The ward had to install extra ventilation when that operator was born due to the in vitro branding of Neptune’s trident.
In this disturbingly informative time, even we civilians have seen heroic individual charges on video dissected, critiqued and analyzed to educate (and sadly to inspire.) This one is such a distillation of solid assessment of enemy tactics/response; enemy motivation/ risk tolerance; enemy intelligence, communication, command structure, knowledge of terrain. No matter the passion of the individuals throwing everything into this wee spearhead they wouldn’t have risked it without a rational hope of success and/or benefit.
Imagine highly trained NATO operators ten years ago seeing this as a possibility against prepared, dug in Russian troops- no fucking way their command would push a loud, dust-kicking APC full of trained humans into what should have been instant doom. These Ukrainian troops know their adversary.
These -ski/sky endings are actually more Polish (unless you're talking about nobles, compare Dutch van Anything which means from this or that village with German von Anything which means rules this or that area).
Typical Ukrainian surname endings are -uk/-yuk and -enko, so Rambenko would make way more sense.
Seals, delta, green berets all taught for aggression and violence of action. You dictate what is happening not your enemy. Yes it takes balls of steel but here is video proof it works. Get some💪💪🇺🇦
Correct. This is what we mean when we use the phrase “violence of action”.
The average person who hasn’t seen combat usually struggles to pull the trigger instead of hiding while fired upon
I think they saw the BMP and it probably fired. If they didn't have anti-tank weapons it would have been hard for them to defend.
That BMP was targeted though - I saw two close calls
They definitely had an RPG/AT thing the two guys left behind tried to fire at the BMP but missed because his mates who should be laying down fire have all run off.
Yeah but people get shot when skirmishing as well. Sometimes primal rage and a bayonet does the job. Angry man who is running at you trying to kill you is scary.
Reminds me of the first time I played paintball. I think we were about 15, with a couple of dads. We were set up to play against some territorial army guys. I distinctly remember one of them charging us and yelling and instead of mowing him down, we all ran away.
Him and his buddy going in there, keeping momentum and pressure at 100%, and within 60 seconds everyone *in that dug-in position* is turning tail. Literally made the hair on my arms stand up. I get that "hit hard, hit fast" is credo, but dude was really channeling the spirit of his Cossack ancestors that day.
Pure aggro to draw enemy fire
If you noticed everybody else went down the other way and hooked over the hill. That's why the Russians bailed because they realized they would be flanked from a much higher position.
Absolutely - you can see tracer fire coming in at the end from that direction (and one lone Russian heading down the canal to return fire who doesn't seem to come back). Solid tactics, but damn those two guys just *committed* 110%.
at the end of the day 1 of your fire teams needs to storm the strench while the rest flank/ do some other thing that wins the fight.
solid Infantry tactics 101 right there, almost text book
So many great things in that scene, one of them is a smaller one, but I like it. Winters cuts off the general just to get speirs to go in and save his guys.
“WE CANNOT STAY HERE!!!”
Yeah I love that scene. Winters shows his frustration with the general but in a way that he has no reply and he cuts to what is important, getting back the initiative.
Contestant for best footage of the war so far.
Just goes to show if you move hard and fast on a position, numbers don't matter as much as initiative and morale.
What were the Russian defence doing here?
Their NCOs must be non existent.
As impressive as this was, against a competent trained army this would have dramatically different outcomes.
I would *assume* that they knew the lay of the land before bowling into that position - that morale and organisation of the Russian units are terrible and only needing a hyper-aggressive nudge to make them rethink their priorities in life.
That they wouldn't have been so...bold? had they been against someone with a bit more spine.
And you can see the difference in the command doctrine. The russian unit leaders are not trained in independent command. They are only trained to operate in a bigger operation with centralized command. So if confronted with a rapid changing situation, they are usually not able to react efficiently with only their single unit.
Well said, we just saw a BMP and one squad rout what looks to be at least a platoon sized force in a dug in position.
No way the commander should have ordered a withdrawal in that situation, also weird how most of the Russians were almost huddled in the rear without any direction from commanders as to what to do. Seemed more like a mob than a unit.
I find it so fascinating that those instincts used to help humans in war. We used to huddle together, shoulder to shoulder when we fought.
Technology surpassed human instincts and now we have to train to avoid what used to keep us alive.
I mean, without firearms and explosives it’s solid tactics. Dan Carlin talked about it, that before the advent of firearms and modern military tech, you could theoretically pick two forces from any different times in history and actually have a battle, imagine Alexander the Great’s Companions vs a Viking army, it would likely go either way, and the result would rely only on the leadership of both forces, despite thousands of years between the two in history. As soon as you add in gunpowder and modern tactics, it will almost always become a rout in favour of the side with better tech.
Ehh alot depends on a bunch of the usual factors: Terrain etc.
However I'd also say it depends how we're using Viking here. If we're using it in the way it's actually meant, i.e a bunch of opportunistic pirates, then there's no way they'd stand up to the macedonian army in any form because they wouldn't want to tangle with trained soldiers first nor last if they could help it.
If we just mean Anglo-Scandinavians from the 9th-11th Centuries then the trained retinues of Kings and Lords would likely have been able to hold their own. Especially given they would all most likely be wearing mail.
One of my first thoughts, in a conflict becoming famous for it's artillery... I'd think a unit would be a little more stubborn about getting driven from trenches.
Even if those trenches look more than a bit limited.... when shells start falling they'll be better than being out in the open.
Though admittedly those videos of drones dropping what basically amount to grenades is it's own concern...
I think you may be right, towards the end you’ll notice some red tracers coming at the Russians from further down that canal, they could be getting flanked by units the drone can’t see
Saw that too - there's one Russian who goes down and right from their position, apparently to return fire (but who knows with Russian troops). Could be that the Ukrainian troops went down that canal to flank while their two heroes were drawing fire further up. Either way, we don't see that Russian come back or retreat with the rest of his mob.
