db_zero

Its a tough campaign made worse by the fact I played it years ago, stopped playing but saved the files so I could resume at a later time. My system had issues so I had to rebuild it and I thought I had the saved campaign files back up only to discover they weren't so I had to start from the beginning a couple of months ago.
I find that if you're infantrymen or sniper gets that lucky hit on the well placed MG or SMG toting hiding and shooting from a building, things can go easier, but if not then it can be frustrating. Killing Tigers while not easy is not as difficult as one might expect either.

Mortarmen make decent infantry and their smoke grenade capability comes handy. Nobody plays CM realistically in my experience. Crewmen from destroyed or immobilized vehicles as well as drivers from vehicles that have served their useful purpose are conscripted into the fight as infantry or scouts. I mentioned years ago about the pistol packing crewmen who were crack shots and feel like their wielding Glocks. Don't know if that's been remedied in updates.
Jeeps and other unarmed vehicles are shamelessly used as expendable scouts.
Just as well horses and dogs are not modeled in CM as they too would be shamelessly used as expendables. Its a good thing that surrendered troops captured just vanish as I have little doubt that they too would be herded into unsavory tasks...
CM players are a hard bunch...
 

Mortarmen make decent infantry and their smoke grenade capability comes handy. Nobody plays CM realistically in my experience. Crewmen from destroyed or immobilized vehicles as well as drivers from vehicles that have served their useful purpose are conscripted into the fight as infantry or scouts. I mentioned years ago about the pistol packing crewmen who were crack shots and feel like their wielding Glocks. Don't know if that's been remedied in updates.
Jeeps and other unarmed vehicles are shamelessly used as expendable scouts.
Just as well horses and dogs are not modeled in CM as they too would be shamelessly used as expendables. Its a good thing that surrendered troops captured just vanish as I have little doubt that they too would be herded into unsavory tasks...
CM players are a hard bunch...
 

The 6 pounders and PIATs did the job and it was at night....
save often if you do play.

This has always had a reputation as being a difficult one to win. It took me numerous tries when first released to win as allieds.
I just started a mirrored h2h game. Should be interesting.

Corruption is one part of larger problems. In the west the move from agrarian to a industrial to an information based economy and society has been a gradual change. There was time to assimilate and absorb the changes. China not so much. It was rapid. There is also a huge demographic shift taking place in China. 
I've seen estimates that any serious invasion of Taiwan would involve more troops than Operation Overloard and be more difficult. The Allied forces had plenty of practical experience before Overloard-Torch, Sicily, Anzio and seabore landings and operations in the Pacific before undertaking Overloard. The Chinese navy and army lacks that sort of practical experience. I would guess that an amphibious assault the size and scope of Taiwan would be a huge ask for even the US Marine Corps which has the know how and experience to pull something of that scope off.
China projects a very strong image. The massive victory day parades, the large naval maneuvers, the firing of missiles. That's the image they want to project. What that means in practical terms is anyone's guess. Wars are won by people at the lowest common denominator. In the US and the west in general responsibility and initiative is given at very low levels. In the West the focus is on the individual. It the east its often on the collective.
I can't say I know just how much individual responsibility and initiative is granted to the lower levels of the Chinese military. Given the political climate and tightly controlled nature of China, I would venture to say its low.
Much is made of the Chinese economic juggernaut. We've seen this sort of thing before. In the late 70's, 80's Japan was viewed as the existential threat to America. Their manufacturing prowess, fueled by a weak US dollar caused great concern in the US. Then when US dollar got strong, the Japanese used this to start buying up real estate in the US, including some notable landmarks which cause further resentment in the US.
Then the Japanese real estate and financial bubble burst. You don't hear much about Japans economic prowess anymore and they like China are facing a massive demographic time bomb.
 

Its been and will continued to be wargamed out on an official level as well as by think tanks and other institutions. China and other nations no doubt are up to the same. There are also wargames for Iran and Korea too.
Hopefully deterrence will prevail. A strong posture by the West along with allied's in the region will prevent any conflict. A lot of the regional nations are very upset with China. Its expansion and things like fishing rights have come to the forefront. There's also history.
On an informal level both sides, especially the militarizes who will be the recipients of any hot conflict know just how destructive and deadly it will be so hopefully it will just stay at rhetoric.
I would hope that Xi is more rational than Putin. Most though Putin would never actually launch a full scale invasion of Ukraine, though. 

