commanders of the firing batteries play an important role. After receiving the firing data, they are responsible for directing the battery’s fire so that targets can be engaged as effectively as possible. Preparing for this type of firing is a complex process. “It includes, among other things, the technical preparation of the guns: checking the sighting line and firing data, as well as aligning the sights with the barrel; geodetic preparation, meaning determining where the guns are positioned and placing them in relation to the observation point; and marking all the necessary information on the map,” explains Capt. Janusz Niemiec, battery commander.
Fire-direction training prepares the self-propelled artillery battalion to carry out fire-support missions for the Brigade’s combined-arms subunits. During this type of activity, weather conditions are always an important factor for the artillerymen. As the battalion commander emphasized:
This time we had a great deal of soldiers’ luck when it came to the weather, because fog is always a major difficulty. It is also windy on Presidential Hill, but after taking the necessary firing corrections into account, there should be no problems. The temperature is above freezing, so, in summary, the conditions are favorable.
Capt. Monika Wywiórka, press officer of 10BKPanc:
For the tank soldiers, exercises on the tactical range or at the Tank Combat Firing Range are part of everyday life. They continually improve their level of training and develop automatic responses so that they can carry out all their tasks smoothly, without hesitation and to the highest possible standard.