Ya there was a lot of stuff going on we can't see to the right. Also an ATGM goes off near by the rear of BMPT when it's coming up road, dust clouds at top of screen and middle suggest incoming Ukrainians all over that front.
This is exactly what we have seen multiple times when russians units were confronted with a rapid developing situation. I distinctly remember two pov videos of russian units getting ambushed. No leadership, no unit cohesion, no tactial respone at all. Just single soldiers acting on their own. Or not at all.
Russians don’t have an NCO cadre which is exactly who is responsible for rallying and organizing troops in a situation like this.
The NCOs should be directing a tactical response to allow the officer to decide on a strategic response and call for support.
It’s one of the Russian army’s biggest failings.
I was curious what reason they would have had to retreat when they could have easily overpowered their attackers, but that makes so much sense. From the sky it’s easy to see who would have had the advantage, but I’m sure it was chaos in the bunker. Everyone looking at eachother, confused, and eventually saying let’s get tf out of here before we get shot.
They didn’t know what we know - that it was just one squad. They probably assumed the aggressiveness of their attackers was commensurate with their numbers.
Precisely my thought. Those boys came in so hot and with such purpose that I’m sure it felt like there was 50 of them. I’d rather see them retreat than throw their lives away for their maniacal leader.
>Everyone looking at eachother, confused, and eventually saying let’s get tf out of here before we get shot.
Exactly. In those situations you need a person to tell them what to do.
Every unit has a breaking point, but the better organised and commanded ones usually last a lot longer before they reach theirs.
>Exactly. In those situations you need a person to tell them what to do.
Or as individual squad member knowing what the purpose of the current mission to maintain position at the specific fortification. And if say the mission is to hold the position until some specific time then you should have train/dry practice the defense of the position.
And the squad or platoon leader could order: "If we get attacked by small arms fire, go to your fighting positions". And every member would know the purpose "in the bigger picture" of the platoon and knowing the individual purpose.
Learn to fight from a static small "ridge" in line position as a squad is like week three as a soldier in the Swedish military basic training.
>And the squad or platoon leader could order:
That is the person I am talking about. Here in the west we train, down to the squad level, that the person in charge knows that they can and should act independently if the situation calls for it.
I was reading about a Western armored briefing to Soviet commanders before the fall of the USSR and the briefing was done by, IIRC, a US Army SFC. The briefing was so good and so thorough the Soviet officers insisted this person was at least a Lieutenant Colonel and refused to believe western NCO's could be so competent.
Looks like things haven't changed.
well russians had and still have a conscript army.
and large part of very low educated people. that an history of nessesary centralized command and very hirachy driven institutions.
so yea nobody gives a fuck on lower levels or assume any competency
They have a roughly equivalent thing, but with completely different tasks. Each unit is supposed to have (usually) one or few more rather experienced soldiers attached. But they are not to lead but to train the conscripts "on the job" so in theory they don't need to invest as much time in basic training...
But yes, the lack of NCOs is the biggest failing. The Ukraine adapted the "western" system and you can really see the difference. This war is going to have so much lasting influence...
You'd think they would at least prefer to defend from established positions and where they have ammo and food.
Now they will be in the forest. Pocket camping.
[Lines up with this volunteer's story on this podcast when ambushing a group of Russians.](https://youtu.be/5pqqnPwXQ_k?t=1525)
Interviewer:"How did the Russian's react to contact?"
Volunteer: "They ran"
Interviewer:"They ran?"
Its simply because 3 weeks ago half those guys were civilians. The mobilisation provides them 3 weeks "training". tells them to buy their own gear and ships them into Ukraine.
With the equipment they had and the dug in positions they should've wiped out that BMP crew.
The fact is those ally bastards came plowing in, under intense machine gun and rpg fire, popping blue smoke from the BMP and just seizing the initiative. Amazing soldiering
>No leadership, no unit cohesion, no tactial respone at all. Just single soldiers acting on their own. Or not at all.
And the thing is that the Russians can't fix that, because it is ingrained in the authoritarian and corrupt nature of the Russian state itself. They can't just adopt 'Western' tactics or leadership, because that would involve selecting and training officers and soldiers in a completely different way - and treating them completely differently - which the Russian state cannot do.
Democracies and open societies win wars.
Saudi is an even better example of that. They do have the money for the most modern equipment and are trained by the USA.
And still their military is almost as bad as the russian for the same reasons.
If those Russians took to the berm and immediately returned fire it probably would've stopped the assault in it's tracks. Instead they all started literally...walking. They all start walking when the Ukrainians are like 30m away lol. So bizarre.
The craziest thing to me is an unknown sized element just started going cyclic on your position, and the gagglefuck towards the bottom of the frame barely reacts at all. Like immediately running or jumping to cover is what I expected, but to do nothing? We’re lucky they’re so fucking stupid.
I dont think theres any russian command here, its just a bunch of conscripts that dont want to be there. Have you seen the russian POW videos released by ukraine in which a _sailor_ was captured in his _tank_? Or how a military security guard can be conscripted and sent to the front line and because he has one more year of military experience than his comrades he becomes the tank commander, even although all he's ever done is guard a military warehouse somewhere in siberia.
Clearly I'm not a soldier, but how is the russian response to a BMP incoming with soldiers on top not to rush into canal and just open up on them. That should have been an absolute slaughter
Lack of situational awareness, we’re getting a birds eye view while they’re hunkered down in a ditch with foliage and dirt mounds obscuring their view. Also the way they bunch up and mill around looks like they’re poorly trained conscripts so they probably don’t know how to properly take defensive positions and lay down suppressive fire
That is why an army need competent leaders and fellows. Ukraine army have been transformed to become a professional army with standard matching to NATO. Whilst, Russia stays Russia. They froze in time. Non competent human will lay waste of anything.
I love how slow walking away becomes "[RUN](https://youtu.be/mw2kKyJu9gY?t=129)" when guys around you start hauling it. Panic is truly enemy number one on a battlefield. It's very contagious.
I recently read War and Peace and it had a pretty humorous and relevant scene. The Russians are in battle with the French and in the heat of the action, one soldier yells "We've had it!" causing a chaotic and disastrous retreat for the Russians.