A blockade of Taiwan in the future seems more plausible than outright invasion. 
Recently elements in the US have questioned involvement in Ukraine and if it continues and gets stronger could be interpreted as weakness and unwillingness to get involved in Taiwan.
Right now the battle is over Tic Tok. I have strong feelings and beliefs of the privacy, security and influence of social media apps and the companies behind them all-US as well as foreign owned.
 
Ive found my life is far better once I deleted all social media apps. ymmv. Unfortunately the youth as well as others are hooked on it. 
 In China where all media is tightly controlled they impose very strict limits on social media usage by youths as they deem it harmful, yet are happy to spoon feed it to the rest of the world.
 

Don't want to rehash what already been said. Look at the current and future demographics for China and you'll see a nation that's headed towards serious problems. A massive aging population and decline in birth rates.
China is not Russia. Russia is an exporter of oil and natural gas. China must import both in large quantities. Their economy would come to a grinding halt if that was disrupted.
China didn't steal the US manufacturing industry. US and multinational corporations willingly moved the manufacturing base to China to take advantage of cheap labor on a massive scale. The work is grinding, the pay is ridiculously low and the conditions are about a step or 2 above exploitative. Profits was the motive.
Even if we wanted to the US could never create the sort of manufacturing scale that exists in China and there is no way Americans would be willing to work for the same low wages or conditions that Chinese peasants migrating from the rural area are willing to endure.
If you think inflation is bad now, just imagine what it would be if the manufacturing was being done in America with the wages and benefits America workers would demand. That cost would get passed down.
People talk about Russian propaganda. America has its own form of propaganda. Its called corporate media and politics. American media has changed over the years. Its now all about money. Stating boring facts doesn't sell. Creating outrage does. Same is true for social media.
The politicians who are concerned about getting re-elected and funding their campaigns are all to aware of the power of manufactured outrage. Its sells, it generates funding and its far more effective than just sticking to facts. The American public has a very short attention span, by and large they are not going to pay attention to complex facts, nuance and complex details. Add to that all the massive gerrymandering going on it little cause for optimism.
China is a problem. It's not just Taiwan or the treatment of Muslims, but the recent events in Hong Kong is cause for concern. Like Putin and his cronies the CCP is concerned about staying in power. Like Putin the internal security apparatus and forces behind it is massive. It has to be. China is composed of many ethnic groups and things could get out of hand quickly.
The US and China for better or worse have a mutually dependent relationship in-spite of the rhetoric. Much of the current economic issues in the US is related to the Covid lockdowns in China and the resulting disruption in the supply chain.
China is massively dependent on exports. If that gets cut their economy will collapse. They are trying to move away from that model, but China isn't there and if you look at the projected demographic trends in China, the future doesn't look good.
How the US and the West manages the complex relationship with China will determine what happens. China has seen the unified West response to Russia's actions and knows any similar response to any perceived hostile actions by China could lead to sanctions that would destroy their economy in short order. China is more vulnerable to economic sanctions that Russia.
Like China its also going to be a challenge for America and the west to manage Russia, Ukraine and Europe if and when the conflict ends. Its easy now. America and the west just sends money and weapons to Ukraine and the Ukrainians kill Russians by the bushel.
Managing the peace could end up being the real challenge and given the broken state of American politics, the media and social media where most American consume and get their information, that is driven by the profit motive that knows manufactured outrage sells and boring facts don't, doesn't give many cause for optimism. You have to dig deep to get to the facts and most Americans would rather just have it spoon fed to them by whatever outlet matches their leanings.
 

I'm curious to hear your take on a few things. I see you consistently post statements like "you view things through western eyes"
I agree with that. I'm an American but lived overseas and one of the things I learned quickly was the way Americans view themselves, their country and how others perceive America is often at odds with how everyone else views America.
Aside from the divergent attitudes there is the fact America is surrounded by 2 massive oceans and hasn't had a modern war fought on our territory. Wars are fought in far off places using massive American firepower and money. When you look at the placement and reach of US military bases and outposts its truly amazing. Nothing past history rivals it.
The existing world order is one that arose out of 1945 where basically America imposed a global set of rules predicated on free trade, dominance of the USD and backed by the US military, primary to promote US economic growth and dominance.
I'm hearing from knowledgeable people who think this whole notion that Russia will come to it senses willingly or unwillingly is fantasy based on western bias. In western thinking losses already suffered, the failure to achieve even basic objectives and the cost would logically lead to finding a way to exit. That is a western way of thinking.
Russia on the other hand they believe is not that way. Russia will continue this fight even if they suffer losses in the hundreds of thousands and they have a history of enduring losses that are incomprehensible to the west. Russia has food, oil, natural gas and the basic resources to continue to fight a primitive style of war. Just use massive artillery and back it up by massive manpower.
I've heard all the arguments for Russia to cry uncle and they are logical and based on some sound reasoning, but once again is this western biased thinking?
I've also heard a retired US general say that summer is the key period. Ukraine has to win or make big gains then otherwise once winter come around things will start to move away from Ukraine's favor. He believes the long war strategy is the wrong on for Ukraine.
 
