Boche

It was inevitable... 😄
 

Because it (almost inevitably) appeared elsewhere:

From what I see in Spain, there are two types of Putin fans:
1. The most extreme part of the far right. It is directly Nazi. They see Putin as Hitler 2.0, with the same values of extreme nationalism and the ability to resort to extreme measures including war. Putin is his hero. They are very, very few.

2. The extreme far left. In Spain, the far left and a part of the rest of the left has historically been anti-American. The extreme far left believes that the war in the Ukraine and most of the rest of the world's problems have been caused by American governments. Therefore they apply the saying that "the enemy of my enemy is my friend". it means they see Putin as the only one who has strength and determination to confront the hated Americans. And if the Chinese join Russia, all the better. After all, they are communists.
Yesterday Zelensky addressed the Spanish Parliament. The only party that did not applaud him was  CUP. It is a far-left Catalan independence party that has two PMs. The Bildu Party practically did not applaud. It is a far-left Basque independence party that is the ex-political arm of the terrorist group ETA. All the other political parties applauded Zelensky, including VOx, which is the Spanish far-right party.

There is a Spanish saying that says "Los extremos se tocan" ("the extremes meet one another"). 

'Dismembered' is a very interesting choice of word. Let me flip that on its head and float a  counterthesis that I've been thinking about lately.
....Like many others here, I started in this Mother of All Threads way back in late Feb. fairly sure that the Russians were going to leave 1000+ dead tanks along their northern 'Groupes Mobiles' routes, but wind up biting off and holding a big chunk of Ukraine, running roughly Kherson-Zaporozhe-Izium (the 'land bridge to Crimea' + Donbass). This would be enough for Putin to declare victory, and that's more or less where he seems to be heading now.
So yeah, we called it. Yay us....
But after reading the writings of the pros here and considering the documentary evidence, I find myself optimistic (nay Pollyannish) enough now to wonder how far the pendulum could possibly swing in the other direction.
Let's say the UA combat battalions prove willing and able to systematically envelop and demolish clumsy Russian defensive positions manned by undermotivated kids, and restore the entirety 2022 border? (I'm not talking about retaking Crimea btw, as I doubt the population there would support the UA as liberators)
...So if that's where the cease fire line is drawn, Putin is Napoleon and Russia is defanged for the moment, what then?
Can Zelensky create a stable (and honest) enough unity government and draw in enough Western/Asian investment to create a new Ukraine? With a shiny new Kharkov and Mariupol rising from the ruins, with chip fabs and GMP pharma plants that are cost competitive with, say, Thailand and Vietnam? As Germany showed, having your infra bombed gives you a reason to build anew....
And if that happens, do Belarus and even certain oblasts in the 'Great Russian' heartland itself (e.g. Kursk, Voronezh and.... wait for it, Donbass, Crimea) begin gazing longingly across the frontier -- the new European frontier -- as their remaining young people start voting with their feet?
....
Come on, who's coming with me? Anyone?
 

Well ok, fair enough. I wil give a pass on mountain infantry being light, seeing that thats a prerequisite for their existance. 😅. Here in Spain you could also make the case the only light infantry left is the mountain battalions. I mean my "MOS" is light infantry and....yeah no. If we ever go anywhere we are gonna carry a lot of stuff.

U.S. Marines have been considered “heavy infantry” for a long time. Primarily because of the sizes of the units, rather than the weapons that they use. For example, here are the unit comparisons of a Marine Rifle Platoon to an Army Rifle Platoon; a Marine squad is three four man fireteams and a Squad Leader/Army squad is two four man teams and a Squad Leader. Both Marine and Army Rifle Platoons have three squads, a Platoon Sgt., Platoon Leader, and, I think still, a Radioman. That means that a Marine Platoon has 42 Marines, and an Army Platoon has 30 soldiers. Each Rifle Company has three Rifle Platoons, so effectively, the Marine Rifle Company has four Rifle Platoons(minus one Platoon Leader, one Platoon Sgt., and one Radioman). Weapons wise, Each Army Squad has an AT team, while all Marine MG, 60mm mortars and LIGHT antitank assault weapons are Company level. Marine AT weapons such as Javs are Battalion level, so Army Rifle Platoons have the edge in heavy weapons, but Marine Platoons effectively have an extra squad of infantry.

