Why Are the Russians So Bad? War Stories from Ukraine with Neil Vermillion
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- čas přidán 25. 05. 2024
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Back by popular demand, we have Neil Vermillion again today. We're talking about his experiences while volunteering as a trainer for troops in Ukraine. We're going to discuss why the Russians underperformed so badly, what the Ukrainians are doing well to adapt and improve, and perhaps why he has a somewhat scorched Wagner patch on his wall...
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My father was drafted out of college and sent to Vietnam. He was told in basic he was going to be an infantryman. They told him it was because when they officers and NCOs were killed the platoon would be able to look to him as an “older, educated” person. At 24 he said he was considered the “old man” of the platoon.
My dad was in Vietnam with the USMC in 70-71 & they made him an NCO after his commander was killed. He was 21.
What a time. My uncle went for the Australian and New Zealand forces. Yup, they were there, yup it sucked. Still grateful for their service. Despite the outcome.
That is another one of those myths. The average age of the men listed on the Memorial is 22. Ipso facto the average age of Servicemen over there was NOT 18. @@trentpeterson3495
@@Cincy32 I'm so sorry they made him complicit in an imperial rape
sorry your father was used in an imperialist crime against humanity.
Might need to put on an hazmat suit before going into the comment section
No ppe! We die like men!
Just your garden variety russian bots. They gotta make their rubles.
@@SteelHexI'm pretty sure that you can also find Jewish ukr bots on other yt vids about current events,with unfunny jokes or things like " putler arrested tomorrow!"
you'd think youtube would crack down on these bots. Its been getting absurd lately, you see the same bots commenting on every video
Time to get to work on decontamination fellas.
Some of the things I noticed in the early days was Russian convoys conducting "administrative road marches", as if they were a National Guard unit driving from Ohio to Indiana for the two week summer deal at Camp Atterbury. No tactical spacing, no "gun truck" escort vehicles to resist ambushes.
As an artilleryman, the most egregious thing I saw was an image of a destroyed 2S1 Gvozdika 152mm with at least 100 spent brass powder cases piled up around it. They just sat there and shot round after round until they were located and destroyed by counter-battery. They should've displaced WELL before that. This suggested a battery commander, platoon leader, and platoon sergeant who either lacked tactical awareness or were simply indifferent to the lives of their men and the value of protecting their combat power.
Something I also noticed, that proved crucial to exactly why they didn't not gain any in-roads or beachhead efficiently was the lack of secondary LZ's and objectives. It's like they had ZERO contingency for, not if, but when the plan failed. I watched VDV rotary-borne units just circle around an AO instead of finding a better LZ and attempt to cut off reinforcements or set up an outer cordon, for example _The Battle of Hostomel International Airport_ where VDV just... didn't land when a downed Mi-8 blocked the seemingly primary (and likely only) planned LZ. This allowed Ukrainian Militia, consisting of Law Enforcement Agencies, Armed Insurgent Volunteers (yes insurgent is the correct terminology) and Guardsmen to mount an effective counter insurgency that enveloped the airport and caused a flip in momentum allowing Regulars to show up and retake the the airport withing the first week of fighting.
*edit: before anymore people try and correct me about incorrect terminology, it was already acknowledged in a reply below.
I've never served in an army, but even I know that you don't slowly drive a column of armoured vehicles along a road in hostile country, completely without ground or air support. Suicidal.
@@redcell9636 Insurgent is the wrong word, they'd be insurgents if they lost the war and were rebelling against occupation, they're militia.
@@mechsquid2
Yeah you're right. I most likely was thinking of other flowery words like "partisan" to describe militia-type forces and my brain was moving faster than my thumbs. Thanks
@mechsquid2 Correct. Insurgent is the wrong word. It is a word used for forces opposing an existing government, which Russia was not.
But whenever someone online says that Russia never said this was going to be a "3 day operation", I think about those verkakte convoys driving around like they were back on the block. And the decision to attack during the muddy season (yeah, yeah...I'm not spelling that word). Russians know about mud, but they didn't care because when you are going to rush along highways and do this in 3 days, mud isn't a factor.
Oh...that and the fact Putin left $600 billion of reserves in foreign banks, where it was subsequently frozen. He clearly expected Ukraine to be a "fact on the ground" quick enough for that not to happen.
during almost every training event I have seen subordinates temporarily step in for the simulated death of a leader and multiple times seen that leader lose their job to a better performing subordinate soldier
Might be why the Russians don’t like initiative in their subordinates.
hence Pulter should remain in place for our benefit
As it should be. 👍
@@chinesesparrows Same reason they considered assassinating a certain failed Austrian artist during WWII...but didn't: because he was doing such a great job of winning the war for the allies.
@@hoilst265 There were dozens of attempts on Hitlers life. The Allies did not leave him alive for your reasoning.
"He might not even survive cause all the oligarchs are getting whacked."
Is a WILD statement now knowing Prigozhin is dead as hell and it wasn't even Ukraine that did it.
Prighozin died in an unfortunate accident in June but due to scheduling conflicts couldn’t catch a plane that would take him to the place of the mishap until mid August.
Not wild at all, he was totally expected to be killed.
Everyone knew he was going to be killed after all that drama.
@@John.S.Patton So you think that russia is so incompetent that Ukrainians snuck into russia, took over a russian SAM site, shot down his plane, and snuck out without being detected? Interesting.
Yes, the Ukraininin SAM at Putin's place. Controlled by Putin's men. In Putin's Russia. Clearly the work of Ukraine.@@John.S.Patton
Overestimating your abilities and underestimating your enemy is great strategy if you want to lose.
And corruption through the entire war machine helps too. When the top brass aren't aware that they've been lied to about where all the money meant for military procurement, development, and maintenance has been going.
Kind of like what Ukraine is doing now.
Kind of like how we were saying Russia was going to run out of munitions??
@@CSestpthe estimates that Russia would run out of ammo were based on their ability to produce it. We have seen Russia slow down its attacks to try and not run out of ammo. This is why you see longer periods of Russian shelling now as opposed to last year.
@@ChiTownGuerrillaliterally how?
Yeah, we forget the lessons we learn from combat all the time. I used to watch the Army shooting itself in the foot; every time we went into combat, we'd learn that armor is important and that vehicle gunners need protection. Mechanics in-theater would improvise armor and turrets, and eventually the industries back home would start building them that way. Then the war would end and the bean counters would say, "that armor is expensive" and they'd strip it off. Vehicles would go back to being unarmored and defensive gunners would be standing in the breeze again. To add insult to injury, we'd start getting proposals for tactical dune buggies that didn't even protect the passengers from the rain, much less incoming fire. When another war would kick off and we'd have to learn the lessons all over again.
One thing that I noticed early on in Ukraine was that Putin didn't authorize the activation of the reservists who made up a lot of the infantry that were supposed to be riding the BMPs and BTRs they sent over the border. They just had their core crews. So I was constantly watching videos of Ukrainians destroying vehicle after vehicle because the Russians didn't have enough troops to dismount and sweep the villages and towns they were encountering for ambushes.
Uparmoring a vehicle meant without armor is a story as old as... vietnam war? XD
The part about unarmored vehicle proposals you mentioned, it's like they found out about the Chad/Toyota War and solely stuck to it.
@@WingMaster562 World War 1, actually. People have added improvised armor to motorized vehicles used in war for as long as motorized vehicles have been used in war. Back at the beginning of the first world war, all armored cars were improvised.
Aircraft too, lots of WW1/2 aircraft with field modified steel plates behind the pilot's head and butt@@larryfontenot9018
You bring up a good point, and it reminds me of the video, "Disrguntled soldier complains to Rumsfeld"
Where a brass-balled Specialist asks Donald Rumsfeld why their vehicles, for OIF, don't have armor.
The thing about those BTR’s not having reservists is because of Russian law. The reservists are for defense of Russian territory, they couldn’t be called in for attack. Which is why the Donbas&co was annexed to make it “Russian territory” and reservists to be stationed there. It would also have kind of tipped the public off that Russia was about to attack, which would sway the West sooner to support Ukraine.
Also also, Putin likely wanted a show of force where they could claim a country with purely the professional army and no one called up. They are doing very well on that front so far.
The comment section is hilarious today.
"You're propaganda!"
"No, you're propaganda!"
"NO U!"
"NO U!"
"I'm only propaganda satirically"
No ur mom supported Spanish nationalists
What if the real propaganda was the friends we made along the way?