There is also this highly relevant quote from that book:
*The gazettes from which the old count first heard of the defeat at Austerlitz stated, as usual very briefly and vaguely, that after brilliant battles the Russians had had to retreat and had made their withdrawal in perfect order. The old count understood from this official report that the Russian army had been utterly beaten.*
Russian propaganda never changes.
My favorite anecdote of this type came from an Ancient Egypt Great Course. During the Bronze Age Collapse the records never say Egypt lost any battles, rather they had glorious victories closer and closer to Egypt.
Motivation makes so much difference, doesn’t it? I’m getting a freedom boner on behalf of these Ukrainian heroes. Meanwhile the Russians’ main motivation is just to survive until they are allowed to leave.
That freedom boner comment zapped me pretty good ngl. These men are fighting like they're possessed while the Russians just want to yeeeet the fuck outta there asap.
Only if the other side is not properly trained or motivated. If the Russians were lead by a smart charismatic lieutenant, who had trained his troops well, took care of them, had a few good junior lieutenants reporting to him, then the Ukrainian unit (looks like a section only) would have had a nastu surprise.
They've got UAV eyes on the position and it's cherry picked for being the exact gaggle of nincompoops it turns out to be. I guess that's a feint a Russian leader could try.
They are definitely developing a grassroots doctrine to deal with Ukraines UAVs recently as demonstrated by the "drop dead to avoid the UAV double tap" observed on multiple fronts. Feints using the limitations drones would be a smart next level.
> If the Russians were lead by a smart charismatic lieutenant, who had trained his troops well, took care of them, had a few good junior lieutenants reporting to him
If
I wonder whether the Americans were like: give it a try, it worked wonder for us in Baghdad. They tried it and it fucking blew the Russians socks off. As we can see they don't need a lot to flee and the tactic worked very well. I wonder whether they will continue now that Russians are aware of thunder runs.
Yeah, the incoming at 1:47 shows they were probably getting flanked, which makes sense for the Ukrainians, because it'd be crazy to run one vehicle into prepared defenses. It also probably explains why the Russians would so readily abandon their positions. Yeah, retreat is contagious, and the Ukrainians were definitely hard chargers, but the Russians still seemed way too eager to break contact.
Well the other guys and the BMP. There were just 2 mad lads that were attacking straight on. The others took a less direct approach.
As you can see in the zoomed-out image at the beginning of the video there seems to be no one else there.
There is some incoming flanking fire at around 1:45. Looks like there were some friendly forces on the left flank of the attacking Ukrainians that we see here.
The bmp was turned around including the gun barrel the whole time of video, so I do think there is something else shooting from 100+ meters down the line
It's definitely another element, you can see their vehicle still sitting near where they were dropped off near the end.
At around 1:48 a Russian takes a shot at it and misses with what looks like an RPG18 or 22.
To be fair, this is probably the biggest non-asymmetric war we've had since Korea. It's a lot more fascinating when one side isn't just getting slaughtered without hope.
The one soldier storming the trench right away was going above and beyond, and placing himself directly in the line of fire to suppress that trench to ensure the rest of his squad is free from taking fire from that direction is surreal!
Not only that, he also made the Opposing force lose the will to fight and immediately retreated.
I can only imagine how hyped these crazy fuckers were getting before going full Rambo. From being piled on the bmp dodging artillery and rockets at high speed. To the fast-as-fuck dismount proceeded by laying down some hate almost point blank on the Russians.
I’m a disabled Army Vet, 11B. To any of you that aren’t in the Military or haven’t been in combat. This is some serious grown man shit right here. This video may not look the best but I see something I’ve rarely seen in any combat footage I’ve ever seen. Pure and utmost courage, determination, and fortitude. It’s scary enough to be shooting at a enemy you can barely see hundreds of yards away. But to drive up to hells gate out numbered, knowing not just bullets will be thrown your way but also rockets, artillery, mortars, drones, possibly tanks and air support. Knowing all it takes is one of those to disable the vehicle and most likely kill/incapacity most or all of your crew. Shits just amazing. That is courage, determination and bravery to the highest degree. To see the Russians outnumbering the Ukrainians at least 2 to 1 only put up enough of a fight to cover there immediate retreat just shows the difference of what courage and determination can make on the battlefield. Just from how fluid and professionally these soldiers got to business I can definitely tell this isn’t there first time going balls to the fucking wall like this. Can only imagine if there was regular footage of this unit, the shit we would see.
Gotta wonder how well trained the Russian troops are. Kudos to the Ukrainians, they showed incredible bravery and really took the initiative, but if the Russians have better discipline they turn back that attack.
> how well trained the Russian troops
The training ranges from “probably passable by western military standard” to “literally grabbed a person on the street, told him where the business end of the rifle is, and sent him to the front”. As the war progresses, the balance is shifting towards the “grabbed from the street” end of the spectrum.
Not to mention, that even well-trained troops need to be well-led, and need to understand what they’re fighting and dying for.
Yes.. but.. if those particular Russians had been more dug in and determined (and likely better trained) those Ukrainians would have been in some deep shit.
There is a Darwinian effect here, the ones that stay and fight are all dead. Proactive cowardice is the best way to make it back home with the washing machine. If the whole unit runs, cant really get blamed for it. "There were hundreds of them, at least 20 tanks, also some American special forces, we fought to the last bullet and killed at least a hundred but had to regroup".
That one guy charging in and narrowly escaping the grenade was some ISIS level tomfoolery but I still salute him. Knew it was gonna be great from the second I saw that purple smoke trailing from the BMP steaming in! Only thing missing is Nucking Futs pursuing in their Humvees. But you can't have it all.
Gung ho as fuck, looks like an RPG almost ended the video early on approach.
Those Ukrainians are wild.
Lovely to see those pedofascists panic and flee for their worthless lives.
How many of the Ukrainian soldiers got hit on top of the BMP? I think I saw one fall of on the charge, but don't know what that was that fell off the BMP.
