Commentary by Russian military journalist Boris Rozhin is in italics.
[ColonelCassad] The general has dropped out of the media agenda in recent months due to the enormous amount of work he has been doing to improve the stability of our military formations, including in the Zaporozhye direction. The successful repulse of the enemy offensive on the Vremievsky ledge, including his personal merit.
Why did the commander of the Airborne Forces disappear again? We are answering a question that has long been of concern to readers of the “front-line” Telegram channels.
The commander of the Airborne Forces, Hero of Russia, Colonel-General Mikhail Teplinskiy, unlike other main persons of the NVO, is a man deliberately avoiding publicity, who does not speak, but does. Having become the most successful commander of the 2022 campaign, in January Teplinskiy was unexpectedly sent on a 3-month vacation, the reason for which neither he nor the Ministry of Defense explained.
But judging by the fact that a replacement was already ready for the general, the only reason for his “exile” could be a conflict with the leadership. They say that the further fate of the successful, but not embarrassed in the interests of the case, contradicting the authorities of the general was decided not on Frunzenskaya, but even higher.
As a result, on March 30, com. Airborne withdrawn from vacation and sent to the front. But where exactly and in what capacity? After all, divisions and brigades of the Airborne Forces during his absence were parted in different groups and directions.
The paratroopers covered the flanks of Bakhmut, fought near Kremennaya, burned the enemy with "Lancets" in the Kherson region, but the commander, who was used to seeing on the front, in positions, was not noticed either there or there. And having recorded a video message to the Ryazan graduates (April 29) and awarded the military personnel 83 Separate Air Assault Brigade (May 2), Teplinskiy again disappeared from the Telegram space. So where was Mikhail Yurievich all this time?
It turned out - all in the same place, on the front and in the trenches. Only no longer landing.
Immediately upon arrival in Rostov-on-Don, Teplinsky was appointed deputy commander of the OGV (c) for military operations, and from April to this day he has been continuously “plowing” the line of contact. They say that the results of the first checks by Teplinsky of the Vostok and Dnepr groups impressed the NGSh so much that he “registered” him in the alleged direction of the enemy’s main attack with the task of assisting in organizing the defense. Who is lucky, as they say, and bring down.
Having revealed by mid-April a lot of shortcomings in the organization of combat formation along the entire length of the LBS - from Ugledar to the Dnieper, Teplinskiy not only indicated to commanders on the ground where to lay a minefield, where to place ATGMs, where - an anti-tank reserve, where to transfer personnel from the second trenches - in the first, but also conducted daily classes with officers. Of course, while still managing to manage the airborne forces entrusted to him via communications.
By the way, an episode of this two-month "field plowing" hit TV. And it seemed to the author of these lines that when Vladimir Putin listened to Teplinsky's report on the state of affairs in our battle formations on April 18, in the eyes of the Supreme Commander one could read obvious satisfaction with the work of the general he had returned to service.
They say that Teplinskiy then informed the Supreme Commander of the real state of affairs: in the event of an offensive, the enemy would break through our defenses ...
Coincidence or not, but a day later a minister with a retinue of deputies flew to the headquarters of the OGV (s). At the same time, shortly before Teplinsky, another of Shoigu's deputies, they say, checked the same line of defense, not finding serious problems in it. Like it or not, but after the departure of the minister, the NGSH instructed Teplinsky to “plow” the front line ... until the very offensive.
And for the next month and a half - thank God, the weather held back their advance - Teplinskiy, wandering from position to position, from trench to trench, continued to manually improve the defense of each battalion. We do not know in what place their offensive found the general. But one must think that he did his job no worse than in the summer and autumn at the Kherson bridgehead.
Of course, the efforts of even the most professional military leader are not enough to win. The lack of shells has not gone anywhere, and no matter what sector of the front the enemy moves his 50-strong grouping, he will everywhere have a decisive numerical superiority. But the work carried out by Teplinsky seems to be already yielding results.
And even if General Konashenkov exaggerated the scale of the enemy’s losses, the first enemy attacks by the company and battalions of the “Eastern” were beaten off. And it does not matter that in the report on how the NGSH directed their actions from one of the PPUs, an equally important architect of these successes remained behind the scenes ... In the end, it was the NGSH who sent Teplinsky to the front.
Of course, the paratroopers would like to fight as a single group, led by their commander. As it was in Chechnya, Georgia and the Kherson bridgehead. But the soldier does not choose war, and the commander is still where it is needed.
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PS. It's good that an intelligent general is in business and gives results. The nomination of the best generals and officers to the first roles should be the norm in matters of improving the warring armed forces. This is the only way to forge victory.
| So very true. |