 
 

I think you’re right…time for all of us to agree to drop the ACW topic.

I think you’re right…time for all of us to agree to drop the ACW topic.

I'm curious to hear your take on a few things. I see you consistently post statements like "you view things through western eyes"
I agree with that. I'm an American but lived overseas and one of the things I learned quickly was the way Americans view themselves, their country and how others perceive America is often at odds with how everyone else views America.
Aside from the divergent attitudes there is the fact America is surrounded by 2 massive oceans and hasn't had a modern war fought on our territory. Wars are fought in far off places using massive American firepower and money. When you look at the placement and reach of US military bases and outposts its truly amazing. Nothing past history rivals it.
The existing world order is one that arose out of 1945 where basically America imposed a global set of rules predicated on free trade, dominance of the USD and backed by the US military, primary to promote US economic growth and dominance.
I'm hearing from knowledgeable people who think this whole notion that Russia will come to it senses willingly or unwillingly is fantasy based on western bias. In western thinking losses already suffered, the failure to achieve even basic objectives and the cost would logically lead to finding a way to exit. That is a western way of thinking.
Russia on the other hand they believe is not that way. Russia will continue this fight even if they suffer losses in the hundreds of thousands and they have a history of enduring losses that are incomprehensible to the west. Russia has food, oil, natural gas and the basic resources to continue to fight a primitive style of war. Just use massive artillery and back it up by massive manpower.
I've heard all the arguments for Russia to cry uncle and they are logical and based on some sound reasoning, but once again is this western biased thinking?
I've also heard a retired US general say that summer is the key period. Ukraine has to win or make big gains then otherwise once winter come around things will start to move away from Ukraine's favor. He believes the long war strategy is the wrong on for Ukraine.
 
 
 

Russian mentality is akin to primitive tribes - meaning that their will to fight is tied to them gaining something materialistic - that includes not just territory on global level, but looting on a personal one*. So if they will just keep getting killed without any new toilets to steal (both literal and proverbial) - their morale will suffer quickly and it will be another collapse like the one that happened near Kyiv. That primitive tribal mentality is also the cause for rape of children and elders - as a means to dominate their victim.
That primitive mentality is why you can't reason with them and is also a hard one to grasp for way more civilized cultures. Russians have no concept of humanity or cooperation with anyone, their mental level is largely that of small children - so that's why they are fanatically convinced of own superiority, to them everybody exists only to give them stuff (or rather have it taken), it's why Russians go "lies lies lies I don't hear you la la la" when presented with evidence they don't like, constantly cry about "russophobia" abroad (even though nobody oppresses them ever) and before you say "woah dude don't you exaggerate?" - look at their leaders. One is raging about how Ukraine was invented by Lenin and the other one is raging about how Jews did Holocaust. Leaders, which are the best people they have, spewing nonsense you hear from some kid in Call of Duty online.
And unfortunately these children have weapons that kill.
*looting got decriminalized in Russia in March literally for that very reason.

I think you’re right…time for all of us to agree to drop the ACW topic.

