Posted on 12/17/2023 2:55:19 AM PST by Eleutheria5
The 104th Air Assault Division was supposed to save the Russian campaign on the left bank of the Dnipro River in southern Ukraine.
Instead, the newly-formed division “suffered exceptionally heavy losses and failed to achieve its objectives during its combat debut,” the U.K. Defense Ministry reported.
Two months ago, Ukrainian marines from the 35th Brigade motored across the Dnipro and, under the cover of artillery, drones and intensive radio-jamming, secured a bridgehead in the settlement of Krynky on the otherwise Russian-held left bank.
It’s a new front in the war—one the Ukrainians hope eventually to exploit in order to push Russian occupiers from southern Ukraine.
Russian marines, reinforced by an army motorized regiment, failed to dislodge the Ukrainians. So after some cursory training in September and October, the airborne corps’ 104th Division arrived in southern Ukraine—and took the lead.
The 104th, the new fifth division in what usually is a four-division Russian airborne corps, was supposed to make good the corps’ heavy losses in the first 22 months of Russia’s wider war on Ukraine.
Instead, the approximately 2,000-person division itself became a casualty of an escalating war of attrition. The division “was reportedly poorly supported by air power and artillery, while many of the troops were highly likely inexperienced,” the ministry in London explained.
It’s unclear how many Ukrainian marines are in Krynky and the surrounding forest. Some Russian sources estimate the landing force at just 200 or 300 marines.
These hundreds of marines—and the drone-operators, artillery gunners and electronic-warfare troops who support them—have held out against thousands of Russians. First marines from the 810th Brigade. Then soldiers from the 70th Motor Rifle Division. And now the paratroopers from the 104th Division.
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(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
“2,000-person division”
Ha. That’s a small brigade.
VDV has always been fake soldiers used for myth-building. They are effectively bodybuilders meant to look intimidating shooting steroids and lifting weights all day instead of being trained for warfare.
What’s really neat is that only 1 Ukrainian Marine sprained an ankle and 200,000 Russians died daily for the last 2 months.
Notice how there isn’t ANY video from the Ukrainian-Russo battle zones but you have 20 Network feeds, YouTube, Instagram, Tik-Tok, Rumble, Go-Pro cameras of Hamas and IDF wiping their rear ends, making Tik-Tok videos and even friendly fire incidents..... f’ing joke if anyone believes they have a clue as to what is happening at the Russian front......
All those supporting this disaster need to just think about what you and who you are “supporting”.
All I know is that if ANY democrat, McCaine, Obama, Clinton, Biden’s petroleum engineer son Hunter and all the other State Department pedophile/homosexual/transexual perverts are FOR this war.... then I’ll NEVER support it.
You are who you hang out with. I’m not a “Russian Supporter” but I have no wish to send my son, cousins or relatives to fight and die in a trench for Ukrainian/Baltic/Polish/Moldovin/EU “democracy”.
They’ve already been destroyed internally by Muslim migration but don’t even realize it.
The curtain is slowly falling on our country and these douche bags want to send BILLIONS to the Ukraine while our troops have minimal ammo for training, need food stamps to feed their families, have to buy their boots and uniforms, housing is a sh#t show and any and all heterosexual, patriotic, white males are deemed ....”suspect”.
I can’t wait to get the popcorn out when the BLM/Antifa and anarchist decide that they are going to “take over DC and sack the city”. It’s already happening in dribs and drabs with the occasional liberal realizing he won’t be spared, but just wait till they figure out how much more they can “take’.
In what army is a division only 2000 men? That's on the small size for a Russian Brigade.
Didn’t read through the thread before posting. You beat me to the key comment.
But you see, Putin was told the counter attack to destroy the Ukranian foot hold across the river was going to be made with divisional strength
“You are who you hang out with. I’m not a “Russian Supporter” but I have no wish to send my son, cousins or relatives to fight and die in a trench for Ukrainian/Baltic/Polish/Moldovin/EU “democracy””
Neither do I. Which is why I’m for sending Ukraine more toys. Whatever the butcher’s bill on both sides, this “division,” of Air Assault, or whatever it is, did not succeed in eliminating the bridge head. I hope they expand that bridge head, and get free reign of the surrounding area, establish multiple bridge heads, and get ready to finish their advance to the South.