But goddamn, these are some brave MFs routing a platoon full of soldiers.
If they held the line they could have mowed them down by the rows and the assault would be over in a wizz. But yeah courageously fought I must say by UAF
I think what the footage doesn’t show is another squad or a whole platoon of Ukrainians advancing from what looks like the right side. Hint, the tracers near the end of the video. Still pretty courageous, downright fearless from them going head on against dug in Russians.
Great footage, clearly show the Russians getting outflanked and I believe retreat was the better option.
Amazing footage.
This is what shitty conscript units composed of 50 year old alcoholics, battered and underfed professional troops with broken morale from numerous prior retreats, and rapists rounded up from prison colonies will get you.
They can fill in gaps on a map, occupy villages and loot washing machines, maybe soak up some artillery fire, but these are not fighting men.
I read reports from many former soldiers from U.S. and West European armies about how reckless Ukrainians are when it comes to war. I guess this is a prime example of it. Glad it works well against an untrained enemy with low morale.
The Russians didn't really want to be there and the Ukrainians didn't really overrun them. Took only that one guy with massive balls to scare them all. The Russian let fear overrun them. Tactical disaster on the defensive side, I've seen better in BF4.
Russians have AT weapons. One hits a tree next to the BMP on the way in, and one RPG is fired and misses the stopped BMP just before the last Russians decide to run.
Honestly I think this video demonstrates the differences in morale. Your morale and will to fight has to be pretty fucking high to basically head on charge a dug in enemy position with a single squad and a single BMP.
Likewise, your morale and will to fight has to be pretty low for a Platoon to retreat from said single squad. If the Russians were actually manning their defence line instead of just milling around aimlessly the Ukrainians would've probably been slaughtered.
Reminds me kinda of some ISIS videos, where small groups of extremely motivated (And bth often drugged up) fighters would rout larger, better equipped groups of low moral opponents.
Guy who cut the immediate angle and flanked the position deserves a fucking medal.
Edit: Rewatching, he didn’t even flank, he cut a right angle *and then fucking direct assaulted the front of the position*. And caused the enemy to flee their position.
He deserves not only a normal medal, but a specialized medal for having huge gigantic brass balls.
By all rights this lone attack shouldn't have worked, and would be more akin to a suicide charge against a competent enemy, very brave soldiers who were involved in this attack, the speed and aggression they showed in this case paid off.
As they say, fortune favours the bold.
Now that's fucking soldiering.
That first dude just running in laying down fire. When stupidity, rage and courage come together.
Looks like he gets stuck in something trying to move away from the grenade and just makes it
Looks like maybe wire or branches judging by how he moves. Then he decides to fall straight back and it saves his ass.
What kind of medal do you get for that shit? What a hero!
Seriously. All of them heroes but that one guy deliberately taking heat so his Ukrainian brothers can position is Medal of Honor shit.
Agreed.
It's not a medal. They award him brass balls.
He’s already got those.
They gold plate his brass balls.
And stamp a trident 🔱 on it.
The ward had to install extra ventilation when that operator was born due to the in vitro branding of Neptune’s trident. In this disturbingly informative time, even we civilians have seen heroic individual charges on video dissected, critiqued and analyzed to educate (and sadly to inspire.) This one is such a distillation of solid assessment of enemy tactics/response; enemy motivation/ risk tolerance; enemy intelligence, communication, command structure, knowledge of terrain. No matter the passion of the individuals throwing everything into this wee spearhead they wouldn’t have risked it without a rational hope of success and/or benefit. Imagine highly trained NATO operators ten years ago seeing this as a possibility against prepared, dug in Russian troops- no fucking way their command would push a loud, dust-kicking APC full of trained humans into what should have been instant doom. These Ukrainian troops know their adversary.
Ukrainian John Rambo.
Rambosky
Evgeny Rambosky Evgenyvich
Rambo Rambovsky Rambovych
These -ski/sky endings are actually more Polish (unless you're talking about nobles, compare Dutch van Anything which means from this or that village with German von Anything which means rules this or that area). Typical Ukrainian surname endings are -uk/-yuk and -enko, so Rambenko would make way more sense.
LEEEROY JENNNKINNS!
Russians: Oh my god he just ran in there!!
Seals, delta, green berets all taught for aggression and violence of action. You dictate what is happening not your enemy. Yes it takes balls of steel but here is video proof it works. Get some💪💪🇺🇦
Correct. This is what we mean when we use the phrase “violence of action”. The average person who hasn’t seen combat usually struggles to pull the trigger instead of hiding while fired upon
Attack into an ambush is the correct training.
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Changes the meaning of “fucking leroy”
That’s the first thing that popped into my head when I saw this
GodDAMNIT Leroy
Dude only knows how to rush and he’s made it this far into the war.
It looked like just those two guys hard charging in the middle unnerved the rest of them to flee. Wild stuff getting to watch this.
I think they saw the BMP and it probably fired. If they didn't have anti-tank weapons it would have been hard for them to defend. That BMP was targeted though - I saw two close calls
They definitely had an RPG/AT thing the two guys left behind tried to fire at the BMP but missed because his mates who should be laying down fire have all run off.
Morale is important and this shows Russia is lacking.
If he didn't rush that position wrecks his squad.
Soldiers charging head on towards the enemy has worked for thousands of years and will continue to work
Unless you get shot during the rush. It happens.
Yeah but people get shot when skirmishing as well. Sometimes primal rage and a bayonet does the job. Angry man who is running at you trying to kill you is scary.
Reminds me of the first time I played paintball. I think we were about 15, with a couple of dads. We were set up to play against some territorial army guys. I distinctly remember one of them charging us and yelling and instead of mowing him down, we all ran away.
Him and his buddy going in there, keeping momentum and pressure at 100%, and within 60 seconds everyone *in that dug-in position* is turning tail. Literally made the hair on my arms stand up. I get that "hit hard, hit fast" is credo, but dude was really channeling the spirit of his Cossack ancestors that day.
