Tactical Tuesday Episode Seventeen - Smoke Em if You Got Em: How to Effectively Use Smoke on the Battlefield

In this episode of Tactical Tuesday with Modern Milsim, we discuss the effective use of smoke and other obscurants on the MILSIM battlefield.  Specifically, we discuss:

• Definition of Obscurants and Smoke (1:05)
• Natural Obscurants (1:45)
• By-Product Obscurant (2:10)
• Visual Smoke (2:23)
• Use of Smoke in Offensive Operations (4:29)
• Rules for Using Smoke in Offensive Operations (8:30)
• Hasty Smoke Operations (10:56)
• Deliberate Smoke Operations (11:16) 
• Effects of Smoke on Defenders (11:45)
• Use of Smoke in Defensive Operations (13:28)
• Obscuring Smoke (14:42) 
• Screening Smoke (15:04) 
• Protective Smoke (17:00)
• Marking Smoke (17:14)
• Use of Smoke in Urban Terrain (18:03)
• and more.

A new episode of Tactical Tuesdays is uploaded on the first and third Tuesdays of each month.
  
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To find “From Insertion to Extraction:  Advanced MILSIM CQB Tactics, Techniques and Procedures” :  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07THX1CFT/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i1

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Chapters

• 1:05 Definition of Smoke and Obscurants
• 1:45 Natural Obscurant
• 2:10 By-Product Obscurant
• 2:23 Visual Smoke
• 4:29 Use of Smoke in Offensive Operations
• 8:30 Rules for Using Smoke in Offensive Operations
• 10:56 Hasty Smoke Operations
• 11:16 Deliberate Smoke Operations
• 11:45 Effects of Smoke on Defenders
• 13:28 Use of Smoke in Defensive Operations
• 14:42 Obscuring Smoke
• 15:04 Screening Smoke
• 17:00 Protective Smoke
• 17:14 Marking Smoke
• 18:03 Use of Smoke in Urban Terrain

Transcript

TACTICAL TUESDAY WITH MODERN MILSIM - EPISODE 17 TRANSCRIPT 

Welcome to another episode of Tactical Tuesday with Modern MilSim. Through this podcast, we will bring you real world tactics, techniques, and procedures that will enable you to succeed on the MilSim battlefield. It's time to make ready.

Hello and welcome to Episode Seventeen of Tactical Tuesday with Modern MilSim. As always, I am your host, Craig White. Thanks for being here. In my last few episodes, I focused a little bit more on the operational level of MILSIM combat. So today I have decided to talk about something that is a little more in the tactical realm.  Today we are going to discuss effective use of smoke and other obscurants on the MILSIM battlefield. So let's get to it. 

Obscurants are a man made or naturally occurring particle suspended in the air that block or weaken the transmission of a particular part or parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, usually infrared or visible light.  The six types of obscurants are natural obscurants such as fog, by-product obscurants such as dust, visual smoke and including white phosphorus, bispectral, multispectral and special obscurants. For MILSIM purposes, we generally only have to deal with natural obscurants, by-product obscurants, and visual smoke.  Fog, mist, dust, smoke, and chaff are examples of these kind of obscurants. 

Natural obscurants are exactly what they sound like. They are a naturally occurring phenomena that is not controlled by either friendly or any forces. Natural obscurants include darkness, fog, sandstorms, rain, mist, or snow. The problem with natural obscurants is that they are not controlled by either friendly or enemy forces.  They are a double-edged sword that could cut either way with negative effects on either or both sides.

By-product obscurants are smoke from destroyed vehicles, dust caused by vehicular traffic, dust, and or smoke from the effects of artillery fires and others. They are a by-product caused by other activities.

Visual smoke, on the other hand, is artificial smoke delivered by friendly or enemy forces. In general, smoke is composed of many small particles suspended in the air. These particles scatter and absorb different spectra of electromagnetic radiation. This absorption reduces the transmission of the radiation through smoke.  When the density of the smoke material between the observer and the object exceeds a certain minimum threshold value, the object is considered to be effectively obscured and is difficult or impossible to see. 

