My instinct as a former marine is to ask "why wtf are they doing", but I've worked in IT for 12 years now, and the lack of communication between small departments within the same building leading to regular operational failures is enough to force me to withhold judgment lol
Dude, its everywhere. I work in finance, its literally the same. You have audit going on, everybody on edge and you send urgent email to request some documents. The answer goes: "I dont have it", then you chase dozen other guys only to find out that person that was able to help was right next to the first guy that said he doesnt have it. Completely mind blowing levels of incompetence.
If there's so many "elite forces" in your army, it means your regular army is sh1t and only a bunch of people know how to fight similar to late war germany, regular infantry was breaking and only if "elite-ss division" showed up, the could have any chance of holding the front lol you don't hear about so many "elite forces" in normal militaries because their whole army operates on pretty competent levels so it's just a work of "regular" army
Reason 5. How to follow impossible to do orders as a general and not get demoted. Basically, you get an order, take this city. You see this city is super heavily fortified and there is no chance you will take it. In civilised armies you will go back to hq and explain the situation, in sovieticus minds if you do that you get demoted so you attack, and you get some lossess that you can show to hq "hey i attacked but couldnt get the city". If you dont have any lossess hq will say "you didnt attack strong enough, you are demoted" gulag time. But if you have lossess it means you did "try hard". Yes, for someone from west that sounds stupid but yeah, this is how authoritarian structures of power in ex soviet areas work. Who cares about soldiers and few tanks? Your promotion is mroe important.
@@stevenschultz9637 You are absolutely right. There is no sense for Russia to quickly seize Ukraine. Why would she feed thousands of crazy hostile Ukrainian monkeys? Moreover, the United States said: The war in Ukraine is going on until the last Ukrainian survivor😊🇺🇸
Demoted??? These higher up the food chain Russian officers are fortunate if their own subordinates don't kill them. Or they get "reassigned". Demoted would be a concern during regular times but I think during this war things are so chaotic that they have much bigger issues right now to deal with
@@cynthiaparnell7443 thanks cynthia for your over the pacific and few football fields far away observations. As it may be a shock to you, reality differs from movies and overall american drama. hugs and kisses
Ron, here's the thing... Russia isn't making mistakes, they tend to do things very intentionally. Lest we forget that the Red Army ended WW2 and had 3x the casualties of anyone else... without them, Germany wouldn't have fallen.. they did 90% of the work, yet we never give them the credit.
@@jacobc4582 yeah. You know what the Russians never acknowledge? The trucks in their supply chain. BTW, you sound kinda like a bot, although, not as much as that Indian guy typing in all caps.
Hello, I'm from Poland and one of our retired colonels who was trained in Soviet drill has a theory. The general in charge of this front was ordered to attack Wuhledar. What could he do? three things. Make a wide-ranging attack with the majority of his forces. Maybe he would take the city, maybe not. And then he would lose a large part of his own strength and be dismissed for it. The second way out is modest offensive and reconnaissance activities. He would have spared his forces, but the general staff would have considered that he had not carried out the attack, that he had broken orders = resignation. Two bad exits. So instead the general attacks with a small part of his force to be able to report that he is attacking, and the HQ can confirm this by seeing that he is taking casualties. The general is promoted for exemplary execution of orders. You'll think: it's impossible? Well, for NATO maybe.
Specifically, we are talking about Colonel Piotr Lewandowski. He took part in missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. He stated that the Russians attacked with too small forces to achieve success, so the above is one of the possible explanations for this catastrophe. By the way, greetings to all our allies!
@@Gabrong Interesting fact: Russia has the highest HIV rate in Europe, 70% of marriages end in divorce, they have one of the highest abortion rates in the world, half a million people die there annually due to alcoholism, they are also a highly atheistic society. When a Russian says that the West is rotten and Russia fights for conservative values, remember that the only thing conservative in Russia is domestic violence. It's legal there. You can beat your wife or children. Just not too hard. I have nothing against Russians, but their state is toxic.
Turns out having trained soldiers and veterans with experience to transition new troops into combat is valuable. Not to mention a leadership who both trusts/respects and also values their troops. What you put in is what you get out usually, spend years stripping everything out of the military for profit will probably take twice as long and twice as much money to fix.
Im not sure what changed, or if ww2 and korea also had similar problems that just got covered up, but veitnam, russian afghanistan, and ukraine definitely demonstrate that conscripts/draftees dont work well in aggressive modern war
@Trf Fft I think that the cause of conscription for defense is that they will fight harder to defend their home because in this case for Ukraine, the battle lines are in their home country. Attack on the other hand is harder to sell. Especially if the high command is known for not caring about soldiers [like here for Russia] the conscripts may be more likely to defect. Also, let's be real some of the conscripts should have never been drafted to begin with like the 50 and 60-something-year-olds that the Russian army grabbed during their mobilization.
*Turns out having trained soldiers and veterans with experience to transition new troops into combat is valuable* I think Japan had this issue. They had the most experienced carrier pilots in the world but would not really rotate to train newer recruits like the US would. Eventually most, if not all, got killed.
Big mines are also strategic for two reasons: 1) They provide secure storage underground. Often there are still Soviet era stocks there. 2) The refuse dumps can be very large and high, giving a commanding view of the battlefield. You can easily see them on a height map of Ukraine.
@@KingM248 I really, really doubt the Ministry that owns those mines is going to allow the military, which does not own them, but needs the toys the revenue can buy, to play with anything explosive within the confines of the mine. Coal burns underground and you can't put it out. Just ask the town of Centralia.
using artillery to plant mines far away is a soviet tactic. the soviets did this against afghanistan in the 80s. whats better is that those were anti personnel rather than anti tank mines.
@@indiasuperclean6969 are you serious? Women are NOT safe in India. I've lost count of the number of gang-rape/murders that have happened there. And the pollution there is some of the worst in the world.
@@indiasuperclean6969 oh, I forgot.....India is the call scam centre of the world with Sector 5 in Calcutta being the worst. My advice is to stay off the drugs.
So Azov battalion is backed by NATO which the EU classed as a Ukrainian far right nazi terrorist group and a PMC are fighting a Russian backed Ukrainian PMC, Wagner group. There both Ukrainian!!! The age of tanks is over why send 100million tank that can be rendered us less with a 16k rocket? If you have ever been to Ukraine you would know the country is a bog why are we sending tanks to suffer the same fate as the Russian tanks?
Just a note - Tatarstan is actually one of the most prosperous regions at least out of the national republics (Dagestan, Bashkortostan, etc...). The capital of Kazan is extremely beautiful. I was born there, and I hope it'll be a part of a sane country one day.
The rest of the world also hopes that Tatarstan can be part of a sane country, either on its own or as part of a Russian Federation not run by a crazed regime with deeply rooted suspicions of “the West “.
@@Mortablunt whataboutism at its finest. "America has military bases!" Yeah, and Russia is waging an aggressive war targeting civilians, promoting war crimes and threating the world with WW3 on a regular basis. Also, reducing Western politics to a "nazi good men pregnant drugs legal" model isn't gonna bring you anywhere. The West doesn't think of Russia in terms of "Vodka Putin balalaika" anymore. Короче, чел, имей уважение. Может, проявив уважение к собеседнику, ты сможешь его убедить и получишь больше чем 15 рублей от лахты.
@@simeondunev4890 Well hello to you too brother. I'm not sure what you mean by "One day you will be free" but you are right to some extent. Като гледам и ти си от България. Нямам представа, какво искаш да кажеш или какви са ти намеренията с този пост.
One year later: Vuhledar has just been STORMED from 3 directions by the Russian army. Will this channel update you this time around? He tends to be awfully quiet when ukraine loses. 😂
Nothing much has changed for Russia. I once read a book titled Tigers in the Mud. The man who wrote it was Germany’s first Tiger tank commander. He said that the Russians didn’t really adjust to their failures. He praised their heroism and willingness to charge. But he said they would do the same dumb thing over and over again. For example, he said that one of his positions was to guard a side of a valley. He had four Tiger tanks. On the other side of the valley, the Germans had placed some anti tank guns. The Russians knew the anti tank guns were there. Anyway, he said that he woke up one morning to nine T34s coming down the road in the middle of the valley. They were all pointing their guns at the side of the road where the anti tank guns were at. So he and his crews fired up their Tigers and they easily took out all nine T34s. The next day, he hears the rumble of tanks coming down the road again. He looks and here comes eleven T34s. But, again, all of them have their guns pointing at the position of the anti tank guns. So, again, he and his fellow Tiger tank buddies took out every one of them. It would seem that this has been a thing for some time with the way that Russia operates.