People in the West don't trust their governments so they gobble up Russian propaganda.
Ur mom
It doesn't suprise me the russians forgot about those soviet bunkers to be honest, the collapse of the soviet union really did a number on their organization
Trust me it wasn't all that propaganda claimed it to be even before collapse of commie regime
That's, putting it quite lightly lmao
and their organization ws a joke to begin with
@@brucekendall9873 You'd think Putin'd would know that, considering how well he profited from the chaos. He literally got in power by pandering to the Russian Mafia - it's how he started his political career as mayor of St. Petersburg. He went to the mafia, said if you get me in power I'll make it worth your while.
Bold of you to assume they were organized to begin with
For something Ian doesn't really specialize in, he's insanely good at prompting and guiding interviewees.
The story of the 131st separate motor rifle brigade in Grozny is one of the most chilling things you can hear about. There's a video on the internet somewhere that youtube keeps deleting which is an edit of a bunch of videos from the war but they start out with a conversation over radio between two old friends who served together in Afghanistan. The first is the commander of the 131st separate motor rifle brigade, and the second is now a government official in the Chechen government. The Chechen basically begs the Russian to send his men home and come as a guest. The Russian obviously replies he will follow his orders. What the Russian doesn't know, but the Chechen does is that the entire city is one big trap. They let the Russians in and then ambushed them from all sides, from basements and rooftops beyond where the tanks and ifvs could aim their turrets. There's more radio recordings out there too of people desperately pleading for reinforcements which should have arrived by that point only to be told their reinforcements got ambushed and they're on their own. I guess the most chilling part of the conversation between those two is when the chechen says neither of them will survive if the russians go through with this, and he was right. The russian officer died at the railway station along with 80% of his men, and the chechen died in prison years later I believe.
All this to the tune of From Roots to Needles. One of the best pieces of culture I've ever came across
ive seen that also
Seen also 🇬🇧👍
And they've not learned their lesson. They are still marching in poorly planned, poorly led columns into their neighnoring states that were once brothers in arms to them.
You always get told war is madness but seeing the actual footage from the front of this unfolding, even this week makes you realise how true that is.
I have no idea why the Russians are still fighting at this point.
You’re wrong because the radio conversation was after they were already ambushed and trapped in a building in the center of town. They wanted them to surrender rather than die in the building surrounded by their destroyed BMPs. After the refused the building was set on fire.
"I know this: you strap on a gun and go strutting around some other man's country, you better be ready for some action, Jack! People are touchy about that sort of thing!" -George Carlin
@@johnyewtube2286 He transcends funny. Also, millions of people who enjoy his bits suggests your opinion is in the minority.
As I recall from Carlin's talk about war: "the missiles and the bombs and the rockets, they're all shaped like dicks!" He may have no understanding of aerodynamics, but he knew comedy.
I think the Ukrainians have had it rough from the training aspect because they've had to combine western training/tactics with more soviet style tactics because they don't have things that a western force takes for granted - and would frankly be "lost" without - like air superiority.
From what I understand, Ukraine had gotten rid of the Soviet structure and doctrine a long time ago, but definitely like you said they couldn't take a fully NATO approach either. The point is, they basically made their own unique doctrine. It's definitely not Soviet, but definitely not NATO either, it kinda pulls from everywhere. Western yes, but a speciated form of Western. Which is a pretty good description of Ukraine in general, it's a very unique place at this point in history. My friend there grew up watching American movies and TV shows, while growing potatoes in an old Soviet village.
AFAIK there's a major culture shock in AFU when the mobilization hit and lots of "old guard" were summoned to serve, and most of them served in the "old" pre-2014 Ukraine army with some having experience dating back to the USSR. Their experience and skills clash with NATO-trained/support post-Maidan military, and the current state of AFU is to an extent the result of both of those command styles clashing rather than any organized effort at creating their own doctrine.
@@hedgeearthridge6807 a village isn't "soviet" lol. Unless you're calling it that because it has commieblocks.
It's apparently very frustrating when you have NATO training, but work under dinosaurs who are Soviet trained. That Sarge was pretty public about it.
Western doctrine works well with total air superiority, artillery superiority, technological superiority and overwhelming mass... ☜(ﾟヮﾟ☜)
03:28 I think he's talking about that OMON unit which got lost, and drove through Bucha to a bridge over the Irpin River, and were killed almost to a man. If that's the battle, he's not kidding. Three wounded men got away, one of whom died hours later.
I saw footage of that, and had no clue they were a Russian LEO service, to me that's even a worse tragedy, sent to the Plains of Elysium without ever really knowing why you got there to begin with.
@@redcell9636 it was a combined taskforce of "National Guard" and "SWAT", it has LEO in it but also Military.
@@Earthinet
Interesting. Thanks. I often forget because of the US Constitution and the limitations it puts on US Law Enforcement that we don't have this level of integration compared to most of the world.
IMO I think it's scary that a government can order, what is essentially a non-combat focused group into service at anytime in an active 2-way range.
@@redcell9636 It is scary, Russia is a dictatorship and there are myriad authoritarian loopholes like that.
@@dreamcrusher112
We don't have that... yet. We are unfortunately inching closer to oblivion by the uniparty, and any populist Federalist movement, from either side is quickly ignored by the mainstream, because they want centralized authority akin to Russia... while simulatenously bashing Russia for being authoritarian.
But I digress.
Fun Fact: long-standing state policy in USSR / Russia: military maps were / are considered a 'classified' document (and frequently didn't trickle down below the Regimental / Divisional level).
Add corruption and a systemic culture of _everybody_ lying to each other (especially superiors) to make things even more interesting.
And how you can give funtional map for area if your soldiers from backwood areas
are already fed by missinformation by their whole life. Most likely those maps from school books
and military maps wont match att all.
So that how you get peple to parade march into border which doesnt even exist for those guys.
No wonder many of those soldier imagined to just have somekind of drill before harsh reality
hit them in form of mortar grenade.
The other thing is those who got outdated maps printed back in USSR. Cites grow, places got new names so it's easy to get lost.
Just imagining all of the friendly fire that has to be occurring against soldiers who don't have maps.
@@Kesssuli That have been found with maps from the 80's.
You'd that that russia could of used satellites to map the place or visited a gas station to get some new ones...
@@SuperFunkmachine Well that is not even remotely strange if you are asked to bring
your own first aidkit and even ask tampons to plug potential holes.
In this point only thing im suprised how they have lasted this long.
But i think whole reason is that their pride just wont allow to back off even
though whole campaing doesnt have any purpose anymore.
Most likely afterwards we will see quite massive purge in their political and military personel.
Territorial defense/homeguard did pretty much what they should do from the beginning. They stayed behind removing roadsigns, guerilla warfarfare, and arming the population. They are trained for working alone on some level. I think the army itself that is not trained that way probably has some more problems adjusting to this new way of war.
Well by now the war is mostly-static frontline fighting, so I'd say the army was trained fine
@@kostakatsoulis2922 can`t say that tdf is trained well on a high scale. from what I hear from my brothers on the front, there are lack of well-trained experienced commanders (especially on low-middle levels).
dont forget the Ukrainian road and trasnsport authority, who diligently went and changed road signs (signs pointing to Kyiv, in the oppisite direction to Kyiv:) and changing the digital LED roadsign to say 'russian warship, go fark yourself :)
If you werent living in western cnsorship bubble, you'd see what they truly did: shot a lot of civilians under false accusation or just for fun (whole families at times, blaming it on russia later on). Even shot their own ukrainean units.
But you nogonna ever see those vids on youtube or any other western platforms
@@TheLordWeiderUA It depends. The Military gets the best gear, longest training times, and the territorial units get whats left over. Their job is to hold, observe, and support when the military comes in for assaults. They are rotating out commanders for training, and slowly feeding better gear (as well as allowing units to get their own gear privately), but some units are run by old Soviet men and are too rigid to adapt, others are run by young commanders who are willing to adapt and train. But I think Ukraine sees them as a stopgap until the military can come forward in that sector. Over all i think the territorials biggest advantage is small scale and flexibility to adapt, not supremely well trained, but also generally not rigid in doctrine either, and gaining experience daily.
1:50 During US invasion of Grenada in 1983 the only maps available were tourist pamplets with hand drawn grids overlayed. USAF and SEAL units had a catastrophe of an airdrop that left 4 operators perishing at sea. At one point US army paratroopers requested an airstrike using a credit card for an overseas phone call. The operation was overall a success but these issues led to the Goldwater-Nichols Act that greatly reorganized and revised the US military including unprecedented changes to inter-department communication and coordination.
