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General Major Dmitri Mishenko commander of the 53rd Mechanized Brigade issued his Brigade’s operations order to battalion commanders of his brigade. The operations order was presented by Major Anton Grigorievich, the operations order, but it was approved by the commander. Present in the briefing room were the battalion commanders, their battalion’s operations officer and executive officers as well as liaison officers, drivers and additional assistants from each battalion and the brigade.

“Gentlemen, it is important that you attack these positions with violence of effort. You must not allow the enemy one second of respite. Insure you coordinate with the units on your left and right in order to maintain a cohesive front. Colonel Timoshenko, assign someone on your staff to coordinate with the 54th Brigade attacking into Taras Shevshenko Railyard to your north. We do not need to commit fratricide on our brothers attacking into the heart of the city. My staff is preparing a contingency operation in case we have to attack further north; if the 54th does not succeed. Are there any questions?”

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LTC Ivan Kozak sat quietly next to his Operations Officer, Major Boris Zakharov who scribbled copious notes on a pad of paper, listening to the Brigade Operations officer give his briefing. He wrote everything down even though he and the battalion commander received a copy of the Brigade plan as they entered the briefing room. It was a drill he engaged in to help digest as much of the information as he could.

When the brief was over, Colonel Kozak wanted to coordinate with the Sokol Group’s commander in order to prevent fratricide. The paramilitary organization would be operating on their left. He needed a sense of security that the Sokol Group could keep up with his tanks. He knew they would be alone once they pushed north of the built-up area, but the fight through could be rough.

During the ride back to the Assembly Area, LTC Kozak thought about the operation and began formulating a plan. Upon arrival, he and Major Zakharov sat down and worked out a plan. By morning, they had finalized their idea and called the company commanders in for their briefing.

Within an hour and a half, the company commanders were seated in the briefing room with their Operations NCOs. Major Zakharov gave the briefing and each commander was listing to their portion of the Battalion’s plan.

“Gentlemen, Take a look at the task organization. You will see that the third platoon of Number 4 company is attached to Number one company. The 1st AT platoon is attached to the Number 2 company and the 2nd AT platoon is attached to the Number 3 company. Also, third platoon, Number 2 Company is the battalion reserve and falls under the commander’s control. The third platoon, number 3 company and the Engineer platoon are attached to the Number 4 company for breaching operations.” Major Zakharov scanned the room to see if there were any questions. No one raised a hand.

“We will be moving north out of our assembly area into the outskirts of Smila to the north. The Sokol group will be adjacent to us on our left and the 2nd battalion, 34th Infantry will be on our right. The 1st battalion, 34th will follow us through the breach and suburbs. Our mission is as follows.” The operations officer read the mission statement, “At 0600 29 August 2004, the First Battalion, 37th tank regiment (Blue), attacks Objective SABLYAA (Hill 140 south of Smila) in order to support the 54th Brigade’s attack on the railyard to the north.

“So, as to not confuse anyone, the battalion will begin breaching the obstacles south of the Tiasmyn River at 0600, not attacking Objective SABLYAA. We will move north along Route ZELENYY in the following order of march, Number two, Number four, Number one, Number three and the recon platoon as well as the other battalion assets. The TACCP will travel behind the lead element to overwatch the breach.”

“When the Number two company reaches the minefield, they will occupy one or two Support by fire positions and provide overwatching fires against known and suspected targets on the far side of the river. While this happens, the battalion fire support officer (FSO) will initiate firing WP (smoke) on the objective and on the far side of the rivers in order to obscure the breaching team. Once the obscuration has billowed up, he will then switch to High Explosive with time delay on the potentially entrenched enemy.”

“The Number four company will advance to the minefield and conduct its breaching operations, creating at least two lanes through the minefield. Once they have secured the far side of the obstacles, the Number one and number three companies will pass through the obstacles and the built-up area at Mal. Yablonovka. They will bypass platoon sized formations and head towards Objective SABLYAA (hill 140). Once the first and third companies have cleared the initial objective area, second and fourth companies will fight through the built up area and clear enemy units entrenched in this area, prepared to assist either the Sokol Group to the west or the 2nd Battalion, 34th Infantry to the east and northeast.”

“The Number One company will establish a firing position south of Objective SABLYAA and begin firing on the objective. Once the Number three company arrives, they will pick up the support by fire role while the Number one Company attacks into the objective. From the move, the FSO will initiate fires on Hill 140 and stop shooting just prior to the Number One’s advance up the hill.”