Hi. I love your attention to detail. Just wanted to maybe update your knowledge on disk-type anti-armour mines. They are created to be layed by just about anyone instead of trained soldiers or specialists. It is a throwback to different defence doctrine of mass resistance which means that just about anyone will resist occupying forces. I personally have received training on them in high school, at the university and during my mandatory service. The basic is that you just arm them and leave them. If you can you can just put something over them to camouflage or with a little bit more training you can dig them in or booby trap them so they are hard to remove or you can hook them up with antipersonnel jump mines. As antiarmour mines are set to detonate only when significant weight is applied they are safe for relatively rough handling. Trained units or engineers have way more options including some specialised kit attached to tracks or tanks which industrialize mining operations. Worst case scenario you can hide and push them directly in front of a vehicle. They are directional so you would not be hurt even a meter away if you cover. (Not sure I would be willing to test that). I have a lot of useless knowledge on weaponry and tactics from that era as I have to understand to learn. Turns out it also means a head full of useless info on a lot of subjects : ) Also, you probably know that remining clearances the enemy has made in your minefield has been standard practice for militaries and it was heavily used in recent wars I have witnessed (majority luckily not in person) since nineties in Yugoslavia. I had none-combat specialisation during my mandatory service which means about 10 weeks of basic combat training and even we were trained in organising nomansland patrols and the basics of remining paths enemy cleared for their patrols. It is surprisingly easy even with no night vision and dangerous as both sides have the same training so they can set ambushes. But mines we whee to use are cheap and safe to set after about 5 minutes of training. That is the scary part really. That is enough for today. You are making effort to understand the doctrines of Russians and others. I am no Russian. And I am no military specialist. But I think I have a very good understanding of doctrines which were developed to counter American doctrines not that I ever needed or wanted that. So maybe some other time that will come up as I think it has a lot to do with this and a few other wars. Take care and have great day : )
You are certainly providing me with a great education on a diverse array of military issues. As always, Cappy, awesome presentation with facts and theories. Thanks, and keep up the A+ videos.
Imhey but its how us American military men think we are indoctrinated to speak an act like this if you dont like it an its bias man Im glad we fought for this country for turds to say whatever they want on the internet
@@moneymikeslickwill8749 Yeah, I spent 20 years in the military, and this guy is still marching in formation and believes the BS we feed the boots. Time to fulfill his oath. Ukraine has nothing to do with the protection of our constitution. If anything, it's putting it in jeopardy.
Dear Cappy, I hope this correspondence finds you well. I enjoy your informative and entertaining episodes and I also want to thank you for your service to our country. I also served back in Desert Storm in the Marine Corps. That is why I was taken aback at your glib comment about Marines eating crayons. Far from an acquired taste, crayons poses a depth of flavor and savory essence that is difficult to find in other foods. I am especially enamored of periwinkle and magenta crayons and recommend them highly. Please give them a try. Even better than MRE, maple nut cake. Yours Respectfully, Lance Commandant Andy, U.S.M.C.
That's a problem that alot of people have! In a monarchy, or whatever that is that Putin represents, it carries the danger of appearing as the national character, even to its own members!
Damn. You can take an Aussie infantry battalion, a UK light armor unit, and a US attack helicopter unit and have a more cohesive team than Russia can do with their “own” troops.
@@orionide4032 Latest news today. 7 out of 30 Nato member countries met the military spending goal of 2% of GDP. People like you don't keep up with the mounting death toll of 250k dead Ukrainian soldiers. Which Nato cross-dressing female brigadier general do you think is ready to lead Nato forces?
Loving this channel. Nowhere else I've come across explained why they keep making the same tactical mistakes, and it's bloody obvious once you think about it. Keep it up, you have at least one Brit as a solid fan.
This spirit of competition amongst units is familiar to me, I read during the Soviet's advance on Berlin the exact same tactic was encouraged between Zhukov and other commanders, presumably it spurred a sense of urgency in the taking of Berlin. Combined arms assaults are as they were in WW2 an ad hoc arrangement where commanders make a list of what they want then cherry-pick different branches of the service to join the assault who then go back to their units when it is over.
Great example! Stalin encourage competition between Zhukov, and Konev.... I think. It's been quite awhile since i read about the Eastern Front. Casualties were extremely high taking Berlin. The Soviets lost over 700,000 men taking Berlin. German lost but, they damn sure made the Red Army pay in blood for every inch of Berlin. Eisenhower was wise to let the Soviets take it.
Unfortunately this type of competition wasn't restricted to the Soviets. Patton and Montgomery famously competed with each other (and undermined each other) in their race to be the first to capture the strategically important port of Messina in the Allies' Sicily campaign.
@@black10872700k at that late stage in the war, by which point Germany had already lost, is absolutely insane. But makes perfect sense, seeing how those barbaric russian savages conduct war to this day.
@ClayRavin Yes but, you missing the point! Allied High Command was not encouraging this competition! Patton, and Montgomery were both equal in attitude. Its just that Montgomery had a more softer tone. Eisenhower, Marshall, Roosevelt, or even Churchill would never tolerate such losses just for the sake of competition. That's a dictator trait.
Except in modern armies combined arms assaults aren't as ad hoc as you state. A modern British battlegroup has tanks, motorized infantry, a reconnaissance troop, and access to artillery support at "battalion" level. And the attacks on Vuhledar aren't (or shouldn't be) on the fly - this is a fixed position so basic pre-planning for an attack could provide smoke, artillery support etc - this is WWI period stuff. The other thing that struck me was that it seems very small scale stuff - massed armour isn't being concentrated at the schwerpunkt and being given proper artillery and infantry support, and why are they directly attacking the town in the first place? Why not just envelope it and move on?
As a Ukrainian, I’d like to admit that your analysis is really great. If to talk about why they doing same mistakes, I’m afraid that comment will be to big but if someone interested - may read. So, I can say that those types of things have their roots from their history and culture. I can say that because we was in same dish with them and that’s actually what made us so pissed of about them for years. It’s better for them to perform really bad and suffer but “not like in west”. They prefer to pay by huge human losses( not a problem for them because of 0 price of life of individual), suffering, doing same mistakes but not to do like US do.. And that philosophy is not only in their army, It’s simply in everything even if it’s have no any logical sense to do the opposite as westerns do. That’s one more reason why they always trying to make themselves look as “tuff russian guys” and simply covering that stupidity by heroism and fearless. Those things made us so much pro western but here again, it’s easier for them to use all kind of theories that US controlling us, stories that we are nazies bla bla and even start a f**ing war than just admit their mistakes and finally start to have care and respect to their own people and neighbors. It’s just…russians.. Hope you got my point)
That’s actually one more thing to know for people who support russia “because they are against of LGBT, elites, capitalism and other ***” They actually just support the opposite of what western world trying to evaluate but not because they are so traditional or sophisticated)) That’s what most people in west don’t understand about them and start to believe that they are a good guys who fighting with capitalism)) It’s not like that bros))
@@mikeyKnows_ yep, single problem for us is that they have lots of people to use those human waves and hords tactics. Yes, they can simply send a squad on our Browning but it’s not a problem, they will find a new people tomorrow:/ That’s makes problems 😅
ruzzians run under the drunk uncle pride, jealousy and ego mentality, which is good for us. If they acted more "like the west" or in our eyes, more common sense approach, accountable for your actions, individuals are important, then things may not be in our favour, but then again they wouldn't even have invaded.
@@tedteddington6223 A inflatable decoy would trick them into opening fire, but you would know it was a decoy after you shoot and it literally disappears into scraps of plastic. It doesn't explain why they claim to destroy 50.
@@rerror3577 Claims are pure propaganda. It's one thing your CP reported it was a decoy (assuming they have the ability to monitor it, which they don't most of the time). It's another when you report it to your population to raise morale.
These videos are extraordinarily researched and produced. Chris, if you are an average infantryman then the standards for the infantry have certainly risen since I served over 50 years ago. In addition to all of the reasons for Russian military failure you document here, there have always been systemic problems with the Russian/ former Red Army. They have always relied on a conscription army wherein soldiers serve one year. You can't develop fighting expertise with one year conscripts. They have never had a professional NCO cadre and professional NCOs are the backbone of any professional military organization. Russian training for conscripts has always been brutal and about the power of the older soldiers over the newer soldiers; this makes it impossible to developing unit cohesion. Russian military doctrine has always been about "top-down leadership" and has never supported initiative at the lower levels of command. The last time the Russians fielded an actual professional military was in the last year of the "Great Patriotic War" and it took them several years fighting the Germans to make that progress; they were STILL not as professional as the defeated Wehrmacht on a unit-by-unit basis, and it has only been down hill since then.
You can develop fighting expertise with half a year of conscript training. Refer to Finnish conscripts and them regularly demolishing professional US infantry in exercises and overall demonstrating excellent soldiering. Higher ability and condition conscripts even serve in SOF/recon units and are trained in MOUT etc over a slightly longer period. It is effective because they are extremely specialized for one kind of warfare and actually do systems and combat training instead of just being used as labor like in Russia. The catch is that you're not going to develop expert mechanized infantry in half a year. Finland can do it for the panssarijääkäri but they are relatively few in number and operate very expensive equipment. Even the US relies primarily on motorized alpine infantry and not mechanized infantry. Conscript light infantry are unsuitable for the kind of attacking maneuvers that Russian doctrine uses, but it was borne from the assumption that they would not be able to train their troops to expert level anyway and gamble on a 6:1 advantage in numbers to overwhelm the enemy before they can make effective decisions. Russia's problem now is that they're lacking a significant numbers advantage so the strategy falls flat against a force like Ukraine or Finland that has a nominal strength of around one million troops during wartime.
