The Russians Lost Nearly An Entire Battalion Trying To Cross A River In Eastern Ukraine

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

The better part of a Russian army battalion—50 or so vehicles and up to a thousand troops—in recent days tried to cross a pontoon bridge spanning the Siverskyi Donets River, running west to east between the separatist provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine.

Ukrainian artillery caught them at the riverbank—and destroyed them. The rapid destruction of around three dozen tanks and other armored vehicles, along with the bridge itself, underscores Russia’s deepening woes as its troops try, and fail, to make meaningful gains in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region.

“We still assess Russian ground force in the Donbas to be slow and uneven,” an unnamed U.S. Defense Department official told reporters on Tuesday. The Russians’ inability to cross rivers might explain their sloth.

The Siverskyi Donets, which threads from southern Russia into eastern Ukraine then back into Russia, is just one of several water barriers Russian battalions must cross in order to advance west into Ukrainian-held territory. According to the Ukrainian armed forces’ general staff, the battalion that got caught at the pontoon bridge apparently was trying to strike at Lyman, a city of 20,000 that lies 17 miles west of the doomed pontoon bridge.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/the-russians-lost-nearly-an-entire-battalion-trying-to-cross-a-river-in-eastern-ukraine/ar-AAXawcD

They were knee deep in the big muddy and the big fool (Putin) said to push on.

[Joinfortmill]

1. 👍

[peppertree]

2. As Billie Holiday might've told Putin:

If you don't like those peaches, don't shake that tree.

[AverageOldGuy]

3. If anyone has any sympathy . . .

. . . for the Russian soldiers caught in this artillery barrage, dying from sucking chest wounds, writhing in pain, screaming for help, will sinking under the water where their bodies will never be recovered, just remember the words of Genghis Kahn:

Man's highest joy is in victory: to conquer one's enemies; to pursue them; to deprive them of their possessions; to make their beloved weep; to ride on their horses; and to embrace their wives and daughters.

I am old infantry soldier with a tour in Vietnam and 30 years in uniform. A soldier's job is to make the other guy die for his country. And the more Russians who die for their country, the better Ukraine will be.

War has its own calculus..

[erronis]

8. Genghis Kahn's words are spoken from a high perch - a leader, not a trooper.

Yes, the soldier is supposed to make the other soldier die - or at least surrender.

Not to rape and murder the civilians ("embrace their wives and daughters&quot .

The armchair warriors of the Vietnam and later Iraq/Afghani wars had absolutely no skin in the game. They were moving pieces around on the board and couldn't care how many body bags (friends or foes) were counted.

By your reckoning dropping a thermonuclear warhead on a major city is OK since some of the "other guy"s folks will be made to pay.

Where is any sense of compassion or fair reciprocity? I think the real reason for war is to create massive horror and to subject the civilian populations death and destruction.

(Probably your age and a guy who spent too much time planning war exercises in a 5-sided building.)

[getagrip_already]

11. GK had an absolutely bloodthirsty outlook...

He revelled in killing entire towns. He burned and killed anything his troops didn't take as theirs. Sometimes he would send troops back just to kill those who managed to hide during the initial battle.

He sent Russia back to the stone age.

Not exactly someone to follow into history.

[Grins]

17. And Russians love him for that.

And all the oppressive strong-man leaders that followed. And Putin is just another Cossack with a ‘short-man complex.’ (He’s 5’6”.)

[EndlessWire]

21. I don't think that AOG

lacks compassion or meant in any sense of the word that it is ok to drop a nuke on opponents. I think he is frustrated and angry at what is happening in Ukraine. I think that's all he meant.

[Swede]

27. As Pink Floyd sang it.

Forward he cried from the rear
And the front rank died
The General sat, and the lines on the map
Moved from side to side

[Irish_Dem]

9. Mankind has not changed much in a 1000 years.

Same calculus.

