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Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Russian motorized rifle company passing by
2022-03-10


I counted 11 APCs, four MT-LBs and seven BTRs, a mixed tank company (T-72Bs),a heavy rocket artillery battery and a heavy tube artillery battery.

Posted by:badanov

#20  Did I see one fuel truck for those buckets of shit?
Posted by: Slappy   2022-03-10 21:53  

#19  ^ Seconded.
Posted by: Rex Mundi   2022-03-10 17:37  

#18  I think I remember this sort of discussion over at Baen's Bar about the Mechanical Infantry dichotomy: do you want to manage all your vehicles or do you want to be good at fighting your war?
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain   2022-03-10 17:36  

#17  Graduate? You should be a faculty member.
Posted by: Besoeker   2022-03-10 17:30  

#16  Oh my. At this rate of education I’ll be ready to graduate from West Point in a few weeks. Thank you all!
Posted by: trailing wife   2022-03-10 17:27  

#15  Could be a hey you, stop weeping over your dead comrades and fall in behind that BMP.

If it doesn't look like standard RU TO&E order of battle, it probably isn't.

Just my guess.
Posted by: Besoeker   2022-03-10 16:50  

#14  Please explain, because I don’t see it. Thank you!

It also is about coverage. Even with a vehicle accompanying a squad with a big gun, you have to cover your frontage. Seven riflemen may be enough but ten is better. Even with the big gun, the big gun has a limited field of view. If the vehicle is rendered immobile, or the gun is damaged, idea behind the big gun making up for the lack of coverage begins to fall apart.

It boils down to what the squad leader can control. Russian officers control everything about their squad whereas in western military rifle squads, the officer has a capable NCO to assist him in all aspects of the squad. The vehicle complicates his responsibilities.

You can add this to the other comments abut the tactical problems with Russians have.

Posted by: badanov   2022-03-10 16:30  

#13  Thanks P2k, was gonna suggest the same. I might add to that, the RCTs of the US Army during that same conflict.
Posted by: Rex Mundi   2022-03-10 16:17  

#12  #9 for why the cannon on top of a Bradley (in defilade) to act as the base of fire for its infantry to maneuver, intended to act as the second fire team laying covering fire.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2022-03-10 15:27  

#11  ^ German Kampfgruppe, an amalgamation of worn units and remaining personnel into an ad hoc organization that doesn't quit fit the TO&E of an established unit.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2022-03-10 15:24  

#10  /\...also this unit is big enough to kill a building or two but too small to hold ground. If it is a 'replacement draft' to reinforce another unit that has lost casualties it might make more sense.
Posted by: magpie   2022-03-10 15:19  

#9  /\ tw, it is a problem as old as the 'Battle Taxi' Vs. Infantry Fighting Vehicle Argument-- How small can an infantry squad be? When you have a 9 man squad and one person is wounded then if two people carry them to safety the squad is now 6 men and practically 'combat ineffective'. One more casualty and somebody has to rescue them!?!
Posted by: magpie   2022-03-10 15:16  

#8   You begin to see their problem.

Please explain, because I don’t see it. Thank you!
Posted by: trailing wife   2022-03-10 14:54  

#7  Trouble going somewhere to happen.
Posted by: Abu Uluque   2022-03-10 13:29  

#6  Good tactical spacing.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike   2022-03-10 11:42  

#5  I'm sure they are used to shit roads to.
Posted by: Chris   2022-03-10 09:27  

#4  Well they may have had track pads initially P2k, but were probably Chineseum and disintegrated after 20 km.
Posted by: Mullah Richard   2022-03-10 08:50  

#3  Russian rifle squads are very small, seven effectives. Then the vehicle driver and gunner, that's nine total.

So are Russian motorized rifle platoons: three vehicles, one of them a platoon commander's vehicle, per platoon. That's ten with the company commander's vehicle and squad.

You begin to see their problem.

What I found fascinating about the parade is how a tank platoon was sub-attached to the rifle company, along with artillery. That's a lot of firepower.

This unit is task organized, possibly for breakthrough missions, possibly for probes.
Posted by: badanov   2022-03-10 08:42  

#2  Doesn't look like those tracks have road pads on. Going to turn those roads into something like I-70 in Illinois.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2022-03-10 07:53  

#1  Having trouble ith the vid. Question: In the batteries, were there sufficient personnel to run them--trucks, APC, etc?--or were the only personnel besides vehicle crews in the APC?
Can you run two batteries plus Infantry security with a hundred guys?
Lots of firepower but hauling the projes around is a different issue.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey   2022-03-10 02:35  

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