The Battle of Mariupol was one of the most important battles in the early stage of the Russian-Ukrainian war, and it was also one of the most difficult bones encountered by the Russian army in the early stage of the war.
From March 2, 2022, when the Russian army completed the comprehensive encirclement of Mariupol, to May 16 of the same year, when the last defenders of Ukraine surrendered, the Mariupol offensive and defensive battle that lasted three full months (82 days) was over, and on March 4 of the same year, a research institution reported that the Russian army would fully capture Mariupol within 48 hours.
But the Ukrainian defenders held out for three months.
Three months may seem like a flash for ordinary people, but for those who endure bombing, shelling and strafing all day long, every minute and every second is an ordeal. Regardless of stance, the person who can hold out for three months in this situation is a person with an iron will.
And tactically speaking, looking at the overall situation in the early days of the Russian-Ukrainian war, it is almost meaningless to hold on to Mariupol, and the only tactical significance is to attract part of the Russian army and reduce the pressure on other battlefields.
In the early days of the war, as soon as the Russian-Ukrainian war began, Ukraine had a serious strategic miscalculation, believing that the Russian army would not make much moves on the southern front, so the Ukrainian army deployed on the southern front did not have many troops, taking Mariupol as an example, its garrison troops include: the 36th Marine Brigade, the 17th Tank Brigade, the 21st Brigade of the National Guard, and the well-known Azov Battalion First Special Operations Battalion, with a total number of 8,000 to 10,000 people.
To explain here, the Azov Battalion is an organizational name, not a battalion-level unit.
The Russian army was in full swing at the time, but the composition of the Russian army itself was also very complex, in addition to the Russian regular army, there were also Donetsk armed forces (regular militia of the militia) and the well-known Internet celebrity army Chechen armed forces participated in the offensive.
Although the total number of these attacking troops was two or three times that of the defenders, from the theoretical point of view of the "Art of War", the strength for encircling and attacking them was still slightly insufficient. And the subsequent development of the war also proved this.
The Russian army was able to clear the roadblocks for the attack on Mariupol at the beginning of the war, and before the end of February, it successively captured Melitopol, Berdyansk and other surrounding small and medium-sized cities.
On February 25, Donetsk forces began attacking Volnovaka, a small city north of Mariupol, which is Mariupol's only access to Ukraine's hinterland and can also be seen as an outpost and bridgehead in Mariupol.
At this point, the offensive and defensive battle of Mariupol officially began.
At this time, no one could have imagined that the defenders of Mariupol would be able to hold out for three full months, and that this battle would be a strategic turning point on the southern front and even in a normal war.
For the Ukrainians, although the Mariupol offensive and defensive battle was a tactical failure, it was a strategic success, showing the world the determination and tenacity of the Ukrainians to resist aggression.
As the saying goes: only those who have the courage to save themselves can be rescued. Since then, a large amount of aid and heavy weapons have entered Ukraine, and these blood transfusions have supported Ukraine, turning Russia's blitzkrieg into a protracted war, and the strategic pattern of the United States and the West has also changed, and the resulting domino effect continues to this day.
But after all, the defenders of Mariupol are facing a defensive battle that is doomed to failure.
At that time, the Russian army's encirclement of Mariupol had been completed, and the Russian-controlled area between Mariupol and the Ukrainian army's defense line was very thick, and Ukraine was under military pressure from the Russian army in three directions at that time, and in addition to implementing active defense, it was not capable of carrying out a counteroffensive in the direction of Mariupol, and even the offensive that should break through could not be done.
The "stubborn and waiting for help" of the defenders of the Ukrainian army in Mariupol is just an unrealistic and illusory goal.
But the Ukrainian defenders are still stubbornly defending, making the Russian army's offensive a difficult "advance".
On March 20, 2012, the Russian army informed the Ukrainian army that it was allowed to leave Mariupol, but the Ukrainian army refused. We don't know what kind of battle of wits and courage the two sides have, and what kind of sympathy they have for each other, but as a relatively weak defensive side, we have to guard against this kind of "friendly" expression. Because once they leave the relatively safe and strong fortifications, there is no turning back, and it is not known whether the Russian army will be able to keep its promise and let them leave the thick Russian-controlled area.
And the Ukrainians did not abandon these brave defenders, and in the early stage of Mariupol, the Ukrainian army sent helicopters to bring supplies to the defenders, transport the wounded, and let such operations go on "unharmed" for a period of time.
This also shows that in addition to being huge, the Russian army and the Aerospace Forces have few advantages, and in the case of achieving complete air supremacy, they actually let Ukraine's helicopter units be so unimpeded.
But in the middle and late stages of the offensive and defensive battle, the Russian army reacted, first by a warship entering the Sea of Azov, firing two anti-aircraft missiles at the returning Ukrainian helicopter, which finally caused a Ukrainian helicopter and 28 personnel to crash in the Russian-controlled area only 7 kilometers away from the Ukrainian defense line.
Since the defenders of Mariupol rejected the "good intentions" of the Russian army, from March 20, the Russian army concentrated its troops, firepower and technical weapons to carry out a large-scale attack on the defenders of Mariupol, like cutting a cake, cutting off the areas controlled by the Ukrainian defenders piece by piece, and eating them piece by piece.
