Russian Tactics: Stupid but Effective?
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- Опубликовано: 3 июн 2024
- In this video Stanimir Dobrev and I discuss Russian Tactics in the Ukraine War, particularly issues on command level, cohesion, training and combined arms. Additionally, we also cover where Russian tactics are effective and how they operate.
You can follow Stanimir here: / delfoo
Cover Image from: Ukraine WarLeaks: Ukraine War - "We're very lucky they're so fucking stupid" • Ukraine War - "We're v...
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00:00 Intro
01:13 Command Level Issues
04:45 From Column to Skirmishing Line
05:59 Lack of Cohesion
10:44 "Pre-Combined Arms"
15:52 Platoon etc. sizes
17:11 Effective Tactics
18:09 Wagner Tactics on Assault
22:27 What is an RPO?
23:23 No Breakthrough
24:49 No more Convicts in the Future?
#RussianTactics #Tactics #ukrainewar
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This was really an ivory tower analysis. Probably all we can expect from a scholar.
So many things were not taken into the analysis so you get just a nice theoretical critique that would be almost useless for people in command. Examples:
-Totally doesn't take into account the effect of drones and satellite imagery on operations. What he learnt in his book might be exactly the wrong thing to do because of the changed reality he doesn't account for.
-Totally doesn't take into account the supreme US dominance in intelligence gathering. If they were to tell normal soldiers the plans... That might very well get them all killed even before the fight starts.
Almost the whole discussion is applying ideas of past wars on a totally changed situation. The only tactic that ever works is the one adapted to the current situation. This happens every war you know this. The tactics for the previous war doesn't work. And then they discover what works. And then they use that same tactic in the next war, repeat.
IF you do this again I would spend first a video trying to develop a view of what has changed to at least have the analysis be relevant to the current situation.
🙃
Thermobarics use two stage warheads, first aerosolizing a fuel to achieve a good fuel / air ratio, then igniting it, creating a massive pressure wave and flames. Very effective against fortified targets.
Need to translate it into some literal german for him to understand, its not just a flammenwerfer. Its an "Aerosolisierter Flammenwerfer mit Raketenantrieb" or something. =P
@@PerfectDeath4 and if you put it on a vehicle, you can add at least 4 fun words like 'sonderkraftfahrzug' lol
RPO-A Shmel will take you too info on the weapon on the web
I saw a video of a Ukrainian drone operator saying they drop ordinary fragmentation grenades on the Russians to get they to take cover in their foxholes and dugouts. Then they drop thermobaric grenades into the Russian's foxholes and dugouts. I didn't know there were thermobaric grenades.
@@SmedleyDouwright it's gonna have to be a petty big grenade lmao, how much gasoline would you be able to fit into a grenade anyway?
The end is hilarious, Federal Prision System won't let go all the inmates in fear of losing its budget. Bureaucracy at its finest 😂😂
Well. the budget is probably not the main problem. The fact that whole bunch of people who are supposed to be trained in use of weapons would suddenly have nobody to guard and the state has this military operation going sooo... to the frontlines. Budget be damned, but trenches are not a good place to be.
Maybe consider the societal impact of having thousands of exconvicts that didn't serve their full time with military experience running around.
@@G-Mastah-Fash Not in Russia though. They don't have the prisons privatised and the military complex is semi-state owned as well.
@@vojtechpribyl7386 so what? the internal fighting of different bureaucratic Russian organizations dates back to the beginning of the soviet union and it has carried on to now. i dont see why there couldnt be a similar scenario between the prisons and the military even if they are semi-connected
@@matthewfors114 lol. This internal fighting is way, way older than the soviet union
"Stupid but effective" the new cope
Theres no end to their imagination.
The level of mental gymnastics is at 150% .😂
How?
"Spare" people
You know that effective doesn’t mean it’s good right?
There’s a difference between efficiency and effectiveness.
Go ahead and google that bud
Mr Dobrev's point about proper battle planning giving everyone up and down the chain of command some decent "buy-in" is a good one. Multiple times throughout my career I've been sent to projects/jobs/service calls with little or no information besides an address and a contact name and basically told to just figure it out when I get there, and those jobs almost always categorically suck. If the "project" turned out to be assaulting a fortified Ukrainian position with old weapons and practically no training I would be more than a little pissed off/terrified.
The same works for Ukrainians against Russian fortified positions.
@SUNchaster it does, however the Ukrainians are fighting on their own land to defend their home, there's an element of desperation for them that the Russians don't have.
@@TheSunchaster Nah, not in the sense I was talking about. Sure, being told that you're about to go and try to knock over some dug-in Russian troops would probably be pretty damn daunting but by all accounts and from everything we've seen, Ukrainian conscripts are receiving decent basic training and adequate equipment. And their chain of command is mostly busy doing what it's supposed to be doing (commanding and leading) instead of trying to steal everything that isn't nailed down or extorting their own soldiers for "taxes" to be kept out of the frontlines. So yeah, not really the same thing.
@@sixstringedthing
"from everything we've seen"
You can`t see everything, espessialy from Western media and if you don`t know Russian and Ukrainian language.
Ukrainian conscripts are receiving decent basic training and adequate equipment
They receiving 30 days training and 7 to 14 days specialists training *maximum* (it`s and info from government TV report about training in Zhytomir region on training camp of Air Assault Forces, the words of deputy commander of training center). There are thousands of stories when people taken to frontline in Donetsk region without any training, with formal inadequate medical investigation (you can have bunch of desiese that gives you limited fit for military service or not fit at all, but you will fit, this is the problem that even big RUclips blogers talking about). There are many videos where soldiers by themselves talking about few days training of mobilised people or about their losses. There are many videos that even promoted by propaghanda where skillful (and ideologized) soldiers use mobilized soldiers for reloading weapons, giving ammo etc., because they can`t do anything else. There are bunch of articles and other information about soldiers that refuse to carry out an orders, and officers that don`t want to loose their current post hide it and use these people mainly in a rear, and also cut of their award for service leaving only minimum salary, which is illegal.
