Every day for a week I wanted to post this video, but each time I missed the opportunity. Today for the first time I saw another boring video on the channel of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation from Bakhmut, it tells how army units hold the flanks, and how they have everything PERFECT. Perhaps, they decided to take over the agenda. Once again, just in case, I’ll say that the Russian Armed Forces are mostly good fighters, but what’s the use to recruit 300, 500, or at least 900 thousand of them, when, in view of the almost complete absence of a built-in combat control system in the troops, coherence of actions, communications, reconnaissance complex, fire support, training, etc., etc., they will simply be crushed as below in the video. Below in the video is how a week ago the 3rd Assault Brigade “Azov” of the Armed Forces of Ukraine took the platoon-strongpoint (48°29’13″N 37°54’57″E) of the Russian Armed Forces, which is located 2.5 km south of those positions that they had taken a little earlier (that footage with the 72nd brigade infantry fleeing from an enemy tank).
The assault itself lasts about 16 minutes, filmed in one shot. During this time, the enemy crosses 305 meters. Where are the hand-held anti-tank weapons? Where are the anti-tank firing points with ATMs? Where is the minefield with TMs? Where is the fire support from the flanks (from perpendicular woodlines) on the left and right? WHY THE FUCK DOES THE BMP RIDE SLOWLY IN OPEN SPACE FOR 15 MINUTES? What did they say in that video by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation? “We’re burning enemy vehicles as they approach”?
Why were our servicemen simply crushed, on foot? Probably, the “Wagnerites” are to blame for this again, and not the commanders of the RF Armed Forces on the ground. I’ll just say for myself that I can’t imagine that we could go like this along the woodline, hiding behind vehicles, where the enemy is on the defensive. Most likely, we would not even have had time to dismount from the vehicles, we would have been burned on the way. The enemy placed TM mines at all approaches. The BMD could not even go to the line to pick up the wounded, so they were dragged through one more woodline. And when a group of VDV was withdrawn (only 300m) to occupy a site in the “gray zone”, they were immediately cut off from the neighboring woodline by enemy fire, preventing us from leaving and gaining a foothold at a previously set point.
https://twitter.com/wartranslated/status/1659197340111220738?cxt=HHwWhMDR2ZTM04YuAAAA
Comment: This is the commentary of Grey Zone, a Wagner-friendly war blogger. It’s not so much a commentary as a cry of anguish and despair. More than anything else, what this video shouts is that the VDV troops around the ever so important Bakhmut are woefully inadequate in the defense. What does that say for the rest of the Russian forces manning the Fabrege line across southeast Ukraine? They were manning entrenched positions. They weren’t under intense artillery fire. Yet it looks like most of them high-tailed it out of there. The few that remained appeared to retreat to dugouts before they were killed. The conduct of a successful defense requires skilled, motivated troops with bold and determined leadership just as the conduct of a successful offensive. Defense is not easy. And it doesn’t appear the Russians are up to it.
As for the Ukrainian squad conducting the assault, they exhibited all those traits. They assaulted dismounted because of the threat of mines and advanced in the tracks of their MICV (mechanized infantry assault vehicle). This is one of the Dutch donated vehicles very similar to the MICVs I saw being tested at Benning (now Moore) when I was going through Infantry Basic. They’re only slightly better than the original M-113 APC. This one seems to be armed with a 50 cal MG. The squad was expecting engineer support which never arrived. They made effective use of grenades and rifle grenades, but had no artillery support. They still managed to take the strongpoint without casualties. That should not have happened in the face of a competent, if not determined, defense.
Putin and his generals should be shivering in their boots watching this video. Grey Zone obviously is.
TTG
Damn! That was an adrenilen rush for me sitting right here.
It was. But I can top that with this installment of:
Die Laughing if You Heard About the Spy Who Fell for This!
“It will assist people who are gradually losing their ability to speak.”
Yes, that’s what it must have been be designed for. No question. Not putting any text you compose into someone else’s voice. No way.
“But F&L, didn’t you hear the part about how YOU have to record your OWN voice?”
Yes, I did.
Overheard: Well, Marshall Dillon, them Rooskies are whupped now. Guess it’s about time to ..
—————————-
Apple users will be able to turn text into your own speech with new update.
Many iPhone users use Apple’s speech-to-text feature. But a new update will let people turn text into spoken words in their own voices on Apple devices. TechCrunch senior culture reporter Amanda Silberling has more.
https://youtu.be/5zjm_Pyfmwo
Whitewall,
I was waiting for artillery or AT fire to kick in. I think the lack of that indicated just how stretched the forces around Bakhmut are. Years ago, I noted that the Syrian War appeared to be a squad leader and platoon leader’s war as it is in this video. The same was true in 2014-2015 Donbas fighting. That was also my experience in the Shouf Mountains in 1983. That might be characteristic of all modern wars.
