The Ukrainian forces are using a strategic trick used by the Allies in the First and Second World Wars, and in the latter led to the defeat of the German army in the Battle of Normandy, hoping to compensate for the difference in armaments between it and Russia.
The strategic deception relies on exhausting the hostile forces through fake weapons on the ground made of wood and rubber, and Kiev seeks to preserve the southern front as much as possible, from which it will launch its planned counterattack within two months against Moscow.
Kiev has already sent rubber models of Western tanks and American armored vehicles, in addition to Himars missile launchers, according to a Ukrainian military official, while a Russian military expert believes that this trick will not benefit at the present time in the battles, according to what they said to Sky News Arabia.
Will Ukraine succeed in turning the tide of battles, as happened with the Allies in World War II?
Ukraine and the Hitler scenario
In 1944, the Allies in World War II produced large numbers of inflatable fake rubber planes and tanks; To mislead German reconnaissance planes in an area far from the real area of operations “Normandy beaches”.
With that plan, the allies, led by Washington and London at the time, succeeded in landing 135,000 soldiers in Normandy, making the bridgehead, which allowed them, within one week, to land more than a quarter of a million soldiers, 50,000 vehicles and military machinery, and 100,000 tons of other military equipment.
About Kiev’s benefit from the deception plan, Svyatoslav Podolak, a Ukrainian military official on the eastern Donbas front, says that the plan has already paid off in the battles of the Russians, especially in the south, as the deception gave Kiev the opportunity to preserve Western weapons, especially air defense platforms and missiles last year.
Europe has increased its arms imports, and Washington is the biggest beneficiary
According to Podolak, one of the fruits of deception:
- The depletion of Russian ammunition, especially missiles, and their failure to penetrate defenses.
- It contributed to maintaining strong artillery coverage for the Ukrainian infantry.
- Preserving Ukrainian weapons in light of the delay in the delivery of shipments from the West or the cutting of supply lines by Russian forces.
- The weather during the past period contributed greatly to the success of this trick.
Earlier, the Czech Republic, which is a pioneer in the manufacture of military traps and models, announced that it had provided Ukraine with military aid worth half a billion dollars since the beginning of the war, which included models of Western weapons and fake “HIMARS” missile launchers.
Inflatable military traps cost between $10,000 and $100,000; Much less than the missiles used to destroy it.
Arms imports… increasing European spending
It won’t work
In the Russian camp, which contributed during World War II to the fall of the German Reich, the military expert, Shatilov Minikaev, believes that this old trick “will not work in the form that Kiev is betting on and trying to market.”
Minikaev attributed his prediction to military and strategic reasons:
- The effectiveness of this trick depends on the airdrop, which Moscow has not done.
- Russian forces are already making progress on the ground; This allows it to pinpoint real targets accurately.
- The advanced Russian guided missiles follow their targets precisely with high-precision sensors.
- Kiev is resorting to that trick to cheer up and no more marketing.
On the ground, Russian forces are close to extending their control over Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, which has witnessed fierce battles over the past months, and Kiev fears its complete fall into the hands of Moscow. Because this opens the way to control other cities to the east.
Battle of Bakhmut.. Russian stumbled