Don't want to rehash what already been said. Look at the current and future demographics for China and you'll see a nation that's headed towards serious problems. A massive aging population and decline in birth rates.
China is not Russia. Russia is an exporter of oil and natural gas. China must import both in large quantities. Their economy would come to a grinding halt if that was disrupted.
China didn't steal the US manufacturing industry. US and multinational corporations willingly moved the manufacturing base to China to take advantage of cheap labor on a massive scale. The work is grinding, the pay is ridiculously low and the conditions are about a step or 2 above exploitative. Profits was the motive.
Even if we wanted to the US could never create the sort of manufacturing scale that exists in China and there is no way Americans would be willing to work for the same low wages or conditions that Chinese peasants migrating from the rural area are willing to endure.
If you think inflation is bad now, just imagine what it would be if the manufacturing was being done in America with the wages and benefits America workers would demand. That cost would get passed down.
People talk about Russian propaganda. America has its own form of propaganda. Its called corporate media and politics. American media has changed over the years. Its now all about money. Stating boring facts doesn't sell. Creating outrage does. Same is true for social media.
The politicians who are concerned about getting re-elected and funding their campaigns are all to aware of the power of manufactured outrage. Its sells, it generates funding and its far more effective than just sticking to facts. The American public has a very short attention span, by and large they are not going to pay attention to complex facts, nuance and complex details. Add to that all the massive gerrymandering going on it little cause for optimism.
China is a problem. It's not just Taiwan or the treatment of Muslims, but the recent events in Hong Kong is cause for concern. Like Putin and his cronies the CCP is concerned about staying in power. Like Putin the internal security apparatus and forces behind it is massive. It has to be. China is composed of many ethnic groups and things could get out of hand quickly.
The US and China for better or worse have a mutually dependent relationship in-spite of the rhetoric. Much of the current economic issues in the US is related to the Covid lockdowns in China and the resulting disruption in the supply chain.
China is massively dependent on exports. If that gets cut their economy will collapse. They are trying to move away from that model, but China isn't there and if you look at the projected demographic trends in China, the future doesn't look good.
How the US and the West manages the complex relationship with China will determine what happens. China has seen the unified West response to Russia's actions and knows any similar response to any perceived hostile actions by China could lead to sanctions that would destroy their economy in short order. China is more vulnerable to economic sanctions that Russia.
Like China its also going to be a challenge for America and the west to manage Russia, Ukraine and Europe if and when the conflict ends. Its easy now. America and the west just sends money and weapons to Ukraine and the Ukrainians kill Russians by the bushel.
Managing the peace could end up being the real challenge and given the broken state of American politics, the media and social media where most American consume and get their information, that is driven by the profit motive that knows manufactured outrage sells and boring facts don't, doesn't give many cause for optimism. You have to dig deep to get to the facts and most Americans would rather just have it spoon fed to them by whatever outlet matches their leanings.
 

Don't want to rehash what already been said. Look at the current and future demographics for China and you'll see a nation that's headed towards serious problems. A massive aging population and decline in birth rates.
China is not Russia. Russia is an exporter of oil and natural gas. China must import both in large quantities. Their economy would come to a grinding halt if that was disrupted.
China didn't steal the US manufacturing industry. US and multinational corporations willingly moved the manufacturing base to China to take advantage of cheap labor on a massive scale. The work is grinding, the pay is ridiculously low and the conditions are about a step or 2 above exploitative. Profits was the motive.
Even if we wanted to the US could never create the sort of manufacturing scale that exists in China and there is no way Americans would be willing to work for the same low wages or conditions that Chinese peasants migrating from the rural area are willing to endure.
If you think inflation is bad now, just imagine what it would be if the manufacturing was being done in America with the wages and benefits America workers would demand. That cost would get passed down.
People talk about Russian propaganda. America has its own form of propaganda. Its called corporate media and politics. American media has changed over the years. Its now all about money. Stating boring facts doesn't sell. Creating outrage does. Same is true for social media.
The politicians who are concerned about getting re-elected and funding their campaigns are all to aware of the power of manufactured outrage. Its sells, it generates funding and its far more effective than just sticking to facts. The American public has a very short attention span, by and large they are not going to pay attention to complex facts, nuance and complex details. Add to that all the massive gerrymandering going on it little cause for optimism.
China is a problem. It's not just Taiwan or the treatment of Muslims, but the recent events in Hong Kong is cause for concern. Like Putin and his cronies the CCP is concerned about staying in power. Like Putin the internal security apparatus and forces behind it is massive. It has to be. China is composed of many ethnic groups and things could get out of hand quickly.
The US and China for better or worse have a mutually dependent relationship in-spite of the rhetoric. Much of the current economic issues in the US is related to the Covid lockdowns in China and the resulting disruption in the supply chain.
China is massively dependent on exports. If that gets cut their economy will collapse. They are trying to move away from that model, but China isn't there and if you look at the projected demographic trends in China, the future doesn't look good.
How the US and the West manages the complex relationship with China will determine what happens. China has seen the unified West response to Russia's actions and knows any similar response to any perceived hostile actions by China could lead to sanctions that would destroy their economy in short order. China is more vulnerable to economic sanctions that Russia.
Like China its also going to be a challenge for America and the west to manage Russia, Ukraine and Europe if and when the conflict ends. Its easy now. America and the west just sends money and weapons to Ukraine and the Ukrainians kill Russians by the bushel.
Managing the peace could end up being the real challenge and given the broken state of American politics, the media and social media where most American consume and get their information, that is driven by the profit motive that knows manufactured outrage sells and boring facts don't, doesn't give many cause for optimism. You have to dig deep to get to the facts and most Americans would rather just have it spoon fed to them by whatever outlet matches their leanings.
 