Smoke, when placed between a target and an observer, degrades the effectiveness of that observer by interfering with the reflected electromagnetic radiation.  In other words, the amount of smoke required to defeat the viewer is highly dependent upon weather conditions, terrain, available natural light, visibility, and the absorption effect of natural particles in the atmosphere. Other factors include smoke from battlefield fires and dust rays by maneuvering vehicles and weapon fire.

The ability to detect and identify a target concealed by smoke is a function of target-to-background contrast. Smoke clouds reduce the target-to-background contrast, thereby making the target more difficult to detect. The effectiveness of the obscuration depends primarily upon the characteristics such as the amount and color of the smoke cloud in question.  Dark or black smoke absorbs a large portion of the light wave striking the individual smoke particles. In bright sunlight, you need a higher concentration of dark or black smoke to effectively obscure a target because black smoke particles are non-scattering. At night, or in limited visibility, considerably less dark or black smoke is needed.

Now, grayish or white smoke provides better obscuration into visible light range by reflecting or scattering light. This produces a glare that increases the amount of white smoke is needed to provide full cover.  For MILSIM operations, use of dark smoke such as black or purple or white smoke are the most effective for obscuring unit movement. Other colors are better for marking targets or preventing fratricide. 

Now, obscurants and smoke are a tool often associated with offensive operations. Offensive operations are characterized by violence of action, the concentration or massing of friendly forces, and the disruption of enemy forces in rapid transitions between various operations and tasking.  Smoke multiplies the OIC's ability to project combat power at a critical time and place to defeat the enemy. Because smoke and other obscurants support offensive operations at any level, they generally favor the attacking force. Generally speaking, smoke is used to prevent defending forces from observing the attacking forces and to hamper defenders from acquiring targets that are attacking them.  This is especially effective when the smoke is delivered in combination with high explosive artillery fire in what is called shake and bake. 

Smoke is especially effective if its use is synchronized with a combined arms attack. Smoke and other obscurants can be delivered at the operational level by air and or by artillery.  That being said, smoke is most often delivered via specialized smoke grenades. 

By its nature, smoke favors attackers, tightens attack formations, forces defenders to utilize thermal imagers to see through it, and requires more detailed planning of command and control because smoke will likely obscure visual cues.

Smoke and other similar obscurants support maneuver by attacking forces in the following manner. 1. By concealing the presence and maneuver of friendly forces from enemy observation. 2. Provides tactical surprise and maintains initiative for attacking forces. 3. Allows the attacker to mask his forces unobserved by the defenders.  4. Support attacker's efforts to employ deception. By preventing the defender from observing attacking forces or determining whether a particular attack is a feint or the main effort 5.  It maximizes the attacker's firepower by allowing it to isolate individual defending elements from the main defending force for destruction in detail.  6.  If smoke is employed behind defending forces, it enhances the attacker's target acquisition. Defending units are silhouetted against the white smoke background and can be more easily acquired and targeted. 7. It also disrupts the defender's ability to communicate between defending elements. 8. Smoke also helps obscure units that are breaching obstacles from defending units overwatching them.

The optimal locations for smoke in support of breaching operations is between the obstacle being breached and the enemy force covering the obstacle or directly on the enemy force itself, being used as obscuring smoke. Smoke placed directly on the obstacle or on the breaching force hinders the speed and efficiency of the operation.  Depending on the direction of prevailing winds, smoke can be used to help isolate the breaching operation from the enemy. Indirect fire systems place smoke on enemy positions. This type of operation requires coordination to synchronize all smoke systems. A smoke control point is required to provide positive control of smoke operations.

Now, in urban environments, smoke is often an essential tool for crossing of danger areas such as wide streets, to provide cover for friendly forces attempting to cross streets and breach buildings containing enemy forces. Smoke can be used as a feint to concentrate enemy fire on a particular location while the force actually assaults the target building from an unexpected direction.

Especially when the enemy has properly in place SAWs or LMGs in a position where it can cover the long axis of a street that needs to be crossed. Smoke is essential to protecting the assaulting force. SAWs and LMGs are murder on troops crossing in the open. 

Now the use of smoke is not without risk. The unit utilizing it must be careful to prevent smoke from degrading survivability of friendly forces or to degrade its operational capacity.  Improper smoke placement can aid enemy acquisition and targeting of friendly forces. You do not want to place smoke behind your own troops. In urban areas, troops can inadvertently throw smoke grenades into a position where it will silhouette friendly forces to enemy observation from an unexpected location.