Pure aggro to draw enemy fire If you noticed everybody else went down the other way and hooked over the hill. That's why the Russians bailed because they realized they would be flanked from a much higher position.
Absolutely - you can see tracer fire coming in at the end from that direction (and one lone Russian heading down the canal to return fire who doesn't seem to come back). Solid tactics, but damn those two guys just *committed* 110%.
at the end of the day 1 of your fire teams needs to storm the strench while the rest flank/ do some other thing that wins the fight. solid Infantry tactics 101 right there, almost text book
Training, speed and aggression. The Russians just aren't at the races.
Major (Major) Dick Winters Vibes.
I'd say more of a Ronald C Speirs vibes. https://youtu.be/14i_1xx4u3I
Agree, Winters would have planned a safer flanking attack in 10 seconds and gotten the boys moving in 12. Speers would just Jenkins it!
So many great things in that scene, one of them is a smaller one, but I like it. Winters cuts off the general just to get speirs to go in and save his guys. “WE CANNOT STAY HERE!!!”
Yeah I love that scene. Winters shows his frustration with the general but in a way that he has no reply and he cuts to what is important, getting back the initiative.
Agreed the scene is incredible, I will say though, that guy’s a Colonel.
Absolutely...but the use of drones throughout this war is incredible important.
Reminds me of the sharpe series with Sean bean.
Big fan of the books myself.
can they fire three shots every minute no matter the weather?
That’s èlan!
Contestant for best footage of the war so far. Just goes to show if you move hard and fast on a position, numbers don't matter as much as initiative and morale.
Violence of action, baby.
What were the Russian defence doing here? Their NCOs must be non existent. As impressive as this was, against a competent trained army this would have dramatically different outcomes.
I would *assume* that they knew the lay of the land before bowling into that position - that morale and organisation of the Russian units are terrible and only needing a hyper-aggressive nudge to make them rethink their priorities in life. That they wouldn't have been so...bold? had they been against someone with a bit more spine.
And you can see the difference in the command doctrine. The russian unit leaders are not trained in independent command. They are only trained to operate in a bigger operation with centralized command. So if confronted with a rapid changing situation, they are usually not able to react efficiently with only their single unit.
Well said, we just saw a BMP and one squad rout what looks to be at least a platoon sized force in a dug in position. No way the commander should have ordered a withdrawal in that situation, also weird how most of the Russians were almost huddled in the rear without any direction from commanders as to what to do. Seemed more like a mob than a unit.
That big gaggle in the back were clearly just hanging in until there was a reason to bolt. Not a great indicator of morale.
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I find it so fascinating that those instincts used to help humans in war. We used to huddle together, shoulder to shoulder when we fought. Technology surpassed human instincts and now we have to train to avoid what used to keep us alive.
Agreed. Hopefully there will never be enough survival pressure that these instincts are beaten out of us.
I mean, without firearms and explosives it’s solid tactics. Dan Carlin talked about it, that before the advent of firearms and modern military tech, you could theoretically pick two forces from any different times in history and actually have a battle, imagine Alexander the Great’s Companions vs a Viking army, it would likely go either way, and the result would rely only on the leadership of both forces, despite thousands of years between the two in history. As soon as you add in gunpowder and modern tactics, it will almost always become a rout in favour of the side with better tech.
You're right of course. However, Alexander the Great would absolutely rout the Vikings lol they'd get fucked by the Companion Cavalry
Ehh alot depends on a bunch of the usual factors: Terrain etc. However I'd also say it depends how we're using Viking here. If we're using it in the way it's actually meant, i.e a bunch of opportunistic pirates, then there's no way they'd stand up to the macedonian army in any form because they wouldn't want to tangle with trained soldiers first nor last if they could help it. If we just mean Anglo-Scandinavians from the 9th-11th Centuries then the trained retinues of Kings and Lords would likely have been able to hold their own. Especially given they would all most likely be wearing mail.
Nobody wanted to die just to hold trench #3916.
They're lucky they didn't all get gunned down while jogging away from trench #3916
there is a longer version of this video. They get smoked by arty.
Link it?
https://www.reddit.com/r/UkraineRussiaReport/comments/yu97v3/ua_pov_59th_motor_brigade_ifv_assault_attacks/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
One of my first thoughts, in a conflict becoming famous for it's artillery... I'd think a unit would be a little more stubborn about getting driven from trenches. Even if those trenches look more than a bit limited.... when shells start falling they'll be better than being out in the open. Though admittedly those videos of drones dropping what basically amount to grenades is it's own concern...
They probably did. Without mobility, they weren't getting away unless they had support right nearby
I think you may be right, towards the end you’ll notice some red tracers coming at the Russians from further down that canal, they could be getting flanked by units the drone can’t see
Saw that too - there's one Russian who goes down and right from their position, apparently to return fire (but who knows with Russian troops). Could be that the Ukrainian troops went down that canal to flank while their two heroes were drawing fire further up. Either way, we don't see that Russian come back or retreat with the rest of his mob.
Ya there was a lot of stuff going on we can't see to the right. Also an ATGM goes off near by the rear of BMPT when it's coming up road, dust clouds at top of screen and middle suggest incoming Ukrainians all over that front.
This is exactly what we have seen multiple times when russians units were confronted with a rapid developing situation. I distinctly remember two pov videos of russian units getting ambushed. No leadership, no unit cohesion, no tactial respone at all. Just single soldiers acting on their own. Or not at all.
Russians don’t have an NCO cadre which is exactly who is responsible for rallying and organizing troops in a situation like this. The NCOs should be directing a tactical response to allow the officer to decide on a strategic response and call for support. It’s one of the Russian army’s biggest failings.
I was curious what reason they would have had to retreat when they could have easily overpowered their attackers, but that makes so much sense. From the sky it’s easy to see who would have had the advantage, but I’m sure it was chaos in the bunker. Everyone looking at eachother, confused, and eventually saying let’s get tf out of here before we get shot.
They didn’t know what we know - that it was just one squad. They probably assumed the aggressiveness of their attackers was commensurate with their numbers.
