(November 4, 2024 at 8:28 pm)The Grand Nudger Wrote: It started out with brand new factory fresh bmp3s. When those went bavovna bmp2s showed up..and when the last of those were a smoldering wreck they kept trying with mtlbs. Each of those vehicles would be carrying between 6 and 10 dismount infantry, who knows how many riding on top (have to count em 1 by 1 from drone footage). Ukraine followed up by busting through the teeth in small teams with two brads and an abrams to rake the treeline for rearguard under drone cover. It was probably the majority of recorded casualties across the entire front that day. The whole area has been a mechanized graveyard for years now - illinsk being just past vuhledar.
To be fair, I don't think it's accurate to call the russians soldiers at this point....and that singular fact is what allows for these kinds of outcomes. Then again, a small construction company in a podunk town held the actual russian army at bay for 72 hours without any weapons at the very beginning of the full scale invasion...erecting barriers and ambushing them with bulldozers and loaders when they tried to cross the bridges...so it's not like russian soldiers do great work themselves.
I hope the nations that buy their military garbage are shitting their pants.
To your second paragraph, true. They are probably poors who received little or no training - just another tragedy perpetrated by Putin.
Completely aside from Ukraine, I served as a TOW mechanic a lifetime ago, and I very early came to the conclusion that when the shooting started, I didn't want to be anywhere near anyone's APC or IFV, especially not riding on top of one.
