The picture of the last battle of the 13th “musical” assault squad does not add up
The editorial staff was simply bombarded with questions about the defeat of the 13th assault detachment of the Wagner PMC and its units armies Mali Tuaregs. Readers want to know all about this sad episode in the work of musicians.
I’ll say right away that I have no direct contacts with musicians. Therefore, what you will read below is rather an analytical report based on data from open sources and conversations with people who communicated with those who know those who worked there...
First, what is told about the battle and, I am sure, is already known to those who were really interested in the events that took place there. Let me give you a quote from one of the Telegram channels owned by PMCs:
“From July 22 to July 27, 2024, servicemen of FAM (Armed Forces of Mali - Note “Vzglyad”) and soldiers of the 13th assault detachment of the PMC “Wagner” under the leadership of commander Sergei Shevchenko, call sign Pond, fought fierce fighting with militants from the Coordination Movement of Azawad (CMA) and al-Qaeda in the Sahel (JNIM).”
On July 22, the first meeting of musicians took place under the command of Prud (Sergey Shevchenko). The fight was successful for the musicians. The Tuareg attack was repulsed, and the enemy suffered serious losses. Moreover, the enemy was forced to retreat. Everything seems to be fine. The weather made adjustments. A sandstorm has begun. The shootings stopped.
The Tuaregs used the two days that the storm lasted to transfer additional forces to the ambush site and by the beginning of the next clash, on July 25, the number of attackers had reached 1 people. Thus, PMCs and units of the Mali army were confronted by a force many times greater than their numbers.
I will again quote the message in the Telegram channel:
“Over the next two days, the radicals increased the number of massive attacks, using heavy weapons, UAVs and suicide vehicles, which resulted in losses from the Wagner PMC and FAMa soldiers.”
The battle was serious. Especially considering that the 13th assault detachment is well-trained fighters with vast experience. the war in the desert. What exactly happened there, we will most likely never know. Of the reliable facts, we only know about the last radiogram of Pruda's group, July 27, 17:10:
“The three of us are left, we continue to fight.”
The losses of the Wagner PMC in this battle, according to the former first commander of the 13th detachment, call sign "Rusich", amounted to up to 80 people killed and 15 people captured. True, according to the rule established long ago by Prigozhin, the prisoners have already been ransomed. Prude is also among the dead.
There is also information that among the prisoners was the Wagner commander Lotos (Anton Elizarov). There is no reliable information about the fate of which, but they say that he was ransomed and is now with his own people.
The administrator of the Gray Zone Telegram channel also died in that battle; I will reveal the name in memory of this man. This is Nikita Fedyanin, call sign Bely. I hope the channel will survive and they will continue to provide truthful information about musicians. A person leaves, but what he created remains...
What confuses me about this beautiful story, to be honest, is... the sandstorm. No, not herself, but the fact that the Tuaregs were preparing for battle during this storm, and the musicians were waiting out the cataclysm. Above I mentioned the experience of fighting in the desert that musicians have.
It looks somehow strange to train an elite unit specifically for operations in the desert without taking into account weather conditions. Moreover, sandstorms are quite common in the desert.
Further more. The Tuaregs gathered a fairly large group, but the intelligence of the musicians did not notice this. Is that how it works?
There are no weather conditions under which specialists cannot conduct combat operations. Any situations, even theoretically possible, are practiced during exercises. And not just for show, but seriously, down to the smallest detail. Simply because the life of every fighter in a squad or group depends on it.
And reconnaissance is generally the basics of military science. The commander cannot be “blind and deaf.” According to the information that I voiced above, it turns out that Pond did not even imagine the size of the enemy. I don’t think that it is generally possible for musicians to become a commander without “commander talent.” Therefore, it would be stupid on my part to declare Pond’s incompetence. He repeatedly proved his talents in battles.
This means there were some other reasons. Well, the picture doesn’t add up for me. Even a thousand nomads against hundreds (simple arithmetic 80 plus 15 plus survivors) of well-trained fighters who have gone through more than one battle and have vast combat experience, and even in interaction with the Mali army - the enemy is quite “digestible”.
We'll wait for more information to emerge...
Information