Comments by "David Himmelsbach" (@davidhimmelsbach557) on "RFU News — Reporting from Ukraine"
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@phuckyu3383 My numbers come from Ukrainian and French officialdom.
From what I've read, these are all brand new machines. Yes, they didn't even come out of storage.
The first (18) were supposed to go to Morocco, IIRC. (They were awaiting shipment -- which I take to mean: payment.) It was only at the last second that Macon intervened and had them sent to Ukraine.
[ Morocco and Algeria don't like each other.]
Macron promised (6) more Caesars the last time he visited Zelenskyy.
The (French) Press cranked out a video showing (3) Caesars in action a few weeks back. During that video, the French made sure that the existence of (18) machines in Ukrainian service came out. Since the broadcaster was, and is, the French government's mouthpiece (it's state owned) I figure that this video amounts to Paris bragging.
I'd rate each Caesar as having thrice the net combat effect of an M777 howitzer. It does not need a howitzer pit. I can't imagine how Russia can find and destroy one.
Both Caesar and Archer (Sweden) are mighty new designs and can be declared state-of-the-art.
The M109 is old in chassis -- but up-graded so often -- with so many variants -- that you can say it's been in continuous improvement for decades. The moment Russian counter-battery threats are eliminated, these machines will magnify Ukraine's artillery concentrations.
I'm amazed that the M198 is not in the picture. The USA has so many looking for something to do. Like the M109, they will weigh in only after Russian counter-battery assets are dealt with.
Putin is facing an exponential rise in Ukrainian artillery assets.
Lastly, it's not announced, but you can figure the US is ramping up the production of 152mm ammo. As you might imagine, the US DoD has more ammo capacity than any other nation on Earth. 96% of that capacity has been off-line => in mothballs. The flood WILL come, it will come by ship.
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@icexvi2573 That's not how things work out.
In WWII, all combatant nations got very, very good at regenerating crippled units. So, while it's news to you -- all modern generals know the drill.
The US Army had to regenerate its airborne divisions after every single drop, every single major operation. It never took months.
The new boys had already been through state-side training. So they were in great physical shape and knew their weapons, their gear. It only took three-weeks to integrate them into their assigned division.
Famously, the Krauts could regenerate divisions from nubs in less than six-weeks. (!) This ability is why Nazi Germany was able to hang on as long as it did.
But the absolute masters of generating new combat units must have been the Red Army. The Bolsheviks had a scheme that just cranked out green divisions like they were hatched. The rest of their training came by way of OJT at the front. This goes double for tank troops. History has recorded the result.
Zelenskyy has obviously been 'blooding' his green brigades in quiet sectors -- the military tradition in all armies. I'd say that Kyiv has at least ten brigades ready to shift east. They'll probably arrive on the sly -- one by one.
It would be absolutely classic for Kyiv to promote this or that brigade up to divisional size. (The USSR did this for all of its tank brigades in the middle of WWII, yes, on the fly.)
Once a cadre of talents is clicking, it's actually institutionally easy to flesh out an outfit with more warriors. Famously, the LAH SS brigade expanded through the war to such a degree that it became a panzer corps by 1945. It spawned a slew of buddy divisions, too... on top of its own growth. The limiting factor for such growth is talent among the officers and sergeants... with the latter particularly important.
Ukraine has sergeants -- Russia only has fake instant sergeants. Consequently, the regeneration power of the UA will astound.
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@katrinapaton5283 Generals NEVER disdain their own victories. They always have critics, though.
Bradley 'owns' the Hurtgen Forest campaign -- yet never brought it up -- much -- in his own war bios.
He's not alone. Not one of the WWII era top commanders ever uttered a word even mildly critiquing his own army,... or his own performance. Such is the way of generalship.
I don't care WHAT Pultarch attributed to Pyrrhus, you just KNOW that the line came from fellow Greeks (think politicians) upon hearing the results from the field. (Pyrrhus just killed recruitment into the ranks. It was hell to field a second, replacement, army. )
There were (2) two infamous battles... blood baths, both. Back home, his critics began howling after his first debacle. Such heavy, heavy losses were a total novelty for Greece. You can bet the boys on the spot were bitter, too.
These battles were months apart, BTW.
Well, at least Pyrrhus became famous.
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