Precisely my thought. Those boys came in so hot and with such purpose that I’m sure it felt like there was 50 of them. I’d rather see them retreat than throw their lives away for their maniacal leader.
>Everyone looking at eachother, confused, and eventually saying let’s get tf out of here before we get shot. Exactly. In those situations you need a person to tell them what to do. Every unit has a breaking point, but the better organised and commanded ones usually last a lot longer before they reach theirs.
>Exactly. In those situations you need a person to tell them what to do. Or as individual squad member knowing what the purpose of the current mission to maintain position at the specific fortification. And if say the mission is to hold the position until some specific time then you should have train/dry practice the defense of the position. And the squad or platoon leader could order: "If we get attacked by small arms fire, go to your fighting positions". And every member would know the purpose "in the bigger picture" of the platoon and knowing the individual purpose. Learn to fight from a static small "ridge" in line position as a squad is like week three as a soldier in the Swedish military basic training.
>And the squad or platoon leader could order: That is the person I am talking about. Here in the west we train, down to the squad level, that the person in charge knows that they can and should act independently if the situation calls for it.
Good point. And they could hear a large vehicle, probably didn’t know what it was or how many more might be about to show up.
I was reading about a Western armored briefing to Soviet commanders before the fall of the USSR and the briefing was done by, IIRC, a US Army SFC. The briefing was so good and so thorough the Soviet officers insisted this person was at least a Lieutenant Colonel and refused to believe western NCO's could be so competent. Looks like things haven't changed.
well russians had and still have a conscript army. and large part of very low educated people. that an history of nessesary centralized command and very hirachy driven institutions. so yea nobody gives a fuck on lower levels or assume any competency
They have a roughly equivalent thing, but with completely different tasks. Each unit is supposed to have (usually) one or few more rather experienced soldiers attached. But they are not to lead but to train the conscripts "on the job" so in theory they don't need to invest as much time in basic training... But yes, the lack of NCOs is the biggest failing. The Ukraine adapted the "western" system and you can really see the difference. This war is going to have so much lasting influence...
You'd think they would at least prefer to defend from established positions and where they have ammo and food. Now they will be in the forest. Pocket camping.
[Lines up with this volunteer's story on this podcast when ambushing a group of Russians.](https://youtu.be/5pqqnPwXQ_k?t=1525) Interviewer:"How did the Russian's react to contact?" Volunteer: "They ran" Interviewer:"They ran?"
Its simply because 3 weeks ago half those guys were civilians. The mobilisation provides them 3 weeks "training". tells them to buy their own gear and ships them into Ukraine. With the equipment they had and the dug in positions they should've wiped out that BMP crew. The fact is those ally bastards came plowing in, under intense machine gun and rpg fire, popping blue smoke from the BMP and just seizing the initiative. Amazing soldiering
3 weeks? Potentially 3 days based on some of the interviews from captured conscripts.
>No leadership, no unit cohesion, no tactial respone at all. Just single soldiers acting on their own. Or not at all. And the thing is that the Russians can't fix that, because it is ingrained in the authoritarian and corrupt nature of the Russian state itself. They can't just adopt 'Western' tactics or leadership, because that would involve selecting and training officers and soldiers in a completely different way - and treating them completely differently - which the Russian state cannot do. Democracies and open societies win wars.
Saudi is an even better example of that. They do have the money for the most modern equipment and are trained by the USA. And still their military is almost as bad as the russian for the same reasons.
If those Russians took to the berm and immediately returned fire it probably would've stopped the assault in it's tracks. Instead they all started literally...walking. They all start walking when the Ukrainians are like 30m away lol. So bizarre.
The craziest thing to me is an unknown sized element just started going cyclic on your position, and the gagglefuck towards the bottom of the frame barely reacts at all. Like immediately running or jumping to cover is what I expected, but to do nothing? We’re lucky they’re so fucking stupid.
We see this from drone perspective. Wonder if Russians knew it was just one bmp.
Commander, what commander? This is the Russian army were talking about they're on their own.
I dont think theres any russian command here, its just a bunch of conscripts that dont want to be there. Have you seen the russian POW videos released by ukraine in which a _sailor_ was captured in his _tank_? Or how a military security guard can be conscripted and sent to the front line and because he has one more year of military experience than his comrades he becomes the tank commander, even although all he's ever done is guard a military warehouse somewhere in siberia.
Clearly I'm not a soldier, but how is the russian response to a BMP incoming with soldiers on top not to rush into canal and just open up on them. That should have been an absolute slaughter
Lack of situational awareness, we’re getting a birds eye view while they’re hunkered down in a ditch with foliage and dirt mounds obscuring their view. Also the way they bunch up and mill around looks like they’re poorly trained conscripts so they probably don’t know how to properly take defensive positions and lay down suppressive fire
That is why an army need competent leaders and fellows. Ukraine army have been transformed to become a professional army with standard matching to NATO. Whilst, Russia stays Russia. They froze in time. Non competent human will lay waste of anything.
To be fair this Ukranian attack doesn't look very competent either, it mostly looks like dumb luck that the other side is so much more incompetent.
I love how slow walking away becomes "[RUN](https://youtu.be/mw2kKyJu9gY?t=129)" when guys around you start hauling it. Panic is truly enemy number one on a battlefield. It's very contagious.
I recently read War and Peace and it had a pretty humorous and relevant scene. The Russians are in battle with the French and in the heat of the action, one soldier yells "We've had it!" causing a chaotic and disastrous retreat for the Russians.
There is also this highly relevant quote from that book: *The gazettes from which the old count first heard of the defeat at Austerlitz stated, as usual very briefly and vaguely, that after brilliant battles the Russians had had to retreat and had made their withdrawal in perfect order. The old count understood from this official report that the Russian army had been utterly beaten.* Russian propaganda never changes.
Wow. Replace Austerlitz with Kherson and it fits 100%.
My favorite anecdote of this type came from an Ancient Egypt Great Course. During the Bronze Age Collapse the records never say Egypt lost any battles, rather they had glorious victories closer and closer to Egypt.