Does it hurt to be so dumb? You're an absolute idiot if you believe that, but I already knew that.
Yeah, the overrall campaign was a success but that failure a massive wake up call.
We learned from our mistakes, and crafted some of the best Special Forces units the world has ever seen.
In Russia they would have done another jump the next night with the same results.
@@PeterMuskrat6968 I remember hearing similar things about 9/11 - various agencies had pieces of the puzzle that was the imminent attack, but since they never talked to one another...it was never put together.
That's interesting to know that movie had some base to it...
@@J-1410 The part with the bulldozer was based off a real battle as well, one involving future general John Abizaid earlier in his career. Honestly it's a fairly accurate movie, at least compared to other Hollywood films, with the USMC subbing in for US Rangers in many of the "based on real life" events.
The comment about Russian loses in Ukraine mainly coming from the far east reminds me of the claim that initially the Soviet move into Afghanistan, excluding special forces, was undertaken by men from the Central Asian republics. The idea was they were more close culturally to the Afghans, very true, but loses would not be visible in the Russian metropolitan areas probably came into the thinking. Either way the frequency which which they went native and often defected quickly meant more ethnic Russians (and Ukrainians) were moved in whose deaths were more visible.
I'm guessing you've never been there.
they actually prefer the dated soviet equipment that they still buy. they can't figure how to operate modern USA technologies.
nice edit btw. 3 sentences was tough for you
@@rintsi5689
@@blakekenley1000💯👍
@@blakekenley1000 Sorry when you said been there where were you referring to?
@@PaulAJohnston1963 I must've replied to the wrong thread
Having worked at both ends of the spectrum (reservist/TA, Homeguard) and in the SF community, it's rarely the extremes that hold on to convention, (the amateurs haven't been indoctrinated enough yet, and the SF guy don't give a f...) but rather the 90% in the middle....
I remember seeing a pic of a map taken from Russians near Kyiv. It was printed 1985. As in it was from time before Tsernobyl accident and so it didn´t include anything about red forest etc.. Kinda explains why Russians started digging trenches at radioactive zones...
Russian - military? - culture rarely seems to change. It's like rolling into Finland expecting casual celebrations instead of patriots wanting to defend their land and people. Is it arrogance? Stupidity? Rigid dogma? Likely a mix.
Btw, what's with the Tsernobyl spelling? I thought the Ukrainian spelling for Chernobyl was just Chornobyl, or something similar.
@@SabiJD it's written and spelled like that in Finland :)
@@Keiky80 Really? Well, shit... I don't speak the language beyond a few words here and there, but I am half Finnish so I almost feel bad for not knowing.
I didn't look at the OP's name, either. Thanks for the reply, though.
@@primerdecima9357 That's the legacy of Russian imperialism and tyranny, so no. Liberty and sovereignty assert it's how Ukrainians wish to spell it.
Does someone really believe Russia can't print modern maps? Maybe the map had something on it that more recent ones don't. To assume Russia is some undeveloped 3rd world country and a joke is just dumb. They're wiping their asses with the sanctions while Europe is in decline.
Besides they took control of nuclear reactor sites so that the desperate Ukrainians wouldn't blow them up as a dirty bomb. At least when Russia delivered the nuclear fuel they also took care of it after use. Since the deal ended no one has been taking care of that stuff so the broke Ukrainians just buried it near the sites. Who do you think was shelling the plant in Zaporizhzhia when Russia is occupying it?
Just keep reading the Telegraph...
In the early days there was an old dude, I can't remember where, who single handedly blew up a small convoy with RPGs he stole. He hit the fuel truck first because he's based AF. It was a pretty famous clip, he's walking through the burning wreckage, shouting profanities. It translated to something like "You came here to fuck me and I fucked you instead!" They interviewed him on UA24, he was upset that they wouldn't let him join the army because he was like 70 and had a stroke. He still managed to blow up a whole bunch of occupiers.
I saw that. I think he was a veteran of the Soviet army way back in the day so that probably helped him out alot
That’s based af. What a chad
That's a scary man, what's he got left to lose at that age?
You know what they say about the old man doing young men's work.
That man's dangerous.
I remember that video. The "Ukrainian Rambo" took them on singlehandedly if I'm not mistaken. That old guy was awesome!
Small units operations are not an american invention. It all derives from the German Auftragstakik (mission based tactics). This leads later to the Sturmtruppen of WW1, the first really small units operations. The quote "no plan survives the first contact with the enemy" is from Helmuth von Moltke the elder. He was the inventor of the Auftragstaktik in the second half of the 19th century, partially because of his experiances as military observer during the American civil war . After WW2 the western allies adaptet the mission based tactics from the Germans.
Doesn't it go back way, way further than that? Like, the American Revolution/Napoleonic War.
I'm specifically thinking of guerrilla tactics or other non-line fighting.
@tyler1107 Not quite, the most basic maneuver elements in the musket era were still way larger, even if you're talking light infantry like Jäger who might fight in loose order. The other thing is assymetrical and insurgent warfare, which has been around for a very long time in one form or another but that then becomes comparing apples to oranges. We wouldn't say the modern day small infantry unit size is 1 because suicide bombers operate alone, would we?
@@mirsh2541 I'm think organized guerilla warfare, which is just to say, small units setting up ambushes and attacks and skirmishing. In historical examples, they were often just given orders to achieve an objective and they would have to achieve it through their own ideas and tactics. Though, now that I think about it, it goes as far back as at least to the first Punic War, probably further. In any case, modern infantry really are just skirmish infantry since line infantry just doesn't work anymore since we have machine guns, attack helicopters, precision artillery, etc.
I think the point should be that Aftragstakik was just the next evolution of the concept of skirmish infantry. Most militaries (including the Germans) kept it relegated to special operations forces rather than your average infantryman. The first example I know of in modern warfare of regular units doing this were marine expeditionary forces during WW1, but even that may be a stretch because you could call marines a special operation force.
Some elements of mission based tactics reach back to how the Boer "commandos" operated semi-independantly, following strategy but deciding their own tactical approach.
Us Canadians perfected modern small unit storm trooper tactics in WW1 under General sir Arthur Currie. With the express purpose of using everyone in the army to efficiently kill the enemy while the officers keep them alive by leading from the front, as he did at even in the most senior commands.
There is a major gun manufacturer, Zbroyar, which now only works for UAF, it makes AR-15 and AR-10 types of rifles, also there is Snipex that makes 14,5 mm anti-material rifles, also Fort that originally made Tavor copies
> Snipex that makes 14,5 mm anti-material rifles,
Including semi-automatic Monomakh.
@@caav56 I'm somewhat sceptical about them since I've never heard about any precision ammunition developed for 14,5.
Those 14.5×114mm quads are crazy usually in back of toyata trucks in Iraq
@@user-qt7ow1xv8xanti material rifle, not sniper. You wouldn’t use precision ammo with it, the terminal effects of API or HEI are more important for the role than absolute accuracy from a lightly jacketed or solid inert match bullet. Like the Barrett M82, which isn’t really accurate even *with* precision ammo. They’re intended to shoot things, not people.
@@reccecs4 you know, I haven't even heard about 14,5 ammo even being produced now. Except for North Korea, I guess
Not military in-the slightest myself, but it occurred to me that Artillery is very much a depersonalized way of fighting. If you have troops that don’t really want to be fighting this war, putting them on Artillery could “help” with their reluctance. They just have to load and push the button.
Is this a crazy thought?
No, not crazy. I served on a ballistic missile submarine, which is about as impersonal as it gets. We never lost sight of what our mission was and what it meant if we ever had to "push the button." But I could see how an artilleryman could get over some reluctance through being miles from his target, especially if it was risk to himself that he was most worried about. Drones and missiles and counter-battery fire mean he's not as safe as he thinks he is, but the psychology of being distant from the enemy matters.
I was in artillery, and even there you might need to fire directly and make counter attacks if the opponent gets too close. You don’t want unmotivated people to leave valuable equipment behind because they don’t want to fight. It is still a combat arm.