@@sixstringedthing "instead of trying to steal everything that isn't nailed down" - Ukraine have a huge experience in this job, you are poorly informed. Ukraine for 30 years sold Soviet military stock, it was for years one of the biggest exporters for military things. There are even well-shown cases like with Гладковський (Свинарчук), where`s even Azov protested for his arrest. There are many cases of trading and contrabanda of spare parts for military vehicles from Russia and to Russia before and after 2022 (for example, now under arrest ex-president of "Мотор Січ" Богуслаєв). There are dozens of scandals about export of tanks from Ukraine, even for South Sudan. Ukraine even receieved ex-Ukrainian tanks from some countries like 31 T-72 from Northern Macedonia (given in 2001). There are thousands scandals about stealing among volunteers, in instance about buing FV101 Spartan by Serhii Prytula, known showman, for 92 000 euro while these things costs 29 000 - 35 000.
"extorting their own soldiers for "taxes" to be kept out of the frontlines" - well, i already wrote about the same thing in Ukrainian army. And if you mean bribes in military registration and enlistment offices, this phenomenon actual for all ex-Soviet countries from Soviet times. And in Ukraine it`s stronger in hundred times because of general mobilisation and no opportunity for men to go to another country.
You are right about mortars being an infantry weapon, and arty being combined arms. You're wrong about the force level. In NATO, the 81mm mortar is a company level weapon. If that army uses 60mm mortars, that is a platoon level weapon (but usually the 60 has been ditched in favor of 40mm grenades)
The 60mm was also supplanted by single use rockets and Carl-Gustaf recoilless rifles. No doubt drones will fill a similar role.
The question is whether the Russian Federation has an equivalent to the 60mm and whether their small platoons have enough manpower to integrate such a system. I doubt it.
Thanks, my force level knowledge is almost exclusively WW2. They also had light mortars early, I think even on platoon level, but were ditched later on.
@@Seraphus87 As far as use, I've seen a fair amount of combat footage with 60mm mortars. Most of the use seems to be independent mortar/spotting groups.
So not integrated on a smaller squad/platoon level.
@@Seraphus87 they do have a silent 60mm mortar
thermobarics are scary... long blast wave. makes them really deadly. they keep going on about the 'oxygen being sucked out of the area' but, if you are in that area, you have a blast wave problem first
The Russian RPO-A Shmel is roughly equivalent to the US M202 FLASH. Both rocket flame throwers but the M202 had four rockets (making it a desirable prop for Swarzenagger movies) the M202 also used napalm instead of a thermobaric warhead. While still in the inventory, the napalm warhead for the M202 is prone to leaking so while some soldiers are still trained to use it, it may not be in general issue. The M202 is a big heavy thing with a rather short range. If part of a military aid package to Ukraine, they might prefer the Shmel to the FLASH
Excellent point there but the problem with RPO-A is that it's made in Russia not Ukraine therefore Ukraine might need a NATO Visgrad 9 country that actually manufactures RPO-A under license from Russia.
@@EpicThe112 Ukrainians produced Rpo and have their own variant. also, flash is nothing like rpo.
@mobydcheads thank you for telling me about this since my thinking what's that the license to manufacture it it's only held by the Russians.
Tactically both the RPO and the M202 were designed for the same tactical role. The M202 is older and designed for a different customer with different technical constraints. Both were to replace a soldier crawling forward with pressurized tanks of napalm strapped to their backs with soldiers crawling forward with flame throwing rockets. The RPO was doubtlessly designed to be better in this role than the M202 which was designed to be better than an M2 Flamethrower which was designed to be better than a WWI Flammenwerfer. Since the advent of the Flammenwerfer all were designed for use by infiltrating assault infantry hoping the would be able to get close enough to a bunker to be able to, with the Flammenwerfer they had, project burning incendiary material into the bunker before the people in the bunker could respond. The flame from the weapon providing shock and intended to produce primal fear of the assault troops
The Russian RPO-A has nothing to do with US M202. The first is termobaric munitions with destructive action and second is flamethrower.
Its impressive they are winning with Shovels. That shows how effective they are.
“They go in tight columns” Because of mines
Here's an idea--the guys in the vehicles are leaving so that the artillery that wounded the dismounts does not kill them. This is the reality of a peer war in which your enemy can dominate a section of the battlefield.
yup, when they realize their being targeted, sticking with the vehicle is stupid. Large target of focus.
Yep, given the large prevalence of drones, break throughs like in WW2 are largely impossible as commanders on both sides can see a breach and plug it quickly so long as they got the reserves to do so. If they don't, they fall back to prevent an encirclement unless told to stand and fight to the death.
It's obvious in some videos. Vehicles cannot remain in place without being killed and without training and ability (requires effective comms and situational awareness) to use constant maneuver to avoid destruction they just bug out. Stopped vehicles burn.
Really excellent observations about Russian tactics, training, and motivations! I would like to hear more from Mr Dobrev.
This VIdeo just got dropped. How did you see look through it in a Minute ?
Patreon ?
@@MrJust2times Look at the date of his comment - yes, Patron.
I honestly hope you guys don't believe this nonsense.
I've been closely following this war for over a year and only now understand Russian warfare and tactics and to be honest the worst obstacle was my NATO background.
The reality of the situation is that the Russian Army is performing very well and sustaining far lower losses than Ukraine but after 20 years of watching lop-sided conflicts people fall for Ukraine MoD's bullshit stories simply because Russia hasn't rolled straight over them as we would have expected.
News flash, even the US Armed forces would struggle in this environment, the two main factors are the massive amounts of drones flying around along with large amounts of surface to air defense batteries which greatly inhibit air strikes as well as any chance of surprise.
