Posted on 06/22/2023 6:34:20 PM PDT by Mariner
During World War II, German soldiers marveled at how skillfully Red Army troops used a shovel.
At battles such as Stalingrad, the Soviets proved to be masters of entrenchment and camouflage. German commanders said that a Red Army bridgehead had to be counterattacked and destroyed quickly because once the Soviets were dug in, they would be a nightmare to dig out.
Poor military performance in Ukraine has punctured Russian President Vladimir Putin's fantasy of reviving the Soviet empire. Yet Russian engineers seem to have lost none of their skill. They have created a dense system of fortifications that may stymie Ukraine's counteroffensive.
"Russian engineering has proven to be one of the stronger branches of the Russian military," a recent report by Britain's Royal United Services Institute, a think tank, said.
It's not that Russia has evolved new tactics. Current Russian fortification doctrine has seen "little methodological change" since the Cold War, the RUSI report said.
"Russian constructions follow traditional military plans for entrenchment, largely unchanged since the Second World War," British military intelligence said in a December statement about Russian activity in Luhansk.
The problem for Ukraine is that since late last year, Russian forces have been building up their defensive positions in eastern Ukraine and along the northern approaches to Crimea. These engineering works include concrete-lined trenches, barbed wire, dragon's teeth, anti-tank ditches, and plenty of anti-tank and anti-personnel mines, and they "pose a major tactical challenge to Ukrainian offensive operations," the RUSI report said.
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
Russia has that same culture inculcated into every soldier.
That just be why western media was saying they were nothing but conscripts, armed only with shovels.
They didn't know a shovel is a mighty weapon.
I told you it was a trap as soon as the counteroffensive began.
DIDN’T I.
The internet is forever
trap?
what are you talking about?
Battle of Kursk
Ww2
Read the story you posted
“ concrete-lined trenches, barbed wire, dragon’s teeth, anti-tank ditches, and plenty of anti-tank and anti-personnel mines”
Battle of Kursk
TRAP
We’re you born yesterday?!
I think if you see too many troops drawn into the east, Russia will invade Kiev. It’s just too tempting.
My understanding is that Russia might be doing better than we are being led to know. Ukraine has been mostly unable to bypass the first level of defense in most of its battles, while Russia has been maximizing its use of e-surveillance to take out the Ukraine army.
Maybe one day a few of the Ukrainian volunteers from the West that have survived will be allowed to tell the tale of how lousy the military they went up against was.
The Battle of Kursk is not mentioned.
“My understanding is that Russia might be doing better than we are being led to know. Ukraine has been mostly unable to bypass the first level of defense in most of its battles, while Russia has been maximizing its use of e-surveillance to take out the Ukraine army.”
Clearly the case, although Ukraine hasn’t even reach the first primary defense line and is getting slaughtered in what the Russians call the “Crumple Zone”.
I got as far as the crap sandwich “Putin’s fantasy of reviving the Soviet empire”. I simply don’t suffer lying Western disinfo.
A single country battling both America and NATO to a standstill is not a “rare success.” Apparently the West does not have enough angry, rabid trannies with guns.
They are the masters of this.
I just finished a book by a Russian soldier on the eastern front during the Great Patriotic War. During one offensive his unit took refuge in abandoned German bunkers and trenches. He marveled at how good they were. I wonder if that’s where the Russians learned about defensive fortifications.
bttt
Rare successes? They are grinding the Ukrainian military into hamburger and de-militarizing NATO.
I think if you see too many troops drawn into the east, Russia will invade Kiev. It’s just too tempting.
———
Belarus just authorized full mobilization, and Ukraine issued another “ full mobilization “ of what is left of their 18-60 year old males….
There is a reason why this memorial in the Moscow suburb of Khimki exists:
It is a simple, yet stark memorial - three giant, larger than life tank traps in a plaza with a plinth that mark the furthest point of penetration the Germans achieved. This is the spot at which the invasion was stopped cold and began to be rolled back. The choice of anti-tank defenses as the icon for the memorial is deliberate.
It is also worth noting that the Russians emphasized function over form and any field fortification that would do the job, no matter how ugly or sloppy they were, were fine. When they encountered abandoned German field fortifications, they marveled at how precisely they were made and constructed - but several pointed out in their memoirs that the time and resources used to make 'perfect' fortifications out of 'good enough' ones probably would have been better spent elsewhere.
I believe this Ukrainian counteroffensive is premature.
Ukraine seemed to be holding their own against Russian attacks, sapping Russian men, equipment, & morale. Defenders have well known advantages in any battle, & attackers require numerical advantage in men & firepower, things the Ukrainians lack. Ukraine could exhaust itself against Russian defenses.
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