danfrodo

Exactly! We judge the young based on our much more mature and responsible current situations. But if we think back to what we were like at 21 it probably looks very different. I am sure most of the grownups from where I grew up would say about me "he's not in jail? Two engineering degrees? -- Did he steal them?" So back on subject, there was a post a few days ago that one or two BTG level officers were arrested and taken away because they were only at 55% strength but had reported 100%. Does anyone know if that post has held up to scrutiny? (I get how hard it would be to verify). That would certainly explain a lot about Russian failings, sending in ~half of what higher ups thought they were sending.

I get how Russians could say "let's just scout w drones" but for small groups of ATGM-armed enemy infantry that's asking for disaster. It's not impossible to hide when there's at least some forested or broken terrain. Seems crazy to lose BMPs and tanks instead of TIGRs just to find out the road isn't safe. 'course, UKR troops would probably just say "let the tigr pass"

Funny, I showed her a similar map. I love all that forested terrain running along the road, ambush alley. And once RA runs that gauntlet, they come to a swampy area where they have a sharp turn in the road that will make them slow down and bunch up. Yeah, good luck with that. Even if the lead elements are too powerful to take on, the follow on forces will be smashed. Unless RA has multiple companies of skilled infantry to clear those woods.....oh, wait, they don't. I wonder how wet those fields are right now? Some showers friday are predicted but other than that no rain for a week.

This gets to one of my pet peeves: older generations are always pissing on the young generation. In a post early in this thread I said that we're going to see a lot of these (allegedly) lazy, phone-addicted, pampered young people turn into heroes & martyrs. It's the one thing I've been right about in this thread. These kids are amazing. They are rising above & beyond the challenge they are facing. Next time you hear older folks disparaging the young, be sure to correct them. So Day 3 of the Great Patriotic Offensive to End Naziism and so far the score is Steve & TheCapt = 3, TV pundits = zero. Hopefully this will continue. My wife was freaked because she heard they took some city (Kreminna) and I showed her a map that it was just a small gain and that thrust was still being contested and seems to be stalled. And while I know governments want credit for sending arms, I think I would also prefer to hear of some of this AFTER it's been safely delivered to Ukraine. Don't want to give Russia more info than they deserve on what's coming on the next train.

So another night falls in Ukraine, and the 'great offensive' is upon our friends. Five attack axes, some of which I would think are feints, or probes? And so far no serious gains, thankfully. Wet, muddy ground hopefully helps. And the maps seem to show that the Izyum front has a Ukrainian incursion behind it, small but deep. So how is RA supposed to support that thrust if UKR is interdicting the supply columns? If that axis doesn't hook up w that one from the east, it might find itself in some trouble. Scary situation, but so far it seems that RA is taking losses w/o any real breakthroughs. Meanwhile, the west finally is doing what it should've done a month ago, supplying UKR w heavier weapons. Some of those would be online now if we had started on time instead of peeing our collective pants over making Putler angry.

I hope that is from tonite in Ukraine. Looks like the defenders were not neutralized by russian artillery. what a firefight!

and so it begins. Let's see if I get this right: Thrust from the east must go through terrible terrain and into well prepared defenses in depth just to get to the city it can't take on its own. Thrust from the NW from Izyum currently has LOC threatened and the farther it goes the more it can be cut. And from the south has to go through defenses that have been working for 8 years. Ukraine surely has defense in depth plus the ability to move its smaller units around quickly to continually ambush the extending russian lines. Russia could choose to protect it's lines except that would further deplete their already depleted advancing units. So RA doesn't have the mechanized infantry to safeguard its LOCs and attack at the same time I think. The initial Russian arty probably did a lot of damage to fixed positions, but once the war goes more mobile their lack of coordination will not allow their arty to continue to be so effective, along w UKR mobility and hard to target small units. And it's muddy. And raining. Hopefully there will be a serious thrashing that leads to significant RA collapse in various areas.

I am just imagining what a dozen or so switchblades could do to a roadbound column. Destroy the lead elements, blocking the road, then follow on vehicles go around, chewing up the ground and pretty soon things are bogged. Friction and destruction.

Well, time for some patience. This won't be decided in a day. If Russians are stopped it's a very good sign. If they advance it may or may not mean anything after a few days. And there's mud Russians had those long tentacles reaching from east to west toward Kyiv, and they were simply cut off and left to wither. How RA is going to pull this off with worse troops than it had before is a mystery to me. I hope the UKR artillery is ready. And are they actually getting what they need from the west?? And are those reserves we've heard so much about in the area, at least to add defense in depth?