In this environment tactical plans have limited to no effect on outcomes, the main deciding factor is the number of shells you can fire at an enemy each day.
You were right about the nominal size of a platoon, 30 to 50 men, 40 on average. Less than 30, most combatants would consider to be an under staffed platoon.
A full-strength Soviet motor-rifle platoon mounted on BTRs was 29 men. On BMPs the squads were even smaller. That's the frame of reference you need for understanding the modern Russian Army, whose by-the-book doctrine is largely unchanged since the 80s.
@@Bluehawk2008 from what you're saying, their SOP "full staff" seems on the lite side compared to most countries. Any specific reason for that?
@@joearledge1 MOST of their tanks have autoloaders, meaning you only need 3 (instead of 4) to crew a tank, could be part of the difference, besides how Soviet doctrine differs from NATO…🇺🇦🌻🇨🇦
Also (to expand onto this reply chain) consider the capabilities of the different infantry delivery vehicles such as trucks, helicopters, AFV/APC/IFV types, which are built for different missions and resulting in a range of practical squad sizes. For examples : an airmobile model may only permit 5 dis-mounts as 1 squad, a reasonably small AFV 8 men, a marine landing amphtrack perhaps 20, and Helo's 5 to 45 men. So, what is a useful squad size? Essentialy its whatever smallest unit (that can bring useful combat power) you can pack in, and too big is just too clumsy and inefficent to manage and transport. ie the basic Bit of the Byte.
From that practical base you build the platoon and company sizes, and they will vary by mission type.
@Joseph arledge since the other reply talked about the reason for tanks I'll talk about the reason for infantry.
In soviet doctrine they always wanted to have 1 level of unit above their oponents (the mass part of their focus on mass and tempo). They also had a focus on officer leadership rather than nco leadership. This is because officers are typically professionals while NCOs could be professional or conscript. So officers were more reliable levels of training/etc. Its also easier to keep track of officers than more numerous NCOs. This combination resulted in a situation were they typically sent platoons to do jobs nato militaries give squads, companies to do what nato gives platoons and battalions to what nato would give companies. You should think of a soviet platoon as something inbetween a western squad and a western platoon as its ment to be just large enough to overmatch a squad while only needing to overmatch a platoon when deployed with 2 other soviet platoons (ie a soviet company). Hence its smaller than Western platoons.
I really like your talks with Stanimir. They are always informative.
Tend to agree with assessment of Russian stuff work, however, it looks like several assumptions IMHO lead to misunderstandings and incorrect generalisations:
1. deployment from column to line - you tend to forget that in many places Ukrianians are relying heavily on landmines. That greatly restricts ability to maneuver by both infantry and armor. Ukrainians are so smart, that they even are trapping greater Russian assault elements by mass shelling mines by artillery and rockets from the front, rear and flanks of attacking formation
2. I am not sure local attacks on squad/platoon level are constantly performed without at least some recce by Russians. They tend to use small drones for initial recce of Ukrainian positions. IMHO problems progressively increase with planning higher level attacks due to poor information transfer up and down, poor analysis and decision making
3. Exploitation of local successes is almost absent due to 4 main factors: (i) they are unable to suppress defenders' artillery and drones on a larger scale due to absence of air superiority; (ii) HIMARS and similar MRLS in conjunction with good recce makes it impossible to concentrate and operate bigger reserves of armor and transport to support initial assault. It forces Russians to disperse instead of concentrating. Surely that could be overcome to some degree in sort of se-centric way of planning and coordinating movements of exploiting reserves, but such co-ordination on battalion and higher level is near impossible to current Russian command structure. They have no skills and no communication appropriate for such leadership (iv) you may lynch me, but I do not believe that Russians have numbers and firepower enough for such feats - Ukrainian defense is generally well manned since Ukraine mobilised more troops and density of their defense combined with above mentioned factors currently would prevent any break-through attempt by Russians, even if it would be better planned on a tactical level.
That is why my personal impression that Russians are tactically cornered and try to win attrition war by re-playing mini-Verduns. However, not historical Verdun, but rather original von Falkenhayn's idea, completely spoiled by his overzealous subordinates, who got mesmerised by initial successes of stormtroopers. Originally ~1000 pieces strong artillery was supposed to do the main job of killing the French while stormtroopers were supposed not to take ground or breakthrough, but act as sort of bait, forcing allies to strengthen their defenses by bringing in more infantry to the first and second lines to be piecemealed by artillery fire. But it would hardly work this way under current circumstances: they are unable to control the air and silence Ukrainian artillery for any tactically/operationally meaningful time period.
Nikita Ananjevas - Excellent comment.
I would rather watch an interview with you. For real.
@@usun_politics1033 thanks but I have no inside upper level info. If you try to level up from lowest level witness accounts, you will inevitably end up with IMHOs, which are difficult to verify due to scarcity of information, as well as wartime propaganda distortions. So I prefer debates and do not hold my opinions being ironclad :)
Russians can just wait till nato exhausts their artillery supply
Russian meat recce is cheap and we see examples of small formations getting droned in the act. Shooting at them reveals resistance at nil cost. Dead infantry don't need food and ammo making them much more expendable in fact than it may appear. They cease to consume logistics when they expire, a fire and forget munition with long historic precedent.
The last sentence was the most amusing. The officials running the prisons do not want to fully empty the prisons b/c then their budgets would be cut.
In the short term, if that happens there likely will be a drought for wagner and for the ruSSian army(as it seems now). But there is a decree issued last year, that force russian companies to serve the war effort. At least for the industry, but I think this applies to all.
Well yeah, if their budget gets cut their pay gets slashed/their jobs get cut
@@Paisa231 Utter drivel!
This was a really good discussion, thanks man.
RGB headphone and a gamer chair. He's one of us, clearly.
Excellent commentary and insight.
and
Don't interrupt the enemy when he is making a mistake.