During this period, the Ukrainian defenders who were cut off and divided into the encircled areas faced a difficult choice.
The area that was cut off and divided and surrounded was very small, and it was impossible to hold on, and there was only one way out, but in which direction to break through determined the life and death of everyone.
At this time, there were two opinions within the divided Ukrainian army.
One opinion is to break through to the north, pass through the thick Russian-controlled zone and return to the main line of defense of the Ukrainian army.
The advantage of this opinion is that it will completely break through the encirclement of the Russian army, return to its main front, and completely get rid of the dilemma of being encircled.
Disadvantages: The Russian-controlled area is extremely "thick" at this time, and it is almost impossible to break through the encirclement of the Russian army by relying only on a weak remnant of the defenders.
Another idea is to break through to the south and east, enter the Azovstal steel plant and join the defenders there, unite the troops, and continue to hold on and wait for reinforcements. After all, the dividing line of the Russian army is still relatively weak and easy to be broken through.
Disadvantages: From one encirclement, into another, it is just that.
As can be seen from the above, this choice seems to be a dead end, and only a few people can survive this choice, and this is indeed the case with subsequent developments.
However, in the actual choice, the Ukrainian army in the divided and encircled area, except for the first time when the troops broke through in two ways, to the north and to the south respectively, the rest of the divided parts chose to break through in the direction of the Azovstal plant, and were received by the defenders of the Azovstal plant.
In other words, most of the defenders of the Ukrainian army chose to break through from an encirclement to a larger encirclement, and in the process, suffered great losses in personnel, vehicles, and technical weapons and materials.
And the unit that chose to break through to the north, after a hard battle, most of them were annihilated, and only a few tanks and a few Ukrainian troops miraculously broke through the encirclement and returned to the main line of defense of the Ukrainian army.
On March 24, 2012, Russian troops captured the church in the city center. Then, in early April, the Russian army finally made a breakthrough and successfully surrounded the Ilyich Metallurgical Plant, one of the two major strongholds of the Ukrainian army, while the Russian army began to advance towards the port area of the city. In mid-April, the Ukrainian troops at the Ilyich metallurgical plant began to disperse and break through, but only a small part managed to enter the Azovstal plant.
By April 18, the entire Mariupol, with the exception of the Azovstal plant, had been captured by the Russian army.
It can be said that by this time, the victory and defeat of the offensive and defensive battle in Mariupol have been divided, and the defending Ukrainian army has lost its tactical significance in all battles except for "we are still fighting".
But the resistance continues.
The reason why the Ukrainian army was able to rely on the Azovstal plant to resist for a long time is because the Azovstal plant was a huge strategic factory in the former Soviet Union, with huge scale and complex facilities, and it was built according to the standard of nuclear warfare defense position, with huge underground facilities and fortifications. Coupled with the tenacious will to fight of the Ukrainian defenders, the Russian army has failed to attack many times.
For this reason, some "justice" netizens in China have come up with ideas for the Russian army, one of which is to pour water into the tunnel.
As for whether the Russian army has adopted this tactical suggestion, it is not clear, but some time ago Israel began to pour seawater into the tunnels of Hamas, and it seems that it is really "listening to people's persuasion and eating enough".
Although there is no clear information that the Russian army used the opinions of Chinese netizens to pour water into the tunnel, the Russian army began to carry out large-scale bombing of the steel plant after a long period of attack, and many of the various tactics and weapons used to deal with the tunnel operations are definitely also used, but we don't know the details yet.
When this war is over in the future, a lot of information will come out, and in addition, the Russians and Ukrainians are of the same language, and their veterans, who are somewhat literate, have the habit of writing diaries and memoirs, and then we will also know the details and cruelty of this battle.
What's more, such a well-known battle will be made into a film and television drama sooner or later.
Finally, on May 16, all Ukrainian troops surrendered at the Azovstal plant.
But in contrast to the general helplessness of defeat and surrender, the surrender of the defenders of the Azovstal plant in Mariupol was carried out on the orders of the Ukrainian military. In other words, the Ukrainian army recognized the heroic actions of the defenders of Mariupol, and in order to save the lives of these brave fighters, allowed and ordered them to surrender.
The Battle of Mariupol lasted for 82 days, which can be said to be a full three months, and was one of the most tragic offensive and defensive battles in the early days of the Russian-Ukrainian war. The ultimate victor belongs to the Russian army.
In this battle, about 4,000 people were killed on the Ukrainian side and 3,900 were captured.
In other words, the defenders deployed here by Ukraine before the war were almost completely wiped out.
The Russian army, including the Donetsk and Chechen forces, lost a total of more than 6,000 people.
As for how many casualties the citizens of Mariupol suffered in this battle, there is no accurate figure at present, anyway, the entire city has been reduced to rubble under the indiscriminate bombardment, and it is not known whether the mortgages of the citizens of Mariupol will be repaid.
And in this war, which lasted two years and I don't know how long it would last, how many cities were reduced to ruins.
I'm Brother Thirteen, thank you for your attention.
Pre-war Mariupol factory area
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