The trenches in Ukraine are too messy and irregular for the UK’s classic “tactically safe” trench-taking methods to work well, a British military instructor told Business Insider.
As the UK leads training for Ukrainian troops fighting against Russia’s invasion, it’s finding that parts of Western doctrine don’t hold up, prompting changes to its own training.
Key lessons are in trench warfare. Along the front lines in Ukraine are crisscrossing trench networks reminiscent of the earthworks of World War I battlefields. The West hasn’t fought a war like this in a long time.
Maj. Maguire, a British military officer who led part of the Operation Interflex training for Ukrainian troops, told Business Insider that in the British mindset, “we arguably had this idea that trenches were all pretty clean and sort of surgical.”
JONATHAN NACKSTRAND/AFP via Getty Images
Maguire, who spoke to BI on the condition that only his rank and last name be used, said that in the UK’s training estate, trenches were built to “British building standards, and with treated wood, gravel bottoms for drainage.”
In Ukraine, “that’s not true.”
For Operation Interflex, where Maguire led a subgroup for Ukrainians who had already seen combat, Ukrainians often dug trenches that were unusual to their Western counterparts and “inconsistent.”
They would leave tree roots behind and wouldn’t bother wasting time to build it just right.
Trenches are necessary for survival in Ukraine amid relentless artillery fire and deadly drones filling the sky, but digging them leaves troops vulnerable. Taking longer to construct a perfect trench doesn’t necessarily make sense on a battlefield where even removing dead bodies from the edge of a dugout can be risky.
A different approach
Ukraine is in a desperate existential fight, which has sparked urgency and innovation not typically seen among its partners. He said Ukraine is “driven by necessity.” They are adapting to the demands of this war in real time.
Before Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, British thinking on attacking trenches “was very much about what we might call being tactically safe — things are taken quite slowly.”
But the “Ukrainian mindset is very different,” Maguire said. “They have to go through these places really fast.”
The trenches can be complex, with multiple entry and exit points, as well as booby traps.
Roman PILIPEY / AFP
Some fundamental assumptions made by Western militaries are gone, Maguire said.
For example, Western troops in recent wars could often count on lifesaving care within the “golden hour.” In Ukraine, that assumption isn’t valid. Wounded soldiers sometimes have to remain on the battlefield for hours or even days before they can be safely evacuated for treatment. As the West braces for a potential future fight against a well-armed foe, it’s recognizing that much of what it has long depended on might not be available.
Trenches full of traps
When the Ukrainians move to capture an enemy position, they know there’s “going to be mines and booby traps everywhere.”
Ukrainian troops and officials have said that Russia builds fake trenches to tempt Ukrainians into death traps and also leaves behind explosives in areas they depart, including in everyday objects, like refrigerators, toys, and children’s books.
Ukraine has also encountered explosive traps on Russian bodies, Maguire said. “A lot of the stories we’ve got last year are bodies being mined or people surrendering being mined on purpose.”
The Ukrainians also create rigged defenses, Maguire said, “be it classic Vietnam mirror style booby traps or mines and fake trenches.”
Beyond the traps is just entrenchment on a massive scale.
A difference from classic British doctrine is the relentlessness of Ukraine’s entrenchment. British troops are taught to improve defenses and fortify their positions, but Ukrainian forces are ordered to dig wherever they stop — and to keep expanding defenses constantly, Maguire said. It can lead to fatigue and other problems, “but it means that every bit of the line is digging trenches all of the time.”
The trench systems are “absolutely massive,” nothing on the scale Western militaries have experienced in decades. The West, as a result, is paying attention to the lessons the Ukrainians are bringing back from the battlefield.
Ukraine is teaching the UK
Concerned that Russian aggression could spread elsewhere in Europe, the UK and others in the West are watching the war closely. Britain has drawn numerous lessons from both the effective and ineffective practices it’s seen in Ukraine.
Operation Interflex, led by the UK with support from 13 partner nations, has trained more than 56,000 Ukrainians. Those Ukrainians who have been through the courses have shared valuable feedback that Western forces are eager to receive.
Anatolii Stepanov / AFP
The lessons brought to the UK from Ukraine’s trench warfare experience are something Maguire’s colleagues have also acknowledged. Two UK military officers told Business Insider last year that the UK, having studied Ukraine’s fight, is now putting more emphasis on trench warfare in its own training and that the instruction draws on Ukrainian tactics.
Trench combat is one of multiple areas where Ukrainian soldiers in Operation Interflex actually have more direct experience than the Western troops who are training them, something the UK military is aware of.
Maguire said he would tell everyone on the course that “we’re not here to impose our doctrine on you. We’re just here to show you different ways of doing things.” Ukrainian doctrine would often be adopted into the course.
Col. Boardman, commanding officer for Operation Interflex, previously told Business Insider that this dynamic was seen in the operations’ trench warfare training.
Many of the Ukrainians who come to the training “know very well how to clear a trench because they were doing it a few weeks ago” and may reject the Western doctrine, which hasn’t always been successful against Russia in this war.
The result of the back-and-forth results in a combination of Ukrainian and NATO doctrine, “and it ends up with the sum being much greater than the parts.”