Thermobaric rockets go in the PG7 launcher. The warhead uses fuel to create a fireball and shock-wave instead of the RPG7's usual shaped charge. You fire that into an enclosed space and the defenders inside will experience a pressure-cooker effect.
In all fairness there are only so many ways you can come an enemy who spends 99% of their time hunkered down in fortifications.
Write them down
B-52 Arclight bombing strikes come to mind, and a big flash I saw over the horizon from the MOAB? drop (I heard later) duing the 1990-91 Gulf war had to be very unpleasant to those on that island. Apparently the survivors wern't up for seconds, cant blame them😮.
Of course "Danger close" warning (for your own troops) with those methods has to be defined as several miles.
@@KevinSmith-ys3mh Just bring the rain instead.
Thanks for the interview!
Good to see stanimir I know he had some personal problems good to see him back and I hope he is fine
Its never good to see him, total waste of time.
@@churblefurbles What is your issue?
@@churblefurbles Totally uncalled for comment 🙄🤦🏼♂️
Not sure I agree with the observation on the russian veichles travelling in file because of poor coordination. I think its done for several reasons - 1 the ground - they cannot advance abreast because only the road is passable. 2 The distance- most of the engagements we see on video happen before they move to skirmish formations - several miles before they encounter the ukrainian lines. 3 mines... Most columns have a limitted number of mine clearing equipment - and what we saw in Vulghledar was most of the equipment was disabled by mines. The tacktic of moving through minefields is to follow the tracks of the clearing veichle. Ukraine is the most heavily mined country in the world by now. It had massive stockpiles of artillery based minelaying, and recieved more though the western delivery of large numbers of M718 mines. We saw some veichles (thinking they were under artillery barrage) try to move into defensive screens for dismounts - only to hit more of the minefields themselves. In Vugledhar, the initial colum made it to Datcha with mine clearance. What appears to have happened next was the ukrainians laid mines behind that force - when the following reenforcement column approached , it ran into the previously layed field.
It was true in the first months of this SMO, where the Russians thought a show of force would yield Ukrainian negotiations. After that was undone by a certain false flag operation, and Boris Johnson; the Russians were exposed on long fronts with insufficient men. From April onwards they have operated in a very professional and controlled way. No Ukrainian gains have been through tactical manoeuvre, but through Russians identifying when and where to concede territory, while retaining their grip on strategic and operational objectives.
one thing Ive noticed about this war is that you always see footage from the Ukrainian side of bombing Russians with drones, or clearing trenches of Russians or clearing a village. You never really see anything from the Russian perspective. Also in interviews with Ukrainian soldiers Ive seen a lot about how bad things actually are for them but they keep their resolve to defend their home. You dont seem to hear a lot from the Russian side in the west unless its about defeatism even tho that doesnt seem to be the case with the Russian resolve to win this war.
Russians in general are a lot more strict on posting videos either from a lack of recording methods or a decision by the military. You'll Also not really see russians speak about what's happening or criticize the military because they legally can't
Videos from the Russians exist but they aren't easy to find in comparison and certainly not for those used to trusting media.
Putin and his lackeys have resolved to win the war. Conscripts recruited from poverty-stricken ethnic minority regions or from the prison system? Not so much I think.
In terms of drone footage etc., we often only see what Russian ministers want us to see, but Perun pointed out some truisms that apply to both sides in his first presentation on the use of drones in Ukraine:
- it's rare to see footage of a failed drone attack from either side for obvious reasons, there's clearly survivorship bias here.
- Only certain types of platforms and missions readily lend themselves to being recorded, which narrows the coverage of broader offensive actions considerably. You can't put a gopro on an artillery shell for example.
- If either side is employing new tactics with their video-enabled systems and those tactics are proving effective, don't expect to see any footage of such attacks in the public domain, again for obvious reasons. So the footage we typically see is of attacks or actions which were successful _but not too successful_ . Again, this applies to both sides but taken all together these points may help to explain the lopsided coverage that we're seeing.
Edit to add: if you really want to see some firsthand accounts and footage of how things are going from the Russian perspective, the place to look for that would be telegram or twitter, not youtube. ;)
Boy oh boy. You don't have non western social media aren't you ?
@@pan2aja what would you recommend?
Very informative. Enjoyed the topic. Merci
we had a saying, if it was stupid and worked then it wasn't stupid.
I don't think you needed to point out that you studied the tactics manual instead of looking at tik tok videos :) This is the first time that I hear what is really happening in Ukraine from a tactical point. Great video, well done.
on the other hand, there's something to be said for seeing what's really happening rather than what people are supposed to do
@@totensiebush Yes, it would be nice to see a video that would explain how the Russian thought they would fight and how it is going.
Excellent info. Thank you
And this is why the infantry is called ‘crunchies’ by US tankers
Until they run into the "panzer Jaeger " troops. Then its crispy critters in butter boxes. 😂
And to artillery, everyone else on the ground is just different flavours of targets😊
@@SonsOfLorgar HUH? WUT? CAN YOU SPEAK UP !?!?! I GOT ARTY HEARING!!!!
Is the Handflammpatrone the Bundeswehr used the same (basically) as the RPO?
Yes
Honestly quite incredible how hard pro ukrainians project. Just a complete separation from reality.
Propaganda and Projection is what they do best.
Thanks. Great discussion.
This all sounds like attacking on the tactical ability of the Wehrmacht in spring '45...
Do you have a picture of an RPO.
Very interesting discussion!
Only combined arms units in the liine are 144th and 3rd Motorized ,144th is fighting g in forest and plenty of vids using combined arms. Rest of the units fighting are mostly DPR/ Wagner, Marines
The RPO is essentially an RPG, the main difference being the warhead itself. The missile itself is what starts the fire.
Mr. Drobev is a treasure trove of quality information, but sometimes it seems like you have to pull it out with a corkscrew lmao.
Nonetheless, excellent video as always.
