Russia's War Against Ukraine

[Sir Slash]

You're probably right. If it involves, 'hauling' then that's probably more work than I'm interested in. I'll just stand at the bow and play like I'm on Titanic. 

[FarAway Sooner]

"Don't let go, Slash.  Never let go!"

I always thought the Grog locker was more of just an oversized tankard.  Or are there multiple tankards stored in the locker? 

I only got invited here nine months after everybody else left Wargamer.com, so the origin story here is a bit hazy to me...     

[W8taminute]

@JD

J...
On another note, anyone here still in the Navy or have access to data that we civies don't have?  Because I saw a disturbing article that claimed 10 out of the 11 carriers we have are all in their home ports.  Like a Pearl Harbor 2.0 waiting to happen?  Can anyone here deny or confirm this?

Here's the USNI Fleet tracker.  https://news.usni.org/2023/09/05/usni-news-fleet-and-marine-tracker-sept-5-2023.  From this, it looks like there is one carrier (NIMITZ) in work ups off California, the FORD CSG deployed to 6th Fleet, and the REAGAN forward deployed to Yokosuka

Fascinating website.  Thanks for the link Tripoli!

[JasonPratt]

The Grogs should pool their resources and buy the Enterprise. 

It'd be a nice upgrade from DCS.

HURRY! https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/the-u-s-navy-will-destroy-its-very-first-nuclear-powered-aircraft-carrier/ar-AA1gngn5?ocid=entnewsntp&cvid=8aa313e5faa9494ea166cc7d78a14fac&ei=61

[JasonPratt]

Much more seriously, I meant to remark yesterday that (along with everyone else here I expect), I REALLY appreciate DetCord's on-the-ground remembrances and evaluations of what's going on over there.               

[Sir Slash]

No one's ever seen the real Grog's Locker Sooner. Jarhead keeps it in an undisclosed location protected by R. Lee Ermey's ghost and a giant three-headed dog with rabies. Rumors are it resembles a huge dongle. Or it could be hidden under Gus' bed, we're not sure. 

[FarAway Sooner]

If anybody is talking about a huge dongle under Gus' bed, I'm going to politely check out other threads for a day or two!

[Gusington]

Me too 

[JasonPratt]

I am now forced to assume Sir Slash's account has been co-opted by Russian bots, trying to get us to ignore Ukrainian war news. 

[Windigo]

I read somewhere that the UAF are pleased with the Challengers on several measures, optics and intimidation factor

[GDS_Starfury]

well thats good because they just lost their first one this weeks.
immobilized by a mine and the crew bails out. supposedly they thermite the inside because they dont think they can
recover it.  the russians then hit it with a bunch more UAVs.

[al_infierno]

So previously I had been following the battle of Verbove and said I'd heard some stuff that I didn't trust that was too good to be true. 

I'll go over it a bit now that things have settled in and why what I said was partly true partly not. 

So, anyone following knows now, that yes, the UAF broke the Surovikin line.  Everyone reports it now and it's a fact and there are possible next moves now that there's only one major line of defense left. 

What I'd heard was that, but only in part.  And I'm still not sure how much of the rest is true.

The reports that came out when the line fell was that there was a "general collapse".  The Russians shattered in multiple points and didn't defend the line as intended.

Words on Telegram were "Catastrophic" or "Disaster".  A lot of Russians felt the whole line would roll up west of Verbove where the UAF flanked the city and surprised the Russians with a concentrated and strong assault, something they'd hesitated to do.

That isn't entirely what happened.  The UAF did get into the works and past it, and now they have a solid control of the main part of the Surovikin line with the second line all that remains.

However, the Russians did retreat in good order, they did survive because of a spirited but failed counterattack by the 76th GAAD towards Robotyne, and the UAF did follow what has been their doctrine so far.  They dispersed their forces after they concentrated and are consolidating with their heavy units now pulling back and providing support.

A report from one UAF soldier said that after they broke the line the sky became "black" with drones.  The Russians are looking for concentrations to attack and the UAF is being pretty swift in only bringing strong forces together long enough to make a crack and then disperse.

Anything we see in the press right now is what it is.  They Russians are in a pretty bad position and know it.  They're digging new entrenchments north of Melitopol and committing what they have to Verbove. 

Verbove is now half and half in control and it looks like it will teeter.  The UAF is now using the Surovikin line themselves as their base of operations, turning the Russian works against them. 

It's going to be a to the bayonet's type of fight.

I keep seeing this and posts like it. Developments like this, others, and previous ones ultimately mean nothing. I was there for the Kharkiv Offensive. We took horrendous casualties in that endeavour (60%+) to recapture that region that ultimately accomplished nothing other than attempting to reestablish pre-war borders.

Territory caps mean absolutely nothing if the enemy is able to withdrawal intact. For a victory to occur you need to destroy the enemy in your AO via encirclement and flanks and press home the advantage. We didn't do that. They simply pulled back into Russia proper. They were bloodied yes, broken and destroyed, no. This has been the near constant of the entire war.

The Surovikin line? I don't believe it. It's likely recon and LAR elements that slipped through. We simply don't have the manpower and power-projection to exploit such a breakthrough, period. The Russians have IDF and CAS superiority the closer you get, something we never had.

 

Out of curiosity, do you have any kind of proof of your claim that you served in the Kharkiv offensive?  I understand OpSec probably prevented you from taking selfies at key landmarks, but I don't exactly find "I was there, trust me" to be compelling evidence for your assertions.

[Sir Slash]

Russian bots wouldn't dare hijack my account. My Family Lineage goes back to Genghis Khan's lesser known brother, Wilbur and they DO NOT want to get them started again. 

I see the Ukrainians are now preparing to conscript into military service women with experience or education in the Medical field which had previously been voluntary and limiting their travel to within the country. Looks like this war is just getting started.

[GDS_Starfury]

https://twitter.com/i/status/1700553253346300152

[JasonPratt]

https://twitter.com/i/status/1700553253346300152

Hm, your twitter or X link or whatever it's called didn't show up at all that time, Star. I'm reposting without the {img} tags to see if that helps.

Edited to add: yep that worked, it wasn't really an "img" anyway. Amusingly, "x" is still called "twitter" on its http! -- I didn't realize that until now. More amusing to watch a Leo smack around T-80s tho!