Don't want to rehash what already been said. Look at the current and future demographics for China and you'll see a nation that's headed towards serious problems. A massive aging population and decline in birth rates.
China is not Russia. Russia is an exporter of oil and natural gas. China must import both in large quantities. Their economy would come to a grinding halt if that was disrupted.
China didn't steal the US manufacturing industry. US and multinational corporations willingly moved the manufacturing base to China to take advantage of cheap labor on a massive scale. The work is grinding, the pay is ridiculously low and the conditions are about a step or 2 above exploitative. Profits was the motive.
Even if we wanted to the US could never create the sort of manufacturing scale that exists in China and there is no way Americans would be willing to work for the same low wages or conditions that Chinese peasants migrating from the rural area are willing to endure.
If you think inflation is bad now, just imagine what it would be if the manufacturing was being done in America with the wages and benefits America workers would demand. That cost would get passed down.
People talk about Russian propaganda. America has its own form of propaganda. Its called corporate media and politics. American media has changed over the years. Its now all about money. Stating boring facts doesn't sell. Creating outrage does. Same is true for social media.
The politicians who are concerned about getting re-elected and funding their campaigns are all to aware of the power of manufactured outrage. Its sells, it generates funding and its far more effective than just sticking to facts. The American public has a very short attention span, by and large they are not going to pay attention to complex facts, nuance and complex details. Add to that all the massive gerrymandering going on it little cause for optimism.
China is a problem. It's not just Taiwan or the treatment of Muslims, but the recent events in Hong Kong is cause for concern. Like Putin and his cronies the CCP is concerned about staying in power. Like Putin the internal security apparatus and forces behind it is massive. It has to be. China is composed of many ethnic groups and things could get out of hand quickly.
The US and China for better or worse have a mutually dependent relationship in-spite of the rhetoric. Much of the current economic issues in the US is related to the Covid lockdowns in China and the resulting disruption in the supply chain.
China is massively dependent on exports. If that gets cut their economy will collapse. They are trying to move away from that model, but China isn't there and if you look at the projected demographic trends in China, the future doesn't look good.
How the US and the West manages the complex relationship with China will determine what happens. China has seen the unified West response to Russia's actions and knows any similar response to any perceived hostile actions by China could lead to sanctions that would destroy their economy in short order. China is more vulnerable to economic sanctions that Russia.
Like China its also going to be a challenge for America and the west to manage Russia, Ukraine and Europe if and when the conflict ends. Its easy now. America and the west just sends money and weapons to Ukraine and the Ukrainians kill Russians by the bushel.
Managing the peace could end up being the real challenge and given the broken state of American politics, the media and social media where most American consume and get their information, that is driven by the profit motive that knows manufactured outrage sells and boring facts don't, doesn't give many cause for optimism. You have to dig deep to get to the facts and most Americans would rather just have it spoon fed to them by whatever outlet matches their leanings.
 

Speaking of the economy the Russian economy isn’t the only one in trouble-the US economy is looking shaky. Not in the same category as Russia but a severe recession is not out of the cards…
While not highly probable something along the lines of 2008 isn’t out of the question. Putins use of a tac nuke could be a huge shock to the US economic prospects given it’s already fragile state….GDP falling last quarter, stock markets in bear territory, inflation raging and the Fed way behind the 8 ball, forced to aggressively raise rates while dumping 50 billion a month in MBS onto the markets…
Have a great weekend everyone!

Speaking of the economy the Russian economy isn’t the only one in trouble-the US economy is looking shaky. Not in the same category as Russia but a severe recession is not out of the cards…
While not highly probable something along the lines of 2008 isn’t out of the question. Putins use of a tac nuke could be a huge shock to the US economic prospects given it’s already fragile state….GDP falling last quarter, stock markets in bear territory, inflation raging and the Fed way behind the 8 ball, forced to aggressively raise rates while dumping 50 billion a month in MBS onto the markets…
Have a great weekend everyone!