Now to maintain survivability and flexibility to friendly forces utilizing smoke as part of an offensive operations, it is important that they do several things. 1.  Use proper movement techniques such as IMT and fire and maneuver and formations such as the wedge, line, and column, etc. to minimize exposure to enemy fire and to prevent mass casualties.  2. Use smoke so that it does not interfere with operations of nearby friendly forces. Generally speaking, smoke needs to be placed directly on the enemy or between the enemy and the attacking friendly force. 3. Use only unobscured forces to provide overwatch. If the overwatching force cannot see you, it cannot protect you.  Overwatch enforcers also need to have lines of sight to expected enemy positions to be effective. 4. Avoid silhouetting yourself against the smoke you deploy. Do not move in front of your own smoke cover. That assists the enemy in acquiring and engaging you. Stay in or behind the smoke cover to prevent being easily attacked.  5. Engage the enemy through the smoke. This prevents you from silhouetting yourself to the enemy against your own smoke. 6. Plan for enemy countermeasures and counterattacks. Initial attack plans never survive first contact with the enemy. Be flexible and ready to adjust to circumstances on the battlefield as they arise.  7. Plan for additional time to maneuver because of the effects of smoke. Smoke will typically slow down platoon or larger size elements movement to the objective. The exception to this rule is crossing streets under smoke cover. Move quickly to clear the street or similar danger area before smoke cover disperses.  You want to be in the building across the street before the smoke clears. 8. Maintain situational awareness. Although use of smoke favors the attacker, it often has detrimental effects on all combatants. If you cannot see and acquire targets, your situational awareness is degrading. Don't allow the enemy to seize the initiative and use your smoke cover to counterattack you.  9. Most importantly, know where the enemy is. The use of smoke as a tactical force multiplier has arisen out of the phrase, If you can see it, you can kill it. The point of smoke is to maintain survivability of friendly forces on the attack by degrading the enemy's ability to observe and target those forces.

Now at the operational level, there are two general categories of smoke operations. They are the hasty smoke and deliberate smoke operations. Hasty smoke operations are conducted with minimal planning. They are essentially on call to either augment an existing battle plan or to counter enemy movement.

Hasty smoke operations cover a small area for a short period of time. And most milsim operations will be dealing primarily with hasty smoke operations. Unlike hasty smoke operations, deliberate smoke operations are normally synchronized with specific times, events, or locations on the battlefield.

Deliberate smoke operations normally include multiple pre planned smoke operations. They cover large areas over a long period of time. Deliberate smoke operations are usually in support of larger force echelons, such as brigades, divisions, and corps. Since the majority of MILSIM operations are conducted at the battalion level or below, it is unlikely you will encounter deliberate smoke operations.

Now, smoke and obstacles themselves are not lethal in and of themselves. Instead, they help concentrate combat power against enemy vulnerabilities at critical times and places. At the tactical level, Obscurance and Smoke support battlefield deception and enhances friendly combat operations by:

1.  Concealing friendly force maneuvers, 2. Degrading the effectiveness of enemy target acquisition and accuracy of enemy fire, 3. Helps to increase friendly to enemy force ratio by facilitating the ability of friendly forces to isolate and or flank enemy forces so that they can be destroyed in detail.  4.  Slows the enemy advance. The enemy will be hesitant to move aggressively into terrain obscured by smoke. 5. It disrupts enemy command and control by severing visibility between units. 6. Smoke disrupts enemy reconnaissance by preventing the enemy's ability to observe friendly force composition, disposition and maneuver. 

In the offense, unit OICs can achieve surprise and protect their force by combining obscurants with maneuver and firepower. Obscurants allow units to reduce their vulnerability through concealment as they mass forces to attack.  Smoke or other obscurants will conceal the friendly movements. and screen breaching of obstacles and water crossings. They will also negate the standoff capabilities of enemy long range anti-armor weapons and interfere with enemy target acquisition. Smoke supports tactical objectives by deceiving the enemy as to the exact location, timing, and size of the main attack.  It also isolates units for piecemeal destruction. 

