Assault to contact
Tacticians have always considered that an assault on a dug-in position requires a numerical superiority of 3 to 1 in favour of the attackers. This and either no defensive air operations or air supremacy in favour of the attackers. Basically because men in holes are harder to kill than the men walking across open ground towards them.
You will rarely experience an assault to contact against a prepared position in anti-insurgency warfare. Against you at any rate because as Special Forces operatives there may be times when you are acting as insurgents. The main reason for the rarity of insurgents assaulting prepared positions is that you will always have air superiority and if the insurgents got enough men together to mount an assault against a main base – or a prepared position of any strength – your air support and artillery would have a field day and destroy them utterly.
The only time you may be on the receiving end of such an assault is if you are dug in a remote location as part of a small unit. This is where you have to be careful with the preparation of your defences as we see in the next section.
Where the insurgent enemy do attempt an assault to contact their method will go something like this:
REMEMBER:
Don’t think you are safe because you have 250,000 troops 100 miles away. Localized superiority of firepower will always win a firefight.
DESIGNING DEFENSIVE POSITIONS AND DIGGING A HOLE
In this section we are going to look first at how to dig yourself a nice, comfortable hole in which you can sit all safe and snug from shot and shell while shooting the attacking enemy. Then we will see how a group of these holes can be arranged in such a way that attacking them is more trouble to the enemy than it is worth. This is what is meant by a prepared defensive position.
As a soldier you are going to spend a lot of time in a hole in the ground or holding some God-forsaken mud fort waiting for the bandits to come and try to take it from you or otherwise spoil your day. Either they will be taking pot shots from the middle distance and lobbing mortars shells to harass you, or they are going to come over the hill by the thousand, screaming. In either situation being prepared is crucial and knowing how to set up a strong position is a useful and portable skill.
The limitations of defensive warfare
You will not win a war by defence because the enemy will only come to you when he is strong and if you hurt him he will run away to lick his wounds. Despite this, over time you may weaken the enemy sufficiently for him to collapse and you will certainly achieve other strategic objectives such as controlling ground, supply lines and bases. More importantly, from your point of view, you stand a much better chance of survival sitting in your own defensive position rather than running towards someone else’s with a bayonet fixed to the end of your rifle.
Designing a hole
Sand, earth and stones all stop bullets and shrapnel very efficiently. The trick is to keep them between you and the incoming threat. Of course, enough steelplate and concrete do too but the advantage of dirt is that you don’t have to take it with you – it’s just lying around everywhere. When you are dug in to the ground like a rat, with a roof supporting 18in of dirt, you are well protected from the direct fire of small arms and RPGs until you stick up your head to shoot back. You are also totally protected from mortars and shells coming in from above.
You are safer than a lot of places even if you don’t have a mortar resistant roof. Firstly because there may be no mortars used against you and secondly because the chances of a mortar round dropping right into your hole are absolutely tiny and a near miss will not hurt at all.
As you squint over the edge of your hole the only thing the enemy can see to shoot at is the whites of your eyes. And if they get that close you are doing something wrong. The only way anyone could realistically hurt you is with heavy artillery, 155mm and upwards, firing ground penetrating shells or special bombs which do the same thing. Insurgents generally don’t have this kit.
At a push, the minimum you need to be safe from shot and shell is a hole which gets your butt just below the level of the surrounding soil. That doesn’t have to be a very deep hole. Which is just as well if you have to dig a new one every night with your own fair hands and a government issue entrenching tool – and the ground is like a concrete runway.
If you are just stopping for the night, and there is enough of a threat to warrant protecting yourself by digging in, then the smallest hole you can sleep in with no ‘fancy work’ is just fine. The level of threat requiring a hole can loosely be defined as the enemy knowing where you are and having the wherewithal to take pot-shots at you. So that means always if you are in an established base-camp and usually when you are out on patrol. After all you can’t often be certain you weren’t followed and that no one unfriendly will trip over you in the night.
Anything more than a night or two and you may want to make yourself more comfortable. The smaller the hole the less digging but a smaller hole is much less comfortable. On a long stay your hole is your home and you want all the mod cons. Any fool can be uncomfortable.
REMEMBER:
Leave your kit on the surface next to your hole and you can rely on it getting peppered with shrapnel or bullet holes.
To be comfortable the least you need is a hole big enough to stretch out to sleep, together with all your kit. It is also nice if you can sit up and make a brew while you are ‘standing to’, being shelled or whatever, so it’s a bonus if you can get it deep enough to keep you safe while you sit upright. A little over 6ft long by about 2ft wide is enough for one man but it is much more pleasant to build two-man holes for company and to keep each other awake. That would be more like 8ft by 3ft and then you can lay with your heads at each end.
Dig your hole 3ft deep and you are making some serious work for yourself using an entrenching tool in hard ground. If you have not seen one, an entrenching tool is a cross between a small shovel and a pick-axe which folds up for carrying. It is easy to carry but not the best possible digging tool. Digging a hole 8 x 3 x 3ft means loosening and moving 2
If time permits, an elbow-shelf along the front of the hole is excellent for comfort while holding the endless firing position and also stacking magazines ready for use, water and other kit. On a long stay you might have the time and energy to put a roof on your hole. Between 12 and 18in of dirt will stop any mortar and a plastic sheet under it will keep the rain off. A roof is a definite benefit if the sun is very warm or there is constant rain. A poncho can be used to protect against the elements but they are not so good against mortar bombs. When you have a roof, always try to drape something down to the rear so that your head is in shadow and does not make a good silhouette target for the enemy.