[Lonestarblue]

10. I do feel sorry for some Russian soldiers--the young and poorly trained.

That said, I fully support Ukraine and applaud their efforts. They’ve been amazing—and the more commanders and generals they get rid of, the better. Along with all the Russian tanks they can blow up. I also hope they can sink a few more Russian warships in the Black Sea. That would be lovely to see.

[EndlessWire]

20. If they're not going to just stop and go home,

which doesn't seem likely, then I want Ukraine to sink ALL of the Russian fleet, both in the Azov and the Black Sea. I also want the seaport in Sevastopol to be destroyed, along with that infernal bridge. It looked to me like there is a second bridge in progress, but I dunno.

If they eliminated the Black Sea fleet, Crimea would then be vulnerable. There is a sub or two floating around, but I bet they could get them somehow. At any rate, once they eliminate the Sevastopol seaport, the Russians will not be able to resupply those subs with missiles.

I envision a Dunkirk type scenario at the Odesa harbor and beaches. No rescue ships, out of ammo, and mass surrender. But, yeah, you can bet they're plotting on a third large ship. They're doing really well.

[Marcuse]

24. "...and to hear the lamentations of their women." Conan (the Barbarian, not the Barbiturate).

Russian medieval history: A great Kievan Rus king conquers the land. After he dies his sons wage war on each other until there is only one. Rinse and repeat. Successive generations kill and conquer the same land over and over because it’s there. Just like today.

[ggma]

30. Conan the Barbarian

That line always bothered me; but being a "youngster" of 32 when I saw it, I was told that I was overreacting to nothing, it was only used to emphasize the barbarism. Which was. my point all along.

ggma

[LiberalFighter]

31. Russia will win only if all Russians die for their country?

Would be a good slogan for them to follow.

[TheBlackAdder]

4. New Movie: The Bridge On The River. . . WHY?

[Harker]

5. Madness... madness... n/t

[TheBlackAdder]

12. .

.

.

[TomSlick]

6. Army jody (marching song) from back in the day:

To the tune of The Battle Hymn of the Republic.

"Pharaoh lost a whole battalion,
you can lose one too."

[Gore1FL]

7. I was going to make a comment about Satellites and NATO artillery.

Then I read it was a tank brigade spotting it and Soviet-era artillery blowing it to bits.

Imagine when they get the "game change" hardware.

[DanieRains]

13. Ukraine Has Been Practicing With Artillery Since 2014

And our Green Berets teaching them how to target.

Time to go home Russians.

Every day the Ukrainians get better artillery.

[Bucky]

29. to be fair, we don't know that it was NOT satellites

I mean, it could have been a Ukrainian tank brigade that ID'd the Russian battalion. But that could also be just a cover story, as almost certainly US and NATO satellites are following Russian troop movements and relaying that intel.

[Pobeka]

14. Makes me think of Al Stewart's "Roads to Moscow" song about the failed German attack on Moscow, WWII

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roads_to_Moscow#Lyrics

In those days it was the Germans' hubris that made them think they could take on any condition. That was one battle that helped turn the war against the Hitler.

[Efilroft Sul]

15. Send more, Vladdy, the fish are hungry this time of year.

[ZonkerHarris]

16. Bridge on the River Nyet. nt

[Grins]

18. "...one of roughly the 99 Russian battalion tactical groups..."

Everybody sing!

“99 Russian battalions on a bridge, 99 Russian battalions.
If one of those battalions should happen to drown - 98 Russian battalions on a bridge…”

I’ll show myself out.

[Kaleva]

26. +1

[LetMyPeopleVote]

19. This looks like a big mess

Link to tweet

[EndlessWire]

22. I wonder how many pontoon bridges they have? n/t

[ChazInAz]

23. Love old folk songs.

For some reason "Knee Deep In The Big Muddy" has been running through my mind.
Wonder why...

[llashram]

25. well Hitler throughout

WW2 intervened and contravened his general's strategy. Look where he ended up. Alone in his bunker.

[intrepidity]

28. Why'd the Russians cross the river?

To get to the other side (with a little help from our friends).