2022-2024 Russo-Ukrainian War

[jlvfr]

I'm a fan of William Spaniel and Anders Puck Nielsen on YouTube. They usually upload every day or every couple of days.

Otherwise there's the usual Twitter sources that have been quoted here in the past.

Thanks.

[jlvfr]

It sucks to have enlisted in the Russian Navy as a motor machinist mate and now get to be a grunt machinegunner.

Shades of WWII again... Luftwaffe ground crew marched into the infantry...

[Monash]

Shades of WWII again... Luftwaffe ground crew marched into the infantry...

By coincidence yesterday I watched a YouTube video about the same thing happening to German Naval personnel during the last days of WW2. As the Allied armies started to enter Germany proper Donitz ordered the formation of two divisions of navy personnel including large numbers of U-boat crewmen to defend northern Germany. Decorated and experienced U-Boat Captains were given command of their own sailors in 'anti-tank regiments' which were basically just sailors equipped with bikes modified to carry a couple of Panzerfausts and some reloads. The British who fought them said their tactics weren't up to much but they resisted fanatically and managed to destroy or damage several dozen tanks before they finally surrendered at Hamburg. Apparently they ended up calling them the 'Naval SS' or some such.

[Bigfella]

By coincidence yesterday I watched a YouTube video about the same thing happening to German Naval personnel during the last days of WW2. As the Allied armies started to enter Germany proper Donitz order the formation of two divisions of navy personnel including large numbers of U-boat crewmen to defend northern Germany. Decorated and experienced U-Boat Captains were given command of their own sailors in 'anti-tank regiments' which were basically just sailors equipped with bikes modified to carry a couple of Panzerfausts and some reloads. The British who fought them said their tactics weren't up to much but they resisted fanatically and managed to destroy or damage several dozen tanks before they finally surrendered at Hamburg. Apparently they ended up calling them the 'Naval SS' or some such.

There were also Luftwaffe units involved in the round up & murder of Jews in parts of modern Poland & Ukraine.

If you have the time this is an outstanding presentation. Philip Blood takes a unique & fascinating approach & combines it with access to previously unused sources. Highly recommended.

[jlvfr]

This is 2 months old, bur worth it, I think:
Ukrainian soldier remote operating a machine gun with a Steam Deck gaming system

[kato]

Decorated and experienced U-Boat Captains were given command of their own sailors in 'anti-tank regiments' which were basically just sailors equipped with bikes modified to carry a couple of Panzerfausts and some reloads.

Nah, not really "anti-tank regiments". Those divisions had the formal ToE of a Volksgrenadier Division. These divisions had a anti-tank rocket launcher company in each infantry regiment, as well as a central anti-tank battalion which was supposed to get 18 older towed anti-tank guns (75mm and 37mm) and have a company with 14 (later 10) tanks.

The anti-tank battalion of 2nd Naval Infantry Division was stood up at a training grounds near Prague (500 km from the coast). They were planned to get JgPz38(t), which like their anti-tank guns never arrived - therefore on April 18th they got the order to reform as an additional infantry anti-tank rocket launcher company ("bike-mobile") and move to join the rest of the division. They didn't arrive in theater before the division surrendered though.

The infantry personnel for the division came from available naval training battalions as well as a battalion originally intended as replacement troops for 12th SS armoured division formed from barely trained Hitler Youth teenagers, and supposedly also two Hungarian battalions.

The 2nd Naval Infantry Division was the only division formed like that. There were four other naval infantry divisions (1st, 3rd, 11th and 16th); the 1st was the renamed pre-existing Naval Infantry Brigade North, the other three were renamings of regular army infantry divisions done in an attempt to confuse allied intelligence during the withdrawal from the Netherlands.