That way, Putin will be finished, and with him the territorial ambitions that brought about all this. If Ukraine wants to join NATO and NATO wants Ukraine, fine by me, though I don’t really care. If Russia had a problem with that, now they already have Finland in NATO, with Sweden to follow, so Ukraine joining would be just gravy for NATO.
The Czarist empire and the USSR that followed after, were noxious stains on the globe, signifying oppression, tyranny, incited pogroms and misery for all. Let it stay in the grave where it deservedly belongs.
Russia itself is a beautiful, rich country, with a horrible government and history that’s getting worse.
Ukraine is also a beautiful, rich country, too, but with a horrible history that it’s struggling to overcome, albeit inconsistently and with a lot of setbacks. I love watching babies learn to walk. I love watching countries learn to overcome.
These are Air Assault Divisions, which seem to use a different metric.
It’s no wonder the division was decimated.
They were trained for air assault and were attacking as ordinary Russian cannon fodder
Bankova spins yet another fairy tale intended for the morale of its civilians detached from war reality….about yet another suicidal useless operation
Ukrainian troops tell the NYT reporting team a different story
“Ukrainian Marines on ‘Suicide Mission’ in Crossing the Dnipro River
Soldiers frustrated by positive reports from Ukrainian officials break their silence, describing the effort as brutalizing and, ultimately, futile.”
“ There was a faint tremor in the marine’s voice as he recounted the murderous fighting on the east bank of the Dnipro River, where he was wounded recently.
“We were sitting in the water at night and we were shelled by everything,” the marine, Maksym, said. “My comrades were dying in front of my eyes.”
For two months, Ukraine’s Marine Corps has been spearheading an assault across the Dnipro River in the southern region of Kherson to recapture territory from Russian troops. The operation is Ukraine’s latest attempt in its flagging counteroffensive to breach Russian defenses in the south and turn the tide of the war.
Soldiers and marines who have taken part in the river crossings described the offensive as brutalizing and futile, as waves of Ukrainian troops have been struck down on the river banks or in the water, even before they reach the other side.”
More at archive
https://archive.ph/9Haed
Zelensky and the AFU command continue exterminating Ukrainians for no tactical or strategic reasons. This article is an absolutely brutal and honest truth about Krynky.
Soldiers and marines who have taken part in the river crossings described the offensive as brutalizing and futile, as waves of Ukrainian troops have been struck down on the river banks or in the water, even before they reach the other side.
Fresh troops arriving on the east bank have to step on soldiers’ bodies that lie tangled in the churned mud.
There are no positions. There is no such thing as an observation post or position. It is impossible to gain a foothold there. It’s impossible to move equipment there.
It’s not even a fight for survival. It’s a suicide mission.
The left bank was like purgatory. You are not dead yet, but you don’t feel alive.
https://twitter.com/OlgaBazova/status/1736069569741984011
“The ‘bridgehead” in Krynky is completely devoid of any strategic value, it defines Zelenskys delusional necessity to please his masters, its utterly vile.”
https://twitter.com/BowesChay/status/1736386691374457068
The writer needs to decide if it is an Airborne Division or an Air Assault Division.
If it were futile, they wouldn’t still be there, defending it, and driving off the Russians. You’re conflating an account of the taking of the bridgehead, which could easily have felt futile at the time, with the present-day situation where they are defending it.
As for Krynky being “devoid of strategic value,” what part of “bridgehead” don’t you understand. Bachmut was devoid of “strategic value,” but the Russians sure wanted it. Same here, aside from the obvious strategic value of a bridgehead. Sometimes the “strategic value” of a shverpunkt IS the political value. The NVA gained nothing strategically from the Tet Offensive, but the political points they scored were decisive.
We’ll find out right soon which conflicting reports are accurate...
