Russians use unusual camouflage for artillery positions

15 November, 2023 Russian camouflaged mortar crew position, November 2023. Photo credits: Azov Brigade. The Russian military uses an unusual way to camouflage the mortar crew positions in the forests near Kreminna.

The Press Service of the Azov brigade released a video on this. Intelligence of the 12th Special Forces Brigade of the Azov National Guard, using a reconnaissance drone, discovered an unusual position of a mortar crew. To camouflage the 120-mm mortar, the invaders used a trench with retractable shutters that were opened by a trained member of the crew before the shot was fired.

Immediately after the shot, they were closed to hide the position from Ukrainian reconnaissance. In the case of intermittent fire with a long time interval, this tactic allows the same position to be used for a long time, even despite active counter-battery warfare.

The use of such positions is also facilitated by the positional nature of hostilities in the forest area near occupied Kreminna. The Azov soldiers managed to discover the invader's position at the time of the shot and destroy it with the help of a brigade's artillery group. It is reported that the Ukrainian military started to apply similar camouflage techniques.

Footage capturing one of these positions was recently released online.

It featured a Ukrainian soldier opening up the space for mortar fire by pushing back the wooden roof of a trench.

Ukrainian crew of a 120mm mortar and a camouflaged position for it

In addition to general camouflage, this method of engineering mortar equipment is also useful as it can protect from FPV drones, which have long been able to fly more than 10 kilometers.