If anything, putting unmotivated conscripts in logistics would be far more useful.
that's actually part of the reason why grenades were used so often in wwi as opposed to rifles :p
3:10 is about a ragtag group of OMON and SOBR soldiers, who got lost and ended up running right into Kyiv's main defensive line. They were brought in on vague orders to control civilian resistance, yet ended up involuntarily carrying on without their army escort. Due to the confusion of the early days, they were basically unbothered and just kept going until they've had a very rough awakening when they were ambushed and almost all destroyed on the outskirts of Kyiv.
@@thesayxxthat’s why markings on both sides are plastered on everything.
First few days a big part if the resistance was every osint account doing the damnedest to get Ukrainian mod positions of Russian forces and troop numbers the speed some people were geolocating units actively on the March from sound and fleeting images alone was scary.
That's actually a really interesting event that I followed as there were videos of them moving from places to places up until the convoy reached some area near kiev and absolutely got decimated then 1-2 vehicles in that convoy appearing in another different video from a different location. I couldn't believe it at first that they sent police into Ukraine but after hearing a video on that perspective it made much sense.(They were sent as riot control as explained but the Russians didn't expect to face military units thinking they were just gonna quell the civilian populace without a fight)
@@welcomeUNKNOWN and it's a good thing they thought so. Otherwise more of them would've survived, which is not great.
Literally just Russian riot cops sent into the lions den.
13:50 Lot's of countries seem to adopt Bullpups, but none seem to keep them .
I think bullpups make perfect sense... for sniper rifles (And MAYBE vehicle crew weapons - that one's debatable), where significantly reducing the overall length of the weapon whilst retaining barrel length is genuinely useful, and frequent rapid reloads aren't exactly a priority (And if they are, then something's gone extremely and horribly wrong). For your regular fighting forces though? No, there's a reason pretty much every country that's using or has used them is either in the process of replacing them, wants to, or already has.
Australia and Austria have been using them for decades
@@presidenteden6498 Oh I understand the thinking behind it, and on paper it's impossible to disagree with that assessment and logic. It's just that theory and practice are frequently (But not always) two different things. I very well could be wrong, but time will tell I suppose.
Poor orphaned bullpups 😢
Bullpups are a little weird. The action is close to your face. The trigger has to have a link to the sear, not direct like in a conventional rifle. Last, it seems that .30 caliber (7.62 NATO, 7.62 Warsaw) isn't dead, yet.
I've worked with a chechen old head long time ago (like 2005) and he always said something about how the russian army are basically a disaster in the field to a some point they have listened to russians officers cursing each other in the radio about orders and how they could hold up to the russians if they have had enough time (to prepare) a few more dudes or some kind of support. And me and the boys look each other and was like " Yeah dude. Sure." Now here we are. I've even see the radio convos he was talkin about pop up in the instagram couple months ago. Dude was serious.
You had dirty sex with him when he finished in your mouth and shouted about free ichkeria
During the Soviet Union, the Red Army had to establish a hard policy of no more than two Chechens per squad, otherwise the Chechens (who go *hard* ) gang up on the rest of the squad, then use that to take over the platoon, and then do what they want like forcing everyone to do tough-man competitions, fight hand-to-hand until no one can stand, steal ammo from the bunkers and force-march everyone to the range and shoot until everyone meets Chechen standards with beating for every miss; they basically *were* an unofficial and very hard-ass NCO Corps.
Then the Russians wiped out his people so hard they are hyper loyal to Russia...
Russian army is the collapsed soviet union army in 2005, but they still broke the chechens. Theyve had 17 years to reform. And 2 years of this war to reform with more combat experience than any other country in the world.
@@davidgoodnow269 none of this shit is real, for those who wonder if it's true
The German Generals had stated that they were more concerned about the Americans because while they can study the doctrines of their other enemies, the Americans didn't bother following their own doctrine so there was no way of knowing what they were going to do on the battlefield.
I and most of my peers have always viewed doctrine as a sort of baseline foundation from which to develop different and new SOP’s, and that idea is very much propagated by our infantry leader schools. Adapting your TTP’s on the fly to new missions is pretty much our bread and butter. My favorite quote is “doctrine is the last refuge of the unimaginative” but I can never remember where I’ve heard it from.
@@johnglomba2659METT-TC is love METT-TC is life
@@CosmoMomen my man 😎
It's somewhat amusing, considering that the Prussian, and later German, doctrine was to employ intelligent, creative unit commanders who could take general instructions and then improvise in the field to win victory. It worked like a charm when it was used. Hitler had a top-down style where no battlefield decision could be made without his personal approval (and he was a tactical idiot). How'd that work out? Not great for him. Germany knew how to do it right, but they abandoned the idea.
@@reliantncc1864 You're right, if Hitler had given his generals more freedom, there would have been no Stalingrad disaster, for example. But Hitler needed generals who would carry out his orders without contradiction because he considered himself the greatest strategist of all time. Generals who developed their own initiatives were very often no longer generals and, in the worst cases, even died for inexplicable reasons. I see certain similarities with Putin, whose military leader is now also just a group of yes-men and sycophants.
One of the first things I learned in the NCO course in FDF: A Bad decision is better than indecision. I believe this is the same in all western militaries.
Whenever there is a mistake or failure, Russians always want to blame someone for it (this means someone who is lower on the chain of command). This does not just apply to the Russian military, but also all branches of civilian administration. This has lead to a culture where nobody wants to use their initiative, because they would be blamed for the possible failure. They think it is better to do nothing, than do the wrong thing and F up.
So, Russians follow the orders and plans, and when something does not go according to plans, they become paralysed, until some higher ranking person tells them what to do.
With lack of experienced NCO's and junior officers, commanders end up making decisions that belong to junior leaders. Generals may end up making decisions that belong to a Lieutenant Colonel, and a Battalion commander has to go to the frontmost foxhole to give the orders for the ground level. This micromanagering is a major reason why the losses of Russian Generals and other high ranking officers is so high.
I was about to ask what "FDF" stood for, but then I saw your name has two vowels next to each other... :D
Yeah, the West was amazed when all those Russian colonels and generals were getting Cargo 200'd. We thought for a bit that it was just how hard the Ukrainians were fighting, but then we realised, holy crap, they really are that dumb. (In the immortal words of one Ukrainian soldier: "We are so very lucky they are so f*cking stupid"). They were getting killed because they were on the frontlines directing where the grunts should dig trenches and place machine guns - it wasn't some elite assassination team that offed them; they were simply as exposed as any private or lieutenant...because those privates and lieutenants were deathly afraid of making such a decision themselves.
The "shoot the messenger" aspect of Russian politics is also apparent. I sincerely believe, at the beginning, Putin really did believe that Ukraine would welcome Russia, that it would be over in three days (the Russians had DRESS UNIFORMS in their packs because they expected to be parading through Kyiv on Day Four), because he made it clear to every that that's what he believed and no one wanted to tell him otherwise.
Remember when Putin called all the heads of various departments together to "consult" with them about the possibility of invading (officially, this time) Ukraine? And the head of foreign intelligence, the SVR, Naryshkin, ended up trembling as he got publicly dressed down by Putin for suggesting that instead of invading, they issue another ultimatum. Putin tore him to shreds. Naryshkin, more than anyone, likely knew what would happen if they invaded, but Putin wasn't having any of it. Putin wasn't looking for advice, he wanted validation.
This is the dictator's trap: the yes-men you surround yourself with cannot hold off "no" forever. Sooner or later, you'll come up against a "no" if the no is the reality.
So basically the old Rome/Carthage dichotomy
"The more papers on your side, the cleaner your @$$ is."
--Russian saying
The initiative expected of all ranks was one of the main strengths of the Bad-Guy* team in Europe in WW2. And the LACK was one of the strengths of the Bad-Guy team in Asia, in WW2.
* The Northern, main Bad-Guy team, the Southern one was just not good all round.
@@uncletiggermclaren7592 my understanding is that both Rommel and Montgomery had a very high opinion of Italian infantry and artillerists. Even the tankers were pretty good, considering the absolute dog$#!t they had to drive. Italian officers, on the other hand...he had no use for those.
This was filmed a while ago, wasn't it? It sounds like Prigozhin was still alive during this interview.
Yes. it was filmed before the "unscheduled ammo delivery"
There is text on screen that says that it was
@@Koushakur Woops, I was listening to this one like the radio. Thanks for pointing that out!
Yeah, was filmed before his "Special Landing Operation"
Before he committed suicide by jumping out his airplane window.
