Combination K

The Vozdukh-1 video has finally been uploaded. Make sure to check it out!

Brutal standards in the 510th: "They gave us, if I remember correctly, 30 seconds to find the target, aim, and fire, and 20 seconds against helicopters. Otherwise the helicopter would wipe us out. At the Trzebień training ground there were special targets for this. Gunners who missed had to carry the tank’s breech block on themselves — and that thing weighs quite a lot. So by the end of training we were shooting pretty well. After firing, you moved immediately so the enemy wouldn’t destroy a stationary target with return fire. Careless drivers had to run in front of the tanks. More than anything, it was deeply shameful in front of your comrades. The moral factor worked. When crossing fords, they deliberately didn’t close the hatches. If the driver came out soaked because the bow wave washed over him, it meant his skills weren’t good enough, and he’d have to dry himself naked in the basement by the potbelly stove under the watchtower. One time it rained, the water hadn’t been pumped out, and I was leading the column and started crossing the ford first. The bow wave hit pretty hard. The force of the water pinned me to the seat in a death grip — I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t even move my arm. I thought: that’s it, this is the end. Then a thought flashed through my head — press harder on the gas pedal, maybe I’ll make it out of the water before the engine chokes. I pushed the accelerator with the tip of my boot. The engine roared, the water didn’t have time to flood the radiator, and I had just enough air in my lungs to make it out. After another rainstorm, the battalion deputy commander for technical affairs also drove into the water. He was a major, and he too ended up drying himself by the life-saving stove. We sighted in the guns and machine guns ourselves. We did it pretty well. It’s a whole science in itself. But we knew how to do it. Though honestly I fired at targets relatively little — mostly it was driving training. I regret that so few photographs survived. They came down hard on cameras. They often organized equipment inspections. Dirty tanks were washed, repainted, and set up on display positions. One tank would have a mine plow attached, another a DShK on the turret, another fitted with a bulldozer blade. In short, there was always plenty of work. Generals from the Group of Forces headquarters would come by. My comrades and I received certificates and commendations from Zarudin for conducting one of the inspections. Honestly, I no longer clearly remember his rank or even his face — only vaguely. He had an enormous entourage with him, full of officers with big stars on their shoulders. We thought they’d punish us for something. But instead they praised us. And for that, thanks as well."

T-62 impressions from the 20th Tank Division: "I finished training school in the autumn; I was a gunner. Then, another half year later, I went on leave, and when I came back I was given the rank of junior sergeant and the position of tank commander. So I went through every kind of guard duty there was — as duty commander and sentry, right up to the garrison guardhouse. I went through a huge number of exercises! We especially disliked staff exercises. Tank marches would only take us outside the base and then right back again, followed by cleaning the tracks and washing the entire tank. I even remember there being a whole barrel of white spirit standing there. But the large-scale exercises, especially with live-fire shooting — now that was power! I remember a march from south to north right before demobilization, and I remember the Oder River where they drove the tanks for underwater driving training. And the firing exercises! If there’s one thing, I shot enough for a lifetime! Thank God only during exercises. With sub-caliber inserts, with live rounds, and with the machine gun! Probably not like nowadays. More than 25 years have already passed, and yet with what enthusiasm I’d climb back into my T-62 right now and fire at a target — the same one I once had to run around on foot as a tanker. And I don’t think I’d miss. Those were golden times !"

Comments about the frequency of drills: "So, by days of the week: Monday: alert, wake-up, formation, bus ride, firing range (N.Z.), Říčky — 12 km on foot, light jog to the Oremov Laz firing range. Live firing (from UK-1 to UPS-1 exercises). Return trip — on combat vehicles (or riding on the armor). Tuesday was the same. Wednesday — night firing, departure after dinner. Return at 2–3 in the morning, pouring oil into the barrels, then lights out. In the morning — wake-up one hour later, weapon cleaning. Thursday and Friday — specialty theory classes. Saturday, like everywhere else — maintenance day. Sunday — a relative day off, “after the sporting event” (10 km with full gear). The worst thing was that it happened after Sunday breakfast." I want to add that the level of combat training depended greatly on whether the commanders actually wanted to conduct serious combat training. Our battalion commander liked organizing three-day live-fire sessions every month. For three days straight, day and night, the tank battalion conducted firing, driving, assembly/disassembly of everything that could be disassembled, tactical exercises — rotating through stations in a cycle. Breaks were only for meals and maintenance between daytime and nighttime activities. Sometimes we managed to sleep a couple of hours after the night exercises. By the third day everyone was sick of it all. Coordination with infantry (we had a motor rifle regiment) was practiced once before demonstration exercises for the command of the CGF and the Czechoslovak People’s Army in 1972. We ran “on foot by the tank” together with them. The infantry kept telling us: “May you drive like this yourselves someday, because we can’t keep up with you.” Alert procedures were also practiced over 3 days. First at company and battalion level, then with the whole regiment. All day long it was: stand down, then 20 minutes later — alert, run to the combat vehicle park. At night they didn’t disturb us. What’s interesting is how he managed to pull that off — because in theory ammunition and fuel expenditures were allocated according to training-period norms... The three-day sessions were built into the battalion training schedule. I don’t remember the expenditure norms, but we fired often — definitely twice a week, naturally with the machine gun. Though from rocking simulators. Engine-hours and firing through the inset barrel happened less often, but at the training ground, on training vehicles, we drove and fired as much as possible whenever vehicles were free and nobody was waiting behind us. I myself served half a year at Libavá on a training vehicle. Trips to the range were of course scheduled, but there were a couple of cases where the battalion commander came out at morning formation, scratched his head, and said: “Why don’t we head to the training ground?” Within a couple of hours GAZ-66 trucks would arrive and the entire battalion would end up at Libavá with mess tins, coveralls, and without bedding or other burdensome belongings. In conditions, so to speak, as close to reality as possible. For which he once got chewed out by some high-ranking officer who happened to be there by chance. The officer saw us sleeping in the “green barracks” during winter, on bare bunks, wrapped in our coveralls with our boots serving as pillows."

Some anecdotes about training in the Central Group of Forces: "Honestly, I remember only vaguely now, but I’m certain that every week we either fired or drove. Maybe sometimes both — I can’t say for sure. Night exercises were frequent; at the very least we fired and drove monthly at night. We fired assault rifles much less often, probably a couple of times during the whole training period. Tank commanders fired pistols, yes — once every six months at most. There was also the TOG — “tank firing town/range” — where we fired machine guns from rocking simulators at reduced-size targets, apparently using inset devices. Roughly once a week or once every two weeks." I think the readiness of our regiment at that time could be rated a 4 (roughly “good”). That was also the grade we received during exercises. The tank battalions, artillerymen, air-defense troops, reconnaissance units, and engineers were constantly drilled. There were attempts to create companies composed of soldiers from the same intake. A company made up entirely of “grandfathers” could be considered sniper-grade. The only problem was that such a company only had a lifespan of half a year, and a company made up entirely of fresh recruits didn’t bring much joy to the battalion."

@Combination_K soviet tankers when i shake the bag of soviet treats

The duality of man

Why would you call him out like that

@Kreyton_M1E1 I don't think the slop farm cares about what actually happened

@Combination_K No one on the right Abrams was injured from what I recall? Or injuries were very light.

@joeblillib4090 This is just what happens to those who operate M1, sad but true...

@Combination_K Also the Abrams crewman looks like a ghoul, for some reason

@MitchMemeTavern HES UNSCREWING HIMSELF

Artificial intelligence is the future!

@Combination_K How the Big K was moving in Steel Beasts! anyways very cool gameplay! Love to see more :)