by Yaakov Lappin
Maj. Guy Madar: "Those who win will be those who act with cunning and creativity. It will be those who know how to think differently.”
Givati infantry soldiers get instructions for urban combat drill. Photo from IDF Spokesperson's Unit via JNS.org
BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 772, March 18, 2018
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Military
drills simulate what the Israel Defense Forces will face in a new kind
of ground combat in Gaza – a kind that will inevitably involve civilians
amid general chaos.
After Hamas came to power in the Gaza Strip more
than a decade ago, it built, trained, and armed a terrorist army and
guerilla force. It deliberately situated these forces in the midst of
the civilian population, planting it in high-rise buildings, underground
bunkers, and tunnels.
Israel and Hamas have engaged in three large-scale
conflicts and numerous smaller-scale flare-ups over the past ten years.
As the IDF looks to the future, it is preparing new ways to operate in
this urban jungle should the need arise once again.
The IDF recently held a war exercise for its
infantry commanders to prepare them for the challenges of combat in
Gaza. The drill, held by the Givati infantry brigade, played out over a
number of areas, including the southern city of Ashkelon, where officers
simulated fighting in and around tall residential towers.
In Gaza, such multistory buildings double as
military bases for Hamas’s armed wing. The terror group uses them as
command posts, lookouts, and firing positions. Such buildings will, in
the IDF’s assessment, be used as positions by Hamas cells armed with
shoulder-fired missiles, sniper rifles, and additional heavy firepower.
The exercise showed the commanders how to operate in such an environment and taught them how to train their own soldiers.
The 360-degree threat
Maj. Guy Madar, a former Givati deputy battalion
commander and a key planner of the drill, explained, “In this last
drill, we focused in a major way on the concept of the 360-degree
threat. The fact is that the enemy can appear from above and below.
…When [our soldiers] enter the combat arena, they could have [enemy]
people under their feet. And they need to look up. The enemy is not
naïve. It wants to try its own surprises against us. Those who win will
be those who act with cunning and creativity. It will be those who know
how to think differently.”
He added, “This exercise is about Gaza. We wanted
to achieve four training goals: nighttime combat; fighting in armored
vehicles; combat in urban closed areas, with a strong emphasis on tall
buildings and tunnels; and focusing on the smaller units, at the level
of platoons and companies.”
The drill reflects the new thinking in the IDF. It
is these kinds of smaller units – companies and platoons – that will
ultimately decide the outcome of urban battles against Gaza’s armed
factions.
As a result, the training of commanders has become
a top priority. Commanders of larger units, like battalions, oversee a
wider area, said Madar. “The platoon commanders are at the operational
edge. They will be the ones experiencing friction with the enemy. … It
is the platoon commander who will encounter the enemy.”
The training also made use of the IDF’s digital network, which links commanders to tanks and strike aircraft.
“I can identify an enemy, press the coordinate on
the [digital] map, and it will show up immediately in the tank,” said
Madar. “Our lethality has grown.”
Use of drones represents a “huge change”
The drill involved new quadcopters that recently
entered service in the IDF. The drones – currently commercially made,
but to be replaced by military quadcopters – have revolutionized the
ability of low-ranking commanders to request and receive an aerial
picture of their battle space.
“Until today, it was the air force that provided
this. Now, the military company provides it,” said Madar. “This is a
huge change.”
The exercise marks the start of a four-month
war-training period, meaning the Givati brigade has rotated away from
active missions. The first step focuses on showing commanders how to
train others. “In the civilian world, it would be like preparing
managers to run their departments,” Madar said.
In addition, he said, it is critical to train commanders in how to deal with civilian populations during combat.
Soldiers in the exercise role-played as civilian
families and wounded civilians. The commanders “experienced civilians
shouting and chaos,” a scenario the Israeli military will have to face.
“It is clear to us that the deeper one maneuvers, the more civilians one
will have to deal with,” Madar said.
Platoon commander Sec.-Lt. Nadav Serlin, who took
part in the exercise, described an unprecedented level of intelligence
that commanders now receive about the threats that await them in Gaza.
“We heard about how the enemy is preparing itself against us,” he said.
“The knowledge of what is going on on the other side, and hearing
specific information about what is waiting for us, makes us feel much
more prepared.”
“We understand that in Gaza, many of the main
multistory buildings contain a lot of threats,” Serlin added. “These
tall buildings give control of the area.”
Training on how to cooperate closely with the
armored corps and the air force is key to victory, he said. “You have to
use all the additional means [at your disposal] to get over the
limitations of the infantry. Knowing how to train our soldiers is the
most important thing. There is always room to improve, but this was a
significant step up.”
This article was first published by JNS.org on March 13, 2018.
BESA Center Perspectives Papers are published through the generosity of the Greg Rosshandler Family
Source: https://besacenter.org/perspectives-papers/idf-training-war-gaza/
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Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
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