The Russians have gone in

[vt_shooter]

Looks like our astronaut on the space station is in good hands...for now

MSN

We might assume the Russian cosmonauts are wearing yellow & blue in solidarity with those being massacred in Ukraine, but is could have another meaning. The narrative in Russia might be some nonsense like they are saving Ukraine by invading them, and they're supporting the invasion. We don't know.

 

[Onomea]

From the link above:



..The standard-issue Russian uniform is plain blue, and at least one of the men was seen wearing this before take-off....

"It became our turn to pick a colour," Mr Artemyev said when he was asked about the suits in a live-streamed press conference.

"We had accumulated a lot of yellow material so we needed to use it," he joked. "That's why we had to wear yellow."

Since the invasion of Ukraine, people around the world have used the colours of its national flag to show solidarity and support....

Pretty clear what's going on here. Well done, cosmonauts!

 

[bigwheelzip]

Saw this German DW News article about hospitals in Belarus filling with Russian wounded.

Wounded Russian soldiers fill Belarusian hospitals
https://p.dw.com/p/48i5K

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[ladder13]

How many Generals does he have?


Russian general killed after Ukrainian forces destroy command post

 

[AJ]

How many Generals does he have?


Russian general killed after Ukrainian forces destroy command post

Probably more than we do............

 

[ladder13]

Probably more than we do............

For now

 

[oldbrownhat]

How many Generals does he have?

Unknown. But "n-1" now. He seems to be suffering from a "general decline."

 

[Absalom]

How many Generals does he have?

Russian general killed after Ukrainian forces destroy command post

I think the Russian generals have no choice but to stick their necks out to try to fix messes which their subordinates don't dare or don't have the authority or ability to fix. I doubt they're adventurous by nature.

Most modern Western militaries have generally adopted variants of "mission tactics" that give subordinates goals and timelines with maximum autonomy regarding how to get there. The Russian military tradition, in contrast, has always been rigid centralized and top-down control where everybody at every command level follows orders and developing initiative is not desired.

I imagine that given the current multi-front messed-up situation, the higher Russian generals are spending a lot of time exposed near the front trying to untangle things. Happens if your lower ranks have been conditioned not to think for themselves.

 

[smithman 10]

Maybe Russian generals need to keep a lower profile

Didn't Ulysses S. Grant habitually wear an enlisted man's uniform in our Civil War? Seems like that's what I read one time.

Russian officers may wish to dress down a bit considering their high attrition rate.

 

[UncleEd]

From what I read when this
invasion started and since
being confirmed by a retired
U.S. general, the Russian army
lacks a decent NCO corps, its
one-year conscripts are hardly
trained and the officers tend to
be corrupt. Added, the officers
must often act in NCO capacities.

This assessment is pretty much
testimony to what Absalom just
wrote about generals needing to
be up front, way up front too
often.

And the report that Moscow is
seeking Syrian troops indicates
it knows how poor its army is.

 

[oldbrownhat]

I think the Russian generals have no choice but to stick their necks out to try to fix messes which their subordinates don't dare or don't have the authority or ability to fix.....

Hence the term (from WWI, I believe), "to [literally] stick one's head above the parapet", which often had fatal results.

Wasn't much of the tactical success of the Wehrmacht in WWII due to the opposite situation, where individual initiative in response to changing situations was encouraged?

 

[Beemerguy53]

This moving video is being widely shared...a Ukrainian soldier plays their national anthem for his comrades...

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DN_KFc9dhNg[/ame]

 

[Absalom]

… the Russian army
lacks a decent NCO corps, its
one-year conscripts are hardly
trained and the officers tend to
be corrupt. Added, the officers
must often act in NCO capacities.
...

I remember an anecdote from a documentary of the 1990s when we were all suddenly friends and Russian and Western militaries exchanged observers to attend maneuvers.

At a US Army exercise, a Western journalist overheard a Russian observer exclaiming to a fellow officer "Look, that sergeant has a map! What's a sergeant doing with a map?"

 

[StakeOut]

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[smithman 10]

More from Radio Free Europe

I don't know how reliable RFE is as a source of news and analysis but here is a link and the first couple paragraphs of a recent (March 17) article on the war.

"According to conservative estimates, Russia has lost more troops in three weeks of war in Ukraine than the United States did in more than 20 years in Afghanistan and Iraq combined.

U.S. and British defense officials say more than 7,000 Russian soldiers have been killed so far. The figure is considered on the low end of the casualty count, with the Ukrainian Defense Ministry saying its forces have killed more than 14,000. Moscow has only issued an official casualty number once, on March 2, when it said 498 soldiers had been killed. The Russian Defense Ministry has not issued an estimate since."

Interview: What To Expect In The Next Phase Of The Ukraine War

 

[Greyman50]

I am Amazed that anyone thinks any county formally under soviet rule could , would change to " our standards" in less than a generation or so.

 

[Dave_n]

Hence the term (from WWI, I believe), "to [literally] stick one's head above the parapet", which often had fatal results.

Wasn't much of the tactical success of the Wehrmacht in WWII due to the opposite situation, where individual initiative in response to changing situations was encouraged?

Yes, the Wehrmacht trained its lower ranks to "think for themselves when necessary". This lasted until after Stalingrad when effectively all decisions were made at or close to the Hitler level. Only at times after D-Day did lesser ranks still operate this way, particularly in the case of the Hitler Youth (part of the 12 SS Panzer) in Normandy, and the effectively independent heavy tank battalions. Dave_n

 

[oldbrownhat]

I don't know how reliable RFE is as a source of news and analysis but here is a link and the first couple paragraphs of a recent (March 17) article on the war.

"According to conservative estimates, Russia has lost more troops in three weeks of war in Ukraine than the United States did in more than 20 years in Afghanistan and Iraq combined.

U.S. and British defense officials say more than 7,000 Russian soldiers have been killed so far. The figure is considered on the low end of the casualty count, with the Ukrainian Defense Ministry saying its forces have killed more than 14,000. Moscow has only issued an official casualty number once, on March 2, when it said 498 soldiers had been killed. The Russian Defense Ministry has not issued an estimate since."...

If that estimate is even vaguely close to the truth, that's a lot of "missing in action" notices being sent to the soldiers' families, if they are not repatriating the bodies. I'd imagine the same was true for Germany after the battle of Stalingrad.

 

[bigwheelzip]

Unknown. But "n-1" now. He seems to be suffering from a "general decline."

Reported tonight, the Ukrainians have killed the fifth one, Russian General Andrei Mordvichev.

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[Greyman50]

Wow, the Ruskies are loosing generals worse than the Brits got captured early on in N.Africa…Or its the same as Stalin did, who's to know.