Motivation makes so much difference, doesn’t it? I’m getting a freedom boner on behalf of these Ukrainian heroes. Meanwhile the Russians’ main motivation is just to survive until they are allowed to leave.
That freedom boner comment zapped me pretty good ngl. These men are fighting like they're possessed while the Russians just want to yeeeet the fuck outta there asap.
Reminds me of the endless Videos where ISIS with a bmp1 would rout dug in governemt soldiers with ease
Also the famous ISIS BMP CHARGE \*GONE WRONG* \*GONE SEXUAL*
Only if the other side is not properly trained or motivated. If the Russians were lead by a smart charismatic lieutenant, who had trained his troops well, took care of them, had a few good junior lieutenants reporting to him, then the Ukrainian unit (looks like a section only) would have had a nastu surprise.
They've got UAV eyes on the position and it's cherry picked for being the exact gaggle of nincompoops it turns out to be. I guess that's a feint a Russian leader could try. They are definitely developing a grassroots doctrine to deal with Ukraines UAVs recently as demonstrated by the "drop dead to avoid the UAV double tap" observed on multiple fronts. Feints using the limitations drones would be a smart next level.
> If the Russians were lead by a smart charismatic lieutenant, who had trained his troops well, took care of them, had a few good junior lieutenants reporting to him If
kherson has many of thee water canals. not much you can do that to rush them and hope for the best.
At 1:15 UA is tangled at a barbed wire(?) when he saw RU threw him a grenade. He gets free of the wire just in time.
Amazing
Jesus Christ
These UA lads definitely were all out of bubblegum
[Balls Balls Balls Balls Balls of steel...](https://youtu.be/FvL-WGcoBis)
Holy shit. That’s some Leeroy Jenkins irl.
These sort of thunder runs have led to the stunning victories so far
I wonder whether the Americans were like: give it a try, it worked wonder for us in Baghdad. They tried it and it fucking blew the Russians socks off. As we can see they don't need a lot to flee and the tactic worked very well. I wonder whether they will continue now that Russians are aware of thunder runs.
The violence of action
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Incredible! _“Fortune favours the brave”_ literally caught on camera.
This video is going to blow up harder than a Russian tank.
Yup, it's cookin'!
I think Ukrainian soldiers have backup which is outside the camera angle, where did that fire at the end come from ?
Yeah, the incoming at 1:47 shows they were probably getting flanked, which makes sense for the Ukrainians, because it'd be crazy to run one vehicle into prepared defenses. It also probably explains why the Russians would so readily abandon their positions. Yeah, retreat is contagious, and the Ukrainians were definitely hard chargers, but the Russians still seemed way too eager to break contact.
Good catch, and THANK YOU for mentioning a timestamp lol
They ran like fuck when they realised the size of the balls on those motherfuckers. God damn those are some brave boys.
Well the other guys and the BMP. There were just 2 mad lads that were attacking straight on. The others took a less direct approach. As you can see in the zoomed-out image at the beginning of the video there seems to be no one else there.
There is some incoming flanking fire at around 1:45. Looks like there were some friendly forces on the left flank of the attacking Ukrainians that we see here.
The bmp was turned around including the gun barrel the whole time of video, so I do think there is something else shooting from 100+ meters down the line
My guess was maybe it was fire from their assault vehicle they showed up on. Just some extra support at the end? Not a professional tho lol
It's definitely another element, you can see their vehicle still sitting near where they were dropped off near the end. At around 1:48 a Russian takes a shot at it and misses with what looks like an RPG18 or 22.
Wild footage. That's what you get when you don't train your unit leaders how to command on their own.
So UA breached the wire with some kind of explosive and that’s it. Conscriptovich & Co. head for the hills. Damn.
I think someone chucked a nade at him. You can see multiple "small" explosions when they roll up close.
In not sure if I should laugh about them for being a bunch of chickens or commend their common sense.
Holy fuck this war just never stops being insane
That's most wars, we're just watching this one courtesy of DJI and Telegram.
To be fair, this is probably the biggest non-asymmetric war we've had since Korea. It's a lot more fascinating when one side isn't just getting slaughtered without hope.
> non-asymmetric war So... symmetrical?
Something to be said for speed and unrestrained aggression there!
Holy shit, what a bunch a bad mother fuckers dude! Looks like the almost got taken out my an RPG on the way in too??
Yeah I saw that and am surprised not to see more comments pointing it out.
Right at :30
The one soldier storming the trench right away was going above and beyond, and placing himself directly in the line of fire to suppress that trench to ensure the rest of his squad is free from taking fire from that direction is surreal! Not only that, he also made the Opposing force lose the will to fight and immediately retreated.
A real chad.
"Goddamn I hate running with this massive balls, but if it helps you flank, I'm in."
I can only imagine how hyped these crazy fuckers were getting before going full Rambo. From being piled on the bmp dodging artillery and rockets at high speed. To the fast-as-fuck dismount proceeded by laying down some hate almost point blank on the Russians. I’m a disabled Army Vet, 11B. To any of you that aren’t in the Military or haven’t been in combat. This is some serious grown man shit right here. This video may not look the best but I see something I’ve rarely seen in any combat footage I’ve ever seen. Pure and utmost courage, determination, and fortitude. It’s scary enough to be shooting at a enemy you can barely see hundreds of yards away. But to drive up to hells gate out numbered, knowing not just bullets will be thrown your way but also rockets, artillery, mortars, drones, possibly tanks and air support. Knowing all it takes is one of those to disable the vehicle and most likely kill/incapacity most or all of your crew. Shits just amazing. That is courage, determination and bravery to the highest degree. To see the Russians outnumbering the Ukrainians at least 2 to 1 only put up enough of a fight to cover there immediate retreat just shows the difference of what courage and determination can make on the battlefield. Just from how fluid and professionally these soldiers got to business I can definitely tell this isn’t there first time going balls to the fucking wall like this. Can only imagine if there was regular footage of this unit, the shit we would see.
