Seedorf81

Very interesting article on available ammo for Himars.. https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/are-there-enough-guided-rockets-for-himars-to-keep-up-with-ukraine-war-demand

Again ww2 parallel: Hitler had the Dirlewanger-brigade. Not good news for Ukranian civilians.

Yesterday on Belgian-tv a documentary on the Wagnergroup and their shocking activities in Africa and Syria. Two striking quotes from a (former) Wagner-mercenary: - "During the Chechen-war the army adopted the following procedure: before an attack, it is absolutely vital to create a 'green' zone" (safe zone). In order to achieve that, you do a complete house-to-house search of that area. If you find any weapon, you kill all the occupants." - "What the West doesn't seem to understand, is that our war is not with Ukraine, but with Nato and western values." He didn't lie.. Yikes.

Shocking news: In England there is real commotion, public unrest even, because.. an impatient driver killed three ducklings. No joke, that is what people are more angry about than this horrible war with hundreds dying every day!!! Sure, I like duckies too, but sometimes I think this whole world is going crazy.

It surely doesn't look like things are improving.. Some topics and comments are so heated up that I start to reminisce about John Kettler and his conspiracy-stories. Those were less fanatical than some of the things I read in this thread (multi-multi-multi-topic-thread?) lately. I loved reading the amazing news-updates and the very interesting debates and analyses, but things seem to go a little haywire, I fear.

Just joined in after a while, reacted before I saw that the monuments-discussion should be over.

For me, it is not the monuments, statues or musea or whatever that offend me, it is the fanatical and/or nationalistic people that made them possible. A statue of Hitler, Lenin, Stalin, Putin, Mao or even George W. Bush don't mean nothing to me, they can put all of them in front of my house and I do not care. (And though my ex-wife was worse to me than all of the forementioned together, even a statue of her wouldn't be a worry to me. ) It is the people that want to revere and blindly follow murderous leaders that scare the crap out of me.

Just for reference.. US ARMY in WW2 lost, from Pearl Harbor until Japanese surrender, nineteen (19) generals through direct enemy fire. Included are one dying in POWcamp, and two missing in action who's cause of death was unknown. (A whole lot more died of airplane-crashes, but those were not downed by enemies!) Even if you consider changed tactics and weaponry, It makes the Russian General dying-rate unbelievable.

Maybe a stupid question, but I really do not know: is this target worth the price of the missile? It looks a bit of a waste of assets to me.

WW2 comparisons have been made before, but since Putin's remarks on leaving Mariupol steel plant, "because it doesn't matter", Hitler's speech on victory in Stalingrad - November 8th, 1942 - https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler's_Stalingrad_Speech , keeps nagging me. One quote in particular: "And do you know, we're modest: that is, we have it; there are only a couple of very small places left there." Of course, sometimes history does not repeat itself, but it would be unbelievable if Putin makes the same mistake on Mariupol as Hitler did on Stalingrad. I know, there doesn't seem to be a chance in hell for the Ukranians to free Mariupol, but it seems to me that in November 1942 the situation for Chuikov and his men was as desperate then, as it is now for the AZOV-guys. Wouldn't a new Operation Uranus be a thrill..

Well, if Putin fired/arrested 20 generals for incompetence, after the MOSKVA-fiasco he most surely has to fire/arrest 20 admirals, I think.

To be honest, if I had one of those launchers in my hands, I most likely would like to shoot it. Preferably in a relative safe environment.

This is unbelievable.. Wow, man, these Russians ain't doin' their job to good.. If it's true.

On the new Russian commander.. Suppose, just suppose for argument's sake, that this Alex Dvornikov has Georgi Zhukov-capabilities. Could he make a significant difference in the way the Russian army fights? (By the way, I suppose it is a well known fact that Zhukov also was a complete ruthless man at times.)

On the topic of ATGM production: I wonder if the average Ukranian AT-soldier knows how costly and difficult it is to produce just one Javelin or Nlaw. It would be understandable that if they received some Javelins for instance, and see an abandoned Russian tank, Bmp, BTR or even simple fueltruck, that they would like to test out the capability of such a modern toy. And shoot at it. (Boys will always be boys..) Could it be that a lot of rounds have been spent on "not so worthy"-targets? Hopefully someone tells 'm there's not an unlimited amount available..

The Russians would pay big bucks for one of those, no doubt.

It looks to me that MBT's keep their current dominant role only if there is total air superiority. AT-teams, even with just one or two guys in it, would have a much harder job picking off armour when drones and helo's with FLIR are continously monitoring the battlefield.

War is hell..

Patton would not be amused..

Goring, Stalingrad winter 1942/1943.

Russian offensive still on target, even with the logistical problems and bigger than expected losses. They, the two experts (for what it's worth, I don't know, one a former lieutenant-colonel?) I saw today, believe that the Russian Army will - "slowly, but surely" overcome the military resistance from the Ukrainian forces. They also said that Putin has planning this for years and years, and that there surely are contingency-plans in case of unexpected resistance. One statement that doesn't seem far fetched was that the Russians are used to massive casualties and they do not care about that. Unlike the "Western" countries. That's what I made of their comments. I do not have the faintest idea if they're better informed than us here.

Haiduk is in the same horrible predicament, and in all these years on this Forum I've never heard him utter spiteful words or ask him for revenge or show hate. He must have the same feelings of bitterness, resentment, horror and yes, maybe an intense hate for the Russians, but he always kept his reactions on this Forum civil. Maybe I am too sensitive about the spitefulness of one Forummember, but if that is so, than my admiration for Haiduk grows even greater.

Very impressive, and I understand that Ukraine is trying to get the reality of this ugly war to the Russian people in this way. Unfortunately, this rarely, if ever, works. The US pilots being captured by the North-Vietnamese made similar statements, and we older guys surely remember the downed US-pilots in the first Iraq war, early '90s, who had to appear in front of Saddam Hussein's camera's. How truthful the guys in the video may be, the Russians will believe that they were cohersed in saying what the Ukrainians told them to. The only result is that these guys will be considered traitors..

Well, nice to see that your not spiteful anymore.. Wow, man, chill a tiny bit, please.

Eh, that's not entirely true. From about late 1943/early 1944 the Allies canceled all their plans/attempts to assassinate Hitler, because they realised that his behaviour was damaging the German Army big time. They (the Allied Supreme Command) knew that if Hitler died, and the German High Command would decide to keep on fighting without The Fuhrer's interference, the war would last longer. In 1940 Hitler was way more dangerous for the world.