Its absolutely insane to me hearing about these Russian map problems because I've looked at old Soviet era maps and they made insanely well detailed paper maps of literally everything you can think off, now they can't even find a gas station road map to navigate with.
Corruption, soviet was bad but russia is worse.
@@user-fk2yk8gg8j soviet maps were top notch, but they don't show what went to disrepair since 1991
@@user-fk2yk8gg8jYes, because we see the outcome
They probaply have the maps...somewhere. But not where they are needed.
I guess I wouldn't go without a map, but I never submitted myself to a chain of command.
That's because they haven't updated the maps since then.
Idk why but I'm surprised this was filmed so long ago (before Prigozhin's death).
I think this upload time is pretty normal for this channel. It's just that we rarely have a reference point in time.
If this was a news show, this delay wouldn't work, but this is not a news show and if Ian got back from a travel and has a recorded interview that's three weeks out of date... who cares.
You mean his Special Landing Operation? This part got me
@@MrMaselko he took the crown for highest accidental fall of a Russian oligarch/leader
Very interesting video.
The only thing I would add as a personal point. That seems to be everyone comparing this war to Afghanistan or Vietnam but this war feels more like the Korean war. 2 industrialised countries at war with a stable home country and additional foreign support.
(I’m talking strategic standpoint instead of tactical)
Absolutely. Not like either wars in Afghanistan in my opinion, especially considering the fact that for NATO this war has been an absolute wakeup call to remind them that large-scale conventional warfare like this is still present, whereas NATO has long been used to counter-insurgency and terrorism being the future of warfare, or at least conventional wars being on ‘smaller’ scale. No one thought Russia was going to be, to put it bluntly, this stupid. They didn’t expect them to throw all their men and arms into a conventional war with major losses, especially when Russia has gotten so adept at skirting legalities in their attempted invasion of Georgian territories, or 2014 in Crimea/East Ukraine. And especially when Russia has gotten very good at cyber warfare.
Regarding the theme at the end of the interview: There is a great line from the track "Arginusae" from the album "The History of the Peloponnesian War" by Athens vs. Sparta: "They rarely notice if you sacrifice a few, but we were not ordinary crew. 20 years of war, a draftee you can get, but all the poor kids are gone, and the money's been spent. The children of influential men are sometimes all that's left."
That war was the only glorious victory Sparta would win its than a huge down spiral after that. The plebeians won against Sparta in hoplite warfare by using a strategy called hit em on the side also several others. Several other factions destroyed Sparta too.
Those are seriously sinister lines.
It's very interesting to hear about what is happening at the soldier level. Thanks for sharing. Old Soviet doctrine held that maps are "security documents" and are not to handed out to the troopers. Another old Soviet-era tradition was the role of the NCO. The NCO is the real heart of Western armies, but not so much in Russia (or the Mideast).
I bet a lot of it is intentional like you said. Lots of militaries in history have kneecapped their grunts' communications and intel for the security of officers and politicians (France WWII). Also who knows how much intel was destroyed, sold, or flat-out lost after the Soviet collapse.
The soldier has to obey orders. Leave thinking to the command. They know better. If ordinary soldiers were trying to do what they wanted there would be chaos. So sit in the trench and wait for the orders.
That's the Soviet school of thought. That's why Arab armies could not beat Israelis even if Arabs had more manpower, better hardware, more hardware and tactical advantage of attacking a tiny country on two fronts while having the support of 13 countries expeditionary forces. What is crazy is the speed of their defeat too. Less then two weeks if I'm not wrong. See the difference? Iraq - Iran war took 8 years, Syrian civil war is still going on. That's Soviet style warfare combined with the Arab culture.
I didn't know that maps were treated like this. That's hilarious.
@@ossian108 Many examples have been given for people in middle east countries treating any pc of information or knowledge as a way to personally profit. If a mid level commander knows the location of an enemy he might be hesitant to share the location with other commanders because he might lose a personal opportunity to show his greatness. If all the other officers know something that a moment before only he knew, somebody else is going to win the glory. And forget about sharing bad news up the chain of command. It is still common to punish the messenger so to speak so setbacks and defeats rarely get told to the commanding generals until it is too late.
@@ossian108 They actually had a guy - Serdyukov - who desperately wanted to reform the Russian army. Cut down the numbers - by cutting down on conscripts - in favour of highly-trained professionals, make the military less Moscow-centric and top-heavy heavy...and install a Western-style NCO corps.
This was not well-received. Moving stuff out of Moscow was unliked, because there was less chance for graft, naturally, and no one wanted to move east, losing conscripts meant losing prestige (and wages that could be stolen, and slave labour rented out). And NCOs would take the shine off of the Glorious Officers.
Serdyukov was drummed out, and in came Shoigu, who's dumber than a box of hammers but he at least knows how to play the game.
@@JackHiper I've that about maintenance manuals given to the Iraqis by the US: instead of disseminating the info in them, the guys who get them squirrel it away for leverage/bargaining and prestige. Oh, you want your APC fixed? What's in it for me, eh?
Lindybeige does a great few videos talking to a British and Canadian vet of the Ukrainian foreign volunteer unit.
Splendid videos, absolutely stuffed with interesting anecdotes.
Imho. the whole hostomel operation was quite alot similar to op. market garden. a behind the front ab troops with land elements relieving.. the thing is, it hit the excact same snag that market garden did. both ops were planned under ideal conditions.. and that is a very rare luxury in combat.(EDIT; the syria pat) in Syria the Us guys brought against the assailants b-52's, marine artillery, spectres and accompying them were total air conntrol with f-22's and 35's.. that brimstone is on the epic scale.
2 minutes in ad I can already tell that this is really going to be a story about how being on the ground doesn’t necessarily give you anymore insight into the conflict. At least on the strategic level.
Good interview Ian!
Thank you for the commentary.
Was in country when the Battle of Khasham happened, it was Rangers manning a COP near some Kurdish SDF forces, and Wagner were spearheading a Syrian Regime assault on the SDF and began firing at the COP. The rest of the story is as described in the video.
It would interesting if Ian did an interview with Valgear ( www.youtube.com/@valgear5525 ) with regards in how they get equipment and how things have changed since 2014 in Ukraine
Also worth mentioning. Apparently as per interviews with Russian POWs, behind advance army columns there were buses full of OMON police units which were supposed to counter riots in Kyiv once Russians would capture the capital. They were this naive. AFU and TDF mauled them horribly. Imagine being in bus with other 30 guys and PKM starts smashing you.
The OMON guys were actually the furthest into Kyiv. They knew they shouldn't be there yet but they had their orders so...
Did they get dead?. @@RandomGuy9
At least 80 @@uncletiggermclaren7592
You rus=bots look more and more foolish, you are losing and it is apparent to anyone.@@bourbon2605
@@bourbon2605 It's not bs, there were videos of russian convoys with Omon and Rosgvardia trucks with riot police complete with riot shields and helmets hit by Ukrainians.
20:16 several Wagner members(even Prigozhin himself, if I recall correctly) claimed that in this situation in Syria they basically “got betrayed” by Russian army and that MOD allowed American strike on purpose
23:40 as a fellow muscovite myself I clearly remember seeing plenty of people getting mobilised, mobilisation centers were set up in all parts of Moscow, including central ones, and can’t say the government is hiding it that much(those mobilised I saw were dudes in their 30s and 40s, and anti-war sentiment is smaller among this demographic in comparison to younger ones)
as for the poorer regions and smaller towns, many of them have a lack of workplaces and, considering that government suddenly offers them a contract paycheck several times above the average one, they are quick to enlist
Yeah man, it’s not really much of a secret that Russia uses a lot of the Minorities from the Far East/Central Asia as cannon fodder as a way to control the population easier.
Many Buryats were killed in Chechnya.
@@PeterMuskrat6968 wouldn’t say it’s intentional
regions like Buryatia, Yakutia, Tuva or those in Caucasus have around 20-30% of population beyond poverty line, either because they’re extremely corrupt(Caucasus case) or far away from infrastructural development and government care(Siberia case)
other ethnic minorities like Tatarstan or Komi live pretty well, especially the first ones
P.S. Central Asia is not a Russian region, it’s where labor migrants come from
those who (often through corruption) got Russian citizenship have mostly avoided conscription until police’s recent mass anti-illegal migrant campaign(they search through migrant facilities, deport illegal ones and give military service inspection notices to “new citizens” from there)
@@realartyomsneedovВы действительно из России? Потому что вы так то правильные вещи говорите, я вот из Бурятии и да, многие пацаны из сел идут на контракт потому что тупо нет другой работы. И не только буряты идут, и много русских из Бурятии тоже
@@topgear3128 я из Москвы, да, но в сибирских регионах, увы, не был пока что
Бурятии привет!
