Forty-five Ukrainian gunners were in France to learn how to use the French Caesar cannon and their training ended last weekend. While Paris, as part of the “Artillery for Ukraine” coalition, has already delivered six Caesar self-propelled guns to kyiv since January and claims to be able to produce 72 others this year, the French army is getting ready to move forward. train the soldiers of kyiv during an express training of only fifteen days.
The sound of the cannon resonating on the limestone plateau of the largest French military camp. In this arid setting, the implacable Captain Marc, stopwatch in hand, does not offer a minute of respite to the apprentice artillerymen. The Caesar cannon mounted on wheels, moves and fires quickly, this is the condition for the survival of artillerymen on the front.
“ Every second he spends in the firing position is every second they can take an enemy shell. The deadline for counter-battery fire currently on the front [se situe] between three and four minutes », Indicates Captain Marc. “ Have you seen how fast the Caesar is? This allows you to fire before the shells have even reached the ground. They have already left their position. »
First shot to adjust the rise and reach, then the Caesar can deliver six shells per minute before running for cover. “ This is why the Caesar is great in terms of movement capacity », insists Lieutenant Alexis. “ From the moment the last shot was fired, the shell had not yet fallen before the Caesar could already have left. »
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15-day express training
Five artillerymen for one cannon: a gun commander, a pointer, two pyrotechnicians, a pilot… and almost a French trainer for each Ukrainian soldier. Express 15-day training and it works, says General Jean-Michel Guilloton, head of the Artillery coalition forUkraine.
“ The Ukrainian army, in terms of volume, is the largest European army and it is an army deployed in combat for two years. These are people who know their job and if they give their gunners training in 15 days, it is because they believe that it is sufficient “, he explains.
“Personally, I find that in 15 days, we have plenty of time to train the room service staff. Afterwards the rest will come with experience in operational deployment. We give them this first veneer of competence which will be completed, I imagine, under the direct responsibility of the Ukrainian army », Adds General Jean-Michel Guilloton.
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400 artillerymen already trained
For security reasons, none of these soldiers are allowed to speak. But they want it, say the French officers.
“ The first thing that struck us was that they were very invested, very focused. At first, they were quite serious, but very invested in their training » said one of them. “ Most of them are already experienced. They know so we don’t need to start at level zero and it’s nice since the training goes much faster », adds another.
There France has already trained nearly 400 Ukrainian artillerymen, and will train artillery officers from September and over the long term.