Nothing tactical is possible without training. The Russians are not getting adequate training. 😢
RPO device has been around since the soviet afghan wars with various upgrades. It looks a lot like the american LAW anti tank rocket of same vintage. Basically it is a one man light portable one shot disposable rocket effective range 300m maximum range about 1400m. It has 3 variants, thermobaric, incendiary and smoke. This article is talking about the thermobaric variant. There have been a lot of variants in terms of sights, calibres (70mm, 90mm), non disposable reusable fire control elements etc. Important thing is you have to get fairly close to be accurate 300m.
Why is the clip on that helmet not secured? 🙃
Murphy law #22123 if its stupid tactic but it works, its not stupid.
Intersting video. Thx
If the Russian military is having difficulty (I'm being very generous with my phrasing here.) performing attacks using combined arms or simply coordinating similar units; infantry with other infantry, because of poor to almost non-existent training, along with multiple brigades or remnants of multiple brigades being thrown together with little or no coordination, what will happen when these cobbled together formations and conscripted formations are on the receiving end of an attack, say in the late Spring or Summer? I can't think the results will be very good for the Russians.
I don't know where you get the no training idea from, what is being said and has been seen is a lack of coordination and basically no use of combined armes which are both factors that get negated or at least mitigated on the defense, as long as there isnt a hole in the frontline and your units aren't getting outflanked and overrun.
@@geniusderweise400 - It's been widely reported that the 300,000 most recent conscripts added to the Russian army have received little training of value. A number of phone intercepts appear to confirm this. Obviously the contract soldiers and Wagner professionals still in service have been trained.
Getting outflanked because an adjacent unit is pushed back or overrun is always a problem, but I'm wondering if it could become a disastrous problem because of the lack of communication and coordination. Plus, how well can conscripted units be expected to perform as reinforcements or used to attempt to stop a breakthrough that is already occurring?
I know that in some areas the Russians have set up defenses in depth, but the front is about 600 mi or 965 km long. I doubt they have could do that everywhere. All of these factors together create the possibility of a real disaster for the Russian Army sometime this Summer. The Ukrainians just need to find the right spot to hit.
'Receiving end of an attack..' with what?! Ukrainians have been worn down to schoolchildren and their grandparents.
@@Kwolfx Phone intercepts!? Snake island was a phone intercept, wasn't it! This complete Ukrainian bs has been fluffed up by Western intelligence forever saying Russians are out of missiles, shells, tanks, manpower..You bought WMD's did you not?!
@@Kwolfx This didn't age well, huh...
IMHO the Russian have a massive problem with Ukrainians having excellent intelligence. I think it is pretty safe to assume that the Ukraine has satellite and drone date from the US, officially or not. Russians have massive problems with that, basically enjoying absolutely no fog of war, the Ukrainias always knowing where they are. And with the current advantage of defensive weapons like artillery and anti tank and anti helicopter/aircraft systems, combined arms warfare becomes a very theoretical concept.
If you are in plain sight, the enemy always seeing you coming and prepared to shoot down anything tech like tanks or helicopters, or counterbattery, well what tactics do you have left, always attacking in plain sight, on foot, after some artillery barrage. So all you have is numerical advantage. And that is what we are seeing.
They never had numerical advantage. From day 1 on the number of troops russia sent into Ukraine was always lower than the number of Ukrainian troops available. Currently the estimate is maybe 300k russian troops (including the Donbas stooges and Wagner) active at the front in total. Ukraine mobilized 900k, with the likely losses at least 750k are still around in fighting condition. You do not attack an enemy twice and a half times as strong as you, an invasion needs about 2-3 times numerical advantage cause digging in and defending is so much easier than rolling up such resistance.
Maybe they can temporarily concentrate a small advantage on the scale this guy talked about... squads or maybe platoons against singular foxholes, but that doesn't make for sustainable warfare and it has shown to not work at all during 6 or 7 months of Wagner pounding down on Bakhmut.
@@Ugly_German_Truths and yet that smaller force has basically destroyed the man power advantage of ukraine, they are dragging in old men and children. This guest is a conversation to no where, his bias has been clear for many years now.
im seriously expecting russia to level that field by pulling a Kessler syndrome orbital strike
@@Ugly_German_Truths yes, I meant numerical advantage on a tactical level, in the specific attack. Sorry for being unclear there.
Russian recce is just as good as the other side. They have the drones, spy planes, and satellites too. Their C3I is just as good down to brigade levels.
Sad that so many people who at one point I would go to for information on military matters turn out either had no idea what they were talking, lairs, or fooled heavily by very bad sources of information based upon at times personal bias on something.
We know even from the start of the SMO the Russians weren't what they were being painted out as and we're seeing it now.
Much like all the others examples we've seen this alone with others aged like milk.
One doesn't need to be even in favor of Russia's efforts in Ukraine just honest and self-aware along with generally aware that they might be lied to about this.
?
huh?
Gamer chair, gamer headphones - this is someone I can RESPECT!
If it’s stupid but it works, it’s not stupid.
Good discussion
For a second I thought you were saying “manhwa” and was like “Russia is making a military manhwa!? Someone should do that. I’d defiantly read it. Also not a bad idea for teaching crayon eating Marines tactics.
By the same measure opening beer bottles with your teeth is effective.
Why is the audio so wonky
Interesting.
that is very convincing from a german...
720p Upload??? AOL dial-up modem?
Stan is the best analyst I have heard of regarding this war. BTW video was bit off. Stan was on point but host's referencing on ww2 was odd!
Thanks for the insights!As a principle,nobody,not even your enemy,is stupid.It's all about organizations that are ineffective or lacking of means.But it's precisely that,ineffectiveness what makes you lose wars.Amazing that with so many proxy wars under its belt,that the Russian army is so feeble and lacking communications,adapting to changing conditions and resupplies.But they will not withdraw due to national pride and individual courage and fear.Best wishes to all Ukranian servicemen and civilians alike!