The Soviets had two year conscription at the end and three year up until something like 1980. Russia dropped it to one year. The Soviets also had an incredibly militarized youth program system where when recruits got to conscription they already knew how to fire and strip an AK, survive in the field, march, operate under the basics of military discipline, etc etc. Russia dismantled that.
I have heard that about the US Military, the NCOs get shit done. I think an important factor is they are given a lot of freedom with in the rules of engagement to complete whatever mission package they got from higher up. I dunno if this is true, I am not a history major but I have heard one reason for Russia lacking NCOs is for example during the soviet era the command was made up of "true russians" while the grunts were heavily conscripted from all the various places Russia took over. And those up top never exactly had faith or trust in these soldiers.
You guys do such a brilliant work at getting intricate in how all parts interconnect in whatever it is you research, great work in finding both strategic and economic value of vuhledar but also going so far as to finding the owner of the economic resources too, brilliant!
thanks I try to dive as deep as I can into the information that's available, I do my best to lay my work out so people can see if I've gotten something wrong and where I may have gotten something correct
I was in the British Army in the 1970's. I was told during my training that maps, at that time, were "secret" in the Red Army. For this reason, not only was the officer the only one who had a map, but, he was the only one who knew how to read it. So, "If you can't pick out the officer, shoot the guy with the map." I have no doubt that this attitude has not changed to this very day.
In the book “Team Yankee” there is a chapter towards the end of the book where the Soviet action is summed up they came like they always did and died like they always do. What we’re dealing with is a failure to learn from all mistakes.
@@Reddsoldier Dude, you're kind of stuffy... What Warhammer fan doesn't want to die for the great God Emperor? There is a great opportunity to do so, and we Russians, as loyal imperials, go to crush the Chaosites and heretics. This is fun.
@@Salty_Balls I have been thinking of that book, as well as other novels by Coyle and others and how well they described what we have seen in Ukraine. The only thing missing is modern US heavy armor and Air Cav.
The biggest thing in improving is to admit you were "wrong" so all can learn from the "error" and not repeat it. This is what they can never do at any level.
You're mostly right about wanting to claim victory, especially with the Wagner group. Also, it's part of the whole soviet military training where you train only for the checkmark, so officers and sergeants would leave you alone. Also, communication problems and the kill chain command issue take so long to resolve. They have to pause the war regroup, do retrospectives, and resume, but they can't afford to wait.
they have already regrouped after getting out of kyev region they regrouped for kinda 5 months they didn't regroup anything in reality, they just amassed their soldier to start a real sovietic style multi waves offense who is not proceeding anything
For Putin, it seems like a fractured military like you describe is in his long term interests. Because they compete and cannot easily interoperate, they also cannot all fall in behind a single leader and potentially overthrow Putin.
That’s fine if all you’re worried about is controlling your own people. It’s not a very sustainable formula for wars against real militaries. The US would eat their lunch.
The production value here is really going through the roof. Very well organized presentation with good videos, images, and graphics 👍 Thanks for the hard work!
This is another of your really good ones. IMO you can make 2 or 3 a year of this quality. Which is great. I've been following you for about 4 years. It used to be just good vet fun stuff, and arm chair general laughs. You have grown into a perspective aware wonder. I can say more on Patreon. I'm just an old school E4 mafia. Than;k you.
Sounds a lot like back in the old days when minor kings and nobles from the territories were more interested in taking down their rivals than winning against potential invaders or enemies to the empire.
Interesting that you mentioned that. I think few peoples have been a screwed over as the Rus during the mongol invasion where each Prince more or less sat and watched while each of his peers were overrun by the mongols.
@@andersbjrnsen7203 It's basically how Moscow ended up in power. Every other city resisted, and got fucked by the Mongols, while Muscovites paid tribute, and after the Mongols left, they used the power vacuum to form basis of modern Russia, while originally, they were kind of a periphery to Kyiv and Novgorod.
@@Oumegi not only that, Muscowy was actually assigned ny the mongols as their representative feudal lord, and responsible for collecting tribute from the other principalities. Talk about getting up in the world...
Spectacular distilling the essence. This is a deep and thoughtful while entertaining dive into logistics and strategy at the granular level. Outstanding Soldier!
Thank you for giving such a detailed and well thought out analysis. Not just this vid but many others! You are one of my trusted sources of information analysis.
FASCAM mine munitions have been around since the 80's. We got carried away with them in Desert Storm, like Depleted Uranium AP ammo (though I think losing an armored battle is a more acute illness), they caused deadly problems like leaving behind lots of unexploded bomblets and mines, a real nightmare to this day. So we don't really hear about us authorizing the use of them much today. Kinda like Flamethrowers. Still legal for combat use, actually, but we haven't since 'nam.
At a training field in Yakuma we had 2-2SBCT training as opfor(insurgent) and we had our engineers set mines on a bridge as well as forward observers trying to cross. They tried 3 major attempts before they had to pause the exercise and tell them, hey, don't continue to try and push through the same narrow passage 😂. Side note: one of our tiny squads of 5 caught an entire company sleeping on watch and claimed 25 knife kills 😂. The reason we have training exercises is because real world events are much more difficult to react to. Russia is showing this in real time
Yup training exercises in Russia seem to be one big scam as well. Commanders send out their best soldiers and equipment to make it seem like everything is running smoothly meanwhile the gluesniffers in the back dont get noticed by inspection. So the commanders can continue selling of material. Only a handful of equipment is kept in good condition for whenever a general said lets have an exercise.
How the hell do you have everyone asleep at the same time? The standard since the Revolutionary war is 1/3 are sleeping, 1/3 are doing maintenance/duties, 1/3 are on watch. Did they also take off their boots and get fully zipped up in sleeping bags with their weapon leaned against a tree out of reach?
@@oldscratch3535 I've never ran into a unit where that was the standard during training. It's usually 4 guys max of a company doing night watch. As an LLVI operator, where we did forward operations, that number sinks down to one person in a fox hole(including deployment). When we ran with the standard mech infantry/light infantry it was the same as well as cav. When and what unit did you practice a 1/3 maint at night?
@radovan739 I read a lot from a variety of sources and I’m curious what specifically you find to be not factual or a lie? Also what channels would you recommend?
@radovan739 Not really swayed by your links. The information seems to really be pushing an overt narrative. Possibly T&F is doing same, but no ones really knows the absolute truth.
These individually trained units are like the various state militias trained and fielded back in the US Civil War and even the Revolutionary War, using the same antiquated communications and coordination as an 1800's era army would be using.
@@hazzardalsohazzard2624 You know, it's very telling that I can't discern if that previous comment from the India guy is either from some insane Indian ultra-nationalist that legitimately believes in the propaganda or someone who hates India (probably a Pakistani) and is putting on a internet stage persona to make India look ridiculous.
That's all you need to know about the great analyst :)). Losses in Ugledar from the same opera. Russia will win and put to shame all the lies that were poured on it in such videos.
@@PRshik, dude, you aren't making any sense. It's Russia who lost the battle for Ugledar. It is reason to think how to correct mistakes and get better. Not something to brag about.
this must be devastating to morale, even given how they control information, people talk, they hear things..and their troops must dread their assignment...its a death sentence
I have had family die in battle just because he lead his team right into a ambush. The chaos of war is chaos and inflexible leadership often leads to casualties and poor communication. But when you are pinned down their usually someone who tries to step up to the challenge in this case my uncle. Thus are killed for trying to extract other members of the team from either bad positions or overwhelming forces such was his case.
The way you explain Russia's different military units and how they work alone and try to go for the glory reminds me of the old way of monarchs and the nobles fielding the bulk of the army and not working as a cohesive unit but just small factions under one banner.
Thanks Cappy. This explained the disjointed operations by the Russian forces in Ukraine. Frankly, I was wondering why things seemed so wonky with the Russian forces.
Prighozin's patch at 9:47 struck me as interesting. My Russian is terrible, but I managed to translate it, albeit with google translate. It reads 'Cargo 200 (Russian code for dead soldiers) we are together'. This translation is probably somewhat incorrect, but I assume it is close to what the patch actually says. To me, this patch shows the fatalistic mindset that Prigozhin is trying to promote within Wagner PMC.
@@Zoltan1251 I disagree. Soldiers in general are known for their gallows humour, but this is just bizarre. When you see the attitude Wagner has for its men, it all makes sense.
@@GreggOld You are projecting. You already have in your head propaganda and then apply it to whatever you see. Truth is in the middle. This is just normal stuff like "Born to Die" on the helmet etc.
@@mojewjewjew4420 the guy with the patch is Prigozhin, the owner of the Wagner Group. I agree with your sentiment though, as I think he is trying to promote a fatalistic attitude amongst his troops.
Vuledar (as opposed to Bahkmut) is actually important. It interrupts the north-south rail line, the only one that connects mainland russia and the Kherson front (and does not pass through crimea). So as long as its held, that train line can't be used.
Shhh don't let Wagner know that lmao they seem perfectly fine dying for a destroyed town that is simply an outer defense for the more important towns on higher ground right behind it 😂
@@Funko777 I really think that's most of the reason why Ukraine is so determined to hold onto it...the Russians keep sending their people in to die again and again, and it's quite effective to kill them there!
