Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[RedStar] 80 years ago, an offensive operation was successfully carried out in southern Ukraine.
by Yuri Avdeev
The goal of the operation was the defeat of the enemy's coastal group between the Southern Bug and Dniester rivers, the liberation of the northwestern coast of the Black Sea, including the port city of Odessa, and access to the State border of the USSR with Romania. The reward materials of the Red Army soldiers, which are carefully stored in the archives of the Ministry of Defense, tell in detail about the exploits of the liberators of Odessa.
ACCORDING TO THE PLAN AND OUTSIDE THE PLAN
The plan for the Odessa operation, developed by the commander of the front forces, Army General Rodion Malinovsky, together with the representative of the Supreme Command Headquarters, Marshal of the Soviet Union Alexander Vasilevsky, was approved on March 19, 1944 by the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, Marshal of the Soviet Union Joseph Stalin.
The planned liberation of Nikolaev, Odessa and the defeat of enemy troops became part of a unified system of offensive operations to liberate the territory of the USSR from the occupiers. in the general plan of the strategic offensive, this was the so-called third Stalinist blow to defeat the enemy on the entire Soviet-German front of the Great Patriotic War.
The operation was entrusted to the troops of the 3rd Ukrainian Front under the command of Army General Rodion Malinovsky, who was symbolically from Odessa. The front was allocated additional forces, including the Black Sea Fleet under the command of Admiral Philip Oktyabrsky and the 17th Air Army under Colonel General Vladimir Sudets. The total strength of the created group consisted of about 470,000 soldiers, more than 400 tanks and self-propelled guns, 12,000 guns and mortars, and over 400 aircraft.
They were opposed by a German-Romanian group, which had a total of about 350,000 soldiers, 3,200 thousand guns and mortars, 160 tanks and assault guns, 550 aircraft.
The start of the operation was postponed to March 26. The fact is that the area of the upcoming offensive was covered by heavy torrential rains. The roads turned into a solid clayey mess, in which even tractors and heavy tanks got stuck.
In order to increase the mobility of troops, quickly bypass resistance centers and enemy strongholds, reach the rear and capture important road junctions, crossings and bridges on rivers, divisions created mobile forward detachments consisting of up to a company of machine gunners, a platoon of sappers in vehicles, with one two 45-mm guns or self-propelled artillery mounts.
During the Odessa operation, Red Army soldiers showed examples of endurance and military skill
NIKOLAEV LANDING
On the night of March 26, shock units of the 3rd Ukrainian Front began crossing the Southern Bug and attacking Nikolaev. A landing detachment from the 384th Separate Naval Infantry Battalion and the 1st Guards Fortified Area of the 28th Army in the amount of 67 people under the command of the holder of the Order of Alexander Nevsky, senior lieutenant Konstantin Olshansky, left the village of Bogoyavlenskoye for Nikolaev on seven rowing boats.
Overcoming the current, in inclement stormy conditions, the paratroopers walked up the Southern Bug for about 25 km. At dawn, they quietly landed in the area of the new elevator in the port of Nikolaev, silently removed the sentries and took up defense in the elevator building.
The enemy soon discovered that he had lost control of an important facility. Not knowing the size of the landing party, the enemy initially estimated its forces at a battalion and sent up to 1000 soldiers against it. The enemy's attacks did not reach the target, and he increased the force of continuous attacks, using mortars, artillery, tanks, and flamethrowers. All the officers died in fierce battles, but the landing force continued to fight.
The award sheet for Senior Lieutenant Olshansky states: “A detachment of paratroopers-sailors fought the enemy for two days and inflicted losses on the enemy of up to 700 soldiers and officers killed and wounded. During this time, 18 enemy attacks were repulsed, including fierce battles using all types of weapons. ...The heroic landing accelerated the advancing units of the Red Army in quickly capturing the mountains. Nikolaev".
The troops of the 3rd Ukrainian Front launched a decisive offensive from bridgeheads on the right bank of the Southern Bug. On March 28, together with units of the 6th, 5th Shock and 28th Armies, the 384th Separate Naval Infantry Battalion under the command of Hero of the Soviet Union Fedor Kotanov entered the city. For the courage and heroism shown during the liberation of Nikolaev, the battalion was given the name Nikolaevsky.
The Motherland highly appreciated the feat of the paratroopers in the elevator area. All of them were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, 55 of them posthumously. The square in the center of Nikolaev is named after the heroic paratroopers. On it, the city residents erected a majestic monument to immortalize this feat. One of the streets is named after K.F. Olshansky.
The liberation of the city was celebrated in Moscow with a gun salute - 224 guns fired twenty artillery salvos.
ASSAULT ON ODESSA
Troops of the 3rd Ukrainian Front attacked simultaneously in several directions. Soviet troops almost immediately broke through the enemy's layered defenses near Odessa, and the cavalry-mechanized group of the Guards Lieutenant General Issa Pliev, having destroyed the enemy's rear, created the threat of complete encirclement. Units of the Red Army, interacting with the partisans, actively maneuvered, knocked out the enemy from key positions, and created threats of encirclement in various areas. The enemy made a breakthrough, withdrawing its troops from Odessa.
The troops of the 3rd Ukrainian Front were supported by the 17th Air Army, as well as naval aviation and ships of the Black Sea Fleet, which launched massive attacks on the columns of the retreating enemy.
On the evening of April 9, units of the 8th Guards and 6th Armies reached the approaches to Odessa from the northwest. The next day, troops of the 3rd Ukrainian Front, with the active participation of partisans and underground fighters, liberated Odessa from the invaders. At the same time, partisan detachments eliminated the enemy’s subversive teams, preventing port structures, warehouses, and dams of the Khadzhibey estuary prepared for explosions in order to flood the Peresyp, which opened the way to the city for Soviet troops. The Soviet flag was raised over the building of the Opera and Ballet Theater.
The occupation of Odessa by Romania and Germany lasted 907 days and claimed the lives of 82,000 Soviet citizens. Of the 604,000 people who lived in the city before the war, a little more than half remained on the day of liberation.
During the Odessa operation, Red Army soldiers showed examples of endurance and military skill. Many units and formations of the 3rd Ukrainian Front, which most distinguished themselves in combat operations, were awarded orders, and 27 were awarded honorary titles of Odessa.
From the award sheet of the mortarman of the Guard Sergeant Vladimir Gerasimov: “Pursuing the retreating enemy, his crew provided the opportunity for our units to break through to the city of Odessa, while up to 18 enemy soldiers and officers were destroyed and his crew was among the first to break into the city of Odessa, for which it is worthy of the government awards of the Order of the Red Star.