In the defense, obscurants support disruption of enemy activities and enhancement of friendly operations throughout the battlefield. The OIC will use this disruption of enemy forces to seize the initiative from the enemy. Smoke can isolate attacking echelons and conceal friendly unit locations.  It can screen friendly maneuvers, support deception, and interfere with enemy movement and communications. Obscurants help to preserve force is essential to the mission. Smoke supports tactical objectives by selectively denying air and ground routes, and by forcing the enemy into tightened tactical formations, which may make them easier targets for mass casualty.

That being said, Smoke still tends to be more effective in supporting offensive operations. To defend an objective, you need to be able to detect and destroy the enemy before he seizes the objective in question. As such, smoke typically deprives the defender of the ability to concentrate fire on the enemy's main attack.  It also degrades the enemy's situational awareness and hopefully keep the defenders reacting to the attack instead of staging a counterattack. 

Now, smoke can be employed in one of four battlefield applications: obscuring smoke, smoke screen, protective smoke and marking smoke.  Obscuring smoke is smoke delivered directly on or immediately in front of an enemy position to blind or degrade its vision, both within and beyond its location.  Use obscuring smoke to prevent the enemy from targeting friendly units as they mass and move forward to attack. Obscuring smoke is often used when friendly forces attack to seize train objectives. 

Screening smoke is smoke delivered in areas between friendly and enemy forces, or in friendly operational areas to degrade enemy ground or aerial observation, or both.  In general, use screening smoke to prevent enemy observation and targeting of your forces that are on the move. For example, employ screening smoke to conceal ground maneuver, breaching and recovery operations, key assembly areas, and supply routes. 

Now, there are three visibility categories to determine what kind of visibility will be afforded by screening smoke.  They are, first, smoke haze. A smoke haze is a light concentration of smoke placed over friendly areas to restrict accurate enemy observation and fire. It is not dense enough to disrupt operations within the screen. A smoke haze is defined as a concentration of smoke that will allow an individual to identify a small tactical vehicle between 50 and 150 yards away, but no farther than 150 yards.

Now, in contrast to smoke haze, a smoke blanket is a dense horizontal development of smoke used over friendly areas to conceal them from enemy ground and aerial observation. A smoke blanket may hamper operations of your troops by restricting movement and activity within the screen. It provides maximum concealment.  It is a concentration of smoke that would allow the identification of small tactical vehicles from 0 to 50 yards, but no further. 

Now finally, there is a smoke curtain. A smoke curtain is a dense vertical development of smoke. It is placed between friendly and enemy positions to prevent or degrade enemy ground observation of friendly positions.  Since the smoke curtain is not placed directly on friendly troops, it will not hamper operations. An OIC should use smoke curtains when friendly forces have air superiority or air parity. This is because a smoke curtain does not prevent aerial observation. 

Now, protective smoke is smoke used to defeat enemy guidance systems on the battlefield.  Unless the enemy has the financial resources to procure or use a FLIR or similar infrared tracking device, protective smoke will usually not be an issue on the Milsim battlefield. 

Now, marking smoke includes smoke used to mark targets, identify friendly positions, and provide for prearranged battlefield communications.  Usually, smoke grenades are used to deliver marking smoke. For example, use one color smoke to mark the enemy position as targets. For friendly forces, add another different color to mark the location of friendly forces in an effort to avoid fratricide. It is important to use one color of smoke to identify friendly force positions and a different color to mark enemy targets.

Make sure the color used to mark enemy positions cannot be confused with the color used to mark friendly force positions. In other words, avoid using tan smoke to mark friendly positions and orange smoke to mark enemy positions. Use purple or red to identify enemy positions so that there is no way that someone is going to confuse red and tan smoke.

As opposed to combat and other terrain, urban combat is characterized by reduced mobility of both friendly and enemy forces. The presence of fortified positions in buildings and structures, buildings or other structures that can block line of sight and a reduction in weapon range based on close proximity of various buildings to each other.

Although an attacker can take advantage of covering concealment provided by buildings and structures in built up areas, the defender is provided with the same advantages and his defensive positions. For example, the major types of terrain and nearly every built up area consists of obstructions, such as building structures and heavily wooded parks; flat, open terrain over water, such as rivers and lakes and finally, flat open terrain over concrete and asphalt, such as parking lots, roads, and multi lane freeways and open parking lots. 