Speaking of the economy the Russian economy isn’t the only one in trouble-the US economy is looking shaky. Not in the same category as Russia but a severe recession is not out of the cards…
While not highly probable something along the lines of 2008 isn’t out of the question. Putins use of a tac nuke could be a huge shock to the US economic prospects given it’s already fragile state….GDP falling last quarter, stock markets in bear territory, inflation raging and the Fed way behind the 8 ball, forced to aggressively raise rates while dumping 50 billion a month in MBS onto the markets…
Have a great weekend everyone!

Don't know if this has already been posted:
https://warontherocks.com/2021/11/feeding-the-bear-a-closer-look-at-russian-army-logistics/
With a new offensive underway, will the Russian learn from previous mistake and increase the logistical sustainment model?

To add to this-the US has squadrons specifically designed to do this task and train extensively to do SEAD. CAS is also another specialty the US has dedicated resources assigned. There is a pipeline for personnel and a very rigorous selection process for personnel who are going to be calling in air support. There is a shortage and the military is offering substantial bonuses to fill slots. 
Really a lot of the "back-end" specialties requires resources and highly skilled personnel to make it work. That requires motivated and educated people to make it all work. Setting up a secured computer network, communication network and other non-combat, but vital jobs is not for the non motivated and non educated or trainable sort of people.
The Russians with their conscripted army is not up to the tasks and they probably spent too much time, money and effort on the teeth of their military and not enough on the non glamorous, but vital tail element.

Lets look at what we do know:
1. The Russian military so far has demonstrated to be lacking in many if not most areas. We'll have to see if they have rectified their shortcoming in further operations.
2. The Ukrainian military has demonstrated remarkable capabilities and most units are now combat experienced. The overall effectiveness and efficiency of Ukraines military is arguably increasing.
3. The Ukrainian armored formations and Russian armored formations are roughly equally equipped, but in terms of performance and efficiency, the Ukrainians are better. So in effect I would rate them as more than a match compared to Russia.
Now we decide to give Ukraine more advanced tanks-M1's, Leopard 2. Even if its 6 months 12 months, what does that do? You've now transformed the Ukrainian armored formations into a significant over match compared to Russia, that is now capable of undertaking rapid and violent offensive actions into regions already occupied by Russia and if you take the worst case (something that planners for better or worse always do), Russia itself.
How do you react if your Russia? One possible reaction is to start basing nuclear weapons in the Crimea and Donbass. Your conventional forces that you know can't match Ukraine with its new found offensive weapons become just a trip wire. You justify basing nukes based on "NATO hostile offensive arming of a mortal threat"
These are the kinds of things I would bet are now being debated behinds the scenes.
How many M1s do we give to Ukraine? Do we insist on limits to how they might be employed? How would we enforce any violation of said restrictions? Do we allow them to be used in offensive operations to retake past lost territory and what are possible consequences.
We've seen what tanks like M1s are capable of doing. Russia does not have anti-armor systems like the Javelin.
Poland will be getting M1s, but there is a buffer between Poland and Russia and Ukraine is a different situation.
I'm not trying to be antagonistic to anyone. Just trying to see the possible good and bad of taking such actions.
To this point the West has been reacting to events in Ukraine. Many are now saying the West needs to define its future policies and actions.
I'm sure the subjects of M1s is just one of the few systems being hotly debated behind the scenes. MLRS being sent has been mentioned. Do we start sending more advanced IFVs that alongside M1s will transform Ukrainian armored formation into even more powerful offensive formations and what will the consequences of that move be?

We have a difference of opinion here. I would like to see M1s sent, but I'm leery of what the outcome could be. As much as I would love to see M1s utterly crushing the Russian army with M1's, how Putin would react is open to question and once the nuclear rubicon is crossed there is no going back.
As painful and costly it is to watch a slow bleed out has a twisted logic of its own.
We're dealing with Putin who is paranoid. Its one thing to have your army stopped with defensively oriented weapons.
Its another if they are suddenly armed with offensively oriented weapons that suddenly crush your army and in your mind can then switch to an offensive mode and retake the entire Donbass and Crimea and possibly invade Russia itself.
We may say we would never permit that to happen, but to a paranoid dictator and people that have been invaded many times it may be seen differently.