“In the battles on the outskirts of Odessa, and especially in the battle on the outskirts of the city on April 10, 1944, Comrade. Kovalev showed courage and courage, boldly attacked the enemy, quickly knocked the Nazis out of the occupied trenches, inflicting heavy losses on the enemy. Thanks to a skillful maneuver, the company quickly broke into the outskirts of the city and started a street battle, pursuing the fleeing Nazis. In this battle, the soldiers of his company destroyed 60 and captured 15 German soldiers,” the command noted, presenting Lieutenant Andrei Kovalev for a government award.
As a result of the operation carried out between March 26 and April 14, 1944, Soviet troops inflicted a heavy defeat on the German 6th and Romanian 3rd armies. Enemy losses amounted to over 27,000 people killed and more than 11,000 people captured, 952 guns, 443 tanks and assault guns, 95 warehouses with ammunition and food.
In the coastal direction, significant changes have occurred in the strategic plan. The Black Sea Fleet was able to relocate ships and aircraft to the northwestern region of the Black Sea basin. A threat from the sea was created to the enemy's Crimean group, which was already blocked from land, and conditions were created for further operations in Moldova, Romania, and the Balkans.
On April 10, Moscow saluted the valiant troops who liberated Odessa with twenty-four artillery salvoes from 324 guns.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[RedStar] March 31 marks the 210th anniversary of the surrender of Paris - the Russian army put an end to the ambitions of the French emperor, who intended to bring Russia to its knees.
by Alexander Bondarenko
On the night of March 19 (31), 1814, the guard adjutant of the Russian Emperor, Colonel Mikhail Fedorovich Orlov, drew up and signed the capitulation of Paris. On the same day, the troops of the allies - Russia, Prussia and Austria - entered the capital of the still French Empire (it will be abolished on April 6). The Parisians rejoiced when they met them...
The Allied army of 110,000 bayonets and sabers approached Paris on the morning of March 18 (30); the city was defended by 42,000 people - small detachments of Marshals Marmont and Mortier, forces of the National Guard, students of the Polytechnic School, disabled gunners... Napoleon, who planned to go behind the rear of the allied armies, hurried to Paris from Saint-Dizier, but did not have time to approach.
The battle for Paris has begun. At three o'clock in the afternoon, 12 guns of Colonel Taube's guards artillery battery, installed on the Chaumont Heights, opened fire on Paris itself. Their cannonballs, although they did not cause much harm, significantly shook the resolve of the Parisians, who were preparing to fight and die in the streets and boulevards of their capital. Meanwhile, Russian infantry began an assault on the city.
An hour later, when Alexander I was already preparing to send his most reliable force, the guard, to the tsar, a French envoy arrived to the tsar, reporting that the garrison command was asking to stop shooting and was ready to enter into negotiations.
To resolve the issue of starting negotiations, the sovereign sent his aide-de-camp, Colonel Orlov, to Marshal Marmont. Having galloped through a hail of rifle bullets and grapeshot, since no one had yet stopped firing, Orlov saw the marshal in a chain of French riflemen. Marmont approached the Russian officer:
“I am the Duke of Ragusa! Who are you?”
- Guard Colonel Orlov, aide-de-camp of the Russian Emperor, who wants to save Paris for France and for the world!
“This is also our desire and our only hope, otherwise all of us would only have to die here!”
After these beautiful phrases, the marshal asked what the Russians want. Orlov replied that a ceasefire should be held, the French troops should be withdrawn behind the city outposts and a commission should be appointed to negotiate the surrender of Paris. These were the demands of the victors, so Marmont could only set a time and place for a meeting with the Russian representatives. Then, by order of the marshal, the drums struck the all clear. The firefight began to subside and soon died out.
Upon his return, the colonel reported to the emperor about his conversation with the marshal and received orders, together with the Secretary of State and Privy Councilor Count Nesselrode, accompanied by Russian and Austrian officers and a convoy, to go to accept the surrender of Paris, thereby putting the last point in that war. Addressing the parliamentarians, Alexander I said with pathos that “tonight Europe should spend the night in Paris.”
...But it’s unlikely that anyone, except Orlov, and even the emperor himself, could then remember that it was Mikhail who opened the first page of that war!
In 1812, June 12, on the night of the 13th, the French began crossing the border river Neman. Early in the morning of the 14th, two horsemen, accompanied by a trumpeter and two Cossacks, rode out from Vilna (now Lithuanian Vilnius) in a western direction towards the advancing enemy. These were the Minister of Police, Lieutenant General Balashov, and Lieutenant of the Cavalry Regiment Orlov. The minister was carrying a letter from the Russian emperor to the French, which said:
“If Your Majesty is not inclined to shed the blood of our subjects because of such a misunderstanding and if you agree to withdraw your troops from Russian possessions, then I will ignore everything that happened and an agreement between us will be possible...”
Balashov’s conversation with Napoleon turned out to be empty: the French emperor blamed the Russian Tsar for everything and expected repentance from him. Upon returning to Headquarters, the minister briefly reported this to the emperor, who nodded and told him to go and rest. But Orlov was not only invited to a meeting of military leaders, where he modestly sat in the corner, but was also left by the sovereign for a personal conversation. Over the course of several days spent in the enemy’s rear, he was able to get an idea of the number of enemy corps, their routes of movement, the mood in the ranks of the army, problems with food, the death of horses that could not withstand the loads of marching, and much more...
This is how the Patriotic War began for Orlov, and now, almost two years later, it was he who was supposed to officially complete the Foreign Campaign.
At the Pantenskaya outpost, the Russian parliamentarians were met by Marshal Marmont, with whom they went to the Villettes outpost, where Marshal Mortier was waiting for them in a small, Parisian-style cozy tavern.
The marshals immediately dismissed the Russian demand to surrender the city with its entire garrison, declaring that they would rather bury themselves under the ruins of Paris...
The Russian representatives, realizing that the troops that would freely leave Paris would join Napoleon’s army, insisted on their own. The conversation threatened to drag on, but suddenly rifle and artillery fire was heard. The interlocutors jumped to their feet, looking at each other in bewilderment. The silence returned as suddenly as it had broken.
Soon a French officer entered the tavern and reported to the marshals that the Russian General Langeron, one of the French emigrants who had not yet been notified of the truce due to his distance from the main forces, had taken the Montmartre Heights dominating Paris in battle. It became clear that the situation of besieged Paris was becoming significantly more complicated, but this did not shake the tenacity of the marshals. In the end, Count Nesselrode decided to return to the sovereign.
