Russian soldiers 'using 19th century shovels for hand to hand combat' as ammunition runs out in bitter Ukraine onslaught
6 March 2023, 09:13
Russian soldiers are fighting with shovels designed in the 19th century in hand-to-hand combat because of ammunition shortages, British spies have said.
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The Russian forces are using a MPL-50 shovel, designed in 1869, UK security services said in an update on the war in Ukraine, citing Russian reservists.
The Ministry of Defence said in their intelligence briefing that close combat is increasing, likely because of Russian infantry not getting support from artillery due to a lack of munitions.
Spies said the MPL-50 shovel is "particularly mythologised" in Russia, and its design has changed little since it was first made 154 years ago.
They added that the fact that Russian soldiers are still using the shovel in combat is an indictment of the "brutal and low-tech" fighting that the war has descended to.
Meanwhile Russian forces are also using 60-year-old T-62 tanks because of heavy vehicle losses in the fighting, spies said.
Security forces said: "In late February 2023, Russian mobilised reservists described being ordered to assault a Ukrainian concrete strong point armed with only ‘firearms and shovels’. The ‘shovels’ are likely entrenching tools being employed for hand-to-hand combat.
"The lethality of the standard-issue MPL-50 entrenching tool is particularly mythologised in Russia. Little changed since it was designed in 1869, its continued use as a weapon highlights the brutal and low-tech fighting which has come to characterise much of the war.
"One of the reservists described being ‘neither physically nor psychologically’ prepared for the action.
"Recent evidence suggests an increase in close combat in Ukraine. This is probably a result of the Russian command continuing to insist on offensive action largely consisting of dismounted infantry, with less support from artillery fire because Russia is short of munitions."
The shovel has long been used as a weapon. Soviet special forces units [spetsnaz] threw them at enemies in combat, according to Viktor Suvorov in Spetsnaz: The Inside Story of the Soviet Special Forces.
Mr Suvorov wrote: "A soldier is taught to throw the spade as accurately as he would use a sword or a battle-axe. It is a wonderful weapon for throwing, a single, well-balanced object, whose 32-centimetre handle acts as a lever for throwing.
"As it spins in flight it gives the spade accuracy and thrust. It becomes a terrifying weapon.
"If it lands in a tree it is not so easy to pull out again. Far more serious is it if it hits someone's skull, although spetsnaz members usually do not aim at the enemy's face but at his back.
"He will rarely see the blade coming, before it lands in the back of his neck or between his shoulder blades, smashing the bones."
It comes in a time of particularly brutal fighting in Ukraine, as the war stretches into its second year. Russian forces have all but fully encircled the eastern city of Bakhmut after months of fighting.
The US-based Institute for the Study of War said on Sunday that "Ukrainian forces are likely conducting a limited tactical withdrawal in Bakhmut, although it is still too early to assess Ukrainian intentions concerning a complete withdrawal from the city."
Defence secretary Ben Wallace said that the war will stretch for at least another year, and that Vladimir Putin had already failed in his goal of conquering Ukraine quickly.
