Russia Invades Ukraine pt XII

[TIDE-HSV]

Russia is dusting off antique tanks from the 1940s, monitor group says, as its losses mount in Ukraine

T-54s, first manufactured in 1947, were seen being transported from deep storage in Russia's far east, the Conflict Intelligence Team said.

www.businessinsider.com

Given the Russian rep for maintenance, or the lack thereof, I wonder what kind of shape those tanks are in...

 

[TIDE-HSV]

A nice report by Nadin. She has several very important nuggets, particularly the mass desertion material...

SVR reports

 

[crimsonaudio]

Russia is dusting off antique tanks from the 1940s, monitor group says, as its losses mount in Ukraine

T-54s, first manufactured in 1947, were seen being transported from deep storage in Russia's far east, the Conflict Intelligence Team said.

www.businessinsider.com

 

[TIDE-HSV]

Russia is dusting off antique tanks from the 1940s, monitor group says, as its losses mount in Ukraine

T-54s, first manufactured in 1947, were seen being transported from deep storage in Russia's far east, the Conflict Intelligence Team said.

www.businessinsider.com

Well, at least they won't have the "Jack in the Box" problem of the turret blowing off when attacked from above. OTOH, they'll have to train human loaders to take the place of the auto-loader...

 

[Tidewater]

Russia is dusting off antique tanks from the 1940s, monitor group says, as its losses mount in Ukraine

T-54s, first manufactured in 1947, were seen being transported from deep storage in Russia's far east, the Conflict Intelligence Team said.

www.businessinsider.com

The T62 was the only Soviet tank to have its production run curtailed. It was too flawed to keep producing. Yet here the Russians are, pulling older tanks out of mothballs to send them to the front.

 

[T Bone]

It will be such a shame to see those old tanks blown straight to hades.

 

[4Q Basket Case]

It will be such a shame to see those old tanks blown straight to hades.

Enjoy while you can.

Won’t be long before they’re gone.

 

[Tidewater]

Given the Russian rep for maintenance, or the lack thereof, I wonder what kind of shape those tanks are in...

I theory, these get a refurbishing before going to the front.
In reality, I've read that some of the more recent T-64 tanks sent to the front were not able to move themselves and had to be winched onto the railroad cars for movement to the front. One can only imagine what the folks at the front thought of receiving a "new" tank and having to tow it off the flatbed railroad car.

 

[Tidewater]

Read this (in Russian) this week from a Russian-speaking author (although from his name, he appears to be Armenian).
Lessons learned from the first year of the war.

• Tanks are not outdated: "If tanks are useless, why is Zelenskii asking for them?"
• Artillery is still the god of war: Most of the casualties are caused by arty.
• Drones are more important than fighter craft.
• The is the first drone war
• Hierarchy doesn't work: Russia's centralized command and control structure failed the country.
• Logistics and supply at the forefront: Russia cannot supply a fight more than 160 km from a railhead.
• Quantity no longer translates into quality.
• Privateers on the battlefield
• Monitors instead of machines
• Nuclear weapons provide no advantage
• Cyber offensive failed. The Ukrainians sawit coming and were prepared.
• The war machine is powered by microchips: It has been reported that "someone" has been buying up old gaming consoles to pull their chips for use in Russian weapons.
• The space of struggle is everywhere. Air, land, sea, space, cyberspace. "All this is complemented by several more wars: energy, trade, sanctions, the war of narratives in the media and the war of lobbying opportunities (what is often called weaponized corruption in the West)."
• Defense ahead of attack. The constant struggle between firepower and mobility.
• External intensity control. Friends on both sides have restrained their friends in the combat.
• Missiles alone cannot be successful.
• Nature cannot be defeated. Water obstacles still cannot be surmounted easily.
• War within the cities. The fighting in cities. Fighting against cities. The author used the word "urbicide," the killing of cities.

 

[4Q Basket Case]

I theory, these get a refurbishing before going to the front.
In reality, I've read that some of the more recent T-64 tanks sent to the front were not able to move themselves and had to be winched onto the railroad cars for movement to the front. One can only imagine what the folks at the front thought of receiving a "new" tank and having to tow it off the flatbed railroad car.

Wonder if they’ll revive the name that the WW2 GIs gave the Sherman: Ronson because it lights every time.

 

[Tidewater]

Wonder if they’ll revive the name that the WW2 GIs gave the Sherman: Ronson because it lights every time.