The French general Lapointe also went with the parliamentarians, who, in addition to some official documents addressed to the allied monarchs, also carried Napoleon’s secret letter to Field Marshal Prince Schwarzenberg. The Emperor reported that secret peace negotiations were supposedly taking place between him and his father-in-law, the Austrian Emperor Franz, a treaty was almost signed, so it would be better to withdraw Austrian troops from Paris...
Fortunately, in the nine years that passed after 1805, when the deceived Austrians surrendered without a fight, they became somewhat wiser, or perhaps the anticipation of a quick victory and the fear of not being present at the division of the “French pie” affected them. Schwarzenberg introduced the letter to Alexander I and Friedrich Wilhelm.
At 7 p.m., the parliamentarians again arrived at the Villettes outpost and presented much more lenient demands: the troops were to leave Paris in parts and follow the Brittany road, that is, in the opposite direction from where Napoleon was staying. But the marshals again objected.
An hour later it became clear that the negotiations had finally reached a dead end. Mortier announced that he was leaving for the troops to prepare the city for defense. Nesselrode, to whom Orlov declared that it was impossible to storm Paris at night, decided, accompanied by his entire retinue, to return to the outposts. Of course, the colonel was somewhat disingenuous: if the artillery had opened fire on Paris with firebrands and incendiary shells, then taking the city in the light of a gigantic fire would not have been so difficult. But what a nightmare this night assault would turn into!..
Orlov remained in the city as a hostage from a sudden attack by the Allies. Nesselrode promised Marmont: “The attack on Paris will not be resumed until Colonel Orlov crosses the Russian outposts.”
Interestingly, this was not the first time during this war that Mikhail found himself in a similar position - alone among the French, protected only by the status of a parliamentarian. First, as we remember, this happened in June 1812, then in August, after the Battle of Smolensk, when he was sent to find out about the fate of General Tuchkov 3rd, who was captured, and in the end he even met and talked with Napoleon. There was another trip to the headquarters of the French army in January 1813, about which historians know nothing.
... Orlov was woken up at about two o'clock in the morning - a package was delivered from the Russian sovereign with an agreement to accept surrender on French terms, but with the condition that the allied army grants itself the right to pursue the retreating French along any road they choose.
On the morning of March 31, Allied troops entered Paris. The first to follow was the Life Guards Cossack Regiment, followed by the regiments of the Guards Light Cavalry Division, then the other guard regiments; after the Russians came the Austrians, Prussians and Badenians... The people on the outskirts greeted the foreigners rather gloomily, but the prosperous center of Paris applauded and showered them with flowers.
And this was not without reason, because Russian troops brought “not a sword, but peace” to the soil of France. They did not take revenge on Paris for the desecrated and burned Moscow - and thus reassured France, which was already quite tired of its warlike emperor and his exorbitant ambitions.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Denis Davydov
[REGNUM] The head of the SBU Vasily Malyuk, as befits a true Ukrainian patriot, draws his inspiration from the past. In the comments under his almost hour-long interview on one of the central Kyiv TV channels there are many thanks for the amazing combination of a warrior and a subtle connoisseur of history.
So Vasily Vasilyevich, if not for his Neanderthal appearance, could well compete for the role of the nation’s sex symbol. But for now he is only competing for the laurels of “terrorist No. 1” with the Main Intelligence Directorate and the slender Kirill Budanov. But this jealousy, the desire to snatch a piece of glory and at the same time highlight their boss Zelensky, whom the general regularly mentions, provides an opportunity to look into the ugly world where the new Ukrainian elite, the best of the best, lives. To look at what is happening, one might say, from Malyuk’s head.
Take, for example, his calls for brotherly love. All Ukrainian troubles are due to internal discord, teaches Lieutenant General. As the sons of Yaroslav the Wise began to smoke, so it went and went. But the enemy is not asleep, rushing to take advantage of disunity, delivering vile blows: “There were 13 full-fledged big wars with the Russian Federation. And if we take smaller conflicts, then there are actually more than 23 of them.” The ancient evil of the Russian Federation has haunted Ukraine since the 11th century, so it is necessary to “eat up”, not forget about the glorious past that bubbles in the veins, “turn on your national “I”.
But at the same time, you should remember that there are many traitors around, and if you see something suspicious in your neighbor, unmasking signs, do not hesitate to call the SBU. And there they will give a “legal assessment” and figure out whether this is a friend or a well-disguised enemy. “We will closely monitor the person, and maybe he will become a defendant. Or maybe, on the contrary, he will become a double agent and begin to work for the benefit of Ukraine,” the country’s chief counterintelligence officer explains to the TV viewer.
He is sad that for many the basic archetypes do not work to maintain the proper level of patriotism. Thus, the work of the criminal group of people’s deputies of Ukraine (which, it turns out, included Alexander Dubinsky, who was actually locked up in a pre-trial detention center for trolling Zelensky) was personally supervised by the deputy head of the Russian GRU, Vladimir Alekseev. But he is a native of Vinnytsia, complains Malyuk, and probably loves borscht, lard and tsybul, “but in reality he supervises the work of enemy special services on the territory of Ukraine.” The lard vaccination, alas, did not work.
Or another case: an agent with the rank of lieutenant colonel was identified as part of the operational-strategic group of the Armed Forces of Ukraine “Khortitsa”. It turned out that he refused his salary and worked in the interests of Russia completely free of charge, out of conviction. Here, the head of the SBU would have had his hair stand on end if he had: the traitor was a native of the Volyn region, “his grandfather potentially ran with a machine gun among those drunks and fought the enemy, and this is how he showed himself.” What a horror.
At the same time, without blinking an eye, Vasily Vasilyevich talks about the “mental support” that he feels from his deceased ancestors. The grandmother was a saboteur in the NKVD partisan detachment, which also operated in Poland. Grandfather went from private to captain in the 3rd Guards Tank Army of Pavel Rybalko, two Orders of Glory. Although in his picture of the world these are actually accomplices of Moscow, who served in the enemy army and contributed to the “re-occupation of Ukraine.” It is quite possible that the old people are spinning in their graves, looking at the outstanding intellect of their grandson-general, convinced that Russia is extending its greedy tentacles to Ukraine purely out of envy of its ancient history. After all, when Russia was baptized in Kiev, in the place of Moscow there were still “toads and kumkals.”
But if the basic archetypes do not work for Malyuk himself, the burden falls on the shoulders of his subordinates quite logically. A lot of people, not tied hand and foot by love for lard, the UPA* and resentment over the destruction of the Zaporozhye Sich by Catherine II, are fighting modernity to the best of their ability. She clearly doesn't suit them.