Actually it makes a lot of sense. Russian goal is to make the world go back 100 yrs
I mean if you have been in the army and never trained as to when mortars get involved, I have to think, is the west really as good at combined arms as it used to be. Or have be become so focused on asymmetric warfare and small unit tactics that we have lost our ability for operational level actions.
It probably varies a lot between different western countries.
@@SonsOfLorgar starting to get the impression that outside of the big names it's a shambles. Although the UK says their ground forces are also ineffective and France had to use 75% of it's army for an anti terrorist operation in Libya. Netherlands only had 24 artillery pieces and only crew for 12, none of Spain's tanks can move. Feels like the USA and air forces are the only thing holding it together.
@@greybuckleton you are correct. It is why we're seeing massively increased defence budgets across the board.
@@ItsATrap614 Yeah but are we. We will see. UK was looking at cuts, Germany can't seem to agree to even buy ammo. Let's hope the politics and bureaucracy can be swept aside.
What war excluding Iraq has west fought in 70 years?
Whole NATO doesn't have the inventory to win this war
Finally a video that covers the other side of the war. I know the russians are taking heavy losses. I'm also Asking how effective their weaponry/battle skills are?
How do you know the Russians 'are taking heavy losses'?
thx
_"If it's stupid but works, it isn't stupid."_ - Murphy
I think "sustainable" is the real question. Russians are advancing, but at a glacial pace for high cost. We know that Russia does not care how many men it loses, but should Russia care? Russia, relative to the rest of the world, does not have the population that it did 80 years ago. How many people can they lose for every meter taken?
The flip side is Ukrainian losses. How bad are they relative to Russian losses?
Fact is that if Russia can break Ukraine at the cost of a million or so Russians then the tactic is sustainable. If Ukraine can kill more effectively, making Russia pay so dearly that it cannot sustain the pace, then the tactics are stupid.
Nice
There was less misnformation delivered by Stavka to Stalin (in fear of telling him the truth), during the initial phases of Barbarossa , than by this random fella who for some unknown reason Bernard has christened the modern day Ewald von Kleist (who is also a prodigy on finance and geopolitics apparently) ... I truly feel sorry for what this once awesome channel has become !
They follow in line behind minesweeper.
western doctrine: "please oh god think for yourself when you execute a mission"
russian doctrine: "please oh god don't think"
Western doctrine: "Do or die"
Russian doctrine: "Die but do"
RPO's like The FLASH. That bazooka like thing Schwarzenegger has in Commando.
MHV you need to bring in a western veteran like Kurt Schlicter to discuss this. I saw the Chieftain interviews and they were excellent! This guy is ok, but he is limited to tactical theory.
Video game strategy, training manuals, poor command structure issues, lack of supplies and stupid training tactics? Could this be projection at play here?
A very confusing and convoluted discussion. However, back in the real world. The stupid, poorly trained Russian convicts and regular military troops are slowly advancing and capturing more and more Ukrainian territory daily.
0.11% gained territory since the loss of Kherson for the Russians. Let that sink in
@@DJ1573 Loss of Kherson and 0.11%? What are the numbers for Bakhmut, Avdeevka and Soledar?
Perhaps this discussion on Russian stupid training and poor quality battlefield tactics is a coping mechanism to avoid stress or unpleasant emotions? Like the Russians, slow and allegedly 0.11% advances in the Donetsk region of Ukraine.
Grief moves in and out of stages from disbelief and denial, to anger and delusion, to finding a source of comfort, to eventually adjusting to the loss.
@@Beeworker 0,11% in all of Ukraine since the loss of Kherson. Look up all villages conquered by Russia in that timeframe
@@DJ1573
Not disputing the 0,11% of what was Ukraine territory. Have no idea what the plan is for all of Ukraine land?
That’s a question for the governments of the U.S.A., Ukraine and the Russian Federation.
The question is, what’s happening on the battlefield now? What are the numbers for Bakhmut, Avdeevka and Soledar regions?
@@Beeworker Ukraine is using the least amount of troops to hold those territories while reserve troops and new volunteers are being trained by NATO which you can look up very easily.
The Modern Russian army has a similar issue to the Italian army in WW2. It has too many smaller units to staff with trained officers, and not enough qualified NCOs to make up for that shortcoming, and ironically for the same reason that Italy had, to have a bigger army on paper to satisfy the higher-ups.
This is not acurrate. Not for the italians anyway. The italians didn't have lots of small units to satisfy higher ups. It was for strategic mobility and flexibility, especially in mountainous terrain. Which it did improve, it also came with issues ofcaurse, but it wasn't just a PR thing.
Essentially they had an entire army of German jagers and gebirgsjagers divisions (which were also binary for mobility)
Their motorised divisions started the war as trinary, but were converted into binary divisions later on (once again for greater mobility).
As a side note ww2 soviet divisions were about the same size as italian ones, and German ones were reorganised to be of similar size to italian ones.
Thermobaric is a fuel air bomb.
Fuel air explosives. First it spreads out a cloud of gas over an area, and then afterwards it ignites that could and create a massive explosion. And that can be very effective when you want say kill people inside a tunnel or inside a room with very thick strong walls. The blastwave is enormous - just watch the TOS-1 bombardment and you will see a weapon with a gigantic firepower. And aircrafts can drop a bomb with more than 10 times more explosives than a rocket so a big explosion does instead become enormous. There are a video from Syria where a gigantic building with the size of a shopping mall flies into the air and gets completly wiped out by a single bomb. So it is a very powerful weapon, almost like a tactical nuke.
Some people describe it as a flamethrower and a warcrime to use them. But I disagree. Sure they give their victims many nasty wounds internally and externally, but so does other bombs as well. And I do not think this weapon look any similiar to napalm. So I am okay with its use. Indeed I think that it should be used against Russian forces in Ukraine.
