Motorist's Day: “Every car is a life saved”
Officers and soldiers, drivers, mechanics and repairmen sometimes do impossible things so that even “dead” cars are resurrected and continue their service, take soldiers to positions and take them from them, deliver ammunition, food and everything that is urgently needed on the front line in time.
About the importance of technology and the heroism of the people who “work” with it were talked about with a “double-mobilized jacket”, - this is how Dmitry, an officer of the 5th Slobozhanska Brigade under the nickname Marik, calls himself.
About why “twice”, we decided to start a conversation with Dmitry. For the sake of completeness of the picture, we note that at first glance at our hero it becomes clear that he is a bright representative of technical intelligence. Marik answers our question with humor.
“You see, when I studied with my friends at Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute, we all went to the military department in order to further “move away” from the army. But I was first mobilized in 2014, and then I volunteered to serve in February 2022. So it turns out that I am twice mobilized “jacket”. As you can see, the cat is still good,” he says.
He adds that in 2014, in the first wave of mobilization, he served a year in the border patrol, received the rank of lieutenant, then went into reserve. After demobilization in 2015, he was engaged in business in his technical specialty, things were going well. But after the start of a large-scale Russian invasion, he himself came to the military enlistment office and took up arms. It was not possible to get into the “own” part, they offered service in the NGU.
“I agreed, the main thing was to start fighting faster. We stood on the defense of Kharkov, the first months I was a soldier. Then they did not understand, and the lieutenant-colonels in the gunners walked nearby. The main task was to quickly dress and arm. I took up the position as an officer in April, in the 5th Slobozhanska Brigade of the NGU, where the relevant vacancies appeared,” says Dmitry.
Our hero recalls the battles near Balaklea, where for the first time the same legendary pickup “Frankenstein” appeared, about which we told almost all the Ukrainian media. Dmitry says that this is an auto miracle, which he and the mechanics have repeatedly “revived”, and is a symbol of the work of his unit, when what should not be driven a priori and cannot be repaired in advanced conditions, in a very short time it becomes in shape again and performs combat tasks on an equal footing with others, also deserved cars.
“At first we only had what was on the balance of the part at the time of the invasion. These were big old trucks that were completely unsuitable for off-road combat missions and were very good targets for enemy artillery,” Marik says significantly.
As an argument, he cites his rotation in February 2023 under Kreminna. He says that if it were not for volunteer pickups and jeeps, the positions would be on foot, big cars would simply be buried on axles in the sand, most of the logistics were based on such “Frankensteins”.
“We were raised in alarm because the enemy was making a breakthrough. From Izyum we advanced to the Estuary, but then the road just ended and began to mix sand and clay. Our unit went out to an unfamiliar section of the front, literally straight into battle. We consolidated and eliminated the breakthrough, not least the coordinated work of our mechanics, who worked day and night, so that the fighters on the front lines had ammunition, food and change, which would change them,” recalls Marik.
A very important role was played by the decision not to take damaged cars to the point of permanent deployment, but to repair them near the frontline. Several equipped repair points, where brigade mechanics worked almost without rest, made it possible to preserve the logistics of supply and the mobility of the combat groups. In two months, the battalion again went into rotation, holding the position.
Another rotation Dmitry recalls as even more difficult and dangerous. The density of enemy shelling increased several times, the distance to which people and supplies had to be transported increased.
“We entered positions that we seemed to know before, but we did not recognize them. There was almost no forest, even the artillery changed the terrain. It was difficult, but we have the best team, we managed. Repaired broken ones, repeatedly pulled out our battered cars from the front end. And volunteers helped a lot, even the old Soviet UAZ came in handy. We simply had no choice. If there is no transport, the defense will fall. Every car is a saved life,” says Marik.
Our hero blew up with his car on an enemy mine, repeatedly risked his life, pulling such a precious technique out of the shelling. Because he knows that these ugly and bullet-ridden cars are an essential part of the life of every military and unit.
National Guard of Ukraine