Now, there are several considerations that need to be taken into account when using smoke in urban environments. They are, one, air currents. Air currents in urban areas are very unpredictable.  Obstructions tend to break up smoke streamers, which reform into a more uniform cloud. Convection currents over open areas cause smoke to rise. Winds also tend to increase speed as they are funneled between buildings. As such, it will also tend to disperse smoke. 

Second is observation. There are many observation points at multiple levels which allow observation from either above or below smoke.  As such, be aware that although smoke may obscure friendly movement from enemy on the ground, the enemy at higher levels will likely be able to see over the smoke cover. 

Third is coverage. Downwind coverage is often less due to obstructions breaking up the smoke, unpredictability of air currents, and smoke following street patterns in parking lots.

Four is diffusion. Smoke diffuses well at night but tends to rise to rooftop level about one hour after sunrise until one hour after sunset. Five is synchronization. Smoke and obstinate use in MOUT requires careful planning and execution to prevent interference with movement, assault operations, or target acquisition; to retain the element of surprise; and to avoid silhouetting or drawing undue attention to your forces. Make sure that any plan to use smoke takes these factors into account. You don't want smoke to end up silhouetting friendly forces as they cross danger areas, such as roads and parking lots. Seven is rehearsal.  Rehearsal of displacement or smoke will help avoid confusion and disorientation of your troops on the attack. Eight is standoff distance. Urban terrain causes smoke streamers to break up quickly. As such, smoke is effective when it is delivered closer to target areas. Unless you have troops already in close proximity to the enemy, you will most likely need to deliver smoke through standoff weapons such as artillery.  And finally, nine is vulnerability. Because urban terrain often requires delivery of smoke closer to enemy positions, unit security is especially important. If you are using smoke generators on vehicles, employ them in groups of three with two vehicles making smoke and one vehicle overwatching. Ensure the entire squad of platoon makes smoke simultaneously to preclude drawing attention to a lone vehicle or element.

Now at the platoon and squad level, smoke is typically used to screen movement of a flanking element from the enemy when the flanking element is traversing open ground. It is also used to obscure movement of elements across danger areas located in urban environments such as streets between two contested buildings.  The most important part of using smokes for obscuration is to make sure that the smoke clouds have expanded or bloomed out enough to be effective before moving through it and not to wait too long where it has degraded. As you can see, proper use of smoke can be a force multiplier by attacking forces.

However, improper implementation of smoke can result in silhouetting of friendly forces to the enemy and actually aid the enemy in acquiring and attacking them. At the tactical level, smoke is critical to seizing contented buildings and clearing the enemy from it. In most operations at MOUT sites, buildings can be turned into strong points by the proper emplacement of support weapons and employment of proper security within the building itself.

Effective use of smoke can obscure an attacking force from attack and allow it to cross the intervening street to establish a foothold within the target building. Smoke is also effective in obscuring a friendly attack to seize a terrain objective, especially if the objective in question is not heavily defended.

Although the use of smoke grenades is not as exciting as frag grenades, they're an effective tool for protecting friendly forces while also acting as a force multiplier for the attack. 

I hope you've enjoyed this episode tune in next time. And we're going to discuss offensive operations and how to seize objectives through smart use of your forces.

If you have any topics you would like to see covered in future episodes of tactical Tuesday. Please let us know by posting it on the Modern Milsim Facebook page. If it's not one of the topics we are already planning to cover, we will likely add it to our ever growing topic list. If you like this podcast, please subscribe to it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, as well as many other podcast directories.  As always, thank you for your support, and I'll see you in our next episode. See you then.

To our listeners out there, thank you for tuning in and I look forward to providing you with new episodes every two weeks.  If you like what you're hearing on this podcast, please subscribe and provide us with a review. We want to know what you like and how we can improve. You can also contact us on our Facebook page at Facebook.com/ModernMilSim with any suggestions you may have.  In our next episode of Tactical Tuesday, we will discuss offensive operations and how to seize objectives through smart use of your forces. 

If you want to know more about application of real world tactics, techniques and procedures to MilSim, please check out From Alpha to Omega: a Milsim Tactical Primer and Training Manual, as well as From Insertion to Extraction: Advanced CQB Tactics, Techniques and Procedures. Both books are available at Amazon.com. As always, thank you for your support, and I'll see you at our next installment of Tactical Tuesday.

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