I would imagine Ukraine holding Bahkmut on purpose even if they are suffering losses as a result. It seems like a good way to bleed Wagner dry. The loss of mercenaries and the massive waste of ammunition and material cannot be replaced by Ruzzia any time soon. Bahkmut seems to be nothing more than a gigantic meat grinder for Ruzzian meat..
Excellent commentary. On Russian mistakes, also bear in mind that they lost a huge number of their officers and most experienced soldiers in the first part of the war. So now they face the doubly hard challenge of needing to self-correct relying on leaders who never learned a correct approach in the first place.
Also Ukraine is 150000- 180000 casualties. Time for Ukraine to ignore nato and USA and start negotiations with Russia like should have done last March April. All wars end in diplomacy and border changes
The average Russian soldier, "Ivan was not drunk enough to make it across the road. Don't make that same mistake Boris!" A few moments later..... "Boris almost made it past Ivan's spot. We are making progress."
I think that even a _bigger_ problem is that the military _leadership_ is unwilling to learn and to use the new knowledge, while the subordinates are afraid to disobey an order, _even when_ they are convinced that it's a really stupid one.
I don't know, I don't believe it. I was expecting like 5k max but realistically 2-3k and half of them not getting nothing until they rotate and finally die.
15K a month is pretty standard for PMCs, they almost always get paid higher than your average solider. Mainly because they expect those people to be trained already, and depending on what the contract is they might require previous work in special forces.
The explanation of different factions, IE Wagner group, etc. each fighting to bolster their standing and not communicating with other groups, thus making the same mistakes, was very interesting. I'm sure I wasn't the only person out here thinking "why"? If you're in one of these groups that expect to loose 50% of your conscripts, probably not the best for morale.
IMHO - one word: Training.... you can come up with fantastic doctrine, you can supply good weapons with the latest chips sets and amazing capabilities, you can have common uniforms and creed, but if you haven't embedded the lessons of manoeuvre and combined arms through long hard expensive sessions of training at all levels ... from individual skills, through small unit tactics to large scale Tactical Exercises Without Troops... then you don't have an army ... you have a bunch of expensive cosplayers working at cross purposes. There are reasons why the majority of western European armies have transitioned to an all-professional force with 3 year training cycles and numerous 'schools of this and academies of that' ... they know that every soldier that gets trained up has a window of utility in his/her current role ... and maintaining that will require additional training at great expense, not to mention the need to adapt SOPs and (at slower cycles) doctrine to assimilate emerging best practice. you cant say you have an army of 1.2 million and then fail to provide that army a means to go out and practice their art (at scale) every two years. Infantry need time at the range - Tankers need guns with barrels that will handle a 20 year burn rate of practice missions, front line pilots need 30 to 60 hours flight time (in cockpit & simulators) in order to be both proficient and aware of their supporting arms characteristics. ... and above all that you need an officer corps with managed careers that expose them to as much of the combined arms ecosystem as possible to ensure they are capable of knowing what arms will support them and how. Russia has - in every sense of the word... a Potemkin army of poorly trained , poorly equipped 'mobiks' that only know which direction to run and have little knowledge of what the rest of their own organisation can and should do to support their efforts. Plans fail, commanders (at all levels) suffer attrition, and comms always goes to shit - but knowing what the formation next to you has been tasked with, how your mission fits into the big picture and what the next guy over will do when things change takes time, effort and bloody minded NCOs to establish. God help Russia - even if they repel the spring offensive they will never again be anything other than a sad joke ... a cautionary tale for anyone who thinks Open Societies and liberal democracies are somehow inferior to kleptocratic autocracies with smug leaders who prefer the safety of their heads up their own arses. end of rant
The worst part of war is that often times you are more likely to die by bad leadership than actual enemy actions.
arguable
Something rarely depicted in war movies.
You still will die by enemy action.
Add to that: when enemy action gets to you, stuff like “use a tampon to staunch the blood flow” increases the likelihood of your death.
Just a Turtle and Just another Turtle?!
My instinct as a former marine is to ask "why wtf are they doing", but I've worked in IT for 12 years now, and the lack of communication between small departments within the same building leading to regular operational failures is enough to force me to withhold judgment lol
Dude, its everywhere. I work in finance, its literally the same. You have audit going on, everybody on edge and you send urgent email to request some documents. The answer goes: "I dont have it", then you chase dozen other guys only to find out that person that was able to help was right next to the first guy that said he doesnt have it. Completely mind blowing levels of incompetence.
@@Zoltan1251 I'm not shocked. Idk how this world survives. Pure chaos lol
We are not permitted to discuss even common topics between small departments. I must go up the chain of command.
If there's so many "elite forces" in your army, it means your regular army is sh1t and only a bunch of people know how to fight
similar to late war germany, regular infantry was breaking and only if "elite-ss division" showed up, the could have any chance of holding the front lol
you don't hear about so many "elite forces" in normal militaries because their whole army operates on pretty competent levels so it's just a work of "regular" army
@@MrKoalaburger 1
Reason 5. How to follow impossible to do orders as a general and not get demoted.
Basically, you get an order, take this city. You see this city is super heavily fortified and there is no chance you will take it. In civilised armies you will go back to hq and explain the situation, in sovieticus minds if you do that you get demoted so you attack, and you get some lossess that you can show to hq "hey i attacked but couldnt get the city". If you dont have any lossess hq will say "you didnt attack strong enough, you are demoted" gulag time. But if you have lossess it means you did "try hard". Yes, for someone from west that sounds stupid but yeah, this is how authoritarian structures of power in ex soviet areas work. Who cares about soldiers and few tanks? Your promotion is mroe important.
"Yours is not to reason why....yours is but to do AND die."
More casualties fewer mouths to feed after the war
@@stevenschultz9637 You are absolutely right. There is no sense for Russia to quickly seize Ukraine. Why would she feed thousands of crazy hostile Ukrainian monkeys? Moreover, the United States said: The war in Ukraine is going on until the last Ukrainian survivor😊🇺🇸
Demoted??? These higher up the food chain Russian officers are fortunate if their own subordinates don't kill them. Or they get "reassigned". Demoted would be a concern during regular times but I think during this war things are so chaotic that they have much bigger issues right now to deal with
@@cynthiaparnell7443 thanks cynthia for your over the pacific and few football fields far away observations. As it may be a shock to you, reality differs from movies and overall american drama. hugs and kisses
to borrow a phrase. Never stop the enemy when they are making mistakes.
It's a principal from chess
@@SunriseLAW that does not apply here tho
that only worked for Russia in Russia and during winter
Ron, here's the thing... Russia isn't making mistakes, they tend to do things very intentionally. Lest we forget that the Red Army ended WW2 and had 3x the casualties of anyone else... without them, Germany wouldn't have fallen.. they did 90% of the work, yet we never give them the credit.
Well said
@@jacobc4582 yeah. You know what the Russians never acknowledge? The trucks in their supply chain.
BTW, you sound kinda like a bot, although, not as much as that Indian guy typing in all caps.
Hello, I'm from Poland and one of our retired colonels who was trained in Soviet drill has a theory. The general in charge of this front was ordered to attack Wuhledar. What could he do? three things. Make a wide-ranging attack with the majority of his forces. Maybe he would take the city, maybe not. And then he would lose a large part of his own strength and be dismissed for it. The second way out is modest offensive and reconnaissance activities. He would have spared his forces, but the general staff would have considered that he had not carried out the attack, that he had broken orders = resignation. Two bad exits. So instead the general attacks with a small part of his force to be able to report that he is attacking, and the HQ can confirm this by seeing that he is taking casualties. The general is promoted for exemplary execution of orders.
You'll think: it's impossible? Well, for NATO maybe.
Specifically, we are talking about Colonel Piotr Lewandowski. He took part in missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. He stated that the Russians attacked with too small forces to achieve success, so the above is one of the possible explanations for this catastrophe.
By the way, greetings to all our allies!
And they keep telling about the rotten west
@@Gabrong Interesting fact: Russia has the highest HIV rate in Europe, 70% of marriages end in divorce, they have one of the highest abortion rates in the world, half a million people die there annually due to alcoholism, they are also a highly atheistic society. When a Russian says that the West is rotten and Russia fights for conservative values, remember that the only thing conservative in Russia is domestic violence. It's legal there. You can beat your wife or children. Just not too hard.
I have nothing against Russians, but their state is toxic.
@@MikolajKnas King Sobieski lives!
@@jacobzindel987 ahh Yes, famous polish chad xD
I've been a student of warfare for almost 40 years and I think you're "right on target "with just about everything great logistical thought process 👍
Turns out having trained soldiers and veterans with experience to transition new troops into combat is valuable. Not to mention a leadership who both trusts/respects and also values their troops. What you put in is what you get out usually, spend years stripping everything out of the military for profit will probably take twice as long and twice as much money to fix.