@@J--12 дружище, свои свои
тут muscovite как москвич, а не москаль, я про то
I'm very interested in getting details about this piece of history that is unfolding before our eyes and I also hope that it ends soon.
18:30 let’s give these convicted criminals a chunk of cash and possibly ptsd from the war they have just fought in and then send them home. Nothing can go wrong with that!
What the fuck was Russia thinking with that shit
They were thinking that none of them would live long enough to cash out.
They were thinking they need to do ANYTHING to avoid mass recruiting from Moscow and St. Petersburg citizens. A massive chunk of the Russian army is made up of minority groups in that country. During the “limited mobilization” they recruited lightly from the big cities and just about hollowed out minority communities in smaller areas.
The sick thing is that the moscovites are apathetic because it’s not their sons and neighbors dying, and that’s the way the Putin regime wants things to stay.
@@TheBreuster yea even then mobilised troops are getting fucked over, like tank or artillery operators going on front lines.
Prigozhin's 'Special Landing Operation' :D oooh... Nice one ;)
I sort of liked Prigozhin in a odd sort of way, and kind of based on what Neil was saying here. I can think the Russian view of the invasion and why they did it is stupid and be on Ukraine's side, but seems that regardless of the factional shit amongst the Russian hierarchy between him and others, a bit of him looked around and thought "all these boys are dying stupidly and military high command are to blame".
What Prigozhin was saying is that since Russia started this mess in Ukraine(or allowed it to happen), they had to properly finish it. His main complaint was that Russian leadership was trying to sit on both chairs at once, looking for negotiations and economic leverages even with Ukraine itself, while still maintaining the goal of the SMO.
If he had his way, Russia would have declared war and mobilized people to fight properly on all channels. Including economic war against Ukraine, so no gas pipelines still going to Ukraine. And missile strikes on Ukrainian decision making bodies too.
5:24 As The Fat Electrician puts it: "With a lack of instruction, they will default to destruction."
The map thing goes back to the Soviet times. They intentionally didn't give soldiers maps because they suspected their squaddies would head straight to the west and swap sides. My uncle was SF in the cold war posted in Germany and one of the first job was to take down or swap round all the street signs in case of a Soviet invasion.
Which is kind of odd, because they did have plenty of maps in storage and got very lax with them for a while after the Soviet Union collapsed. For several years, the most detailed maps you could buy in European countries were Soviet maps prepared in case of war; they were cheap and often better than western maps of the same areas.
The old Soviet army relied upon the military police to post signs and direct traffic. If one were cut off by the Soviets one of the tasks to continue the war was not to head back west to find your army again but to hang around and killed military police, who were usually posted alone, and remove/ redirect their signs. Send a convoy into a muddy field at night and I can guarantee it will be mission killed for hours before it gets going again.
Don’t know if it has changed but according to a book I read, in Soviet times in the Russian army maps were classified documents, so only really senior officers had them. They used to post someone at intersections, to point the direction of the March to following troops.
Very enjoyable! Thanks guys.
In regards to the Syria incident, there were apaches, F-15s F-16s (i think) an AC-130, artillery, and a B-52 also showed up
I could be wrong but that’s what I remember of it
If I may comment on the growing popularity of bullpups:
Since the full scale war started, we saw numerous videos of Ukrainian squads with AT rockets, manpads, small portable mortars, and other squad weapons.
And I already noticed back then, that having to carry a full size rifle is a pain in the ass for those soldiers, who have to carry extra rockets, aiming modules, launchers etc., its all bulky and unwieldy.
Those who ware equipped with bullpups had it much easier, you could tell from the videos.
More and more soldiers have to carry bulky stuff, plus there's this advantage of size for all the troops who use vehicles, which is most of them.
Grendel SRT equivalents of Scout rifle form would make a lot more sense than bullpups, but O.K.
I can tell you from experience that anything but a pistol is completely useless inside the cab of a truck, too.
@@davidgoodnow269 You're not shooting out the cab of a truck at carjackers, Bubba. You're dismounting from an APC and sweeping and clearing Ukranian post-Soviet villages.
@@tomaspabon2484 Valid. There's a reason for the existence of every single weapon ever made . . . even the ones that leave people asking, "What were they *thinking?"*
For what you described, there's a place for *all* of them!
@dilbertdoubloon632They're generally about the same weight as a standard rifle made of similar materials with the same barrel length. They are heavier than an equivalent standard rifle of the same overall length, but that's because the standard rifle will have a shorter barrel. There are pluses and minuses to each.
Bullpups make a lot of sense for soldiers that aren't riflemen the same way M1 carbines made a lot of sense for them.
First few weeks our hospital has a lot of wounded Russians. More than a thousand. It was horrible. And most of them didn’t know shit about what is going on around them. Like ‘we sat at the truck and next thing I’m on the ground without my arm’
Good.
@Mo_Taser they are humans, a victim of the Russian regime themselves. It appears the msn has work with you, your dehumanisation disgusting.
@@Mo_Taser You are a bad person.
Glad you think so, it's the fate that awaits you as a conscript :) you just think it could never happen to you hahahahahah@@Mo_Taser
No. I am Ukrainian. I am of the Hutsul tribe, and Russian troops are torturing, raping, and murdering Ukrainian children. If you do not stand against these atrocities and war crimes it is you who is the bad person, not I.
The only acceptable outcome of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine is when no Ukrainian can take a step in any direction without stepping on a dead Russian.
@@jukebox_heroperson3994
'This was filmed before Prigo's Special Landing Operation'
My fucking sides
Whose dumber? Him for getting on the plane, the pilots for being willing to take him on as a passenger, or the passengers not immediately getting TF off once they see him board?
@@3of11well it was his private plane and the other passengers were wagner higher ups, including the group's founder Dmitry 'I'm hard because I've got SS collar tab tattoos' Utkin.
I got family in the Russian military, and I asked them a week before the war started if this could end up as another Chechnya, they said it it will be one without doubt
I hope they make it through this senseless conflict in one piece.
@@VassilliHD I don't. Probably turned into sunflower seed in the first days.
@@TeurastajaNexus that's a very nice thing to say to someone who is worrying about their family while they're in an active warzone. so respectful.
@@TeurastajaNexus the kill ratio is 7 to 1 in Russia's favor. According to US intelligence.
@@bombsawaylemay770 Source: trust me bro
The quote that Neil is searching for is “The reason the American Army does so well in wartime, is that war is chaos, and the American Army practices it on a daily basis." which is possibly apocryphally attributed to Heinz Guderian.
Vietnam, Iraq, Afghan etc.
@@DarkArtsDeepDivewell there are two sides of war. The active one and the chilled out one. US does extremely well at destroying shit fast and easy, sometimes all the way across the globe, but can't hold the territory they've conquered. They cannot properly install proper puppet regimes. I think it's more of a fault in US foreign policy rather than the fault of US army, don't you think?
@@DarkArtsDeepDivehello John from Ohio oblast
@@DarkArtsDeepDivewhat else will your military do if they can't kill stuff.
@@mrman2415 does it lose to them militarily or ideologically? Think about that
Outstanding interview!
I remember in East Germany all the maps were wrong, to confuse invaders. If I was lost I just looked around for the Stasi guy following me and asked him.
I absolutely agree with Neil's assessment- one thing we know from previous wars (like WW2 and Afghanistan) about Russian doctrine, is that they can take an INCREDIBLE amount of punishment and stick to a goal. Where most other countries would say 'OK, this is now costing us more than it's worth, let's change tactics or abandon it', the Russians just don't give up.
Whether that's admirable or stupid is a matter of opinion, but it is a factor when working out how to proceed against them. Sanctions, negative opinions and materiel losses might not be enough to get them to stop - it might come down to removing Putin and replacing him with a more moderate leader.
This strategy worked for the Roman Empire. How many times did Hannibal smash and utterly wreck them and they just made a new army and came back?
