Comments by "MarcosElMalo2" (@MarcosElMalo2) on "Battle Order" channel.

Too be clear, the battle for Hostemel airport was a helicopter air assault to secure an air bridge. I think the worst factor for the first and second waves of VDV units was that they were unprepared for the mission and there was insufficient planning. Remember, the invasion was top secret until 24 hours (or less for some officers), and the intelligence was really bad: they were not expecting heavy resistance. This intelligence factor applies to the invasion forces as a whole. They didn’t plan for a worst case scenario because they 1) were told it was unnecessary, and 2) they didn’t have time to plan for it. So the first wave suffered heavy casualties and failed to secure the airport. The second wave was either shot out of the sky or turned back. The third wave, which would have included heavier equipment never left the ground. Rather than highlighting force structure weakness (which is also a factor, no doubt), the mission failure and the larger failure point to deficiencies in authoritarian government, namely distrust (the upper echelon keeping the invasion top secret from lower echelons, and probably not discussing it among themselves) and buying into their own propaganda. The intelligence supported the propaganda, and couldn’t be questioned. Raising doubts would be tantamount to disloyalty. A VDV battalion commander couldn’t just say “I’m going to prepare for the worst, just in case” without incurring the wrath of his superiors.
121
@HeRa06Ram I think the bigger cartel threat is RPGs, so a likely upgrade for the AFV’s is reactive armor. That said, the party currently in power in Mexico has been very hands off wrt the cartels. I think there is a lot of mystification surrounding the cartels. They don’t maintain anything resembling a military, for example. They don’t even qualify as an insurgency. They are criminal gangs and organized as such. In some cases they are well armed and they are well funded, thanks to America’s demand for drugs. That said, their capabilities seem to be magnified in the minds of some paranoid Americans. They’re a criminal threat, not a military one. They lack the organization to become a military threat. Their power and funding is largely dependent on U.S. anti-drug policies.
91
And the battalion level commanders didn’t get briefed until 24 hours before the invasion. Not just the VDV, but across the entire invasion force. Even with so little time, they were also given faulty intelligence about the resistance they faced. It would be exceedingly difficult to plan and prepare on such short notice AND with faulty intelligence. These are symptoms of the structural problems that undermine authoritarian regimes.
48
@HeRa06Ram I think it’s an overestimation to even suggest that organized crime in Mexico has “squads”.
23
@jic1 They definitely wouldn’t. Mexico is quite fond of the Irish people. The San Patricio Battalion fought with distinction for Mexico during the Mexican-American war. Indeed, many of the U.S. soldiers who were Irish slipped away from their units to join up with the Mexican forces. Mexico is indebted to Ireland and its people. I rarely see true red headed Mexicans, but when I do, I wonder if they have an Irish ancestor. ¡Viva Irlanda! ¡Vivan los irlandés!
11
@MatoVuc Why would they air assault the airport in the first place if not as a forward supply base to quickly strike into Kyiv and decapitate the government? The target makes no sense, otherwise. The truth is, they failed to take the airport. Thus they failed to quickly get together an overwhelming force. By the time the airport was secured, the Ukrainian military had time to prepare the defense of Kyiv. The Hostemel operation was an utter failure and Putin threw away one of his most elite assets.
10
Wow! This is fascinating. Thank you for making and posting this video. I’m an American retired and living in Mexico. The sight of soldiers is common, but I’ve never personally seen an armored fighting vehicle. I guess I can research this myself, but I’d certainly like to know more about Mexico’s ministry of defense’s doctrines. What is the stated purpose of the military? Against what threats are the armed forces defending? Obviously, whether it’s formally stated, they are there to defend against internal threats. I don’t think they have any worries wrt to either of their next door neighbors. Wrt published tank doctrine, I doubt that the military will procure tanks in the near future, given which party was elected in the most recent election. Anyway, this video has opened up an entirely new interest for me. Thank you for posting it! I’m curious about how Mexico’s Marines and National Guard are equipped and organized. I’m also interested to know the history of Mexico’s armored development. I imagine it goes back to the Mexican Revolution, 1910-1920.
8
I’m an American living in Mexico. Although soldiers are a common sight, AFVs are not, so this was highly informative for me. To be honest, I haven’t given the subject of the Mexican military much thought. I hope this video is successful so you will have motivation to do more videos on Mexico’s military. If you ever want to make a field trip, I’d be happy to help.
6
Did you run out of cope? Better get that prescription refilled.
4
Part of Russia’s frustration is that they’ve been unable to draw Ukraine out into a big set piece battle, possibly a decisive one. Without a strong NCO cadre, without what we might think of as the NCO-mindset, small units have been unable to adjust to the home team’s game. If your smaller units are being cut down, if your comms and logistics are continually disrupted, you’ll frequently find yourself back footed. Something I’ve been wondering since the start of this war is: are the leaderships of all Russian military branches on the same page? Were they all 100% behind the adventure? I can imagine a scenario where the head of the Air Force or the head of the Navy thought the whole idea was dumb, poorly planned, and wanted as little to do with it as possible. I can imagine the AF not wanting to fully commit, especially as it has other more important duties. Out of all the branches, it makes sense for them not to send their best.
