Another walk through the frontlines. Another relatively quiet day on the frontlines.
Tim White, Ukraine expert, interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKzKMNmOa0I
UA Supporter / Reporting from Ukraine merch:
https://uasupporter.com/atp
(or use the code ATP)
_____
0:00 Start
0:10 Overnight, Sevastopol, mud
5:36 Svatove-Kreminna – P66
15:20 Bakhmut & Avdivka
17:18 Vulhedar & Vremivka
19:35 Kherson
_____
Maps:
War Mapper: https://twitter.com/War_Mapper
Books: https://www.amazon.com/Jonathan-MS-Pearce/e/B004DAVFKC?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_2&qid=1633620617&sr=8-2
Blog/column: https://onlysky.media/jpearce/
Merchandise for the A Tippling Philosopher blog network and YouTube channel. https://www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/49320825
Buy me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/GkxsyfQ
Paypal Donate: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/johnnyp76
source
The 3 line system, with instructions to each line to shoot retreaters, makes more sense when you take into account that Russia relies heavily on artillery for defence. So a front line of infantry only needs to have held attackers in place for a while, or slowed them down, to have served the Kremlin.
Svah-toe-vah = Svatove
In WW2 the Russians used Penal Battalions, several companies of "military criminals" and irrc NKVD companies. The penal companies would be sent forward and the NKVD would be behind to stop retreats/encourage an advance.
Lines behind the front line to stop a retreat is normal for Russia from ww1 and ww2 and normally done effectively with massive losses, as troops being massacred not being able to go forward or retreat leading to stalemate. This can only work if Russia can get people around the flanks. In this case they can't.
The invading forces are behaving like an Ork Army
Thank you for a comprehensive report, clear & concise after watching the comedy channel of D. P. A. this has been a refreshing change.
thanks
@3:20 Ricky Gervais steps in for a moment for a comment, before the narrator continues…
Looks like Russia may be looking for a new flagship in the black sea again. They will using a row boat as a flagship soon.
i can see that you use reliable and objectively sources…..
I HAVE MISPRONOUNCED SVATOVE. I WILL GET IT RIGHT TOMORROW.
Der Commissars will shoot the retreating Russians just like on the Ostfront in 41. Russian military doctrine same as it ever was, just like the Russian toilets are still a 🕳️ in the backyard 😁🇺🇦✌️
I saw that vid on Twitter of the Russian conscripts saying they have no equipment or ammo. Reminded me of Hudson’s line in Aliens – “what are we supposed to use, harsh language?”
Hopefully Russian troops who surrender will be granted special Ukrainian citizenship if they desire it. Ukraine needs young soldiers to defeat Russia reclaim all its land including Crimea and then to help Ukraine turn itself into an advanced democratic modern NATO nation. Both Russia and Ukraine have extremely low reproductive rates if Ukraine can convert several hundred thousand Russians to being. Ukrainians it would be a huge strategic win post war.
The only purpose of the prisoners and mobilized troops is to use up Ukrainian ammunition.
hahaha
you stated that they cut of any resupply in the kherson region but then you said they are fortifying and digging in , makes no sense you can not fortify your position if your logistics have been cut off.
Keeps quite a large amount of inventory pinned down while AFU continue to exert their will.
SLAVA 🇺🇦
What is weird about Kherson is that we have been told since August that Russian morale is rock bottom and that the troops there are running out of ammunition and supplies, and that they cannot be easily supplied due to attacks on bridges and ferries, etc., etc. But if all that was true in August, how come they are still there, and apparently defending tenaciously? Troops with zero morale do not defend so well, and troops with no ammunition do not defend at all. At the very least we can say that there remains enough artillery pieces and artillery munitions to blunt Ukrainian attacks (because small arms cannot stop a tank or APC), and that Russian morale remains high enough that the troops there are prepared to defend, and aren't surrendering en mass, or shooting their officers.
It is starting to feel like Russia has far greater fighting spirit, and far better logistics and deeper supplies of equipment and munitions than we have been lead to believe. Because six weeks ago we were being told that Ukraine will have captured the whole Kherson bridgehead simply via attrition of Russian logistics.
I'm also wondering about where Ukraine is getting its officers from. Sure you can send infantrymen through basic training in 12 weeks (or I think the UK has a special condensed version for Ukrainians), but you cannot train officers in that time, it takes what, a year to train a junior officer? And you need those guys, you need ensigns and lieutenants and captains to make those tactical decisions on the ground. Is this why Ukrainian breakthroughs keep faltering?
Because it feels like Ukraine has had several big breakthroughs over the last two months but has failed to fully exploit those, and has allowed Russia to regroup and dig in again, and now Russia is getting a lot more boots on the ground those big breakthroughs might become a lot harder to achieve. This late summer / autumn is starting to look like a series of missed opportunities for Ukraine.
Don't get me wrong, the average Ukrainian fighter is tenacious and brave and fearless, but at the tactical / operational level there seems to be a deficit.
It says a lot when Russian soldiers trust Ukrainian soldiers more for their safety than their own military.
I noticed you are referencing moral values, amongst russians, or lack thereof. It seems russian society has devalued selfworth to an extent where a life doesn't matter at all anymore, neither individually to oneself nor on a collective level. Its very difficult to have moral values when a society degrades to an extent where life isn't worth anything.
Russian tactical mindset not moved on since WW2, when they used Penal battalions as Cannon Fodder
Excellent use of Mapping,explaining the High Ground…
Mispronounced a Ukraine town? ROFL. You ain't never gone pronouncem as the natives do. But take heart, Lord Byron wrote a poem Don Juan, pronounced Don Jew-on, as can be shown by considering the rhyme, I am told. It's sposed to be an honorable custom for Brits to pronounce foreign words they way they want to "irregardless." How do you have a Thames River & call it Tims? And how do you have Worcestershire & never say shire, which rhymes with choir? Wustu sauce anyone?
I have heard quite a few recordings and evidence of russian anti retreat troops being placed on 2nd 3rd defense lines who shoot to kill any russians retreating from the 1st line. russia is a sick country and this will not actually win them the war. No will to fight here. Now putin has "ended" mobilization officially because it was so widely HATED in russia! If we continue to support Ukraine with REAL weapons they will win and take back ALL of their land within the next year or so!
Actually I would imagine that the capture of large numbers of Russian POWs would also slow down any Ukrainian attacks. What do you do with these POWs? How are they shipped away from the frontlines? Who escorts them?, etc.
The exact same videos exist of Ukrainian troops bemoaning their lack of weapons and ammunition, but also food and equipment.
BTW. The daily beast is not a reliable source of info by any measure, so any insights from them are almost certainly propaganda.