Tells you something about the state of Russia’s troop strength. He doesn’t dare openly mobilize Moscow and Petrograd right before an election. If he only gets 75% of the vote even after disappearing his main rival, instead of the usual 95%, it’s a calamity. So he’s collecting new recruits piecemeal, and sending paratroopers to do an infantryman’s job.
It’s not “ my account”
It’s the accounts of Ukrainian soldiers there, as told to Ukrainian-based team of NYT reporters
The Russians don’t see this Uke activity as a “ bridgehead”
What military analyst does?
Do you see troops and equipment crossing the river in strength to land at the ‘ bridgehead” and press forward and take territory?
What is the penetration they have achieved after 2 months, and at what cost?
Do you see bridging material constructed to bring in equipment, supplies, more troops? Because that is the military use of a ‘ bridgehead”
A Russian analyst described the Uke tactics as “ cockroaching”
A few guys make it unscathed in small boats over the river ( not many of those t as drones watch and kill them 24/7) …then the surviving Ukes scatter and try to hide in frozen marshes from Russian drones ATGMs and artillery so the Ukes and NATO briefers can claim their presence hiding in holes is a ‘ bridgehead”.
There is your psychological victory.
The Russians have so much ammo they are expending on even single troops.
The Russians kill them. Then more Ukes try the same drill. Over and over.
Like cockroaches the Russians keep stomping them.
The Brits that trained these marines must be proud of watching them die.
Get your facts straight.
It was 2,000,000 Russian dead , the Ukrainian Marine sprained ankle and Ukie Tank Girl mussed her mascara while destroying another 5 squadrons of Russian T-90 tanks.
The mice have a bridgehead in my garage.
Every few days, I clean the traps out and reset them.
“It’s the accounts of Ukrainian soldiers there, as told to Ukrainian-based team of NYT reporters
During the fight for the bridgehead, a wounded Ukrainian soldier gave his account of what was occurring then. We are now at a point after that fight, and there is a bridgehead. “Time marches on, but space stands still.”—my father
“The Russians don’t see this Uke activity as a “ bridgehead”
What military analyst does?”
David Axe for one, in his article for Forbes. It’s also common sense.
The Ukrainians are on the east side of the Dnieper. Formerly Ukrainian troops were on the west side and they were able to cross over to the east side. That’s a bridgehead, if they can defend it. They have just defended it against this “new airborne division” of 2000.
“Do you see troops and equipment crossing the river in strength to land at the ‘ bridgehead” and press forward and take territory?”
It’s winter in Ukraine. Colder than Baba Yaga’s boobs. The fact that they established a bridgehead for now is remarkable. The fact that they defended it is doubly remarkable, as is the fact that the Russians were mobile enough to attempt an assault, which failed despite their superior numbers.
“I don’t see it and neither do you.”
Neither of us are there. Of course we don’t see what’s going on there. And the fact that anything at all went on at this time of year is remarkable.
Here’s the rest of Axe’s account of how it was accomplished.
“How the Ukrainians have held out, despite being badly outnumbered and facing relentless bombardment from the ground and the air, by now is no secret. In the weeks before the 35th Brigade crossed the Dnipro, Ukrainian gunners and drone crews struck Russian radio-jamming gear on the left bank while Ukrainian E.W. specialists set up their own jammers.
“The result is a dead zone over Krynky for Russian drones—a free-fire zone for Ukraine’s drones. Vehicles and infantry get hit from the air within minutes of breaking cover. “The situation in the Krynky area is only getting worse for us,” one Russian observer wrote.
“That the Ukrainian marines are holding in Krynky, and beating the 104th Division, doesn’t mean they’re about to break out into southern Kherson Oblast and make a run toward Crimea. In the weeks since Kyiv’s southern counteroffensive culminated, Ukrainian brigades—having exhausted their offensive combat power—have shifted from offense to defense.
“Russian forces meanwhile have gone on the attack—and are having more luck in the east, where Russian supply lines are short, than they are in the south where people and supplies must move by rail over hundreds of miles.”
So there you have it.
Colder than Baba Yaga’s boobsWell, there's a cultural reference only a severe, or trained, partisan in this sh*tshow would know:
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