A very interesting Russian document has been made available in English translation by Lethal Minds Journal. It's introduced as follows (translated from Russian):
I Live, I Fight, I Win : Rules of Life In War
Razumov A.N., Kryukov G.A., Kuznetsov A.N.
I live, I fight, I win! Rules of Life in War is a collection of recommendations based on the generalized experience of combatants in Afghanistan, the North Caucasus and Ukraine. The presentation is distinguished by a deep knowledge of the problem, brevity, accessibility for understanding, clarity of presentation.
The collection is intended for servicemen of the RF Armed Forces participating in a special military operation in Ukraine, conscripts, cadets of military educational institutions, employees of various law enforcement agencies.
I'm not going to provide excerpts here, because it's a long document with lots of detail. However, I recommend all my current and former military readers to click over to Lethal Minds Journal and read it for themselves. It's interesting to compare its combat doctrine to those we were taught from a Western mindset; and it provides valuable insight into how Russian forces are operating today. In a post-Ukraine War world, we might be seeing such tactics closer to home. Who knows?
Peter
Among all the practical information and advice was this:
ReplyDelete"64. The most important thing. God with us!
“God leads us, He is our general!” - wrote the great Suvorov in his book "The Science of Victory". Sincere faith in God, the primacy of the spiritual over the material - this is the main secret of the victories of the commander and his miracle god entire. “Neither hands, nor feet, nor the mortal human body wins, but the immortal soul, which rules with both hands, feet, and weapons, ...”, “Without prayer, do not draw weapons, do not load guns, do not start anything!” , "Pray to GOD: victory comes from HIM!" Suvorov teaches us . (See in the Appendix “Prayer of Orthodox Warriors Before the Battle”, “Troparion to the Cross and Prayer for the Fatherland”, “Du'a of Faithful Muslims, Which Helps to Win”). And Alexander Vasilievich firmly knew that there was no death, and death in battle was just a stage on our path to God. The test of war is a kind of purgatory, after which we purify our souls and gain faith, and God's providence is to accept our souls, or leave them on Earth for only He alone knows the future."
Standard Aussie infantry doctrine circa late 80's was much the same or better...the senior NCO instructors had either been in Vietnam or knew someone that had, and the institutional memory was strong. Some of the commissioned officers were likewise blooded and weren't wearing sphincters as collars. We even had an occasional former Rhodesian...those guys were pro. All past tense now.....the real enemy was active in the corridors and classrooms, and the lucky country is no more.
ReplyDelete#17 and #18 are going to be the killers for our guys in battle. The insistence on setting up bullseye C4I nodes at every road crossing and the failure to instruct the young is going to be Hell.
ReplyDeleteOne of the things the SMO did was something not seen in Russia since they invested Afghanistan and Chechnya and in both cases much that was learned was lost. They have a fully blooded army now and nobody in the West has anything like or it or seen anything remotely like modern war. Should it come to pass they will have a learning curve very much on par with the US Army of 1941-1942.
Same guys that died diligently in Hürtgen Forest 1945 against the barrel scrapings?
DeleteThe west no longer wages war to win. It wages war for the sake of war...as a means for a small minority to get richer.
ReplyDeleteFor anon at 5:43, take a look sometime at the REPL/DEPL rates on the divisions in Europe. You will be truly amazed at the staggering numbers the planners were dealing with.
ReplyDeleteAll I ask is, go back in a year, and see how many of those authors are still around sharing their insights to the FNGs.
ReplyDelete"Institutional memory" is vaporware in a unit with combined turnover and casualty rates approaching 95%, and the situation on the ground shows that.
The motto on both sides should be "I Fight, I Die, I Decompose".
On Day #750 of Putin's Three Day War, and Week 107 of "Two Weeks To Flatten Kiev".
The best lesson from this is, don't go to war with a near-peer when your equipment is archaic, your contractors have been stuffing your flak vest and reactive armor panels with sofa cushions, and your generals have been gun-decking capability and efficiency reports for decades.
It isn't going to go the way you thought it would, and Reality Is A Harsh Teacher.
Good thing we're "Winning" the Proxy War in Ukraine.
ReplyDeleteTheir equipment, training, leadership (did I miss anything in your screed Aesop?) is SO POOR and their GDP is about the size of Maryland.
Would be a real disgrace to lose to such a puny yet when we NEED More Money FORMIDABLE Foe.
But then again, I've been watching the Naval rotation in the NATO defend shipping from the REALLY Pitiful Hothi's.
Yeah we're "Winning there also".
The Ukrainians are outnumbered about 4.4 to 1, and Ukraine is not an industrial nation. OTOH, they are country folk that have learned how to use technology to bring in immense harvests with only a few farm workers, so I expect they're tough, resourceful, and adaptable - and they remember the Holodomor, which is quite a motivator. Give them weapons, and they'll make better use of them than some urban Russian with generations behind him of factory workers going by the principle, "We pretend to work and they pretend to pay us."
ReplyDeleteBut still, Russia's sheer numbers have allowed them to lose and lose in earlier wars, but to keep on going until finally they win.
Don't worry Markm, if you do the math so well. Look at the GDP of Poland and the facts they've replaced all their ex-soviet era army with Modern High Tech South Korean gear. Something about giving all soviet gear to the 2nd or 3rd new Ukrainian Army rebuild?
ReplyDeleteBTW ever wonder why they didn't buy American weapons? We cannot build tanks anymore. Our vaunted F16's are rebuilds mostly 20 years old according to the Air Force. And again Air Force info some 70+% of the F35's are not combat ready.
Note the prices of those South Korean war toys. THAT's without spare parts, support equipment and special ammos not currently in Poland's ability to produce.
As NOBODY sells war toys on a buy now pay later plan AND the amounts I estimated over a few days of research (cool S. Korean stuff) Poland is either spending some 110% of their GDP on new War Toys.
OR America is AGAIN paying the tab for another Proxy War with Russia.
In the admitted amounts from the media USA (some 85%+) and Nato we've dumped some twice the estimated GDP of Russia into this mess.
Pity Ukraine ran out of bodies to feed the Proxy War. Sarc.
Real pity for the widows and children of this American Exercise.