There are no moderate alternatives to Putin. For all the propaganda painting Putin as a madman, he is actually one of the most calculating and competent world leaders any nation has right now. He is still conducting this war under the guise of a limited "Special Military Operation" because whilst his image in the west is tarnished beyond repair, Russia's optics to the now rising eastern world order is extremely important and Russia's war appearing as justified and restrained to nations in the Middle East, East Asia and South America is of utmost importance to Putin if he wants good relations with the non western world. Any alternative to Putin is likely going to be a bloodthirsty savage itching to level every single Ukrainian city and launch nuclear weapons if Nato intervenes directly.
Yes let's remove Putin, every time we "replace" a country's leader it always works out so well
That's not just Russians. That's Slavs in general (which Ukrainians are also). Look at the incredible toughness of Poles, or anyone down in the Balkans (although unfortunately they tend towards infighting).
As for Russian leaders Putin is a moderate leader. He has been quite reasonable if you look at the history. He rarely kills dissidents he puts most of them in jail. For Russia thats pretty moderate
9:35 it reminds me of the movie We Were Soldiers: "YOUR LEADER IS DEAD, WHAT DO YOU DO???"
"UHH... UHHH "
"YOU HESITATED, YOU'RE DEAD, YOU WHAT DO YOU DO?!"
"GET OFF THE CHOPPER!"
"YES, GOOD GO GO GO"
I'm just picturing the North Korean "intelligence" personnel jotting down notes "we were soldiers... chopper???"
Well done brother. Seen u many time like the futuristic pistol and the rail gun. I really enjoyed this side of ur content. Finnaly and proudly subscribed 😌
I like the high speed, low drag background.
There's a lot of fog of war going on rn
Thanks for this Ian.
Ian, love your content, would you please be so kind and include the date of interview so it's easier to recall things as they were at the time :))
Wagner orchestrated a mutiny not coup.
At about 4:00 y'all talk about how Russia soldiers were just waltzing into Kyiv, and based on other bits and pieces I heard, I wonder if the Russian rank and file totally believed they were liberating Ukraine from something (Nazi-adjacent government maybe?) and that the populace would welcome them...
Well, it's public knowledge that the US government orchestrated a coup in Ukraine to overthrow the pro-Russian government with a pro-Western government, then that pro-Western government launched a campaign of terror on the eastern, ethnically Russian parts of Ukraine - so yea, I think they did believe they were liberating at least part of Ukraine (and weren't wrong)
A French soldier in Afghanistan working with American troops wondered at the organization of the US. While the French would seek clarification from higher authority when attacked. Americans would return fire and go on the attack. Glad to see there is a historical context for our ability to take the fight to the enemy.
There’s an old joke that nobody can counter American military doctrine, because American soldiers don’t follow it.
@@SteelHex
The Soviets: "One of the serious problems in planning against American doctrine is that the Americans do not read their manuals nor do they feel any obligation to follow their doctrine."
The Nazis: "The reason that the American army does so well in wartime, is that war is chaos and the American army practices chaos on a daily basis."
America: "If we don't know what we are doing, the enemy certainly can't anticipate our future actions!"
It hasn't always worked out great. In WW1, the British, French, and Canadian troops were often exasperated by the Americans simply advancing without making sure their flanks were protected (look up the Lost Battalion for an example). A coordinated front line tends to be more effective than one where a part of it advances while the rest are held up. But man, when it works, it's pretty fantastic. If you're not set up in battle lines, but are instead employing mobile forces in a run-and-gun fight, that kind of independent aggression works wonders.
@@reliantncc1864if that happened in WW1 it was because the Doughboys were supremely brave, enthusiastic and inexperienced. Independent aggression works when people know what they and each other are doing - it requires trained and experienced troops.
The lost batallion were helped by the fact that the battles of late 1918 were much more fluid than at any point in the war since the trenc lines were formed in 1914. Defences were not as formidable as thety had been and the Allies had material superiority, thanks in no small part to the US getting involved.
That’s our MO. Default aggressive. We all have anger issues.
17:48 is that moment when you realize that you’re living in Warhammer 40K.
"War Is A Racket"
- Major General Smedley D Butler
"Smedley Butler was an amateur" (V. Putin).
That treatise is against offensive wars and colonial adventurism. Butler would be the first beating the drum of support to the peoples of Ukraine military actions against the Invasion by the Ruzz.
I wonder if this will age well.
Probably won’t, most experts (real experts not laid mouth pieces) estimate that Russia will launch its major offensive during late spring 2024 and just sweep everything
@@stayhungry1503 I despair for the Ukrainian men who are now dead and gone so that NATO can fight Russia "at almost no cost".
@@MrRugbylaneRussia using up their armor, ordnance, and other military inventory + an entire Ukrainian generation is being wiped off the face of the earth = the goal of our war plan from the overwhelming amount of DC politicians in both parties.
@@MrRugbylanerussian bot spotted
@@schalker2901 where?
Very interesting Sir. Thank you.
Russia probably expected Ukraine to sit back and do nothing when Russian troops crossed the border, just as the Ukrainians didnt fight back when Crimea was occupied back in 2014. Ukraine did resist and the Russians had no idea what to do next. They simply didnt expect that.
Maps are available to Russian troops, because I have seen them, I got some screenshots of captured army maps.
That’s exactly what they were expecting, hence why Russian troops were issued parade uniforms and police units where also part of the invasion force.
Also the Russians are so preoccupied having gay sax all the time. Gotta work hard for the deddy.
Even better: the Ukrainians allowed Russian units to advance beyond support, and then Territorial Defence units popped up and ambushed them.
The aftermath of the ambush of a VDV convoy in Hostomel is some of the most harrowing war footage I've ever seen. Those supposedly "elite" guys just wandered into a kill zone in an urban environment and got absolutely f*cking rekt by what were probably *local reservists* 🤭
Russia probably expected major counteoffensive this summer but it is appeared that ukranian 18 y.o. conscripts cant properly use modern nato equipment lol
Russian maps have a long history of being very detailed but just wrong enough to throw off enemy movement from within. You can't just pick up any ole map and not expect Distraction and Deception.
"Special landing operation" definitely got a chuckle out of me
Don't sort by new worst mistake of my life.
Fr 🚫🧢💯
If replacement manpower is coming from the east, I wonder if chewing up the roads and rails in that direction would be worth something? Even if they get repaired, it would have the new recruits seeing the reach of the war days before they get anywhere close to the fight.
5:10 "Americans don't have orders; they just know to go kill something."
The ability to thrive on the commander's intent with a lack of direct orders is fascinating. I think this mentally is perfectly depicted in Saving Private Ryan when they decide to take the bunker, even though it wasn't their current objective.
Yes, at first it was more for special forces but as time goes on the military has adopted a lot of advice and tactics and ideas straight from special forces, like the Rangers in WW2 and Airborne. Airborne ability to finish the objective and complete it on their own was crucial and that is supposed to be the main difference between Soviet and Western doctrine. Flexibility and ability to think independently when necessary. Not a rigid command structure. Both have their perks for different situations but
Marines get antsy if they haven't killed anything in a while. Sometimes you just have to let them go nuts. Otherwise they start fights amongst themselves. Most Marine junior officers are pretty smart if they have good intel. Just don't let the PFC make the battlefield decisions.
@@reliantncc1864that's why they treat marines like shit, to keep them pissed off and wanting to kill lmao. Had the good fortune of working with yank marines
This mindset is the byproduct of always having overwhelming air superiority. Take that away and it’s just a good way to get men killed for nothing.
They were sticking to the plan hard, like hard on the first days. There was convoy of OMON anti riot police met up by UA tanks going to Kiev, because they were thinking by the time there gona be no resistance left.
and boy did those omon guys get torched good.
The first wave brought dress uniforms for their victory parade in kyiv.
@@Craeshen That first wave was actually one of the best they got, the elite VDV and they did manage to secure Hostomel airport temporarily. But once those guys were overrun and dislodged, there was no real backup plan for russkies.
Are these the same dudes who just before the invasion, called up and booked out a restaurant in Kiev for their victory celebration?
@@nickmoore385 Nope. Those were VDVs (Airborne troops).
Thanks so much for conducting these interview with Neil, would love to see more when you have the opportunity!
Thanks gentlemen
John Ringo did an epic AAR on the Wagner Syria event after it happened.
Both the US and Russian military failed in Afghanistan. US military failed in Vietnam. Moral of the story is it doesn't matter how huge your military is and how modern your weapons. When you are fighting a smaller but highly motivated opposition, in the long term, you shall lose.
"Special Landing Operation" nearly killed me. Not like the ones in the crash, obviously, just colloquially.