Im not sure what changed, or if ww2 and korea also had similar problems that just got covered up, but veitnam, russian afghanistan, and ukraine definitely demonstrate that conscripts/draftees dont work well in aggressive modern war
@Trf Fft I think that the cause of conscription for defense is that they will fight harder to defend their home because in this case for Ukraine, the battle lines are in their home country. Attack on the other hand is harder to sell. Especially if the high command is known for not caring about soldiers [like here for Russia] the conscripts may be more likely to defect. Also, let's be real some of the conscripts should have never been drafted to begin with like the 50 and 60-something-year-olds that the Russian army grabbed during their mobilization.
@Trf Fftit is also alot harder to convince a conscript to go fight in a offensive war
@Trf Fft and convincing
*Turns out having trained soldiers and veterans with experience to transition new troops into combat is valuable*
I think Japan had this issue. They had the most experienced carrier pilots in the world but would not really rotate to train newer recruits like the US would. Eventually most, if not all, got killed.
Big mines are also strategic for two reasons:
1) They provide secure storage underground. Often there are still Soviet era stocks there.
2) The refuse dumps can be very large and high, giving a commanding view of the battlefield. You can easily see them on a height map of Ukraine.
@@KingM248 I really, really doubt the Ministry that owns those mines is going to allow the military, which does not own them, but needs the toys the revenue can buy, to play with anything explosive within the confines of the mine. Coal burns underground and you can't put it out. Just ask the town of Centralia.
using artillery to plant mines far away is a soviet tactic. the soviets did this against afghanistan in the 80s. whats better is that those were anti personnel rather than anti tank mines.
@@indiasuperclean6969 are you serious? Women are NOT safe in India. I've lost count of the number of gang-rape/murders that have happened there. And the pollution there is some of the worst in the world.
@@indiasuperclean6969 oh, I forgot.....India is the call scam centre of the world with Sector 5 in Calcutta being the worst. My advice is to stay off the drugs.
So Azov battalion is backed by NATO which the EU classed as a Ukrainian far right nazi terrorist group and a PMC are fighting a Russian backed Ukrainian PMC, Wagner group. There both Ukrainian!!! The age of tanks is over why send 100million tank that can be rendered us less with a 16k rocket? If you have ever been to Ukraine you would know the country is a bog why are we sending tanks to suffer the same fate as the Russian tanks?
Many respect for Ukraine leadership, what a moment to be alive!
I speak for everyone when I say Russia hugely miscalculated this 1 year 3 day special military operation.
Damn straight, they did! And a great benefit to Ukraine is that they continue to miscalculate.
😂👍
You don't speak for Russian state television who think their country is battling imaginary nazis and winning.
🫡
You have greatly miscalculated the number of days since 24th Feb 2022 as well
Just a note - Tatarstan is actually one of the most prosperous regions at least out of the national republics (Dagestan, Bashkortostan, etc...). The capital of Kazan is extremely beautiful. I was born there, and I hope it'll be a part of a sane country one day.
The rest of the world also hopes that Tatarstan can be part of a sane country, either on its own or as part of a Russian Federation not run by a crazed regime with deeply rooted suspicions of “the West “.
@@indiasuperclean6969 I love your sarcasm.
Hello my Bulgarian brother from Danube Bulgaria. One day you will be free and we will be united .
@@Mortablunt whataboutism at its finest.
"America has military bases!"
Yeah, and Russia is waging an aggressive war targeting civilians, promoting war crimes and threating the world with WW3 on a regular basis.
Also, reducing Western politics to a "nazi good men pregnant drugs legal" model isn't gonna bring you anywhere. The West doesn't think of Russia in terms of "Vodka Putin balalaika" anymore.
Короче, чел, имей уважение. Может, проявив уважение к собеседнику, ты сможешь его убедить и получишь больше чем 15 рублей от лахты.
@@simeondunev4890 Well hello to you too brother. I'm not sure what you mean by "One day you will be free" but you are right to some extent.
Като гледам и ти си от България. Нямам представа, какво искаш да кажеш или какви са ти намеренията с този пост.
This channel is one of the best on the subjects it covers. I’ve been subbed for a couple of weeks and like what I see.
One year later: Vuhledar has just been STORMED from 3 directions by the Russian army. Will this channel update you this time around? He tends to be awfully quiet when ukraine loses. 😂
Best military focussed channel on UA-cam, not even close. Thank you, very much Task & Purpose!
Nothing much has changed for Russia. I once read a book titled Tigers in the Mud. The man who wrote it was Germany’s first Tiger tank commander. He said that the Russians didn’t really adjust to their failures. He praised their heroism and willingness to charge. But he said they would do the same dumb thing over and over again. For example, he said that one of his positions was to guard a side of a valley. He had four Tiger tanks. On the other side of the valley, the Germans had placed some anti tank guns. The Russians knew the anti tank guns were there. Anyway, he said that he woke up one morning to nine T34s coming down the road in the middle of the valley. They were all pointing their guns at the side of the road where the anti tank guns were at. So he and his crews fired up their Tigers and they easily took out all nine T34s. The next day, he hears the rumble of tanks coming down the road again. He looks and here comes eleven T34s. But, again, all of them have their guns pointing at the position of the anti tank guns. So, again, he and his fellow Tiger tank buddies took out every one of them. It would seem that this has been a thing for some time with the way that Russia operates.
Bro who needs logistics
true NPC behaviour
And then they drove thosands of tanks to Berlin. End of story.
Goes to show that the key factors in winning a modern war are:
Production
Production
Production
In WW2 one Estonian guy took out 7 Russian tanks in a row with only one 88 Flak gun.
Hi. I love your attention to detail. Just wanted to maybe update your knowledge on disk-type anti-armour mines. They are created to be layed by just about anyone instead of trained soldiers or specialists. It is a throwback to different defence doctrine of mass resistance which means that just about anyone will resist occupying forces. I personally have received training on them in high school, at the university and during my mandatory service. The basic is that you just arm them and leave them. If you can you can just put something over them to camouflage or with a little bit more training you can dig them in or booby trap them so they are hard to remove or you can hook them up with antipersonnel jump mines. As antiarmour mines are set to detonate only when significant weight is applied they are safe for relatively rough handling. Trained units or engineers have way more options including some specialised kit attached to tracks or tanks which industrialize mining operations. Worst case scenario you can hide and push them directly in front of a vehicle. They are directional so you would not be hurt even a meter away if you cover. (Not sure I would be willing to test that). I have a lot of useless knowledge on weaponry and tactics from that era as I have to understand to learn. Turns out it also means a head full of useless info on a lot of subjects : ) Also, you probably know that remining clearances the enemy has made in your minefield has been standard practice for militaries and it was heavily used in recent wars I have witnessed (majority luckily not in person) since nineties in Yugoslavia. I had none-combat specialisation during my mandatory service which means about 10 weeks of basic combat training and even we were trained in organising nomansland patrols and the basics of remining paths enemy cleared for their patrols. It is surprisingly easy even with no night vision and dangerous as both sides have the same training so they can set ambushes. But mines we whee to use are cheap and safe to set after about 5 minutes of training. That is the scary part really. That is enough for today. You are making effort to understand the doctrines of Russians and others. I am no Russian. And I am no military specialist. But I think I have a very good understanding of doctrines which were developed to counter American doctrines not that I ever needed or wanted that. So maybe some other time that will come up as I think it has a lot to do with this and a few other wars. Take care and have great day : )
HajdeBreVise, Thanks for the detailed information. Your thoughtful comments are what make these forums so interesting.
Hahahaa, sad vidim jugoslavensku vojnu doktorinu.
@@ronaldfharring7326 Agreed.
Thank you. Are you from Slovenia?
Bless you for your sharing of experience.
never intrerupt the enemy when he's doing mistakes
You are certainly providing me with a great education on a diverse array of military issues. As always, Cappy, awesome presentation with facts and theories. Thanks, and keep up the A+ videos.
…biased, but interesting
@@dexlab7539he's also very poorly informed. Check out Patrick Lancaster's channel!
He's providing you with BS. He does too much assuming.
Imhey but its how us American military men think we are indoctrinated to speak an act like this if you dont like it an its bias man Im glad we fought for this country for turds to say whatever they want on the internet
@@moneymikeslickwill8749 Yeah, I spent 20 years in the military, and this guy is still marching in formation and believes the BS we feed the boots. Time to fulfill his oath. Ukraine has nothing to do with the protection of our constitution. If anything, it's putting it in jeopardy.
Dear Cappy,
I hope this correspondence finds you well. I enjoy your informative and entertaining episodes and I also want to thank you for your service to our country.
I also served back in Desert Storm in the Marine Corps. That is why I was taken aback at your glib comment about Marines eating crayons. Far from an acquired taste, crayons poses a depth of flavor and savory essence that is difficult to find in other foods. I am especially enamored of periwinkle and magenta crayons and recommend them highly. Please give them a try. Even better than MRE, maple nut cake.
Yours Respectfully,
Lance Commandant Andy, U.S.M.C.
In-depth analysis and top quality production, I tip my hat to you, Cappy. Well done and thank you.
As a former Russian prime minister Viktor Chernomyrdin said: " “We wanted the best, but it turned out the same as always”"
That's a problem that alot of people have! In a monarchy, or whatever that is that Putin represents, it carries the danger of appearing as the national character, even to its own members!
shite is part of Russian tatar culture.
