BlackMoria

Idiots... there is a very good reason to zig zag trenches. it is so that some bastage with a MG does not jump into the trench and strafes the entire length of your trench. And various other weapons that punch holes in your people.

My experiences in the Canadian military in winter exercises demonstrated that one can survive in quite harsh conditions but ALL of the below are essential to due so: 1. High quality and well fitted personal clothing and footwear. The Canadian military winter gear is very good. I did have occasion while working with US forces and the UK forces to try their winter gear at the time I was in (mid 70s to mid 90s) and at that time the American and UK winter gear was crap. Don't know about today's military gear. 2. Knowledge - this is critical. You have to know how to fight in winter conditions. How to fit and wear clothes in layers. Take a layer of clothes off when you start to get sweaty. How to build shelters. How to move in the cold. How to stay warm and DRY while lying prone in snow or on ice for periods of time while on the attack or defence. Etc., And you learn by doing. Theorycrafting how you get by in the cold just doesn't work. You learn and modify and improvise your personal cold protection strategies by living and working in the cold. 3. Mindset - if you think you are going to freeze your arse, you will freeze your arse. Keeping a positive and stubborn mindset to see you through helps a lot. Not easy to do at -40C but having all of the above and a positive mindset will see one through. I have been on winter exercises like Brimfrost 85 were I live in the wilds of the Camp Wainwright ranges in Alaska for 30 days in January. I have been on several exercises of several weeks duration with the Canadian Rangers in the very far north of Canada in Jan / Feb where I can recall on one exercise in particular, wind chills of -80C. Without tents. Each night was burrow into packed snow drifts with 4-5 other people each or we constructed igloos. And it wasn't that bad a time, as long as you had the three points I outlined above in spades. The russians do not have point 1 above, point 2 is most likely low or none existent and given the morale and other motivations of Russian forces, they lack point 3. The basterds are going to have a very, very, miserable existence on the front lines once the cold hit in ernest. A dare say, if a cold winter, the weather will be more of an enemy than the Ukrainian forces.

Wow. So the veterans or experience crews fought the last seven months in various versions of the T72 or T80 but the no nothing new press ganged conscript; trained in just a day to a week... tops gets the T-90. Freaking incredible if true. Good news... The UA may be a company plus of these as nearly gifts from Russia, once the conscripts bail out at the first shots at them.

Barrel blew off above the recoil system external to the vehicle. The round most likely cleared the barrel at the time of the malfunction so no 155 detonation so the barrel broke due to propellant prressure. No external damage to the turret. The crew would be fine... the big arse breach block on this gun would protect them from such overpressures. All in all, the damage seems confined to the barrel. SPG is rotated to rear for 2nd or 3rd line maintenance/repair. All should be good. - crew survives with little or no injuries and howitzer just needs a new barrel and a detailed inspection for recoil system. The 155 round on the other hand, could land anywhere from just outside the SPG out to charge bag range. Hopefully, it didn't hit any friendlies or civilians.

"Death is light as a feather...Duty, heavy as a mountain." The mountain on Zelensky's shoulder is very evident here.

Heh. Like during during the Gulf War, the US taking out Iraqi GPS jammers with GPS guided JDAMS. The russians should have just bought Ladas, loaded them up with rocks to give them weight and slapped on a remote controller and drove them across the fields and roads. Would have had the same effect but for fraction of the cost of this thing.

There is another saying. "Never attribute to malice what can be explained by stupidity." Russian leadership so far has shown that there is 'no bottom' so far for the hole of stupid. With a huge heaping of Malice on top of this sh*tty sundae to top it off.

Heh. Sure it doesn't make sense to you. Just like all the decisions Russia has made in the months prior to 24 Feb and since don't make any sense to most of us. But here we are. If Russian sabotaged their pipeline, it makes as much sense as all their other decisions concerning this war to date. We are in Alice in Wonderland territory now and have been for some months now. We are at the point the Red Queen (Putin) is screaming off with their heads.

Hmmm. The backfield is in motion. The meerkats are all standing up.

Correct. Countries don't have friends, they have shared interests. People in this forum is forgetting that little fundamental reality...

That is some grade A trolling by the Ukrainians.