“Once Hill 140 is clear and western Mal Yablonovka is clear, we will establish a defense north and west of Hill 140. The recon platoon will conduct reconnaissance around the southwest edge of Smila. We will tie in our defense with Sokol Group on our left and 2nd Battalion, 34th Infantry on our right. Then the 1st battalion, 34th Infantry will pass through our position and establish a battalion sized support by fire position south of the 54th Brigade’s objective at the railyard in southern Smila.”

“Are there any questions?”

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Anatoli Marchenko listened as attentively as he could when given the first briefing of the operation, still in some measure of disbelief. His impromptu force had already committed non negligible violence in its efforts to support the Eastern Presidency. But this coordination with the military to do war in the middle of the country still took some time to digest.

He did not say much in the meeting with the other officers, only nodding politely. These were true military men, more professional if - by their whiskers - less experienced than he and his. He was confident that by his side the objective would be accomplished, but not at great risk to the lives of far more men than any engagement that he had been in, and for the first time in many years at great risk to his own life if enemy artillery and recconaissance could not be dealt with in a timely manner by the combined forces assembled.

Even when returning to brief his own unit about their assignment he was somewhat dazed by the occurrences of the day. Though there was no fear of death in the people under his command, there was anxiety regarding the success of the operation, and the aftermath. Well, in the documents he would draft before the assault at least there would be records that his operational orders were with the best intentions.


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If one did not know any better, it would be possible to think of the Second Battalion's positions as a leisurely place. There was no cloud in sight, and the scorching sun kept the shade temperature well above thirty degrees celsius. Combined with the patchy ceasefire agreement holdig well, the urgency of the civil war had left the minds of the volunteer militiamen on both sides of the divide. The men of Second Battalion spent their days watching their opponents, seeking shade, staying hydrated, and hoping there would be good news from the negotiating table.

When the ceasefire first came into effect, Timoshenko used the opportunity to train his battalion as best as he could for an eventual resumption of hostilities. From dawn till dusk, he turned the workers militias and volunteers into something at least resembling an army. Close-order drill, physical fitness, bounding overwatch, weapons familiarisation, field hygiene, first aid....From dawn to dusk, they were made into soldiers. But by August the line had become much less tense and even Timoshenko concerned himself with little more than Command Post Exercises. There would be no fighting now, he figured. After that, there will be rain and mud and then winter will come, making a resumption of hostilities unlikely until spring. It made the Warning Orders all the more surprising.

There was sense to it all. In the South-West, Odessa was still besieged by the government in Kiev. Resupply by sea was still possible, but humanitarian relief coming into the city was still severely limited. Furthermore, a flurry of activity indicated more troops being moved to the siege of Odessa. At the top, whether that was Kharkov or the Kremlin, it was decided that the initiative had to be seized from them. The first thrust was to be exactly in the sector of the 34th MRR. A lot more vehicles, replacement troops, and stocks of supplies had been coming in and gave Timoshenko and his staff some indication of what was coming, but he did not expect to be the tip of the spear. The surprise for this old concertina-eater was a welcome one, though.

The town of Smila that forward elements of the 34th had been looking down on for a while was an important railroad junction. It was one of two rail lines that led to Odessa from Kiev, but also the only one that led to the vulnerable town of Mykolaiv. The seizure of Smila would allow for a larger offensive in the South of the country that would seize Mykolaiv and lift the siege of Odessa, giving the Kharkov-based government a much stronger hand at any following negotiations. Or at least, that was the intention.

"Politics with bloodshed", Timoshenko remarked as he gathered his barebones staff around him. "There will be a warning order within the hour. We need to make sure everyone is ready to move and square away whatever we can. Are there urgent questions already?"

Captain Makarov, commanding the Tank Company, raised his hand. "There are still infantrymen with under-folding AKMs in the battalion, and I need as many as we can scrounge for the tank crews. They take up much less space inside the tanks than the side-folders."

"The opportunity for that has passed, Captain. First make sure all your vehicles are running-"

"They're not", remarked 1Coy's CO, Captain Marchenko. "We're going into battle on flatbeds if those spares don't come through."

Timoshenko cut him off in turn. "I want everyone to report back the biggest shortfalls and eventual surpluses in your companies within two hours, maybe we can shuffle some things around. Lieutenant Dimitriev, get as many trucks as you can get running back to Brigade and scrounge whatever spares you can for the BTRs and BMPs. They're not keeping books, and we're gonna need it more than just about anyone in the country."

So much for an industrial base. Desertions, lack of maintenance, and a collapsing economy left enormous marks on what remained of either Ukrainian army. Timoshenko simply thought that commanders make their own luck. But more importantly, he wasn't sure anyone would notice.
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