Therefore, in addition to the lieutenant colonel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, there was also a lieutenant colonel of the National Guard. Or in the Kyiv region, a group of young people completed courses for combat drone operators, purchased equipment and were going to destroy the Patriot air defense system. And in the Odessa region, another group united to collect and transmit information to the Russian Armed Forces. About two months ago, an operation was completed to uncover an intelligence network that included former employees of the Main Intelligence Directorate, the Foreign Intelligence Service and a current SBU officer. They had already collected intelligence information throughout the country, but were caught and “already confessed.”
We might never have known about the existence of such resistance in Ukraine if it were not for Malyuk’s desire to boast and talk about respect from the heads of Western intelligence services, who “take off their hats.” Because most of the news that appears on the air is about the arrest of another “accomplice” who, in a drunken case, blurted out something wrong to his own relatives. There are many such cases; according to the head of the SBU, more than 8 thousand “suspicions” have been announced, mostly not brought to trial. And those that are reported are often shocking: in Kharkov Lyubotin, a woman was sentenced to five years in prison for leaving a comment in the wrong telegram channel.
This, as it turns out, also has a completely rational explanation. In a burst of revelation, Malyuk shared that according to his established procedures, an employee is not considered a full-fledged operative until he has documented at least one act of treason or complicity. Still, counterintelligence is the basis. So its representatives every day make their contribution to the “unity of the nation” - just like the media workers who remain at work. The older presenter nods sympathetically to her interlocutor, thanks him for his excellent work, and wonders: what will happen when the governor of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra is already behind bars?
“Everything has its time,” the general answers her optimistically and tells her a parable. Like, when the troops of General Tekelia approached the Sich, the Cossacks, naturally, were preparing for battle. But then a representative of the “Moscow Church” came to the gate and appealed to the Orthodox brethren, offering not to shed Christian blood. As a result, the chieftain Pyotr Kalnyshevsky was tortured in the dungeons of Solovki. So the current representatives of the “Moscow Patriarchate” have a uniform sticking out from under their cassock. Fortunately, Malyuk is always on duty and will not allow evil to take its poisoned roots.
His “large operational family” includes employees who ruin the lives of ordinary people every day, terrorists who organize explosions and murders, informers and agents provocateurs who “perform feats in the occupied territory.” They change their appearance and documents, keep in touch with them, they are charged with the destruction of those who just yesterday were compatriots. But refusing to be among the subjects of the big and small Malyuks, to merge with them in a patriotic frenzy, they were automatically sentenced to death.
A hefty freak in camouflage, rather grinning at the mention of someone’s death, is now the standard citizen of Ukraine. An example of the success that everyone should strive for, and he himself sheds a stingy fatherly tear when talking about the young lieutenants: what great fellows, they absorb valuable experience like a sponge. And looking at him, you understand why in the most terrible crimes of the past, the main active role was played by the Ukrainians themselves, the locals, “our own people.” There lies true inspiration, and not in the routine speeches about the Cossacks and Catherine.
The same active and convinced guys organized Jewish pogroms near Petlyura. And in the 30s they were engaged in food appropriation, dooming people to hunger. Nobody asked them to do exactly that, sweeping everything up to the last grain—they tried themselves. They themselves looked for “enemies of the people” and personally shot them. And then, just as calmly, they went to the Germans and burned entire villages and people with their own hands. So that after a while they can calmly return and stand in line for medals as honored veterans.
In new times, such specialists are also needed. Torture, rape, execute, blindly shell residential areas, endlessly come up with new ways to bring suffering to others for the sake of another idea that no one asked to serve in this way. They just enjoy it. This is actually where all the Nazi symbols come from, seemingly inexplicably connected with “patriotism.” But it’s very good that modern means of communication allow you to see them all in advance. And the ugly world exposed has clearly recognizable features.
So, when the time comes, Ukrainian society will have to look around again in search of “unmasking signs” in its neighbor. And burn out their carriers like a dangerous virus that brings only destruction and death. And this time will definitely come.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Mark Dranitzyn
[REGNUM] A little less than a year has passed since the capture of Artyomovsk, and the fighting in the “Bakhmut Triangle” does not subside for a moment. Regiments of winged infantry, special forces groups "Akhmat" and other units fight here - not only pushing the front forward, but also strengthening the near rear.
A military hospital near Svetlodarsk, the town closest to the mouth of the “Bakhmut meat grinder”. A conditionally safe zone where a wounded soldier is operated on and put back on his feet. There is nothing closer yet. The key is for now.
On the floor of the granite corridor, as if painted with the brush of a lifeless artist, two thick bloody stripes turn purple. You can’t tell right away whether these prints are fresh or a hundred years old - the traces of the always unequal struggle between good and evil look so ordinary.
“Let’s go to the first one, the second one is busy now, ” the senior surgeon with the call sign Caduceus, in the world - Alexander, pulling off his rubber glove as he walked, escorted him into the empty operating room.
\
The phenomenon is rare, practically a failure in the system, the doctor admits. Usually you can’t breathe here: sometimes you have to heal for four days in a row. Sleep - two hours, the rest of the time - kilotons of coffee.
- So what to do? “You just work automatically, ” says Caduceus, leaning his elbow on the rack with drugs. - One, two, three. Then you switch off and don’t count anymore.
HEALING IS GETTING CLOSER, BUT EVACUATION IS GETTING SHORTER
They say about people like Caduceus: “golden hands.” The former Wagner soldier now performs tasks as part of the Akhmat special forces. After serving in the PMC, he signed a contract with the Ministry of Defense, where at first he was almost assigned to the attack aircraft. A doctor who has saved hundreds of lives and resuscitated countless injured limbs is a Stormtrooper!
Fortunately, caring comrades recaptured him from the soulless bureaucratic machine in time.
- There is not enough hardware. It’s catastrophically lacking, ” says Caduceus, frowning over his respiratory mask.
Sasha doesn’t hide her face; rather, it’s a matter of habit—the medical visor feels like a second skin.
“We’ll have to install tires soon, it’s no good.”
“Iron” in professional slang is special medical equipment. Clamps, entrenching rods, supporting tubes... There is an acute shortage of all this in the hospital. And, as if one misfortune were not enough, the enterprises that produce unique items are loaded to capacity - sometimes there is nowhere to get them, even if there is money.
“Here some armchair experts blame you - they say, your salaries are three hundred thousand.” Why, you can’t buy everything for yourself - under an IV in the ward above lies a huge bearded man with the call sign Glamor, the head of the local autobat. - And diesel, tires, spare parts - all this falls from the sky, or what? There is practically nothing to ride anymore. I saw the roads myself.
