Winter Assault in Csobánka

“The units of the Hungarian Defence Forces indicated that we should focus on providing practical training for students majoring in military leadership. So we have decided that officer cadets with MOS in artillery, reconnaissance, mechanized infantry, armor branch and mapping will have to learn the approach of joint force commanders"  told us LTC Dr. Tibor Szabó, the director of the FTX Winter Assault 2011 at the training base in Csobánka.

The Faculty of Military Science has developed a professional training system in three subject areas. The first one is the so-called winter subject  it should be conducted on forested/hilly terrain sectors, so the Csobánka base and the entire region are ideal for executing the related tasks.

According to schedule, the training related to the second subject begins in April, once again in Csobánka, where officer cadets will practice combat involving platoon-level offensive and defensive tactics and leadership skills.

In the third phase  starting in late May/early June  they will spend two consecutive weeks out in the field. During the first week they will learn about the basics of defense against WMDs and continue taking their engineering and fieldcraft lessons. In the second half of the field training they will practice activities for PSOs and high intensity operations, which include setting up and operate checkpoints and patrolling.

The topics of the current winter exercise have been planned by professors LTC Dr. László Forray and LTC Hermann Holndonner of the Reconnaissance and Special Operations Working Group, Operations Support Department, Zrínyi Miklós University of National Defence, in close cooperation with the HDF Ludovika Battalion. LTC Forray told us that more than a hundred (first-, second-, and third-year) officer cadets majoring in military leadership were participating in the training. The training company OC, platoon and squad leader positions have been filled with fourth- and third-year students majoring in reconnaissance.

The scenario of Winter Assault 2011 is about survival on forested/hilly terrain, combined with a complex tactical training program  says LTC Forray, adding that on the first day of the one-week field training exercise in Csobánka, officer cadets learnt about security rules and also received a medical training. On Tuesday, they were preparing for the complex tactical training on squad-level, which continued on Wednesday on platoon-level. The tactical training exercise is scheduled for Thursday and Friday. Within a more than 24-hour training session to be conducted on the slopes of the Pilis Hill, they set up a patrol base and also perform patrol duties, among others.

When we visited the Csobánka base, the officer cadets were patrolling a route in squads, along which they had to execute various tasks at six posts. At the first post the trainees were given special medical training during which they learned the methods of providing treatment to troops wounded in wintertime conditions, and the treatment of exposure to extreme temperatures, i.e. freezing and burns. At the second post along the patrol route they were practicing how to mount and dismount combat vehicles and learned the hand, flag, and light signals. Their daily duties also included the construction of shelters, the basics of orientation on terrain, patrolling movement, and they have also familiarized themselves with the CIS equipment in use with the HDF.

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Photo: Tünde Rácz