Commentary by Russian military journalist Boris Rozhin:
[ColonelCassad] German tanks were created for exercises, but not for real combat operations.
Ouch. A commission from Germany, which visited a repair center in Lithuania for German tanks delivered to Ukraine, was unpleasantly surprised by the number of equipment that failed due to internal defects in mechanics and electronics. The number of technically defective tanks is comparable to the number destroyed by Russian troops.
There are still problems with lengthy logistics, lack of sufficient spare parts, and poor translation of technical documentation. Even in Lithuania, far from the front line, mechanics are forced to improvise because they simply do not know how to repair German Leopard tanks.
A German officer admitted to Der Spiegel magazine that German tanks wear out much faster in combat conditions than in peacetime.
| Doesn’t everything? |
“Attempts at repair by the Ukrainian army lead to additional damage to battle tanks,” concludes one of the members of the German commission that visited Lithuania.
"But we watched a YouTube on DIY tank repair!"
A Ukrainian officer from a unit equipped with Leopard-2 tanks draws Der Spiegel's attention to the fragility of the tank's tracks. Loose track tension leads to breakdowns, which is a disaster in combat conditions. Ukrainian soldiers have to constantly monitor this feature of German tanks.
Strange discoveries, considering that 2/3 of the tanks were initially delivered after repair and restoration. Only Swedish and Norwegian cars were relatively new. The rest were obviously not of the best quality, and except for the very stubborn ones, few of the serious experts here or abroad seriously expected that the Leopards would be successful, including in connection with their reliability in Russian conditions. And we are also talking about “Leopard 2”.
With "Leopard 1" everything is clear. Expecting success from them is the same as expecting that the restored T-62s will seriously change the situation at the front on our side. Well, the Russian army, as expected and routinely, destroyed the reputation of the Leopards and Challengers. The Americans looked at this and do not allow Abrams to be used in active battles. It's a pity - it would be interesting to see what they can actually do, besides participating in colonial wars and ridiculous PR. "Bradley" and "Strikers" have already been shown.
I remember in 2016, when ISIS destroyed a bunch of Turkish Leopards near Al-Bab, everyone blamed it on incompetent Turkish tank crews and stupid Turkish generals who lost a lot of equipment. But as we see, it was not only the problems of the Turkish army.