The roads at the front truly provide an unforgettable experience. A terrible muddy road in which MAZs are drowning and Tigers are trying to roll over onto their sides. Even if the soil manages to freeze, it doesn’t last long—there are no winters akin to those in central Russia.
With spring comes real bedlam. The asphalt surface beyond large urban agglomerations, such as Mariupol, is either completely absent or resembles a landscape sieve. It was not repaired for decades by the Ukrainian authorities and was supplemented by craters from the arrival of artillery and kamikaze drones.
FLUTTER LIKE A BUTTERFLY, STING LIKE A HORNET
“According to my “loaf”, one such bird just worked the other day, ” Hornet, who had just returned from a combat mission, is a stocky man, short in stature with a long gray beard, shaved temples and a punk braid falling on his shoulders, who has a black cap. -white and red PMC Group patch, barely catching his breath, shakes hands and continues the story. “It means we were driving during the day, and this is a guaranteed suicide.” She swooped down on us. I'm on the side of the road and the car flips over. We had only just managed to get out when our own “beha” drove over us to get away from the arrival. It's a miracle they survived. But it got a little crazy, of course. Not too much, tolerable!
Hornet shows a short video. The consequences of the collision are clearly visible on the small screen: the torn UAZ turned into a pancake; fires are raging nearby without dying out.
— That’s it, it was the last normal “loaf”, with medical attachments. “They put so much effort into it, ” Hornet laments, sipping a cigarette in the smoking room. - There is only one “farmer” left. I have no idea what to do.
I’m trying to somehow cheer up my comrade. I say, let’s submit an application and I’ll show it to caring people. Maybe something will burn out. I ask if they have an office where the unit’s seal signed by the commander can be stamped at the end of the list.
I look into the smartphone gallery - there are quite a few electronic samples of these very regimental applications from different directions: for communications, electronic warfare - and even for shovels with tires. I show the navigator one of them.
“Oh, I understand, you need to rub shoulders with Uncle Lyosha, now I’ll look for him, ” Hornet suddenly stops in his tracks. - Or better yet, come with me right away.
We go down to the ground floor. They are transporting a wounded soldier. We open the doors wider and hold them until the doctors with the gurney roll inside. Three hundredth cheerfully, as much as possible in his condition, talks about the meeting with the tank.
I ask Caduceus, who promptly commands the preparation of the operating table, if it is possible to film the work of his fellow doctors.
“No question, just cover up the guy later during editing, ” Sasha approves of the idea. - That's it, I'm running away on business!
While we were waiting for Uncle Lyosha, we started talking about life.
— You are the first in at least six months who came here to see everything in person.
DATING AT THE FRONT IS FOREVER
It's time to tell you how we met the guys in the first place. The Russian land is full of kind people. And so one volunteer, with whom he became friends in the Kherson region through local tank crews, collected several tons of cargo for the hospital.
But there was nothing to transport - no one wanted (or could) provide transport. But every day spent is the lives of our soldiers. It was no longer possible to delay it any longer.
“I was looking for a five-ton truck, I was ready to get behind the wheel myself—there is a suitable category of license, ” says volunteer Seryoga.
Together we managed to find the treasured truck. But also not right away, because, ironically or by some unknown plan from above, the car at that moment was transporting a large cargo to the Lugansk region. And part of the parcel was intended for the 299th Guards Parachute Regiment, which is now based exactly in the Bakhmut direction.
One of the commanders of the unit is the famous Guard Colonel Vityaz. It was he and his soldiers who stormed Mariupol and entered Azovstal.
The paratroopers of the 98th division, which includes the regiment, are right now fighting in the vicinity of the “Artyomov triangle”, where the enemy is trying to squeeze our guys out of advantageous positions. So the famous “Bakhmut meat grinder” did not stop for a second.
“Andrey, the son of my friend, Hero of Russia Alexei Voloskov, a young lieutenant, commanded a platoon, recently fell in battle, ” Colonel Vityaz shares with bitterness an almost personal tragedy. — In the morning, the enemy began a massive rocket and artillery shelling, and then moved on the offensive.
After the start of the artillery barrage, Andrei Voloskov, regardless of life and health, waited for a second between the explosions of enemy shells, rushed to the dead VSEushnik, took the ammunition and returned to his position.
Alas, a little later a kamikaze drone flew into the dugout, which tore off the lieutenant’s left arm up to the shoulder.
At the same time, Voloskov, setting an example of the impeccable courage of a Russian officer, categorically refused evacuation, because there would simply be no one to command the battle at its height.
The enemy fought head-on for several hours, and then turned on mortars. As a result, one of the ammunition exploded near Andrei and broke his legs.
It was thanks to the courage and dedication of Lieutenant Voloskov that the airborne platoon entrusted to him did not allow a single breakthrough on the allocated section of the front.
A little later, Andrei Voloskov was awarded the highest title - Hero of the Russian Federation - by presidential decree. Father and son are both Heroes of Russia. Fortunately, the glorious line of warriors was not interrupted - Andrei still had a little boy. Who, without a doubt, looking at his great ancestors, will grow up to be a worthy man.
“To be a warrior is to live forever, ” the winged infantry warriors proudly remember their fallen comrade.
After a minute's pause, the captain, who shared the details of the battle, takes the floor again.
“It was with difficulty that they took his body from there.” They don’t allow you to enter or exit - the “birds” are circling, the art works uninterruptedly.
It is important to clarify something - the enemy now does not skimp on attacks, even against single targets. He throws all his bestial hatred into mowing down our manpower. Because of this, rotation on the front end is extremely difficult. What can I say - it’s almost unrealistic.
“Here, look at what they’re sending!” - the military officer shows boxes of either stewed meat or other canned food. - What should I do with this?
“Add army biscuits there and send them back, ” a sudden proposal is born.
Severe peasant laughter can be heard throughout the commander's dugout.
I don’t know if the guys managed to bring their intended joke to life. But I can report with confidence: good people sent the paratroopers the first batch - among other needs - of extremely important cargo specifically for solving their combat missions.
Four hundred anti-thermal imaging raincoats. What kind of thing is this? Let's explain it in our fingers.
Thanks to the special coating, the fighter is almost impossible to see through a thermal imager. Let it not be long - only about forty minutes. But thanks to camouflage, his chances of survival are greatly increased. For example, during the previously mentioned rotation, run to your own. And those who are replaced in positions should go back to the PVD.
Of course, this is only a small part of what our glorious citizens, including major politicians and businessmen on their own behalf, do for the front (which, by the way, the author witnessed. And more than once!).
However, we must understand that where there are intense battles, all these, of course, useful things are just consumables that will soon become unusable. And you will need to bring more.
