Lt. Col. Michael Carvelli, U.S. Army
Smoke and dust obscure the battlefield as camouflaged M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles support the final assault by members of the 2nd Battalion, 41st Infantry, 2nd Armored Division, during a company team attack exercise on 27 January 1986 at the Shell Point training area on Fort Hood, Texas. (Photo by William U. Rosenmund, courtesy of the National Archives)
Russian and Ukrainian tactics in the ongoing Ukraine-Russia conflict highlight the need for the U.S. Army to revive battlefield obscuration.1 Two types of offensive operations—the combined arms breach and the wet-gap crossing—have shown a lack of obscuration capability, understanding, and use in the Russian and Ukrainian armies. This obscuration gap resulted in debilitating casualties on both sides, delaying progress or causing mission failure. It is prudent for the U.S. Army to learn from its tactics in this ongoing conflict and apply these lessons through doctrinal, organizational, and materiel investments.
When Russia seized more Ukrainian territory in February 2022, Russia quickly consolidated gains and constructed defenses, including a labyrinth of minefields, wire obstacles, and trenches.2 These defenses are reminiscent of World War I when the battle lines stabilized and forces on both sides settled into complex defensives in depth across a wide battlefield. To overcome these defenses, Ukrainian forces attempted to breach the Russian lines in multiple locations with limited success. The Ukrainian military suffered casualties from these offensive operations because the Russians were able to observe their movement and mass a variety of fires, including antitank guided missiles, cannons, mortars, and heavy machine guns. The Ukrainians did not employ vast quantities of smoke, white phosphorus, or other means to blind Russian defenders costing Ukrainian lives in the breach.
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