Thoughts on Ukraine
In Cold War Germany, the tactics that we employed to oppose an invading Soviet force were substantially different than those that the Soviets used. Their strength? Size. Their weakness? They had several vulnerabilities, but the most glaring was their organizational structure. They were technologically limited in communications, and they didn’t trust their men or their NCO leadership. Autonomous authority pretty much ended at the battalion level, and as such they were forced to maneuver in predictable, battalion sized elements. This is in contrast to our own tactics, which used speed, movement, communication, and autonomous authority to well below the company level to enable us to, in theory, defeat a Soviet force of up to six times our own size. I’ve always questioned that. Don’t get me wrong - the Soviets weren’t stupid. They knew their own weaknesses, but they didn’t have much of a choice. They worked with what they had to work with, which was a largely conscript ground force composed largely of the population of the various ‘stans who weren’t wealthy or connected enough to opt out of military service, and that had no interest in Russia’s agenda.
What we are seeing in Ukraine, is the modern day Russians more or less employing old Soviet era strategy against a NATO trained force. Think gang soccer vs. a pro team. I frankly would have expected Russia to walk all over them but they aren’t. The Ukrainians are countering superior size with smart strategy, and they are holding their own quite well. Why? Several reasons, but the thing that stands out the most is that the Ukrainian ground forces are dedicated to protecting their country, and they are facing off an army of soldiers that really don’t want to be there to begin with. It’s kind of how the Soviets got their asses kicked in Afghanistan. In addition to that, they incorrectly assumed that by owning the skies, they could deal with the embedded ground forces of the Mujahideen without countering them effectively with their own ground forces. So I’m really not all that surprised.
Oh the picture? Your author’s unit on a deployment for border security near the East German border, 1986.