Also good to see those Spanish Instalanza C90´s in action.

Here’s some more food for thought. I, as a former U.S. Marine can no more play the Russian Campaign with the thought processes of a Russian than a former Russian military man can play the U.S. Campaign from a Western thought process. I freely admit this, so the outcomes of my missions as RA are irrevocably skewed by my training. I recognize and accept this inability, but I cannot change it.

Also good to see those Spanish Instalanza C90´s in action.

No one expects the Spanish Instalanza.

It is probably  a little in bad taste  to be analyzing  what is now  effective tactical level units  in a modern conflict but it seems like  this conflict is going to maybe trigger a review of how all modern armed forces are constructed . Infantry becoming  far more important , Armored Units less so . One thing we don't see yet   is the effectiveness of soft/hard kill systems in this AT rich environment which may be providing a small beacon of hope for anyone still promoting  Armor as the Queen of the battlefield .

Already rehearsing it mate - sneak preview image ...

 

I Was talking about this with my squad today. We where saying that if we where in country right now there is no way we would be sleeping in or near the vehicles, but ofcourse this means sleeping in the freezing temperature. Its already miserable doing that during training I cant imagine in an actual war setting. Redundant statement but it cant be fun right now over there. Moral must be atrocious.

Spain sent 1370 C90 Instalaza. They are in ucranians hands by now 
 

At the rate the war is going....

Visually confirmed vehicle losses:
Russia - 902, of which: destroyed: 358, damaged: 10, abandoned: 150, captured: 382
Ukraine - 272, of which: destroyed: 94, damaged: 4, abandoned: 44, captured: 127
Source: Attack On Europe: Documenting Equipment Losses During The 2022 Russian Invasion Of Ukraine - Oryx (oryxspioenkop.com)
Twitter: 
 
 
 

Give John Kettler some respect.
He is a CM legend - you loudmouths don't own this forum and you haven't earned the right to slag off at him.

So I think a lot of people (including some experts) are wrestling with this concept of what a Ukrainian victory might look like.  The simplest answer is "existence".  If, after all this Ukraine is still a functioning independent nation (even with redrawn borders) able to decide and chart its own fate, and recognized within the global community as such...they "win".
Further, as in most wars the Ukrainians win if Russian "lose" and the definition of that is widening by the min; however, the Russians also have the added spin of the reality that they can "win" in Ukraine and still "lose", this is an added complication that invading militaries all face. 
Russia could pound a half a dozen Ukrainian cities into dust, massive civilian casualties and eventually the Ukrainian government resolve may fracture, it is highly likely that the resolve of the Ukrainian people, at least in some circles will outlast the resolve of the government, that is a the seed of an insurgency.  Technically, if the Ukrainian government falls and an insurgency doesn't happen, it is still a Russian "loss".  The reason, that level of blunt use of force, human suffering and likely war crimes will ensure that the sanctions we are seeing will stick for a very long time, to the point that Russia will not be "Russia" in a few years. Further domestic support in Russia is very likely going to crack and internal security issues are almost guaranteed.
Looking at the strategic options space, Ukraine has many roads to victory left to it right now.  They can lose Kyiv and major cities in the east but can create governments in exile and deny western Ukraine, at least, with resistance for a generation. There are options and off-ramps for them all along the way from here to there. 
The Russian strategic options space is compressing quickly and painfully. Right now, the only Russian "win" is to keep the pressure up and win at the negotiation table. If they do it early and reasonably the west may lose interest in sanctions in a year or two.  They may get the Crimea (but man it cost them) and some concessions but these are very big maybes right now.  Russian credibility has been burned for a generation on the world stage, it is done, they do not get that back. 
All other options available to Russia are worse that that option.  They double down and do the medieval game, and they are a third world nation or satellite of China in less than a decade. Or the Russian population votes with violence, we are looking at destabilization of Russia in the short term and possibility of a Russian Civil war in the longer.  I think it much more likely that Putin is retired well before this happens. 
In short, doubling down on kinetic sieges is akin to finding your arm stuck in a hornets nest and deciding to start smashing it with your face.  Sure you will break the hive and if given enough time you will kill a lot of hornets, but you sure as hell won't be going out dancing anytime soon.  And to make matters worse, you are guaranteed to have that on YouTube with a billion hits. 