It's not just the maps but radio as well there is no radio communication between soldiers only between officers, no equipment at all that most modern army's have. All they get from government is helmet and ak, the rest they purchase by themselves or get from donations
Sound suppressors and high velocity plate penetration is the modern rifle meta; long barrel bullpups play as long as 8lbs triggers are acceptable.
and really if your doctrine is more semi-auto based you can greatly reduce the bullpup weakness by having the sear above the trigger and a linear hammer, at the cost of greater recoil.
Oh wow a new Forgotten Weapons video referencing geopolitical events. I’m sure everyone in the comment section will be respectful and level headed
@@galileo_rs I wish forgotten weapons could be only about weapon and avoiding the political stuff.
@@galileo_rsyeah the regular contributors to a completely unbiased site like RT
@@galileo_rsAre Russia running out of properganda shills? It just seems to be you going around the comments in full cope mode lol
@@MrEsphoenix Either you're "pro ukraine" or "pro russia" you're eating boatloads of propaganda.
@Sam-gz7om Speak for yourself. I work with Russians and live in the UK so I hear plenty from both sides. Yes both sides have properganda, but Russia certainly goes harder. Some of the shirt they push on their own people is next level
One of the things I'm most concerned about our modern military is how much initiative taking remains compared to say WW2 times. Afghanistan comes to mind given I came to learn there were some 70 thousand Taliban troops remained presumably in the mountains and they had this cycle of attacking come winter or something.
Sorry but i think you’re really misinformed. First of all Taliban were hardly so unified/and considered as one solid force. The Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan were absolutely a distinct force, but Taliban could expand and shrink in size quite quickly depending on what you would consider a Taliban at that very moment. But 70,000 is an estimate just like every other estimate, that is entirely unknown and without solid evidence. (At least from what ive researched and how ppl have discussed Taliban size estimates, so plz if there’s like a really definitive report that managed to actually recount Taliban size, pls link it). Most of Taliban’s effectiveness lies in how much influence they can have on local militias of various provinces, especially since the Pashtun are made up of SO many tribes. Its not like there wasnt initiative-taking when the US did initially defeat Al-Qaeda and absolutely crush their hold over Afghanistan, to the point that apparently even Bin Laden was shocked in the first years becuz he was expecting America to get bogged down like the Soviets. And to be frank the comparison ppl so lazily make of US and Soviet presence in Afghanistan is bs, Soviets went through 2 million civilian casualties in their time there, a figure i rlly the ISAF coalition really never reached. There’s a lot of things that went wrong in Afghanistan but idk if initiative-taking is it, especially when early-days the US did deliver a crushing blow but then immediately went to Iraq, after that idk what sort of ‘initiative’ would’ve worked. Problem was we went there and even the Pashtuns were willing to work with the new government and then we abandoned them, so they saw there was no future for them and cooperated if not incorporated into the Taliban (very much simplifying it). we weren’t willing to make any deals with Taliban when we had the upper hand. And yes that sounds bad on paper but Taliban have always been an amalgamation of local grievances and tribal rivalries, power-holders just wanting to keep their positions and all the complex shit we don’t want to think about. Criticising US in Afghanistan is valid but the way ppl do it without some due diligent research is frustrating. Especially when this wasn’t just a US folly, but for a while involved many other countries, many non-Western too.
@@GuineaPigEveryday I want to say my number came from an NY Times article but it was stated in passing because the article itself was discussing the combat dynamics and how their attacks were seasonal and came from the mountainous regions. (Heck, it coulda been an opinion piece.) But, just searching I did find from the website of Task & Purpose a page link of taliban-number-60000-general-says. Which I know isn't the 70k reference you asked. My memory is fuzzy tbf on where that number came from.
To a point you made, we "abandoned" them after 20 years of faffing around. Now, this is hindsight 20x20 and you'd just need to take my word on it but I actually was more pessimistic than a lot of the predictions given. I had heard thrown around the gov could last 2 years and longer and yadayada. But, I thought the government installed would last at least half a year to a year and they still blew that joke of an assessment to ribbons. Which this all tells me we came there and didn't do jack. We squatted there and burnt money.
Heck, I was even more irked to find out after the fact that the Soviet government lasted 3 years after the skedaddled. THREE YEARS!
Have we yet figured out what air defense doing?
Thank you.
"You're confident that Ukraine will win?".... LONG HESITATION. Yeah, that says everything you pretty much need to know. Too many 2a people got sucked into this whole "David versus Goliath" image of Ukraine and "small arms win big wars" idea. Check back in 2 years.
The whole 2a thing would only work if the citizens actually wanted to fight back.
This comment sure isnt aging well
@@spencerkleiman5035 by every metric Ukraine is losing wdym not aging well.
Funny when I was in Afghanistan I saw the US millitary as a very heavy top down command 😂.
This road they have build is SAFE while we marked it as red. And you could bet your money on that they always drove onto an IED. The locals drove 100 meters to the side of the road.
Worst case I remembered was we were crossing it because we had to. We started to sweep foe IED's then an American convoy came blasting down the road completly ignoring that we were sweeping that road they were driving on 😂
Yeah, that's a fair point. A lot of the time our 'rugged cowboy aggression' gets muzzled by 'the pentagon says the road is safe because congress wants safe roads.'
Amazing! Thanks!
the proghozin prediction was spot on lol
19:22 The Battle of Conoco fields! AKA: "That time the Russians were merc'd so hard the survivors were given medals for simply surviving the engagement."
A minor comment from a Russian if I may. I have only a month ago moved from Russia so I believe my experience is still pretty fresh. You can not really say that Ukraine is going to bleed out first simply because it has less population. The difference that you guys overlook is that Ukraine is waging a total war, an existential conflict and its population overwhelmingly supports the war effort.
Russia on the other hand is fighting a "special military operation" (yes the word war is still illegal in Russia) and the government does its best to maintain the illusion among the majority of the population that nothing major is going on. There is a reason for this. The reason is Russians don't want to fight, they don't understand why they have to and avoid any involvement in the war as much as possible. The mobilization caused hundreds of thousands of men to flee the country, even more ignored or dodged the mobilization at any cost, public upheaval was so considerable the mobilization in large cities was stopped altogether. And now the government of Russia solves its manpower shortage by throwing money at the problem and enlisting people from poverty ridden regions to the army by offering them 10 times the salary they used to earn. The money however is running low and the manpower shortage problem is still not solved.
Thus Russia does not and in my opinion can not fight the same total war the Ukrainians fight. Russian government is limited in the scope of resources it can direct to the war effort. Total mobilization and putting the economy on a total war footing bear such significant political risks that Putin dares not implement it. Russia is fighting with one hand behind its back and I doubt Putin can do much to inspire the Russian public to eagerly participate in what they see as his personal war nobody but him understands. Russians tolerate the current state of affairs out of fear and because it still hasn't impacted most of them much. But an honest attempt to involve the nation in this will most surely politically destabilize the regime. These political considerations will continue to undermine Putins ability to direct resourses to this war.
The CSA fought a total war.
Thanks friend, it’s good to see a new viewpoint from someone inside the iron curtain.
@@JesterEric The CSA had no industry. Ukraine is supported by the West with its enormous industrial base. Russians will never match the West in industrial output. So long as support for Ukraine lasts Russia has no chance to win and will keep loosing slowly but surely. Their bet is that support will go away.
@@JesterEricThey weren’t getting supplied in a meaningful way by other nations.
I think you're raising very good points and those points are the reason sanctions should be kept up as long as possible. They're the noose around the Russian economies neck that tightens ever so slightly.
Concerning the social aspect:
I really don't mean to offend you, but I doubt the Russian people would rebell, if Putin announced a full war economy and stringent conscription. Fear and propaganda keep the cities in check, making people either pro- or indifferent to the war at best. In the far east, as Neil rightfully said, people don't have a voice, or they're pro war too.
I can see this conflict continuing for another 5 years, because Ukraine cannot decisively win on the battlefield and Putin will keep feeding the meatgrinder and beefing up defensive lines.
very interesting. Thanks
“Special landing operation” brilliant
This was recorded more than a couple of weeks ago, right? They talk as if Prigozhin was still alive.
It states that in the video.
Maybe he is dun dun
Right at 7:24, there's a caption that states this was filmed before his "Special Landing Operation".
@@kutter_ttl6786 that was too funny to be a comment to a comment
@@kutter_ttl6786 yep, you're right