What's new
Frozen in Carbonite

Welcome to FiC! Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Eastern Europe News



Well if THIS doesn't make the Russians overthrow Putin than I don't know what will.


Restricting Booze or Vodka in this case is a really bad idea.
Not only is the Russian Soldier Vodka his best and sometimes only friend, but also a part of russian culture.
Should the Russian Soldier deprived of this Water of Life and it´s warming embrace, things would go south really quickly.
My old gramps told me, that the russian solder stationed in the Garrsion in his hometown in Romania had a daily supply of Vodka.
Not even the political Commisar dared to touch this if he don´t want to end with a broken neck. Heck, some Russian needed this Stuff to shoot straight, i kid you not.

Edit: Should someone had asked, he tripped over his own feet on his way down the stairs.....

Edit: In case you wonder, he was the Barkeeper/Boss of the local Bar/Restaurant in wich many Officers and Soldiers went there to wind down. Heck, he even let a tablet full of shotglasses filled with vodka for the Soldier marching by. Each one quickly downed his glass and marched on, with a happy smile on his face. And yes, not even the Commisar dared to touch this. Nope, sir.
 
Last edited:



That's one democratic referendum for joining Russia they had there. Very upstanding and legitimate.


So much of a "democratic referendum", my f*cking ass.
 


So much for the myth of the Eternally Functioning AK. Was already getting annoyed at how many were claiming Russia would be easily able to outfit all the conscripts with AK's despite the fact the Seppie militias only getting Mosin-Nagants was making it clear they did not have an inexhaustible supply.

And in case you think this is an isolated incident:


 


And I doubt the Kremlin will even try to fix anything.

One notable difference between Russia of the present and the USSR is that the USSR generally at least tried to fix its problems; not usually very well, and often the "fix" amounted to putting a metaphorical or literal gun to peoples' heads to get them to comply; but it tried. Modern Russia doesn't try. It just doubles down; whenever something doesn't work it just tries the same thing that didn't work harder. This entire war is metaphorically a matter of Russia repeatedly sticking a limb into a woodchipper, and responding to the pain by sticking that limb into the woodchipper harder until it's entirely chewed up. But they are rapidly running out of limbs to feed to the woodchipper.
 
How does Russia intend to handle the issue of training all these conscripts?



By killing off their trainers beforehand, apparently.

The head of logistics, vice-minister Boulgakov, got fired from his job and replaced by Mizintsev. It sounds like he wasn't up to the job. :p

On SV it was pointed out that Mizintsev is known as the "butcher of Mariupol" due to his fondness for mass slaughter and indiscriminate destruction. It's blackly humorous that he's been assigned to run a mobilization campaign that can be characterized as that against his own side.
 
How does Russia intend to handle the issue of training all these conscripts?



By killing off their trainers beforehand, apparently.



On SV it was pointed out that Mizintsev is known as the "butcher of Mariupol" due to his fondness for mass slaughter and indiscriminate destruction. It's blackly humorous that he's been assigned to run a mobilization campaign that can be characterized as that against his own side.


I really hope this guy will have an "unlucky accident"...

Preferably a 9 mm one straight through his grey matter.
 
I'm pretty sure you shouldn't shoot any of the Russian leadership in the brain; you want to hit a body part they are actually using.


True...
So.....
His Nads then ??
 
Ukrainians are less than intimidated by the thought of a horde of untrained conscripts.



Snarky.


Why do i have the feeling that the meatgrinder is waiting for those russian conscripts.



Wow...
Just wow...
 
Eh while I like to shit on the Russian system that pic is old and from the Seppies not the actual Russian Army

Thinking about the "quality" of the gear the russian conscripts are getting, aka. rusted guns, i wouldn´t be surprised if they really hand out Mosins.....
 
For a bit of context, here's how the "Mobilization" was supposed to work, back in Soviet times:

The Soviet Army broke their forces up into 3 (4, really, but the last two sort of merge into one at the boundaries) categories: A, B, C (I, II, III in some NATO/TRADOC docs). These categories were based on the manning and equipment readiness of the unit.

A (or I): Fully-manned (realistically, 95-100%) and fully equipped with modern systems. Fully ready for operations.

B (or II): 50-75% manned, with a complete set of fighting vehicles and weapons (possibly lacking some support and specialist systems). Still capable of operations, generally regarded as needing at least 72hrs to spin up. Missing personnel would be made good with loose/TDY/reassigned personnel (from training/staff units, and units that are redundant during wartime) and personnel pushed out of training early.

C (or III): 10-25% manned (cadre, IOW), with a full set of combat equipment...but that full set might be a generation or two behind what a Cat A (I) division might have (this is where we'd see the T-55s and T-34's turning up, back in the 70's and maybe 80's). Not capable of operations, and needing at least two months to spin up (and, allegedly, significant equipment and vehicles transferred from the civilian sector). The majority of the personnel of the division, once fully mobilized, would be either recalled Reservists* or hastily-inducted Conscripts


We'll turn our gaze to the last Category (C, which includes also Category D, which were units that basically existed only on paper, with maaaaybe some small personnel and equipment establishment or contingency plan).

Category C would be the late war (and by "late", in WW III terms, we mean D+60 or so, when the Regular and best-of-the-Reserve forces of each side had beaten each other to death, and most of the high-tech platforms and ammo would have been expended) reinforcements, made up of raw conscripts and "old guys"/"Reservists" (recalled ex-Conscripts who might have been a decade or two out of uniform), led by cadre officers/warrants, using older gear (ironically, the stuff the older ex-conscripts would be familiar with from their time in the Army), and with TUFT (Taken Up From Trade, i.e. mobilized civilian) logistics/medical/support capacity.
The principal being that a barely-capable, technically-obsolete division is a lot better than no division at all, when it ambles into the AO. If the Enemy can't come up with anything equivalent....you win by virtue of being the last man with troop units.

The Cat III reservists who showed up in Prague, in 1968, took three weeks to arrive (from the day they were informed of their recall)....and lacked uniforms (but had tanks and AKs).


What's happening now, in Russia, with this "partial mobilization" (that's sounding increasingly less partial as the info flows out)....is basically building up the Cat C divisions.


PROBLEM: the professional apparatus and infrastructure that let the Soviets make this sort of thing work no longer exists, and hasn't existed for about 30 years. The current Russian military isn't capable of managing this. Nor does the Russian military have the Everest-sized mountain of slightly-used gear (and ordnance) that the Soviets could easily dip into to give shaky "old dudes and kids" units the firepower and protection to counteract the shakiness. Nor is the Ukrainian force utterly exhausted, such that they won't smash a third-line division off the map with modern weaponry and NATO-enabled C4I.
Even formed Cat C divisions, with established command echelons, would need at least a couple weeks (not the individual personnel....the actual division) of shaking out before they could semi-reliably conduct even the most basic (area security, etc) operations. I doubt these units (and it seems only some of the recalled/conscripted guys are going straight to active units) had command/leadership staff prior to last week. Not to mention a chunk of those guys apparently never served before this, so have zero training to fall back on (even guys with 15 years between their grunt days and now are useful, in that they have somewhat of a clue as to what's going on and how things should work).



*-The Soviets, and Russians afterwards, have never had a real Western/US-style reserve component. You got done with your mandatory conscript service (or retired from active service, or just completed a very-basic officer training in University) and went into a mobilization pool. No refresher/drill training (it did happen, but rarely enough that most ex-conscripts never got any), just a periodic update to keep the local military commissariat informed as to your location and general state of not being dead yet.


Carried over from SB with the addendum that the Russians seem to have cannibalized even the cat C training cadres./
 
Back
Top Bottom