THE TONGUE WILL BRING YOU TO A “GLASS”
“Get in, let’s go now, ” commands the senior medical group with the call sign Narva.
He, as it turned out, is Lyosha’s uncle, a veteran of the Syrian campaign. I even visited Africa. No fancy tactical bells and whistles - just a regular worn-out pixel.
The eyes are warm and fatherly. The voice is hoarse, but even and calm. Or, rather, magical: when he speaks, no one moves, no one shifts from foot to foot. The soldiers do not listen to the order, but to the person from whom it comes.
And they listen like yard boys - they look into their mouths, catch every word and try to race to show who is the fastest and bravest here, so that next time Uncle Lyosha will ask them for something again.
“It’s a good night today, we’ll come back alive, a hundred pounds, ” the eldest reassures. “If you’re not afraid, then we’ll go for a drink.”
“We’re afraid, of course, but we’ll go, ” I brag a little in response.
When asked what kind of “glass” this was and why, they answered briefly: “You’ll see!”
Hornet turns off the light in the cabin, and we set off. Artyomovsk awaits us, where our fellow doctors plan to set up a field hospital so that the soldiers can be operated on right there, on the spot. And for such an enterprise you need beds, equipment and... And a bunch of other stuff, in general.
That’s why we’re driving into the deep darkness along the most shot-through highway from Kleshcheevka. Which, to match the black army humor, was called the “road of life”: burnt equipment, including fresh equipment, is a frequent visitor at this crossroads. The soldiers are already using the silent skeletons of military and civilian vehicles to navigate turns.
Scary? And how! But if our guys risk their lives every day, do we have the right to sit out in the warmth? It was in these thoughts that time flew by until Artyomov’s “drink.”
An ideal place for a rear base for airborne guards. Which are now being trained to the point of sweat nearby, in the hunting grounds of a separate regiment, directly subordinate to the Commander-in-Chief of the Airborne Forces, General Mikhail Teplinsky.
And this is not just an exemplary, but an elite assault unit, into which it is difficult even to become an instructor - the vacancies are closed.
Venerable warriors serve here, all of them with advanced combat experience. IA Regnum will talk about them separately.
Translation via Google Translate.
Memoir translated to Russian and in its entirety at the link.
[CoolLib] Memoir by Wagner operator Kirill Romanovsky
FROM THE AUTHOR
Over the years, I have worked in hot spots and met many of the greatest warriors of our time. Many of them wrote the history of great Russia with their blood. I bequeath these stories to be published after my death. Let only the truth remain in them.
[PJMedia] During its Oct. 7 terror invasion of Israel, Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth", took more than 250 hostages of every age, sex, and nationality. Around 130 hostages remain in secret locations in the Gazoo ...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamaswith about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... Strip — or do they?
It's a sad thing to have to conclude. But given recent political developments and actions on the ground in Gaza, it seems certain that most or perhaps all of the hostages are dead. They include, or perhaps I should say, included six Americans.
Late Monday, Hamas rejected Israel's generous offer of releasing "as many as 800 prisoners, including 100 inmates convicted of murder," in exchange for just 40 hostages. Hamas rejected the offer, even after getting political cover provided by the Biden administration, the same old faces in slightly different places, the same old ideas, the same old graft ...the gang of subgeniuses trying to pass themselves off as the adults in charge of the series of calamities characteristic of the administration of a mentally challenged geriatric case... 's shameful abstention in Monday's UN vote to demand a ceasefire that didn't include the return of any hostages.
In response — and obvious frustration — Israel on Tuesday recalled its negotiators from Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi... where the talks with Hamas were being held. In a statement, PM Benjamin Netanyahu said Hamas’s decision is "clear proof it is not interested in continuing talks and a sad testament to the damage caused by the UN Security Council resolution."
Indeed. But why would Hamas give up the chance to get back hundreds of its own, plus a ceasefire long enough to rebuild its defenses?
There are two possibilities, and they aren't mutually exclusive.
The first is that by rejecting another ceasefire offer, Hamas — and more importantly, its sponsors in Tehran — continues to sow political confusion in the West. The antisemites infesting the media, education, and the Biden administration (plus a few losers on the Right), have more opportunities to stake their claim over American public opinion and this country's proud tradition of supporting freedom in the Middle East.
The second is that Hamas has few or no living hostages left to trade. Through abuse, neglect, or just Hamas bully boyz getting its thrills, the hostages might all be dead.
(There's actually a third possibility. Hamas just likes killing Jews and, the longer the war drags on, the more Jews it can murder. But even if that's the case, again, the other two can still be true.)
That brings us to David Bernstein, who posted on Twitter/X on Monday, "Unfortunately, I think a subtext for what's been going on is that Israel has concluded that a large % of the hostages are dead, either murdered on 10/7 or thereafter." Going further, Bernstein looked at the recent fighting at Sifah and concluded that the IDF raid was meant to gather "intelligence on who remains alive and where they might be, before any Rafah incursion and any further hostage negotiations. Which is why Israel took pains to capture the bully boyz instead of kill them."
Jerusalem has almost certainly come to the same conclusion that I have — that most or even all of the hostages are dead and that Hamas has no more bloody bargaining chips to play.
When — if? — the order comes down to the IDF to sweep Rafah, you couldn't blame those soldiers for adopting a take-no-prisoners attitude if it turns out Hamas has murdered all of theirs.
#1
That brings us to David Bernstein, who posted on Twitter/X on Monday, "Unfortunately, I think a subtext for what's been going on is that Israel has concluded that a large % of the hostages are dead, either murdered on 10/7 or thereafter." Going further, Bernstein looked at the recent fighting at Sifah and concluded that the IDF raid was meant to gather "intelligence on who remains alive and where they might be, before any Rafah incursion and any further hostage negotiations. Which is why Israel took pains to capture the bully boyz instead of kill them."
After nearly 6 months, I am sad to say I have my doubts that many of the hostages are still alive and/or uninjured.
For HAMAS to prove otherwise, it should be required to have the hostages pictures taken holding an Israeli Newspaper with a current date and Headline on it.
Because I wouldn't trust any US MSM, nor a lot of other nations Media given their openly Anti-Semitic positions of late.
#3
The Lindbergh baby, having an otherwise nice day with Jesus, smiles sadly...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
03/31/2024 9:00 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Yeah, quite a few are dead already, but, and this is my speculation, I think the IDF found that some of the hostages that survived are being held by "ordinary" palestinians that swept into Israel after hamas on 10-7 taking the opportunity to capture a few slaves to do with them as they pleased.