Well, here we go. So on both axes there's wooded areas, that's good. Does RA have the infantry to clear these areas? UKR teams could drift into the woods when challenged then come back to ambush follow on, weaker units. And it's raining, correct? mud everywhere. So that should help. I am optimistic but still nervous. And the forces from Izyum still face danger of being cut off north of Izyum before they can link up w other pincer. Eastern force has lots of wooded and what looks like marshy areas to go through. Thanks for this Haiduk. I hope this turns into more of a Ukraine trap than a RA offensive a few days from now.

Sounds like some of my first Black Sea battles. Fortunately, unlike Putin's officers you have the opportunity to learn from your mistakes. I was big WW2 also until just a 2-3 years ago. I still don't have a good answer on how to keep one's drones alive if there's AA assets about. Before I can use the drone to target the baddies my drone is usually down. But when the drone is not shot down, it's clobberin' time! I don't have any magical insights to give though I do think that spending time w Shock Force 2 is a good way to at least get used to your modern units, weapons, & proper tactics on a less lethal playing field.

Good luck w that, Putin-ites! If Russia were actually having successes and capturing men & equipment on the battlefield I think we'd see lots of video of the aftermath via Russian propaganda sources. The fact that state TV doesn't have a lot of boast about says quite a bit about the reality on the fronts.

Wow, if that's real then russian corruption is beyond anything I could've imagined. Buyers & sellers working together to pocket some money. Well done.

The anecdotal information is piling up quite nicely. needing to smuggle arms from Iran -- wtf? Shutting down T72 factory due to lack of foreign components-- wtf? Night falls AGAIN and no great offensive -- wtf? And now state TV pundit-clowns say "withdrawal" -- wtf? Where on earth is Putin going to get the resources to engage in a long war if he already is having severe shortages of trained soldiers, modern weapons, and officers to command the endeavor? I like where this is all going.

We are actually agreeing Haiduk -- what I am saying is they are the oppessors, but that they believe themselves to be some aggrieved victims to justify their criminal beliefs & actions. They are monsters. And totally stupid to actually believe the idiocy they are being fed.

I hope the UKR counterattacks can trap large forces on the wrong side of the river. That would be fun, watching multiple BTG worth of men and materials lost. Would put quite a damper in the 'great offensive' we've heard so much about.

sick, disgusting. A society of aggrieved 'victims' that are so brainwashed they can't see that they are being oppressed by their own society and gov't, not by any outsider who are out to get them. So they lash out at Ukraine? As if all their problems are due to Ukraine? How exactly would that be possible?

Night falls again in Ukraine and another day has passed without the great Russian offensive. Getting to be a pattern. Sinking the Moskva is great fun, of course, but the most telling news for me today was a bunch more arrests of various officers, including a naval officer. Yessirree, this warms my heart. Keep eating your own, Putin. So he's either paranoid or there's actually people out to get him. One doesn't jail this many just to take the blame for failure, only need a couple high up scapegoats for that.

sounds like a very painful CM game. Defended tree line after defended tree line.

+1 for Commanderski, out of likes.

these idiots are yelling about "now we'll have to go to war!". It's an insane asylum!

well, if they knew where UKR command posts were they would be hitting them already. What a joke! As if UKR is causing provocations to which RU must respond. There's just no word for it except Chutzpah.

wow we are back to Stalin's days. Every bad thing that occurs must be due to sabotage, because the state (Putin) is infallible. This is great!!!! Yeah, keep purging Putler (Putlin?). Keep making folks think they might have greater survival chance through a coup then through service to the state. What could go wrong?

So Lavrov going bonkers over Finland and Sweden joining NATO, which is hilarious -- Putin shows world he's very dangerous neighbor then freaks out when those neighbors band together for survival. And the real reason Putin hates NATO is because it means Putin's threats of military attack become hollow, and the only leverage he has outside of oil dependence is military threat.

Piling on a little to Steve above: If Russia presented a list of its critical needs to China and China say "yes to all!". It would still take years to bring up the production facilities. And imagine the cost!! China aint gonna do this for charity. And they aint gonna do it for rubles. They might do a few things for some very cheap oil, but they are in business for business. But there are components that Russia can't even outsource because they have no idea how they work or how to produce them or the SW that drives them. Once your sophisticated multi-system-upon-specialized-system device is missing something critical that was made by company X, you can't just get that somewhere else.