Interesting review of Russian airforce and it’s (to date) low visibility from RUSI  
On the fifth day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, one of many unanswered questions is why Russia has launched a military campaign at huge cost with maximalist objectives, and then declined to use the vast majority of its fixed wing combat aircraft.
https://rusi.org/explore-our-research/publications/commentary/mysterious-case-missing-russian-air-force

Result. 

Happy to say the patch solved all the issues with the campaigns not showing. I thought it was odd, never happened before in any CM ive played. Thanks allot again SGT for your help.

Heaven & Earth, the "Vietnam-esque" Super-mod, is proud to release the 'People's Beta'...
Enjoy & don't hesitate to give the team some feedback.
 
Download link (includes the manual)...
https://www.mediafire.com/file/xal53h0dxyuznse/H%26E_0.97.7z/file
The manual only (for those who just wish to peruse) link...
https://www.mediafire.com/file/yq8h8zuswecmj3z/H%26E_0.97_Manual.pdf/file
 
 
Content includes...
Four "Bong-Hai Civil War" Era Campaigns- -The amazing 15 mission "Year of the Rat" by @puje,
-A 15 mission People's Militia concept campaign by myself (The Special War).
-A conversion of a 7 mission CMA campaign originally by @Fredrock1957 (now dubbed Major Nguyens Command).
-A, tweaked, 7 mission Urban "conversion" campaign (The Second Battle of Ikke) by myself.
 
Sixteen "Bong-Hai Civil War" Era scenarios -By far, the most impressive mission is the epic & original 'A miserable damn performance' scenario by @Combatintman.
-Most of the remaining scenarios are "conversions" (some of the scenarios from the 'Open Beta' have been tweaked).
 
One Modern era Campaign- -(Battle of Quy Ly- 4 missions) A rudimentary conversion of an old (very old) campaign by @RommL. Primarily an experiment in seeing what it takes to update a CMSF campaign, I made a few quick alterations and beefed up the opposition somewhat.
Nine Modern Era scenarios (one original scenario by @Sgt.Squarehead and eight simple conversions by myself).  
Three Quick battle map conversions by @Combatintman.  
Installation & set-up
The Heaven & Earth modpack is designed for CMSF2 version 2.03 or 2.04, it is advised that you use no other mods alongside Heaven & Earth as it is a complete package with a unique UI, sounds, scripts, special effects, vehicle's & weapons... many of which are swapped internally by the use of tags.
 
Place the mod pack into your empty mod folder in C:\Users\user\Documents\Battlefront\Combat Mission Shock Force 2\User Data
Place the contents of the scenario folder into your scenario folder in C:\Users\user\Documents\Battlefront\Combat Mission Shock Force 2\Game Files
Place the contents of the campaign folder into your campaign folder in C:\Users\user\Documents\Battlefront\Combat Mission Shock Force 2\Game Files
Place the contents of the map folder into your map folder in C:\Users\user\Documents\Battlefront\Combat Mission Shock Force 2\Game Files
 
For Steam users...
 