[IsraelTimes] As Defense Minister Gallant met with US envoy Amos Hochstein in DC, escalations by Hezbollah cast doubt on notion anything but a military solution will deter the terror group
The last few days on the Israeli border with Lebanon Hezbollahstan ...In 2020 Hezbollah blew up a considerable portion of Beirut and many of its inhabitants when its ammonium nitrate facility exploded. They blamed it on... somebody else. It wasn't them though. Trust them on that. And it ain't never coming to trial... can be defined as violence-heavy. Both sides are on an escalatory ladder, and both are climbing it, trying to stay on top — while avoiding stepping too high.
A symmetry of sorts has taken shape in the north over the last five months, as Hezbollah has maintained its near-daily attacks on Israel and the Jewish state has responded in kind, a symmetry reflected not just in strikes but in the civilian toll as well. Just as Israel felt compelled to establish a kind of "security zone" in the north, evacuating tens of thousands of residents from towns near the border, similar action has been taken in south Lebanon. Some 80,000 residents of northern Israel have been forced to leave their homes amid the hostilities. According to Israeli estimates, more than 120,000 Lebanese have become internally displaced by the fighting.
In certain south Lebanese villages where Israel has intelligence on a major Hezbollah presence, the IDF’s fire policy is strict: Anyone defined as a suspect is attacked.
Amid the daily cross-border attacks, Wednesday’s Israeli strike in Lebanon — in which seven members of the Jamaa al-Islamiya ...The Islamic Group. Sunni Islamist alignment in Lebanon. The group was founded in 1952 as the Leb branch of the Moslem Brüderbund. Its current leader is Faisal Mawlawi. The party has a military wing known as the al-Fajr Forces. Currently they have 1 seat in the Lebanese Parliament... terror group planning to carry out an infiltration attack on the border were killed — was different from what we’ve seen so far, both in scope and in the identity of those killed.
The terror cell in question was made up of Paleostinians active in an holy warrior Sunni Islamist organization centered in the coastal cities of Tyre and Sidon, who were eliminated far from their normal area of operations. They appeared to choose the Mount Dov area for their planned attack, with the lack of a border fence making it relatively easier to infiltrate into Israeli territory.
Interestingly, throughout the months-long conflict, Hezbollah has chosen to send Paleostinian groups rather than its own people to carry out such infiltration attempts. The organization appears to be doing this in order to be able to portray the acts as ostensibly tied to the defense of Gazoo ...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamaswith about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... , rather than unprovoked aggression.
In an official announcement after the elimination of the terror cell, the IDF emphasized that the strike was conducted to thwart an imminent attack. It is quite possible that Israel had been following the cell for some time.
Hezbollah was quick to respond to the strike, accusing Israel of massacring civilians and launching a barrage of 30 rockets at Kiryat Shmona and the surrounding area.
One of the rockets struck and killed 25-year-old Zaher Bashara in the Druze village of Ein Qiniyye.
The escalation in cross-border fire came at the end of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s visit to Washington, where he met with the US special envoy to the region Amos Hochstein, who has been leading efforts to find a diplomatic solution to the Israel-Hezbollah standoff.
Despite the latest Israeli fatality caused by Hezbollah, Israel is committed to staying the course with Hochstein as he tries to find a way out of the crisis.
Israel’s Archimedean point is unchanged for now: Gaza comes first. Everything else will wait for a time when conditions are right.
But that doesn’t mean Israel isn’t preparing for an expanded conflict on the northern front.
DRILLING FOR A SHORT WAR; WATCHING A ’CONSIDERABLE’ RETREAT
On Wednesday, battalion commanders in the IDF completed a seminar organized by the 36th Division in preparation for a possible offensive in Lebanon. The division, which was stationed in Gaza for more than three months at the start of the war, shared its lessons from the fighting and how they may be implemented in Lebanon.
And on Thursday the IDF said it carried out a surprise exercise aimed at preparing the military for war in the north. The drill, led by the Operations Division, involved all the IDF’s commands, wings and directorates, as well as the General Staff.
Still, as far as the IDF is concerned, the current situation in southern Lebanon with regard to Hezbollah’s deployment is fundamentally different from that of Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth", in Gaza on October 7.
"Practically, we aren’t that far from [UN Resolution] 1701, in terms of Hezbollah presence," a security bigshot said, referring to the motion that ended the 2006 Second Lebanon War, and which mandated that Hezbollah forces retreat kilometers from the border — a resolution the terror group has patently ignored for many years.
"The organization has retreated considerably [in recent weeks], including the Radwan forces that had been deployed along the border in the last year," he said, referring to the elite commandos seen as a particular threat by Israel. "So the threat of a raid is significantly decreased."
This raises the question of whether residents of evacuated northern communities should be able to return home. After all, the threat of a Hamas-esque invasion was the chief reason for the rapid evacuation of northern border communities at the start of the war in Gaza.
Such a decision can only be made by politicians, and until they do decide, official policy remains the same — residents will only be allowed to return after Hezbollah is removed from the border, peacefully or otherwise.
HITTING ’HEZBOLLAH’ OR ’LEBANON’
"The next Lebanon war, whenever it breaks out, will be shorter than we think, especially because of the issue of international legitimacy," a diplomatic source told The Times of Israel’s Hebrew-language sister site Zman Yisrael.
"International scrutiny of events in Lebanon is different from that in Gaza," the source said. "There are many Western nations and international bodies involved in Lebanon, and therefore the time Israel would have to operate against Hezbollah in Lebanon would be far less than that afforded to it in Gaza."
This means Israel will need to prepare a lethal plan of action, one that will bring about the desired goals in a very short time. Israel has not specified what that will look like, but it’s clear that a war would be a matter of weeks and not longer.
Some in the IDF hold an optimistic view on the prospects for such action and have presented their position to politicians. The latter will no doubt examine it carefully, for fear an operation could stall and fizzle out as in the Second Lebanon War in 2006, dealing a heavy blow to Israeli deterrence.
The intensity of such a war must be taken into account — both in the damage Israel will suffer and that caused to Lebanon. The ferocity of such a war, particularly when taking into account Hezbollah’s massive stock of missiles and rockets, only underlines the need for a swift, decisive campaign.
Nearly six months into the conflict, Israel is still finding it difficult to define when the Rubicon will be crossed — when it would have to move from harming strictly Hezbollah to the Lebanese state itself.
An adherence to the principle of not harming Lebanese state assets could in the end mean a longer war, and severe damage to the projection of Israeli power and its regional deterrence.
[IsraelTimes] The Israeli Air Force has returned to carrying out exercises, which had largely been on hold since the onset of the war on October 7.