More like "it's never happened and it happens again (Никогда такого не было и вот опять)".
That's the last 2 or 3 decades of British politics.
One year later: Vuhledar has just been STORMED from 3 directions by the Russian army.
Good assessment.
What we can learn from your well researched videos is unbelievable. The national media outlets can learn something from you. Kudos!
Damn. You can take an Aussie infantry battalion, a UK light armor unit, and a US attack helicopter unit and have a more cohesive team than Russia can do with their “own” troops.
NATO-STANAG ?
As long as you’re fighting Iraqis
@@RedShnow right... NATO would slap the poop out of Russia.
@@orionide4032 Latest news today. 7 out of 30 Nato member countries met the military spending goal of 2% of GDP. People like you don't keep up with the mounting death toll of 250k dead Ukrainian soldiers. Which Nato cross-dressing female brigadier general do you think is ready to lead Nato forces?
@@RedShnow bro this was supposed to be a 2 day fucking operation these Russians are so poorly run
Awesome Chris. As a combat veteran myself I look forward to your future updates.
Excellent! I've been watching many many videos about this war, and still found valuable insight in this one. Brilliant work Cappy!
This is probably one of the best videos you've put out to date, and it does a brilliant job of why things are the way they are over there. Thanks!
Loving this channel. Nowhere else I've come across explained why they keep making the same tactical mistakes, and it's bloody obvious once you think about it.
Keep it up, you have at least one Brit as a solid fan.
Your improved pronunciation of Ukrainian cities hasn't been unnoticed. 💪
I hasn't not unnoticed it too! Or hasn't I?
I have*
There is no I has in the english language little rusky.
Has not been unnoticed is completly correct
It's part of what makes his channel so fun to watch though. I hope he doesn't take too much offense from people teasing about it.
He better start learning the proper (Russian) names of these peasant villages and towns soon😂
This spirit of competition amongst units is familiar to me, I read during the Soviet's advance on Berlin the exact same tactic was encouraged between Zhukov and other commanders, presumably it spurred a sense of urgency in the taking of Berlin. Combined arms assaults are as they were in WW2 an ad hoc arrangement where commanders make a list of what they want then cherry-pick different branches of the service to join the assault who then go back to their units when it is over.
Great example! Stalin encourage competition between Zhukov, and Konev.... I think. It's been quite awhile since i read about the Eastern Front. Casualties were extremely high taking Berlin. The Soviets lost over 700,000 men taking Berlin. German lost but, they damn sure made the Red Army pay in blood for every inch of Berlin. Eisenhower was wise to let the Soviets take it.
Unfortunately this type of competition wasn't restricted to the Soviets. Patton and Montgomery famously competed with each other (and undermined each other) in their race to be the first to capture the strategically important port of Messina in the Allies' Sicily campaign.
@@black10872700k at that late stage in the war, by which point Germany had already lost, is absolutely insane. But makes perfect sense, seeing how those barbaric russian savages conduct war to this day.
@ClayRavin Yes but, you missing the point! Allied High Command was not encouraging this competition! Patton, and Montgomery were both equal in attitude. Its just that Montgomery had a more softer tone. Eisenhower, Marshall, Roosevelt, or even Churchill would never tolerate such losses just for the sake of competition. That's a dictator trait.
Except in modern armies combined arms assaults aren't as ad hoc as you state. A modern British battlegroup has tanks, motorized infantry, a reconnaissance troop, and access to artillery support at "battalion" level. And the attacks on Vuhledar aren't (or shouldn't be) on the fly - this is a fixed position so basic pre-planning for an attack could provide smoke, artillery support etc - this is WWI period stuff. The other thing that struck me was that it seems very small scale stuff - massed armour isn't being concentrated at the schwerpunkt and being given proper artillery and infantry support, and why are they directly attacking the town in the first place? Why not just envelope it and move on?
I just want to say that i am thoroughly enjoying your content sir.
As a Ukrainian, I’d like to admit that your analysis is really great. If to talk about why they doing same mistakes, I’m afraid that comment will be to big but if someone interested - may read. So, I can say that those types of things have their roots from their history and culture. I can say that because we was in same dish with them and that’s actually what made us so pissed of about them for years. It’s better for them to perform really bad and suffer but “not like in west”. They prefer to pay by huge human losses( not a problem for them because of 0 price of life of individual), suffering, doing same mistakes but not to do like US do.. And that philosophy is not only in their army, It’s simply in everything even if it’s have no any logical sense to do the opposite as westerns do. That’s one more reason why they always trying to make themselves look as “tuff russian guys” and simply covering that stupidity by heroism and fearless. Those things made us so much pro western but here again, it’s easier for them to use all kind of theories that US controlling us, stories that we are nazies bla bla and even start a f**ing war than just admit their mistakes and finally start to have care and respect to their own people and neighbors. It’s just…russians.. Hope you got my point)
That’s actually one more thing to know for people who support russia “because they are against of LGBT, elites, capitalism and other ***” They actually just support the opposite of what western world trying to evaluate but not because they are so traditional or sophisticated)) That’s what most people in west don’t understand about them and start to believe that they are a good guys who fighting with capitalism)) It’s not like that bros))
I'm glad you guys are not with that same self-defeating mindset, hey but as long as they keep losing I hope they keep that same mindset.
@@mikeyKnows_ yep, single problem for us is that they have lots of people to use those human waves and hords tactics. Yes, they can simply send a squad on our Browning but it’s not a problem, they will find a new people tomorrow:/ That’s makes problems 😅
For Corrupt Russian government, dead soldier means less pay. It works in their favor because they can pocket money blyat!
ruzzians run under the drunk uncle pride, jealousy and ego mentality, which is good for us. If they acted more "like the west" or in our eyes, more common sense approach, accountable for your actions, individuals are important, then things may not be in our favour, but then again they wouldn't even have invaded.
This was one of the most useful pieces of information to understand what is going on in the war from several perspectives.
Thanks Cappy
fun fact: ukraine has only 20 himars but Rusia has claimed to have destoyed 50 of them.
There's a company that used to make bouncy castles, now they make blow up HIMAS.
See how effective the Russians are? They've managed to destroy 250% of the HIMARS in Ukraine! That's no small feat!
@@tedteddington6223 A inflatable decoy would trick them into opening fire, but you would know it was a decoy after you shoot and it literally disappears into scraps of plastic. It doesn't explain why they claim to destroy 50.
@@rerror3577 Claims are pure propaganda. It's one thing your CP reported it was a decoy (assuming they have the ability to monitor it, which they don't most of the time). It's another when you report it to your population to raise morale.
They also claim to have destroyed a large number of Leopard IIs, despite their not actually being deployed yet.
These videos are extraordinarily researched and produced. Chris, if you are an average infantryman then the standards for the infantry have certainly risen since I served over 50 years ago.
In addition to all of the reasons for Russian military failure you document here, there have always been systemic problems with the Russian/ former Red Army. They have always relied on a conscription army wherein soldiers serve one year. You can't develop fighting expertise with one year conscripts. They have never had a professional NCO cadre and professional NCOs are the backbone of any professional military organization. Russian training for conscripts has always been brutal and about the power of the older soldiers over the newer soldiers; this makes it impossible to developing unit cohesion. Russian military doctrine has always been about "top-down leadership" and has never supported initiative at the lower levels of command. The last time the Russians fielded an actual professional military was in the last year of the "Great Patriotic War" and it took them several years fighting the Germans to make that progress; they were STILL not as professional as the defeated Wehrmacht on a unit-by-unit basis, and it has only been down hill since then.
You can develop fighting expertise with half a year of conscript training. Refer to Finnish conscripts and them regularly demolishing professional US infantry in exercises and overall demonstrating excellent soldiering. Higher ability and condition conscripts even serve in SOF/recon units and are trained in MOUT etc over a slightly longer period. It is effective because they are extremely specialized for one kind of warfare and actually do systems and combat training instead of just being used as labor like in Russia.
The catch is that you're not going to develop expert mechanized infantry in half a year. Finland can do it for the panssarijääkäri but they are relatively few in number and operate very expensive equipment. Even the US relies primarily on motorized alpine infantry and not mechanized infantry.
Conscript light infantry are unsuitable for the kind of attacking maneuvers that Russian doctrine uses, but it was borne from the assumption that they would not be able to train their troops to expert level anyway and gamble on a 6:1 advantage in numbers to overwhelm the enemy before they can make effective decisions. Russia's problem now is that they're lacking a significant numbers advantage so the strategy falls flat against a force like Ukraine or Finland that has a nominal strength of around one million troops during wartime.
@@ArchOfficial when did the fins regularly defeat the US infantry?
The Soviets had two year conscription at the end and three year up until something like 1980. Russia dropped it to one year.
The Soviets also had an incredibly militarized youth program system where when recruits got to conscription they already knew how to fire and strip an AK, survive in the field, march, operate under the basics of military discipline, etc etc. Russia dismantled that.
thank you for your service.
I have heard that about the US Military, the NCOs get shit done. I think an important factor is they are given a lot of freedom with in the rules of engagement to complete whatever mission package they got from higher up.