I think the phrase that sums the Russian strategy up best is, "Crude, but effective." Yes, they're making slow progress, but horribly inefficently.
The general staff is incompetent, those who are competent, usually get removed for political reasons
Two typical things for the Russian military historically when it comes to advancing into enemy territory:
Slow tempo and extremely high russian losses.
Nothing about these tactics is effective.
Russia runs very rapidly out of soldiers, of ammunition and of vehicles (sending warm bodies without any sort of training or equipment to the front is not "replacing soldiers", it's just stuffing cannonfodder into the meatgrinder int he hopes of clogging it up). That is no way to win such a "special military operation". The so called "progress" is laughable when you consider the price they pay for it. 1000 dead a day is unsustainable as is fighting a 2000s war with 1960s tactics.
No, not even slow, what have they Done? Gained like 0.4% of whole Ukraine in a year. Thats slower then slow.
Losing a war is inefficient
Winning it on the other hand...
Over simplification from Dobrev. Is he a war correspondent? You can pick any thing that happens on front lines and drive conclusions all over the place. For a example did it occur to him that first thing would be done with mobilised is to replenish brigades that have loses? Not to make new brigades from scratch. All world does that.
In my estimation, the Russians' greatest weakness in battle has always been its critical lack of battlefield tactical leadership. It matters not that your plan is fool (Putin) proof, if the soldiers/leaders at the battalion level and BELOW to the lowest man don't have impeccable soldier skills, a detailed understanding of the tactical situation, a solid understanding of fire and maneuver, AND the AUTHORITY to use all of the above when the situation calls for it i.e.- Company/Battalion CO gets waxed by an arty mission on his targeted un-secure cell phone - then all that's left to do is feed the grinder and hope you don't run out of meat! But that's the congenital weakness of the Russian Army - for whatever reason(s), many likely valid, they choose to not train their rank and file much more than "point the muzzle that way and pull the trigger" Personally, I think it's a trust issue.
"Personally, I think it's a trust issue." - reasonable. Methinks, all the quirks and weird traits of Russian political systems (weird to first-worlders) are there to secure power structure from internal threats.
Once you teach people that they can think, show initiative AND benefit from it, you can't control them easily.
@@randomnobodovsky3692after recent happenings in the west, it's same shit system over here with another paint job
@@Tonixxy Well, a paint job AND some cushioning. Chances of being outright killed by the ruling class, on a whim, are much, much lower in the first world.
Good luck trying to organise 200 000 men my friend. Small hint - it is impossible. Yes, you could assemble a force of physically fit men with good motivations that will listen, if we are talking about 10 000 men. Even 20 000 men. But with a force of 200 000, it will always be a chaos. Ukraine tried to organise for 10 years, they never managed to step further than small national battalions such as Tornado or Azov, which had excellent training, equipment, had homogenous population of ideologically prepared similarly minded fit young men.
When you have 200 000, be ready to have a crowd of 30-40 year olds with drinking problems, who don`t care about discipline or organisation, surely do not expect them to listen to a 20 year old. And your command will be men in their 50s who do not care about war anyways, they care about their careers and sweet mortgages provided by the state. They care more about the paper work being done the right way.
So if you were thrown into Ukraine tomorrow or into Russian Armed Forces, you wouldn`t change much, you would have probably been punched in the face and called a prick.
@@Tonixxy west is exactly the same, just with better branding. What is called corruption in Russia is totally legal and called lobbying in the US. Same things, just called with a smart word. When another American bank will get bailed out by using the tax dollars, no one will scream about corruption, when it clearly is, because it is done according to the law that allows it.
Summary
1. The Russian version of the M202 Boi is a god of the battlefield.
2. The End
Thank you for this open and frank discussion of what's going on. It's Ff_N grim.
Thank you!
Just to confirm ...
Russia has hand held flamethrowers? Like WWII US Marines in the Pacific islands? Big "squirt gun" shooting flaming fuel mix.
OR ...
The man pad unit is named a "flamethrower", it is firing "Thermobaric" type projectiles?
OK, you've clarified my question. It is a device like an Anti-tank weapon that fires a projectile that has a 2 stage ignition. First stage explodes to spread fuel through the air, second stage a fraction of a second later ignites the fuel air mix. Makes a very big bang, tends to create a vacuum that sucks in surrounding air.
Unfortunate choice of translated name in English with the connotation of the WWII "flaming squirt gun"
Google search says there are 433,000 prisoners as of Jan 2023.
Jan 2021 (couldn't find 2022, yet) 328,000 prisoners
So, total numbers wise, they still have a large enough pool of prisoners to pick from. I agree, the managers of prisoners would prefer to keep their population up so that they have more to skim from. But, the reason Wagner is no longer recruiting from prison is not numbers, it is that the government no longer allows WAGNER to do recruiting there. The government has started recruiting there!
Sorry, not exactly, the new law allows conscription of convicts who have served their time
www.cnn.com/2022/11/05/europe/russia-ukraine-law-mobilize-serious-crime-offenders-intl/index.html
This article frames it a little different, prisoners can get early release or reduced sentence for joining russian army
www.politico.eu/article/ukraine-russia-war-from-jail-cell-to-frontline-moscow-turns-to-convicts-to-help-flailing-war-effort/
Isn't Ukraine conscripted its citizens? How many are receiving training and how many are sent to the front lines?
Ukraine has the advantage of US/UK training their maneuver units.
Ukraine is running out of old men and has started conscripting women.
Short term efficient, until running out of equipment and personel.
Running out of personel in more than just numbers but also in terms of willingnes to actually do the job and the efficiency of the personel dropping due to low moral and rushed training.
Today is not like the 40's.
Today is not the 80's.
Current losses will break Russia in multiple ways for decades to come.
You're actually describing the Ukranian army. Pure projection.
@@MelvilleSperryn Then lets meet out there and see the truth!