I watched the video again and could not detect if anyone spent time watching over head. They didn’t have to worry I guess. Also the ground looked pretty firm as the men followed the tracks to the objective. Maybe the muddy season is over as the surrounding terrain looked pretty solid as well.
A post by a Sergey Rusov who is just an average guy over there, probably one of Strelkov’s Angry Patriot Club. In other words a nobody. I don’t know how realistic his fears are. My guess is save for fear of drastic escalation that Kaliningrad is going back to Krautland or for fun we can watch them fight the Poles for it. Oboy. September 1939 redux. (Note to TTG – truncate and leave the link or just trash it. Too long. By now people should know how to work the Telegram translate feature). But the thing to pay attention to here is that Sergey Rusov is a perfectly ok guy. He loves Russia. He’s a Russian. And thinks things are hopeless re Kaliningrad. This is where he’s at.
https://t.me/sergeyrusov/38
THE BALTIC FLEET MUST BE SAVED.
Finland’s entry into NATO (and the imminent appearance of Sweden in the ranks of the Alliance) finally turns the Baltic Sea into a NATO lake. As a result, our Baltic Fleet found itself not only in a difficult, but a threatening position.
It is no secret that now he is totally inferior to the combined forces of the navies of the NATO countries. For some classes of ships (for example, submarines), the superiority of the enemy is overwhelming. We will not be able to cope with the combined forces of the NATO navies in the Baltic theater (this is a fact), but we can still save the main thing – personnel and ships, each of which, in the conditions of a weak Russian shipbuilding industry, is a treasure.
Peacetime for our country ended with the outbreak of the Third World War on February 24, 2022. So, it is necessary to realize that the enemy will attack and this is already inevitable. Meanwhile, now our Baltic Fleet is concentrated in Baltiysk (Kaliningrad Region) within the reach of enemy missiles, aircraft and artillery. Turning it into a pile of flaming debris during a massive strike, and then capturing Baltiysk with a swift throw of ground forces will not be difficult. And the enemy, no doubt, has already developed appropriate plans and will take advantage of this chance. For him, June 22 has already come a long time ago …
It is necessary right now, without a moment’s delay, to prepare the evacuation from Baltiysk and Kaliningrad – ships, materiel, archives, equipment, families of military personnel and sailors, the headquarters of the Baltic Fleet and take everything to Kronstadt and St. Petersburg.
I want to remind you that in 1941, our Baltic Fleet was much more powerful, had a developed basing system and even some superiority in strength over Nazi Germany and Finland. But this still did not save him from monstrous losses due to the superiority of the enemy in the air, the loss of the Baltic bases and the total mining of the Gulf of Finland by the enemy. Having broken through to Leningrad during the tragic Tallinn crossing, the fleet was locked up and almost until the end of the war stood idle under enemy air raids and artillery shelling.
Now the enemy, in addition to superiority in surface and submarine ships, aviation and mine weapons, also has anti-ship missile systems, as well as a space reconnaissance and target designation system. Therefore, NATO will not allow the second Tallinn crossing of 1941 or the Ice Campaign of 1918 – we simply will not have time to overcome the 550 nautical miles through the sea space from Baltiysk to Kronstadt, needlessly destroying ships and people.
It is not sad, but it is precisely for the sake of saving ships and personnel for a war period that the composition and structure of the Baltic Fleet will need to be radically changed. The most valuable and “fresh” ships will need to be transferred to the Northern and Black Sea fleets, and the main emphasis will be on coastal troops, mosquito fleet, sabotage activities and anti-ship missile systems, which will target NATO ships, preventing them from approaching the Russian shores.
Panic and reasoning all-propeller? No, a sober assessment of the situation, a call not to remain idiots and learn the lessons of the past war. As long as the fragile truce is still in place and NATO is playing a “strange war” with us, it is necessary to seize the chance, and not wring our hands later, shouting about a treacherous attack. After all, the entry of Finland and Sweden into NATO is a clear and precise signal of the inevitability of war in the Baltic.
Finally, for those who still believe that all this is nonsense, since we have nuclear weapons, and “they won’t dare.” All the “red lines” that our leadership so diligently drew have already been crossed by the enemy. Moreover, he did it as defiantly and brazenly as possible (one attack of the Kremlin with a Ukrainian drone is worth something), checking Moscow’s readiness for retaliatory actions. His conclusion is obvious – the Russian leadership has no desire and political will to escalate and press the cherished red button. And this understanding of the psychology of the current Russian “elite” is pushing NATO to further escalate and expand the geography of hostilities, which will inevitably spread to the Baltic ..
F&L,
That’s actually a fairly insightful article. I’ll allow the whole translation. What will happen to the Baltic Fleet and Kaliningrad. It’s going to be as cut off as Guantanamo is for us. Not good conditions for maintaining and sustaining the fleet. It could still remain an anti-air and anti-ship hedgehog, as the author suggests, but at quite a cost with everything coming in by sea or air from Saint Petersburg.