4
Crete was actually a success, albeit a costly one. But it was mostly a success because of the incompetence of the British commander. The VDV failure at Hostemel airport and Kyiv is more like operation Market-Garden, except worse.
4
@512TheWolf512 🤷🏻‍♀️ I don’t know, was it? Operation Market-Garden was extremely costly in terms of men and resources. Success needed total success—securing the bridge at Arnhem. It cost the Allies months in terms of opportunity costs. Intelligence mistakes contributed to its failure. Indeed, the gamble probably wouldn’t have been taken if the British had done proper intelligence. There were also equipment and comms failures. In some ways, Market-Garden was a worse disaster. It was an own goal that delayed the inevitable, Germany’s loss in WWII. The Hostemel failure was an own goal that has hastened the inevitable, Russia’s eventual and utter loss in Ukraine.
3
@samsonsoturian6013 When they fought in WWII?
3
@jimjamauto I live in San Miguel de Allende, which perhaps you visited on your trip. About 12 years ago the arrested some cartel big shots at a seafood restaurant. Celeya is the nearest big city, and there’s a lot of crime there, but I don’t think it’s controlled by any of the cartels. Taxed, maybe. I’d be more worried about walking the streets of my home town Los Angeles, to be honest. Probably the most common crime is tourists being mugged or robbed after midnight while they’re walking home from the bar.
3
@grandayatollah5655 Support couldn’t reach them because planning was so bad—last minute and based on faulty intelligence about the resistance they would encounter. Battalion and company commanders weren’t even briefed until 24 hours (or less) before the invasion. The second wave never got there, either shot down or turned back. The third wave, which would have included heavier supporting elements, never left. Then the relief column stalled—again, due to poor planning and preparation. The lack of support is only a part of it. The failure of the VDV is the failure of the men that foolishly sent them to be slaughtered, men who believe their own wacky propaganda, who value loyalty over competence, and don’t question their field intelligence too much when it confirms their biases (the propaganda shaping intelligence reports).
3
“We were stabbed in the back by Willy Wonka!”
2
@mitchellanderson3960 It must hurt your hand to do so much rewriting of history. Do you really think we’ve forgotten what happened only 15 months ago? Your line of bullshit even contradicts the official MOD line of bullshit they were putting out at the time. You vatniks are incredibly stupid to think you can revise what everyone saw with their own eyes.
1
Make it PDT (Putzi Death Trap)
1
@oranje-vrystaat3182 What a sad excuse of a human being you are. You probably aren’t capable of shame, but you should be ashamed of yourself.
1
@am-bushgaming4811 And they might have teething problems. Some teething problems are easier to sort out, others require a return to the drawing board.
1
The logistics are going to be a nightmare until the older tanks are retired and the new ones are fully integrated. Four or five different models, each with its own maintenance requirements, training for crews and mechanics, and supply chains. 🤦🏻‍♂️
1
It’s a famous factory, one of the ones moved by rail at the start of Barbarossa to east of the Urals. It was moved back to Kharkiv and reopened in 1945.
1
You dared to tread.
1
I think I’ll wait to read the AARs before drawing any definite conclusions. We’ve seen three different types of kill/captures. Open road, road inside a town or city, and stuck in the mud. The first type is reminiscent of the allies rushing up a single road to Arnhem in WWII’s Operation Market-Garden. That was an incredible blunder then, and it still is one today. The second is a well known problem of all tanks when the fighting is close or when the defender can set up ambushes. The third is also an old problem, best dealt with by staging your invasion AFTER the spring thaw and rains. So I’m not yet going to draw any conclusions about the worthiness of these tanks. But I will draw some preliminary conclusions that the Russian generals don’t know how to fight a war.
1
Definitely before the invasion. Now would they be an effective counterforce against a military coup? Perhaps not so much. Politics has had a lot to do with Russia’s failure in Ukraine, both in the Kremlin and in the military. It’s one of the weak points of such a corrupt authoritarian government. The decision to invade was kept secret from brigade level officers until 24 hours before the kickoff. That’s not enough time to plan and prepare. The intelligence was bad and pre-shaped by Russia’s own propaganda, which also hindered planning. This secrecy is a symptom of the distrust and jealousy between individuals at all levels. The swallowing whole of one’s own propaganda (aka buying your own bullshit) is a symptom of valuing loyalty and punishing competence as disloyalty.
1
@SausageOwnage What demands specifically?
1
@crackedking2238 What does this mean, Russophobe? It sounds like Jews during the Holocaust being German-phobes. A phobia is an irrational fear. Fear of Russian aggression is completely rational. Accusing someone of being a Russophobe is just gaslighting of the sort one might expect from Nazis and Fascists. It’s like someone is in the middle of being raped and you accuse them of being a penis-phobe.
1
@am-bushgaming4811 Well, dammit, where’s the video called “Soothing Dan H’s frayed nerves and changing his diapers”?
1
An A-10 would last A-10 seconds without air superiority. The Russians don’t have air superiority, but they still have a lot of planes in the sky. Sorry, but it’s just a masturbatory fantasy.
1
Well, every tank does, it’s just that Russia uses the more convenient Popov turret.
1