Why you didn't allow him to tell the numbers? He said, "I can give you numbers if you want"
To be honest German infantry assault tactics in late WWII were also pretty stupid. Time and again you read in accounts of company/battalion level battles of Germans advancing like the walking dead and getting mown down like grass.
Well to be fair there was little they could except that by late World War II. The Luftwaffe only existed on paper they didn't have any fuel and most of the troops were either too young or too old.
What was the German infantry formation? A straight line, with the machinegun team and the officer in the front--after contact the line dispersed laterally from the fulcrum of the mg gunner. My understanding is that the Germans were doing this some time after Napoleon visited.
I don't machine guns exists in the German army some time after Napolean.
@@mad_max21 As in by the end of the century. That was when the Maxim was first developed.
Get it together.
"Why they appear so dumb"
Its not just appearance lol
As a uneducated outside observer I would call it the body-artillery tactic.
1. You send bodies for forward reconnaissance.
2. Artillery
3. Send bodies as an attacking force.
4. Artillery.
Rinse and repeat. Very ww1, they should know better.
Ironically the russians werent so sacrificial of their soldiers in ww1 as much as the brits/germans were, but theyre certainly following in the steps of the ww2 russians 😮💨
If their strategy is to demilitarize Ukraine by facetanking their artillery until Ukraine runs out of shells, I'd have to say they're getting it done.
At stupidly high cost in life, but they're getting it done.
@@entropy11 Problem is, in the long term the US and Europe can outproduce ammunition faster than Russia, and while the Russian population is larger than Ukraine's it isn't inexhaustible. This is especially true since Russia's population has been decreasing over the past two decades by millions due to emigration, and mobilization is a big incentive for conscription aged males to leave the country. This is doubly problematic since the military-industrial fields in Russia are in a employment deficit, especially for skilled workers who can find better jobs in engineering fields outside of Russia.
@@colbunkmust Russia is counting on the west losing interest, i think.
@@entropy11 Or, more likely, counting on far-right political parties (especially the GOP) winning elections.
It sounds like they're trying to attempt mechanized tactics with motorized infantry.
Russians Schmels first used in Afghanistan in the 1980s Soviet troops also gained infamy in the First chechen war in the battle of Grozny, very effective weapon, Chechens feared it , now the Ukrainians fear it. Ukrainians btw also havfe schmels and they use it on Russians.
"If it is stupid but works, it isn't stupid" - Mercedes Lackey
I really like this video. Its very informative. I just keep seeing how bad the Russian military is. But how can they keep up the fight being so horrible! And its questionable from the media of what you are seeing if it's the truth. I do believe the Russian military has been historically chaotic but has always managed to keep throwing man away. Anyway regardless of my opinion I enjoyed your video.
If it stupid but effective, then it's not stupid. Another great informative video as always.
Why would it be called stupid?
Because there is a better way that could have be taken. At best, they are effective in the short term, and a burden upon the future.
Pyrrhic victories are often the best case scenarios in wartime.
Personally, “effective” should be attached to such methods with the greatest of reluctance.
@@Jkim890 a phyrric victory looks like all your young women fleeing your country, and all your young men thrown into a meat grinder
when russia doesnt care about human live ofc that is effective :D
Then call it inefficient.
Should be titled Wasteful but effective?
This guy is talking WW1 German storm trooper tactics.
Highly interesting.
Can we trust TikTok as source material? Has anybody asked this yet?
I wouldn't call anything we've seen in the last months effective.
The Ukraine hasn't even got the first line of defense in their offensive after weeks of trying. This is highly effective.
@@MelvilleSperryn no it isn't
@@MelvilleSperryn Ukraine has already recaptured more territory than russia managed to take in their whole offensive period so their offensive tactics were definitely inferior
The correct word, effective, not efficient.
There is no infantry formation which will prevent being bracketed by artillery. Artillery always ambushes you.
dispersed infantry supported by IFVs to rapidly concentrate or disperse is how modern militaries deal with the problem, assuming they can't bomb the guns. the artillery may be able to still target individual groups of infantry but they can't effectively suppress one group without allowing the others to advance
Isolated incidents in thousands of videos
I love the reference in the thumbnail
For what it’s worth I know people reference him as if everyone thinks that, I don’t think so, and I think he was just referencing that fight he was in, but even further I’m pretty sure he was in the northern area which was the place of ambushes in hills and forests
But their tactics are still being executed poorly, the amount of solo tanks or ifvs even today is still offending me on the intellectual level, if war Thunder players would be better than you that’s a problem
@Indigo Rodent hence why you have a spread? ‘All alone in a combat zone’ is the first mistake you learn about in training
Hahahahaha youre so clueless my guy. If youd be better with you War Thunder experience you go and command tanks. Pretty sure after a year of warfare the most effective strats are being employed. You only see the ones that get bad. Plus you cant even move offroad during this time of year. They gotta stick to the roads.
@@niksonrex88 this kids is what we call a sign of insecurity, or as I like to say; “the Hillary Clinton argument” where when someone says something so bulletproof against you, you just laugh in a vain attempt to communicate this idea that ‘look everyone! I’m laughing! That means everything that was said was definitely not true!’
Also the war Thunder bit was a joke dude, but considering your (lack of) social circles I’m not shocked you missed that glaringly obvious joke
@@looinrims oh so youre a redditor. Sucks for you my dude. Im laughing cause your comment is genuinely funny. I could have this debate with you but i dont have the time for your stupid ass. You wouldn’t even get half the stuff i say.
Also i cant read the tone of the sentence. You didnt do anything to make it look sarcastic or like a joke, hence it looks like youre serious. And i do think you are.
Oh an another thing, you have 674 comments on this channel alone? You dont wanna talk about social life my guy hahahahahah.
@Indigo Rodent it still makes me cringe, it violates rule one: ‘all alone in a combat zone’
Time will tell... what was propaganda and what was truth... at least to a certain degree.