F&L
If Russia’s Baltic fleet presents no danger to NATO then it would only be in danger if the war escalates to the point that NATO becomes directly involved.
In this situation, the fate of the Baltic fleet is the least of our problems. The author thinks that Kremlin will never escalate to nuclear war. Maybe current Kremlin would not. However, if Ukrainians manage to totally humiliate Russia on the battlefield, threatening the recapture of Crimea, it is doubtful that Putin and Co would still remain in control.
In times of desperation people turn to leaders that promise to “save” them. We all know what kind of leaders can “rise to the occasion” in these situations.
The West needs to have a plan for this possibility (the military defeat of Russia in Ukraine). Mistakes made with Germany after it suffered military defeat in WW1 must not be repeated.
Personally, I doubt our politicians have the wisdom to resist triumphalism and greed.
Grey Zone can’t spell the 2nd person personal pronoun formal version вы? And broadcasts to the world Ви Точно ВДВ rather than вы точно ВДВ? written all over the video? Very interesting.
F&L,
It’s a Ukrainian video. It’s one of the linguistic differences between Ukrainian and Russian. Grey Zone just reposted it.
Righto. Foiled again.
Is it time to break the news to the assembly that the NY Times is an avid reader of your blog here? Perhaps I am mistaken again. My inference, a shade fuzzy, follows from the observation that this article appeared exactly the morning after your post here on the same incident from early May.
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‘Approaching. Move In.’ How Ukraine Reversed the Momentum in Bakhmut
Seizing an opening as Russia rotated troops, Ukraine pressed ahead with three days of maneuvers that gained ground on the flanks of Bakhmut.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/20/world/europe/ukraine-bakhmut.html
I recall watching CNN once reporting on my unit getting hit by an “IED” in Afghanistan. It was hit but it wasn’t an IED. It was a VBIED jingle truck filled with god knows how many lbs of explosives set off in the middle of a busy market we were driving through. Scores of people died including one of my gunners. CNN sold it as a small IED that killed one US Soldier.
Ever since then I regard any “news” on a battlefield with uncommon prejudice. Unless one is on the ground and in the moment they won’t know what is going on. Both sides are blocking the truth on a grand scale never before seen in warfare. The only things I believe is elections are cancelled in Ukraine and Russia indefinitely and anyone reporting anything remotely negative within the borders of each country are probably in a lot of trouble.
No spring offensive.
Bakhmut has fallen.
A dentist in Damascus has humilated the West.
US policy in the Middle East is collapsing. No amount of murder, subversion, or sanctions can put it back together.
US intelligence and security organs are revealed to be full of incompetents, careerists and outright traitors, while the Pentagon beclowns itself by promoting sodomy and mental illness throughout the military.
And so it is sad to see this site continue to engage in reality avoidance, willful denial, and copium addiciton.
It is your business if you want to piss away your own crediblity nonsense. But the memory of Lang and this blog deserves better than this, and you know it.
You’re right. This site posted the above video about an early may encounter favorable to Ukraine just as Bakhmut fell and waited a day to post about Bakhmut falling. Just like the NY Times online edition did. They featured the exact same incident above and with more emphasis than the story about Bakhmut falling and disputed the fall in their hallowed “both sides” tradition. Isn’t Assad an eye surgeon or is the dentist someone else? Whoever it is he has an entirely destroyed rump state in place of his country. No matter, you’re right. The lunatics are in charge of Team USA and that’s being nice. Psychopathic lunatics. That Peter Zeihan stooge is actually touring the country telling audiences that the United States WILL lose cities to nuclear attack in the not too distant future, that it’s not even worth debating. But it’s the way he says it. Completely depraved and monstrous with an “oh well” attitude and then a segue into how fabulously profitable real estate investment will be down the road. I suppose he congratulates himself thinking he is psyching out the Russians and thinks “isn’t my blasé attitude perfect?”
TTG
Looks like this is the YPR-765 APC?
If this twitter thread is correct,
in the first video they get passed by another IFV that appears to have the same contours on that armor.
https://twitter.com/UAWeapons/status/1524852361939849217
https://militaryleak.com/2022/05/14/ukrainian-ground-forces-uses-dutch-ypr-765-infantry-fighting-vehicles/
From a 2022 article:
YPR-765, a Dutch relative of M113, which already serves the Armed Forces of Ukraine
https://mezha.media/en/2022/05/18/ypr-765/
I learned something – thank you!
kj
KjHeart,
Yes that’s a Dutch YPR-765 APC. Certainly not top of the line. I saw a TV report today of one severely damaged by a frontal hit by an ATGM. The two crew members survived and got out safely. I guess the Dutch modifications on the armor are effective. I doubt a stock M-113 would come out as well.
TTG – I am very interested in the armor they (the Dutch) are using – even though it is an older YPR-765 it still gets-r-done. Got to admire that.
kj