If they have to go further back into the Soviet tank history, beyond the T55/T54, then they will be sending Iosef Stalin IIIs to the front. Pretty good heavy tank, but man they will be old. In fact, I'm not sure they have any in mothballs. They will have to pilfer them from Museums.

 

[Tidewater]

Wonder if they’ll revive the name that the WW2 GIs gave the Sherman: Ronson because it lights every time.

The Sherman was the anti-German tank. Not the most modern. Not the most capable, but reliable and the US made a metric butt-ton of them (49,000 in fact).
The Germans in WW II made just a few very advanced, and very finicky tanks, and were horribly unreliable. If they worked, then they were quite good. When they broke (which was quite often), they were worthless.

 

[4Q Basket Case]

The Sherman was the anti-German tank. Not the most modern. Not the most capable, but reliable and the US made a metric butt-ton of them (49,000 in fact).
The Germans in WW II made just a few very advanced, and very finicky tanks, and were horribly unreliable. If they worked, then they were quite good. When they broke (which was quite often), they were worthless.

I've read that, especially about the Tigers -- truly frightening machines when they worked, but the drive gears weren't strong enough to handle the weight of the vehicle, and were forever stripping out.

My impression was that the Panzers were more reliable...was that true in an absolute sense, or just in comparison to the Tiger?

 

[TIDE-HSV]

The Sherman was the anti-German tank. Not the most modern. Not the most capable, but reliable and the US made a metric butt-ton of them (49,000 in fact).
The Germans in WW II made just a few very advanced, and very finicky tanks, and were horribly unreliable. If they worked, then they were quite good. When they broke (which was quite often), they were worthless.

I do remember that Patton was asked how the Sherman would do against a Panzer, he replied that our tanks were not intended to be used against other tanks...

 

[TIDE-HSV]

Another Korshak piece. Long, but informative as usual...

As a sidebar, I will say that I acknowledge the pain members of the Chinese delegation I strongly suspect they suffered being forced to eat zakuski and reindeer steaks and snow crab salads and to pretend it’s haute cuisine, and then having had to smile at and drink eternal friendship vodka toasts with — in what must be any Chinese diplomat’s estimation — a pack of barbarians that wash infrequently, are intellectually inferior, don’t like to work hard, are bad at business and constitute an outright menace to themselves and everyone around them. If any Chinese negotiator who was there in Moscow reads this and knows different, contact me and I promise to retract the sidebar with a heartfelt apology.

Korshak

There's also an interesting interview with Wagner soldiers he did for the Kyiv Post, link at the very end...

 

[UAH]

The Sherman was the anti-German tank. Not the most modern. Not the most capable, but reliable and the US made a metric butt-ton of them (49,000 in fact).
The Germans in WW II made just a few very advanced, and very finicky tanks, and were horribly unreliable. If they worked, then they were quite good. When they broke (which was quite often), they were worthless.

Reading the 4th Armored Div. daily reports and thinking about the past year,
German anti tank guns killed more than a few tankers and Sherman's. When they ran into multiple Panthers or Tigers they got the heck out of Dodge. BTW this last week featured crossing of the Rhine. This is where Patton exhibits his brilliance putting up a pontoon bridge and pushing a force across to establish a beach head. All of this while Monty contemplated his navel. Planning for his crossing as if it was the Normandy invasion.

 

[Tidewater]

I've read that, especially about the Tigers -- truly frightening machines when they worked, but the drive gears weren't strong enough to handle the weight of the vehicle, and were forever stripping out.

My impression was that the Panzers were more reliable...was that true in an absolute sense, or just in comparison to the Tiger?

Pzkw Mark V and VI (both variants) had serious reliability problems.
I guess Mark IVs were okay, but they were the last main battle tank to enter production before the war started and German defense industry was not under a lot of stress.
German engineers just have an irrepressible urge to over-engineer things.

 

[TIDE-HSV]

Pzkw Mark V and VI (both variants) had serious reliability problems.
I guess Mark IVs were okay, but they were the last main battle tank to enter production before the war started and German defense industry was not under a lot of stress.
German engineers just have an irrepressible urge to over-engineer things.

I drove German cars for decades, but once you go Nippon, you never look back...

 

[TexasBama]

Putin says Russia will station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus

https://www.npr.org/2023/03/25/1166089485/putin-russia-tactical-nuclear-weapons-belarus

 

[92tide]

Putin says Russia will station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus

https://www.npr.org/2023/03/25/1166089485/putin-russia-tactical-nuclear-weapons-belarus

that seems like a desperate move