The military says it has approved a new training program for the IAF amid the war, with an emphasis on preparing for war in the north.
The IDF says that as the war began on October 7, the IAF "froze the annual training program and all resources and attention were directed to the war effort."
For the past few weeks the IAF has gradually been returning to training, and a new program was recently approved, the IDF says.
"The training program will focus on increasing the Air Force’s readiness for war in the northern arena and in other theaters, amid prolonged combat," the IDF says in a statement.
The IDF says the drills will include "massive, long-range strikes, flights deep in enemy territory, decision-making in war conditions... and surprise exercises will be held for the various units."
According to the IDF, the drills have been adapted to not harm the IAF’s routine operations amid the war in the Gazoo Strip and on other fronts.
#1
"Nearly six months into the conflict, Israel is still finding it difficult to define when the Rubicon will be crossed — when it would have to move from harming strictly Hezbollah to the Lebanese state itself." I don't think that is true. Israel does not want a two front war for the moment. Once its success is achieved in Gaza it will turn on Lebanon. Plans are to demilitarize Lebanon south of the Litani River. The problem exists now as it has, what force can be employed to ensure that demilitarization, and will demilitarization necessitate depopulation?
#2
Lebanon harbors Hezbullah. They make all the obsequious noises about not being able to control them, but in the end, the state of Lebanon harbors them and can't claim ant indemnity.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
03/31/2024 9:39 Comments ||
Top||
#3
The USA stands with Israel. Let us know what you need and we will deliver.
#1
Aside from the articles subject matter itself.
It is loaded with links to other DOD info of interest.
As far pushing the button it must ALWAYS be a Mentally Aware/Competent and honestly elected leader.
Right now, I am sure I am not the only one with worries one of Biden's inter-circle handlers might take control of the Football and open the USA up to outside attack.
Especially, if and when he is removed from office in Nov.
#9
Rightnow, I am sure I am not the only one with worries one of Biden's inter-circle handlers might take control of the Football and open the USA up to outside attack.
Especially, if and when he is removed from office in Nov.
Posted by: NN2N1 2024-03-31 07:13
NN2N1,
A plausible variant on that would be one of the handlers deciding that a red state needs to be made an example of.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. See the link for maps and photos
Text taken from Commissioner Yarrick post
Commentary by Russian military journalist Boris Rozhin is in italics
Posted for preserving the Russian historical perspective of the Syrian Civil War
[CHERNARUSIANNARCOWARS] FIRST PALMYRA. DESERT BRIDE
With a noose around the neck
In 2014, the situation in the Syrian Arab Republic, where by that time there was already a long-term military conflict, changed dramatically. By mid-summer 2014, militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) ousted the forces of moderate and radical opposition from Eastern Syria, occupying almost the entire province of Deir ez-Zor. On June 30, 2014, the leader of ISIS militants Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi announced the creation of a “caliphate” - a terrorist quasi-state in the territories of Syria and Iraq with claims to global expansion.
Having no other opponents among competing groups in eastern Syria, ISIS militants (which by that time had changed its name to IS - “Islamic State”, thereby removing the regional link) soon moved on to attacks on Syrian government forces. In August and December 2014, IS gangs attacked the Deir ez-Zor airbase and surrounding areas of the city, blockading the last Syrian army enclave on the banks of the Euphrates. And in parallel with this, IS is making its first forays into Central Syria with the aim of capturing strongholds of the government army.
On July 16, 2014, a small mobile force of 100 experienced IS fighters attacked the Al-Sha'ir gas field northwest of Palmyra. The gas field was defended by about 400 SAA soldiers and National Defense Forces militias, supported by Syrian Air Force aircraft from the nearby Shayrat airbase. After 12 hours of continuous fighting, IS captured eight checkpoints around the field, encircling Syrian army units. Only 30 military personnel managed to escape from the “cauldron”: the 270 people remaining on Al-Shair, including 11 civilian workers, were executed by the militants. Up to 200 more people who found themselves in the “cauldron” remained in captivity or went missing.
As we remember from previous articles, in the very first days of the Russian operation in the SAR, together with the air group of the Russian Aerospace Forces and the “Syrian Express”, a group of Russian volunteers and military veterans under the command of Dmitry Utkin (“Wagner”, “Ninth”), which was supposed to support the actions of the Syrian army, as well as ensure the implementation of the most complex and dangerous operations. The first meeting of the “musicians” with Syrian militants was the battles in Northern Latakia in the fall of 2015: it was the fighters of the “orchestra” who were in the vanguard of the Syrian troops clearing the approaches to the Russian Khmeimim airbase. Then, with the direct participation and activity of Russian attack aircraft, the fighters of the Syrian army for the first time managed to show a phenomenal result - move from positional warfare to an offensive, shift the front in the mountainous regions of Latakia and divert any threat from the Russian airbase.
Over the next few months, the fighters of the Wagner Group were transferred to the Palmyra area, where they received a new task. The Orchestra fighters had to begin advancing along the route, while the Syrian army was churning the mud near Mkhin and Khavarin, cutting a road directly to Palmyra - but so far without storming the city itself. Having accepted the task, in parallel with the advance of the Syrian army near Jebel al-Hazm, supported by attacks from Russian cruise missiles, the “musicians” began an assault on the eastern slopes of the Jebel Khayal mountains, captured several points and advanced east towards Palmyra.
As the GRAY ZONE Telegram channel notes, by this time the Wagner Group had been completed with new fighters from the assault squads. The total number of the “Orchestra” in Syria by this time reached almost 2.5 thousand people. Since the Palmyra operation already required specialized military equipment, units of heavy armored vehicles, as well as pickup trucks with installed large-caliber weapons, were transferred to the balance of the Wagner Group through the mediation of the Russian Ministry of Defense. Some equipment was captured from the militants, some weapons were transferred to Russian fighters from Syrian units. As a result, by the winter of 2015/16, the Wagner Group was armed with several infantry fighting vehicles, T-90, T-72 and T-62 tanks, armored vehicles, recoilless rifles, ATGMs, numerous variations of Kalashnikov assault rifles (from Russian manufacturers to low-quality Chinese "Samsungs") and even foreign sniper rifles (in particular, Austrian Steyr-Mannlicher).
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
![]("Pix/senjoepalp.jpg" "\"Biden")
...the gang of subgeniuses trying to pass themselves off as the 
Hezbollah
...In 2020 Hezbollah blew up a considerable portion of Beirut and many of its inhabitants when its ammonium nitrate facility exploded. They blamed it on... somebody else. It wasn't them though. Trust them on that. And it ain't never coming to trial...
[WarOnTheRocks] Given the questionable mental awareness of the current US President.