I dunno if this is true, I am not a history major but I have heard one reason for Russia lacking NCOs is for example during the soviet era the command was made up of "true russians" while the grunts were heavily conscripted from all the various places Russia took over. And those up top never exactly had faith or trust in these soldiers.
You have really upped your game over the last year. Much broader perspective, and much more insightful analyses.
You guys do such a brilliant work at getting intricate in how all parts interconnect in whatever it is you research, great work in finding both strategic and economic value of vuhledar but also going so far as to finding the owner of the economic resources too, brilliant!
thanks I try to dive as deep as I can into the information that's available, I do my best to lay my work out so people can see if I've gotten something wrong and where I may have gotten something correct
@@Taskandpurpose you do a great work of it!
Yeah, lets just hope the Russians don't watch and learn from this.
@@Taskandpurpose
is it just you or a team?
Cappy has seriously upped his game with these videos.
This was absolutely essential. Thank you.
I was in the British Army in the 1970's. I was told during my training that maps, at that time, were "secret" in the Red Army. For this reason, not only was the officer the only one who had a map, but, he was the only one who knew how to read it. So, "If you can't pick out the officer, shoot the guy with the map." I have no doubt that this attitude has not changed to this very day.
I have heard similar stories about the RPG. In Soviet Squads, only the Grenadier is trained to use it.
We were taught the same in the US Army during the Cold War in West Germany. Go for the antenna farms.
I’m trucker, I wanna thank you for your great videos
likewise man thank you for trucking
Man, one of the more fascinating parts of war is how seemingly backwater towns become crutial positions simply due to their geography.
Chris pronounced "Zaporizhzhia" correctly this time 👍
>Chris pronounced a word correctly
This must be a portent of DOOOOOOOOM!
Yeah, the next target is to pronounce Volnovakha and Tatarstan correctly
Except now he got volnovakha wrong lol
Does the Zaporozhets come from the region?
he also pronounced briish correctly, am proud of him
In the book “Team Yankee” there is a chapter towards the end of the book where the Soviet action is summed up they came like they always did and died like they always do.
What we’re dealing with is a failure to learn from all mistakes.
Team Yankee was a great book, in the vein of Tom Clancy. I liked the early Scott Dixon books as well.
Dealing with mistakes requires admitting you've made a mistake. I don't think we're quite to the point where they're admitting that yet.
@@Reddsoldier Dude, you're kind of stuffy... What Warhammer fan doesn't want to die for the great God Emperor?
There is a great opportunity to do so, and we Russians, as loyal imperials, go to crush the Chaosites and heretics. This is fun.
@@Salty_Balls I have been thinking of that book, as well as other novels by Coyle and others and how well they described what we have seen in Ukraine. The only thing missing is modern US heavy armor and Air Cav.
@@mr.andrew8001 aint no way you're serious this gotta be a joke right?
Just incredible work
6:38 - the BMP turning around upon seeing all the killed vehicles ahead - (1) smart! (2) funny
he actually turned around because a tank in front of him got blown up by a mine ;)
@@henrikvorwerk1021 which is an improvement over others because some would just drive around it only to hit another mine
Thanks for the explanation
It is a completely accurate analysis. Generals who deserved to be court-martialed are rising through the ranks.
Great analysis as usual. Cheers from Ukraine!
I appreciate your journalistic perspective and how you write your presentation.
Thanks Cappy, as always informative in layman's terms, even, for the civilian
The biggest thing in improving is to admit you were "wrong" so all can learn from the "error" and not repeat it. This is what they can never do at any level.
Well done.
You're mostly right about wanting to claim victory, especially with the Wagner group. Also, it's part of the whole soviet military training where you train only for the checkmark, so officers and sergeants would leave you alone. Also, communication problems and the kill chain command issue take so long to resolve. They have to pause the war regroup, do retrospectives, and resume, but they can't afford to wait.
@@indiasuperclean6969 Why do I get scam calls daily, from India?!?
@@indiasuperclean6969 hey look it's a Pakistani
@@scaucymancannotdiebaby7034 Ah yes, China’s new colony.
they have already regrouped
after getting out of kyev region they regrouped for kinda 5 months
they didn't regroup anything in reality, they just amassed their soldier to start a real sovietic style multi waves offense who is not proceeding anything
@@indiasuperclean6969 you never do scam calls in India huh? Weird every scam call I get is from a spoofed phone number IP traced back to INDIA.
For Putin, it seems like a fractured military like you describe is in his long term interests. Because they compete and cannot easily interoperate, they also cannot all fall in behind a single leader and potentially overthrow Putin.
If you think so, you need to take pills.
@@ZeroDihe is right
That’s fine if all you’re worried about is controlling your own people.
It’s not a very sustainable formula for wars against real militaries.
The US would eat their lunch.
Thanks!
The production value here is really going through the roof. Very well organized presentation with good videos, images, and graphics 👍
Thanks for the hard work!
Chris, thanks for the top content on Russia-Ukraine war!
Looking forward to getting more
I hadn't heard anyone else make the connection of artillery overuse > degraded capability > logistic strain, that's an important assessment
This is another of your really good ones. IMO you can make 2 or 3 a year of this quality. Which is great. I've been following you for about 4 years. It used to be just good vet fun stuff, and arm chair general laughs. You have grown into a perspective aware wonder. I can say more on Patreon. I'm just an old school E4 mafia. Than;k you.
Sounds a lot like back in the old days when minor kings and nobles from the territories were more interested in taking down their rivals than winning against potential invaders or enemies to the empire.
Interesting that you mentioned that. I think few peoples have been a screwed over as the Rus during the mongol invasion where each Prince more or less sat and watched while each of his peers were overrun by the mongols.
@@andersbjrnsen7203 It's basically how Moscow ended up in power. Every other city resisted, and got fucked by the Mongols, while Muscovites paid tribute, and after the Mongols left, they used the power vacuum to form basis of modern Russia, while originally, they were kind of a periphery to Kyiv and Novgorod.
@@Oumegi not only that, Muscowy was actually assigned ny the mongols as their representative feudal lord, and responsible for collecting tribute from the other principalities. Talk about getting up in the world...
Spectacular distilling the essence. This is a deep and thoughtful while entertaining dive into logistics and strategy at the granular level. Outstanding Soldier!
More videos on the Russian-Ukraine War please
@rado van 100% BS. That guy really believes that russians don't share insights.
You know what they say
The C and P in "Russia" stands for Competent and Professional
That's surprisingly detailed
Thank you for giving such a detailed and well thought out analysis. Not just this vid but many others! You are one of my trusted sources of information analysis.
Yes, it's great. But where are Ukrainian tank's ?
@@andrehunter1295 training the crews for those western tanks takes time. I'm hoping soon.
It’s so surreal, a LOT of this stuff was in Red Storm Rising, by Clancy in ‘86. Including the artillery mines.
FASCAM mine munitions have been around since the 80's. We got carried away with them in Desert Storm, like Depleted Uranium AP ammo (though I think losing an armored battle is a more acute illness), they caused deadly problems like leaving behind lots of unexploded bomblets and mines, a real nightmare to this day. So we don't really hear about us authorizing the use of them much today.
Kinda like Flamethrowers. Still legal for combat use, actually, but we haven't since 'nam.
I think you nailed it.
6:42 That IFV saw his friends and said : Nope never mind 😂
At a training field in Yakuma we had 2-2SBCT training as opfor(insurgent) and we had our engineers set mines on a bridge as well as forward observers trying to cross. They tried 3 major attempts before they had to pause the exercise and tell them, hey, don't continue to try and push through the same narrow passage 😂. Side note: one of our tiny squads of 5 caught an entire company sleeping on watch and claimed 25 knife kills 😂. The reason we have training exercises is because real world events are much more difficult to react to. Russia is showing this in real time
Yup training exercises in Russia seem to be one big scam as well. Commanders send out their best soldiers and equipment to make it seem like everything is running smoothly meanwhile the gluesniffers in the back dont get noticed by inspection. So the commanders can continue selling of material. Only a handful of equipment is kept in good condition for whenever a general said lets have an exercise.
How the hell do you have everyone asleep at the same time? The standard since the Revolutionary war is 1/3 are sleeping, 1/3 are doing maintenance/duties, 1/3 are on watch. Did they also take off their boots and get fully zipped up in sleeping bags with their weapon leaned against a tree out of reach?
Did you mean the Yakima training range in WA?
@@oldscratch3535 I've never ran into a unit where that was the standard during training. It's usually 4 guys max of a company doing night watch. As an LLVI operator, where we did forward operations, that number sinks down to one person in a fox hole(including deployment). When we ran with the standard mech infantry/light infantry it was the same as well as cav. When and what unit did you practice a 1/3 maint at night?
@@PNWOverland yes, we usually just call it yakima but YTC in WA
how this channel doesn't have over a million subs is mind blowing. They've consistently put out excellent content for a couple years now.
@radovan739 How so??
@radovan739 I read a lot from a variety of sources and I’m curious what specifically you find to be not factual or a lie? Also what channels would you recommend?
@radovan739 Not really swayed by your links. The information seems to really be pushing an overt narrative. Possibly T&F is doing same, but no ones really knows the absolute truth.