Place the mod pack into your empty Z folder (you may need to create this) in SteamLibrary\steam apps\Common\Combat Mission Shock Force 2\
Place the contents of the scenario folder into your scenario folder in SteamLibrary\steam apps\Common\Combat Mission Shock Force 2\Games Files
Place the contents of the campaign folder into your campaign folder in SteamLibrary\steam apps\Common\Combat Mission Shock Force 2\Games Files
Place the contents of the map folder into your map folder in SteamLibrary\steam apps\Common\Combat Mission Shock Force 2\Games Files
 
In terms of settings, because Heaven & Earth maps are often more complex than the desert maps of CMSF2, you may find it useful to slightly reduce your '3d Model Quality' settings. 'Balanced' or 'Improved' should be sufficient for smooth gameplay. Remember you can change your '3d Model Quality' in-game using Shift+[ & Shift+]. You can also toggle shadows with Alt+W.
 
Some of the newly created objects may look odd with shaders off. Alt+R will toggle your shaders in-game.
 
Changes from the 'Open Beta'
Scripts text file updated for latest (2.03) patch. Animations: Altered "Jump" animation. Editor: New look Environment: New ground brush red, hard ground brush red, gravel & heavy rock textures. Distant bitmaps enlarged to CMSF2 sizes, new distant dirt bitmap. Tweaked red dirt texture. Tree 2 less vibrant, many distant tree bitmaps have been tweaked/made darker. Different 'moodier' overcast clouds. New road mix. New background. Distant bush textures added. Buildings: Aquilla's Temple roofs added. Defensive works: Tweaked barbed wire colour.  Wire fences also tweaked. ME soundscape: updated to 1.5 (generally snappier & crackier)... also a modern era 'end of battle' track added. UI: Placeholder potraits for modern Bong-Hai forces. UI: Blue Syrian icons added, dutch icons added. Some era/tag specific icons added. UI: Era specific compasses added. UI: Era specific ranks & branch icons added. UI: Hi-vis TRP, by JuJju, added. Also alternative surrender flag added. Blue Infantry: British & Dutch DPM uniforms tweaked. Placeholder German flecktarn uniform replaced by JMDECC's uniform. Red Infantry: Modern Mechanized/Guard uniforms now using a recoloured JMDECC uniform. Vehicles: UK Mortar Bulldog LOD issues fixed. Large Humvee pick-up fixed. [bhcw] A few helicopter sound replacements. [bhcw] New helmet textures for the 'Imperial Cavalry/Red Airborne'. [bhcw] BTR-60pb LOD issues fixed. [bhcw] New building 5. [burnt] New tree 2 & bush 2 burnt stumps, new terrain combinations inc a burnt 'rocky red' floor. [spad] A few extra propeller aircraft sounds. [rvnaf] Period appropriate aircraft silhouettes. The few missing voice files were filled. [rickety] 16m & 32m steel span bridges now also get converted into wood bridges. [delta] Background tweaked & hazy/thick hazy background fixed. [paddies] Wetter looking mud, new tall green grass & weeds. Background tweaked. [mountains] New bush doodads, new grass & weeds. New tree 3. Tree 5 tweaked. Several new ground tiles. Greener grain tile (for the poppies). New building 4 & 7. Tweaked sky. [boonies] Wire fence model swap deleted. [daybattle] & [nightbattle] Three new 'distant battle' ambient sound tracks for use during extensive fighting. Activating [nightbattle] during non-night hours will turn on the dawn/dusk battle ambience. [cache] Blue syr icons added. [ikke], [burnt] & [burnt ikke] New Background, sky & terrain combinations. [night] If activated during the day this will now also activate dawn/dusk ambient sounds. [arclight] New tag which expands the invisible M129 Stryker concept with additional invisible or inaudible extra's (floating icons, US crew & chatter).  

C2 is quite important too. For a while now ive dedicated some part of my scenario preparation to establishing and making sure all C2 is green. Say for example I set up the recon platoon on a hill overlooking a town where ive got an infantry company set up. If the battalion commander unit isnt in the field AFAIK the intel isnt passed on from the recon platoon to say the infantry coy commander. What I do is I make sure atleast one member/vehicle of the recon platoon is within voice range of the company commander, so anything the recon spots eventually travels down the member/vehicle beside the coy CO, and then down to the infantry squads...and this sure makes a difference.