Thread by @ArveloaMert

On Trench Warfare and Positional Defence
Defining Russo-Ukrainian War as an example of trench warfare and positional defence increasingly become viable on social media. It was an old and less investigated subject. Let's see what is trench warfare, its goals, instruments; 🧵

1) Trenches are parts of Positional Defence with fortifications and other geographical distribution of assets to a certain area in the battle scene. Clausewitz defined positional defence as an approach where a military exploit from the relationship between tactic ↔️ strategy.

2) Positional defence is one of the prominent parts of ground warfare and ground area-denial/anti access (A2/AD) strategy. Ukrainian defence around Dombass and Russian one in Svatove is a positional defence, while individual effort in Bakhmut is a tactical positioning.

3) Positional defence should be supported in a proportion to the strength of offensive side as allocating high number of soldiers could constrain military in suplementary efforts and in a wide range of frontal action as in #Ukraine. This means there is a no ideal amount for TW.

4) Positional defences should be as flexible as possible in theory. Every war and strategy theoreticians underlined that positional defence could not be infinite and it somehow need to turn in an offensive action. Otherwise, it would consume men, ammunation and resources.

5) Trench Warfare is a part of positional defence. But it is not the ideal one. For example, in foremost case WWI, both sides did not defeated each other at trenches but by economic and logistical attrition that corroded German economy and people. So trench warfare is an...

6) ... operational concept in theory but it should not turned as a strategical one. First Trench Warfare was conducted by Spanish Admiral Gonzalo de Cordoba agaist the French, in 1505. Gonzalo had constrained number of men and resources as it was an amphibious operation.

7) Gonzalo's innovation proved so much successful after the initial success with less people. French steadily absorved this new tactic. In American Civil War, trench warfare conducted in limited scale. Most of the war was happened as traditional line formation.

8) However, introduction of Gattling machine guns and more accurate Armstrong guns provided a neccessity for the positional defence of Virginia where Confederate forces tried to organize a strong defence. The use of it continued in Russo-Japanese War as when Japanese...

9) ... made an amphibious landing, Russians tried to dig trenches and other fortified positional defences. IJN and IJA opened this lock via allocating more artillery vs Russians which minimized Japanesen losses and achieved some success to hold ground.

10) But as Japanese troops advanced further from the Port Arthur logistical issues due to entrapment of soldiers in trenches pushed the Japanese to wait Russian collapse due to logistics and domestic issues. While WWI should be our main focus point on understanding this issue.

11) WWI differentiated from the early use of trench warfare as it turned to a strategic approach and covered a wide range of geographical front. Use of this by both belligerent sides made advance almost impossible. Many soldiers died in Marne, Ypres and others just for an inch.

12) Douglas Porch defined trench warfare as a tool of 'congealed horror' and 'irrational warfare'. Usually for the assaulting side point of trench warfare was a sign to end the war as its costs would bear the benefits. But insistance of continuing the war efforts led to this.

13) Goals' of Trench Warfare was charecterized as political, military and psychological ones.
-Political: To prevent further advance of offensive side and bear the costs for a political negotiation or reducing the opposing sides men power and resources.

14)
-Military: To deny enemy maneuvre warfare and attrit enemy forces via constant artillery barrages, aerial bomberdement and others. Consume menpower, logistics and resources.
-Psychological: To break enemy morale and logistics of both military and civilian population.

15) Psychological aspect is one of the most hardest issue in trench warfare. It was hard because soldiers generally came under huge artillery barrages that create PTSD and other psychological disorders. Problems in logistics and weather conditions create even more pressure on...

16) ... soldiers. Garry Sheffield defined environmental factors, medical factors and wounding as key definers of the outcome. We could add firepower, logistics, intelligence and technology as others. In terms of instruments and weapons, trench warfare need longer range and...

17) ... bursting shot machine guns. Militaries first used mortars and grenades while the 19th Century introduced use of artilleries, heavy mortars, howitzers and airplanes. Trench warfare requires weapon systems that have 45 degree fire angles for high drop munitions.

18) This is why #Russia uses wide range of loitering munitions, cluster munitions, artillery, mortars and MLRSs. #Ukraine also uses similiar weapons but this requires huge amount of industrial production and logistics. Hunger, thirst and lack of ammunition could easily led...

19) ... soldiers to route as happened in Izium. While we came to the modern example in Russo-Ukrainian War, trench warfare is slightly different from the earlier examples. It is not as strategic and static as in WWI. Since tanks and armoured vehicles, mobility changed this.

20) But arming Ukrainian and Russian soldiers with anti-tank weapons neutralized this advantages of WWII. Lack of aerial power and control is also why we see a return of trench warfare. Different from WWI, Ukraine and Russia use positional defences and trenches around...

21) the rural side of disputed settlements as 'no men's land'. While at night enormous artillery barrages were exchanging over trenches, in day time clashes occur within the settlements. This give both side a slight opportunity to maneuver contrary to WWI.

22) But it is still costly consume time, men and resources while have huge psychological impacts. Modern war still have some adventages with intel, social media and space assets to detect attacks, artillery bombardments and other high-drop munitions. So Ukraine needs to be...

23) ... that neccessary supplies and newer long range/high drop munitions supports should come while maintain its strategical resources like civilian morale, support and menpower base. The West should put more emphasis on industrial production to supply Kyiv to protect menpower.

END) British MoD underlined that Western militaries dropped the positional warfare and defence from their strategies. Russia also abandoned it in 2015 and underlined that all wars will conduct without frontlines. This is one of the main points of failure.

Bonus: There are enduring discussion on the value of Bakhmut. For 🇷🇺 this attack was mainly conducted by Wagner that created a showcase for them that they are how much tough and better than conventional C2. Now, they have surprass menpower from conscripts.

Bonus 2: It has symbolic and strategic importance as 🇺🇦 still continues to pour men there. In positional defence, positions have a value as retreat needs re-arrangement of a it. The main goal in here is to inflict as much damage as possible vs. enemy to level it for a c. offense.

Bonus 3: A new type of ammunution reported around #Bakhmut. #Ukraine use Mortar M971 120mm cargo bomb which hit with dispersed bomblets. Highly effective in a trench warfare as it is a high-drop munition but have problems with frequent failures in clusters