@radovan739 Theres major buzzword BS with Douglas McGregor. I want facts and stats presented in an up front way like Peter Zeihan.
You're doing a great service providing this content. Thank you
Ruzzia's strategy has all the nuance & depth of Rush B
great talk you are getting good at this
These individually trained units are like the various state militias trained and fielded back in the US Civil War and even the Revolutionary War, using the same antiquated communications and coordination as an 1800's era army would be using.
@@indiasuperclean6969 You should do something about the designated shitting streets and the cannibalism
@@indiasuperclean6969 a country that celebrates clean toilets as an achievement isn't for me lol
@@hazzardalsohazzard2624 You know, it's very telling that I can't discern if that previous comment from the India guy is either from some insane Indian ultra-nationalist that legitimately believes in the propaganda or someone who hates India (probably a Pakistani) and is putting on a internet stage persona to make India look ridiculous.
@@easonyeung2779Reckon this one is a joke but it can be hard to tell I agree.
@@easonyeung2779 it's still sad either way lol
16:05 Tatarstan is actually one of the richest regions. You can't compare it with the capitals but it in top ten in most rankings.
Rich in natural resources or the most dacha's or what?
@@lancekilkenny721 in gross regional product for example. Or in personal income.
Yes. He might have confused Tatarstan with Buryatia, Tuva or Chechnya (which are indeed very poor).
That's all you need to know about the great analyst :)). Losses in Ugledar from the same opera. Russia will win and put to shame all the lies that were poured on it in such videos.
@@PRshik, dude, you aren't making any sense. It's Russia who lost the battle for Ugledar. It is reason to think how to correct mistakes and get better. Not something to brag about.
That was a very intersting analysis. Very informative and well presented.
this must be devastating to morale, even given how they control information, people talk, they hear things..and their troops must dread their assignment...its a death sentence
I have had family die in battle just because he lead his team right into a ambush. The chaos of war is chaos and inflexible leadership often leads to casualties and poor communication. But when you are pinned down their usually someone who tries to step up to the challenge in this case my uncle. Thus are killed for trying to extract other members of the team from either bad positions or overwhelming forces such was his case.
Thanks for the explanation. Now to think through it and see if I concur with all of it.
The way you explain Russia's different military units and how they work alone and try to go for the glory reminds me of the old way of monarchs and the nobles fielding the bulk of the army and not working as a cohesive unit but just small factions under one banner.
"A fish rots from the head down." - The Mooch
Excellent analysis.
Thanks Cappy. This explained the disjointed operations by the Russian forces in Ukraine. Frankly, I was wondering why things seemed so wonky with the Russian forces.
You're doing a great job, Chris. Keep it coming.
Great analysis
Peace to Ukraine!
Great job Ukraine Slava Ukraini 🇱🇹❤🇺🇦
Prighozin's patch at 9:47 struck me as interesting. My Russian is terrible, but I managed to translate it, albeit with google translate. It reads 'Cargo 200 (Russian code for dead soldiers) we are together'. This translation is probably somewhat incorrect, but I assume it is close to what the patch actually says. To me, this patch shows the fatalistic mindset that Prigozhin is trying to promote within Wagner PMC.
Thats just basic soldier stuff. To act tough all the time, not fearing death.
@@Zoltan1251 I disagree. Soldiers in general are known for their gallows humour, but this is just bizarre. When you see the attitude Wagner has for its men, it all makes sense.
@@GreggOld it could be that was a convict conscripted into wagmer,they dont really have a good chance to survive so that would make sense.
@@GreggOld You are projecting. You already have in your head propaganda and then apply it to whatever you see. Truth is in the middle. This is just normal stuff like "Born to Die" on the helmet etc.
@@mojewjewjew4420 the guy with the patch is Prigozhin, the owner of the Wagner Group. I agree with your sentiment though, as I think he is trying to promote a fatalistic attitude amongst his troops.
Love your take on things
Vuledar (as opposed to Bahkmut) is actually important.
It interrupts the north-south rail line, the only one that connects mainland russia and the Kherson front (and does not pass through crimea).
So as long as its held, that train line can't be used.
Shhh don't let Wagner know that lmao they seem perfectly fine dying for a destroyed town that is simply an outer defense for the more important towns on higher ground right behind it 😂
Probably hampered as well opposed to defunct. Russia's ONLY means of transport is rail, which is generally easy to repair.
@@Funko777 I really think that's most of the reason why Ukraine is so determined to hold onto it...the Russians keep sending their people in to die again and again, and it's quite effective to kill them there!
@@Funko777 they're supposed to just move around it right? Stupid comment
I would imagine Ukraine holding Bahkmut on purpose even if they are suffering losses as a result. It seems like a good way to bleed Wagner dry. The loss of mercenaries and the massive waste of ammunition and material cannot be replaced by Ruzzia any time soon. Bahkmut seems to be nothing more than a gigantic meat grinder for Ruzzian meat..
Excellent commentary. On Russian mistakes, also bear in mind that they lost a huge number of their officers and most experienced soldiers in the first part of the war. So now they face the doubly hard challenge of needing to self-correct relying on leaders who never learned a correct approach in the first place.
Also Ukraine is 150000- 180000 casualties. Time for Ukraine to ignore nato and USA and start negotiations with Russia like should have done last March April. All wars end in diplomacy and border changes
@@ronaldlabelle7274 I don’t agree with that statement. How did the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan end? Seems appropriate to compare as invasions go.
@@ronaldlabelle7274 defending force almost always has lower casualty compared to the invading force.
@@ronaldlabelle7274 Negotiation is pretty simple, Russians get out! They can choose to carry themselves using their own feet or in a plastic bag.
@alanhopkinson1838 say it to the Russian speeking Ukrainians that have been killed in East Ukraine since 2014 by west Ukraine.
The average Russian soldier, "Ivan was not drunk enough to make it across the road. Don't make that same mistake Boris!" A few moments later..... "Boris almost made it past Ivan's spot. We are making progress."
Sad, but true............
I’m getting more from your channel than from my state news, unfortunately
I think that even a _bigger_ problem is that the military _leadership_ is unwilling to learn and to use the new knowledge, while the subordinates are afraid to disobey an order, _even when_ they are convinced that it's a really stupid one.
15k a month with a 2 month rotation, damn! Not bad compared to my less than 30k a year I was paid as an e2 in Afghanistan lol
I was surprised by that $15.8k/month figure. I was expecting ~$3.5k.
I don't know, I don't believe it. I was expecting like 5k max but realistically 2-3k and half of them not getting nothing until they rotate and finally die.
15K a month is pretty standard for PMCs, they almost always get paid higher than your average solider. Mainly because they expect those people to be trained already, and depending on what the contract is they might require previous work in special forces.
@@DakotaTheRota yeah but in Russian money that's even more for for them. The average income in Russia is barely 1k
Wherever you are recording you need to do some soundproofing. Thats said great video thank you ✌🏼
Excellent analysis! I think you're spot on regarding ruzzian repeating its mistakes. Hope it continues.
The explanation of different factions, IE Wagner group, etc. each fighting to bolster their standing and not communicating with other groups, thus making the same mistakes, was very interesting. I'm sure I wasn't the only person out here thinking "why"? If you're in one of these groups that expect to loose 50% of your conscripts,
probably not the best for morale.
IMHO - one word: Training.... you can come up with fantastic doctrine, you can supply good weapons with the latest chips sets and amazing capabilities, you can have common uniforms and creed, but if you haven't embedded the lessons of manoeuvre and combined arms through long hard expensive sessions of training at all levels ... from individual skills, through small unit tactics to large scale Tactical Exercises Without Troops... then you don't have an army ... you have a bunch of expensive cosplayers working at cross purposes.
There are reasons why the majority of western European armies have transitioned to an all-professional force with 3 year training cycles and numerous 'schools of this and academies of that' ... they know that every soldier that gets trained up has a window of utility in his/her current role ... and maintaining that will require additional training at great expense, not to mention the need to adapt SOPs and (at slower cycles) doctrine to assimilate emerging best practice.
you cant say you have an army of 1.2 million and then fail to provide that army a means to go out and practice their art (at scale) every two years. Infantry need time at the range - Tankers need guns with barrels that will handle a 20 year burn rate of practice missions, front line pilots need 30 to 60 hours flight time (in cockpit & simulators) in order to be both proficient and aware of their supporting arms characteristics. ... and above all that you need an officer corps with managed careers that expose them to as much of the combined arms ecosystem as possible to ensure they are capable of knowing what arms will support them and how.
Russia has - in every sense of the word... a Potemkin army of poorly trained , poorly equipped 'mobiks' that only know which direction to run and have little knowledge of what the rest of their own organisation can and should do to support their efforts. Plans fail, commanders (at all levels) suffer attrition, and comms always goes to shit - but knowing what the formation next to you has been tasked with, how your mission fits into the big picture and what the next guy over will do when things change takes time, effort and bloody minded NCOs to establish.
God help Russia - even if they repel the spring offensive they will never again be anything other than a sad joke ... a cautionary tale for anyone who thinks Open Societies and liberal democracies are somehow inferior to kleptocratic autocracies with smug leaders who prefer the safety of their heads up their own arses.
end of rant
Fascinating.