Damn, there is still pearl clutching and hand wringing about Putin's nuclear threat after reading the past 4 page. I view the issue very big picture and it is this. The big wigs are not thinking about if Putin's red line is Crimea or whatever jigger is teasing his prostate up his *** will do it on any given day henceforth. It is THE RED LINE that has existed for over 70 years. The political, military and social costs of using a nuclear weapon since the two dropped against Japan has controlled the narrative - they are weapons too terrible to use, period... establishing THE RED LINE. That red line was tested several times but managed to hold due to this... once that red line is crossed, we are truly into the great unknown of what happens afterwards. I am not just talking the effects and consequences of using the weapons themselves. It is the real possibility that the red line get erased outright and then assuming we all somehow survive the war that initiated first release, then mushroom clouds become possible in the next conflict, if there is one, after that. And so forth. It is one of the reason THE RED LINE has endured until this day. Cross the line and there is no going back. And there may be no going forward either if nuclear release escalated to the BIG ONE. The war to end all wars. Because of that very thing, military planners and leaders of countries right now have restless nights because to some of them, it is one second to midnight in there heads. But one thing should be clear to them. They HAVE to respond to THE RED LINE being crossed. If there is no response or the response is insufficient, THE RED LINE is gone forever, to the peril of every one of us. Every country with a nuke can coerce their neighbours at will and... well... say goodbye to the Rules Based Societies then. It will be the Rule of the Strong. You have no idea what anarchy is like until that occurs. Which is why THE RED LINE must stand or we risk a second Dark Ages for all of us. There will be a response to the crossing of THE RED LINE. Putin knows this. Because if the shoe was on foot and any nation did a nuke strike on Russians, Putin would respond. Probably in kind but there would be a response. And he knows the west will respond to him launching a nuke. He just doesn't know what the response will be but there will be one. For the west, the calculus is this. When the rabid frothing Russian bear lunges across THE RED LINE, you need to put it down. Hard. Decisively. No tut tut or eye rolling. No pearl clutching or hand wringing. The bear needs to go down....hard. I think people in the halls of power in Russia understand this. The naked man with nothing on but a set of cuffs from a torn shirt can't pull a magic card from those cuffs to respond to our response. It has to be another nuke(s). And the west will respond to that. And that, my friends, is game over. Probably for most of us. The russians know this. Maybe send them a copy of War Games. Annotate the spot in the film where the AI says..."Interesting game. The only winning move is not to play."

hmmm... Is 'Cannon Fodder' too over the top for the training level name?

I am thinking it is a 'purity' test. They can fudge up any number they want but if this is a 'purity' test, drag peoples' asses into voting booths. Given no cover to the actual voting tables and a well placed camera, they can determine who voted yea or nay. Also, refusal to vote is likewise a 'purity' test. Vote 'nay' or refuse to vote - means you are 'impure' and....well, you can imagine what the consequences for that are....

Cheeky bugger... (yeah, I was thinking the same thing but don't tell anyone)

Congrats!! And if you post in the next few day, a scolding by me you will get. Starting a life with a wife is primary importance. Enjoy the time. The war isn't going to dramatically change in the next fews day.

Ahhhh, I hope your solemn regret remark is the BS work and NOT the getting married part. And if you also meant the latter, for god's sake, don't let your fiance ever read this board....

I always think of this quote, in moments like this. "The future is all around us, waiting in moments of transition, to be born in moments of revelation. No one know the shape of that future ...or where it will take us. We know only, that it is always born... in pain." G'Kar Za'ha'dum, Babylon 5

My sense of all this is it seems the start of 'end game'. The great russian bear is cornered. But an animal is most dangerous when it is cornered. There will be much roaring and bellowing and hissing and one can get very severely savaged if one makes a incorrect move or action to confront the beast. But the bottom line is this. The bear knows it is cornered and it will do anything to escape its fate, which is why this is the most dangerous moment in the hunt. The hunters must be thoughtful, determined, resolved and patient to close with the beast and finish it off. That is where I think we are on the cusp of. The final fury before the bear is laid low. There is deadly danger for everyone involved in this figurative dance of death. My analogy and sense of where I think we are right now.

"Come, Comrade Girkin.... the view from this window is breathtaking this time of year..."

Putin gets his speech handed to him. "What, this isn't my speech! I am not announcing my retirement!" Sound of trigger being cocked coming from behind his head. Voice from behind... "Like all your assertions since all this started, you are wrong, Comrade. Dead wrong."

Well, how about some country provide them with modern armor so they can show the ability to maintain them, unless the (I think) sole T-90 they captured qualifies.

Huh? I must of missed that. Is someone 'abusing' vegetables?

Quiet, knave!!! This is not a stick but a finely crafted Lance Mark I. Made by the finest armorers in Russia.

It is obvious. Ukraine took their toys away in Kherson and Izium. They will try to take it back. This affront to Russian superiority cannot stand. So like Don Quixote, they are going to tilt at those windmills again...and again....and again.