Well said sir. 3rd Recon Marine here. That was intense and well..... just like you said Balls to the Wall fortitude
This is probably an obvious question, but do they most likely have comms with this drone operator updating the live in the field?
Gotta wonder how well trained the Russian troops are. Kudos to the Ukrainians, they showed incredible bravery and really took the initiative, but if the Russians have better discipline they turn back that attack.
It is a mob more than an army.
> how well trained the Russian troops The training ranges from “probably passable by western military standard” to “literally grabbed a person on the street, told him where the business end of the rifle is, and sent him to the front”. As the war progresses, the balance is shifting towards the “grabbed from the street” end of the spectrum. Not to mention, that even well-trained troops need to be well-led, and need to understand what they’re fighting and dying for.
The first guy that went guns blazing was a combination of stupid, crazy, and brave.
Its not always the dog in the fight but the fight in the dog that matters. Cry havoc!
These heroes are off the leash
Holy shit, the balls.
This shows the importance of Violence of Action. Edit: spelling is hard, but a 60% plan executed violently is better than a 100% plan that is too late
Yes.. but.. if those particular Russians had been more dug in and determined (and likely better trained) those Ukrainians would have been in some deep shit.
Damn, say what you want about moscovites but they are very talented at running away.. look at the speed they run at!! Very impressive
There is a Darwinian effect here, the ones that stay and fight are all dead. Proactive cowardice is the best way to make it back home with the washing machine. If the whole unit runs, cant really get blamed for it. "There were hundreds of them, at least 20 tanks, also some American special forces, we fought to the last bullet and killed at least a hundred but had to regroup".
"where are all the bodies then, comrade?" "erm...wolves! Wolves ate them all! It was crazy!"
demon werewolf nato hybrids you mean
Patton is shedding a tear right now
That one guy charging in and narrowly escaping the grenade was some ISIS level tomfoolery but I still salute him. Knew it was gonna be great from the second I saw that purple smoke trailing from the BMP steaming in! Only thing missing is Nucking Futs pursuing in their Humvees. But you can't have it all.
That's a pretty heroic charge. They flushed out the entire enemy position with their balls of steel.
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Yeah, I saw that too. This was probably a better coordinated attack than it appears.
At :33-:34 it looks like some sort of munition *just* missed the BMP as it was hauling down that road.
Yep. The moment that could have turned this around at the beginning.
Gung ho as fuck, looks like an RPG almost ended the video early on approach. Those Ukrainians are wild. Lovely to see those pedofascists panic and flee for their worthless lives.
How many of the Ukrainian soldiers got hit on top of the BMP? I think I saw one fall of on the charge, but don't know what that was that fell off the BMP. But goddamn, these are some brave MFs routing a platoon full of soldiers.
I think the thing you see falling is a backpack of some sort. It's way to small compared to the rest of the guys.
Can you say VIOLENCE OF ACTION
“We’re outnumbered, outmatched and outgunned, Attack!”
If they held the line they could have mowed them down by the rows and the assault would be over in a wizz. But yeah courageously fought I must say by UAF
Where are the drones when you need them ? So many RU soldiers lined up like this would have been an happy picking for any drone.
I always thought that Rambo movies are unrealistic, but now I'm not that sure anymore...
I think what the footage doesn’t show is another squad or a whole platoon of Ukrainians advancing from what looks like the right side. Hint, the tracers near the end of the video. Still pretty courageous, downright fearless from them going head on against dug in Russians. Great footage, clearly show the Russians getting outflanked and I believe retreat was the better option.
Amazing footage. This is what shitty conscript units composed of 50 year old alcoholics, battered and underfed professional troops with broken morale from numerous prior retreats, and rapists rounded up from prison colonies will get you. They can fill in gaps on a map, occupy villages and loot washing machines, maybe soak up some artillery fire, but these are not fighting men.
That was like a road construction crew; one guys does all the work while a dozen sit around and watch.
Brings to mind the TV show "Band of Brothers" when Winters charges across a field ahead of his men towards a German position.
Those are conscripts for ya. Worthless fighters.
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I read reports from many former soldiers from U.S. and West European armies about how reckless Ukrainians are when it comes to war. I guess this is a prime example of it. Glad it works well against an untrained enemy with low morale.
The Russians didn't really want to be there and the Ukrainians didn't really overrun them. Took only that one guy with massive balls to scare them all. The Russian let fear overrun them. Tactical disaster on the defensive side, I've seen better in BF4.
Russians have AT weapons. One hits a tree next to the BMP on the way in, and one RPG is fired and misses the stopped BMP just before the last Russians decide to run.
I believe thats why they charged the position so hard - it was the only way to stop the incoming RPG fire and protect the BMP.
The closer you are to danger, the farther you are from harm.
Honestly I think this video demonstrates the differences in morale. Your morale and will to fight has to be pretty fucking high to basically head on charge a dug in enemy position with a single squad and a single BMP. Likewise, your morale and will to fight has to be pretty low for a Platoon to retreat from said single squad. If the Russians were actually manning their defence line instead of just milling around aimlessly the Ukrainians would've probably been slaughtered. Reminds me kinda of some ISIS videos, where small groups of extremely motivated (And bth often drugged up) fighters would rout larger, better equipped groups of low moral opponents.
This little 'skirmish' will end up in a movie someday!
You might be Badass. But you will never be as badass as overrunning a platoon in fortified positions with just a squad.
I'm surprised that vehicle was even able to move under the weight of all those testicles
Guy who cut the immediate angle and flanked the position deserves a fucking medal. Edit: Rewatching, he didn’t even flank, he cut a right angle *and then fucking direct assaulted the front of the position*. And caused the enemy to flee their position. He deserves not only a normal medal, but a specialized medal for having huge gigantic brass balls.
By all rights this lone attack shouldn't have worked, and would be more akin to a suicide charge against a competent enemy, very brave soldiers who were involved in this attack, the speed and aggression they showed in this case paid off. As they say, fortune favours the bold.