The "decorated u-boat captains commanding their sailors" is mostly a myth. There were decorated former u-boat captains among the leadership, such as Captain Werner Hartmann, who had made it all the way to commander of all German submarines operating in the Mediterranean by early '44. In fact a lot of commanders in the "naval infantry" came from command posts along the Mediterranean - South France and Italy - that had been dissolved
However in late 1944 with posts like that no longer existing, a lot of personnel like him after returning to Germany instead got commanding positions in charge of newly mobilizing troops - Hartmann became commander of the Volkssturm units in Gdansk in November '44, others e.g. took over command positions of the "Schiffsstammregimenter" (training units for new recruits for the Navy). As the backpedalling in the war then progressed over the next couple months these people would transition into mid-level command positions in new "divisions" like the 2nd Naval Infantry Division. But it's not like they pulled entire crews off of ships and had them stand in as infantry.

[Monash]

Nah, not really "anti-tank regiments". Those divisions had the formal ToE of a Volksgrenadier Division. These divisions had a anti-tank rocket launcher company in each infantry regiment, as well as a central anti-tank battalion which was supposed to get 18 older towed anti-tank guns (75mm and 37mm) and have a company with 14 (later 10) tanks.

The anti-tank battalion of 2nd Naval Infantry Division was stood up at a training grounds near Prague (500 km from the coast). They were planned to get JgPz38(t), which like their anti-tank guns never arrived - therefore on April 18th they got the order to reform as an additional infantry anti-tank rocket launcher company ("bike-mobile") and move to join the rest of the division. They didn't arrive in theater before the division surrendered though.

The infantry personnel for the division came from available naval training battalions as well as a battalion originally intended as replacement troops for 12th SS armoured division formed from barely trained Hitler Youth teenagers, and supposedly also two Hungarian battalions.

The 2nd Naval Infantry Division was the only division formed like that. There were four other naval infantry divisions (1st, 3rd, 11th and 16th); the 1st was the renamed pre-existing Naval Infantry Brigade North, the other three were renamings of regular army infantry divisions done in an attempt to confuse allied intelligence during the withdrawal from the Netherlands.

The "decorated u-boat captains commanding their sailors" is mostly a myth. There were decorated former u-boat captains among the leadership, such as Captain Werner Hartmann, who had made it all the way to commander of all German submarines operating in the Mediterranean by early '44. In fact a lot of commanders in the "naval infantry" came from command posts along the Mediterranean - South France and Italy - that had been dissolved
However in late 1944 with posts like that no longer existing, a lot of personnel like him after returning to Germany instead got commanding positions in charge of newly mobilizing troops - Hartmann became commander of the Volkssturm units in Gdansk in November '44, others e.g. took over command positions of the "Schiffsstammregimenter" (training units for new recruits for the Navy). As the backpedalling in the war then progressed over the next couple months these people would transition into mid-level command positions in new "divisions" like the 2nd Naval Infantry Division. But it's not like they pulled entire crews off of ships and had them stand in as infantry.

According to the source I reviewed there were two 'divisions' raised. One was sent east to fight the Russians (that Divsion's history was not discussed) instead the focus was on the other division which was sent 'west' to fight the British in Northern Germany. Most of these troops were engaged in the defense of Hamburg and by default Baltic ports in Denmark and Germany which (according to the source) Donitz was determined to keep open as long as possible in order to prolong/expedite Operation Hannibal.

[kato]

According to the source I reviewed there were two 'divisions' raised. One was sent east to fight the Russians (that Divsion's history was not discussed) instead the focus was on the other division which was sent 'west' to fight the British in Northern Germany. Most of these troops were engaged in the defense of Hamburg and by default Baltic ports in Denmark and Germany which (according to the source) Donitz was determined to keep open as long as possible in order to prolong/expedite Operation Hannibal.

The one sent east was the 1st Naval Infantry Division (the renamed "Naval Infantry Brigade North"). To recap from German wikipedia on it, it was assigned to regular army corps and initially in Feb '45 set up in defensive positions on the western shore of the Oder river (and a bridgehead on the eastern side). After largely successfully defending these against Soviet probing attacks - with support from an assault gun brigade - the division was shifted east across the Oder to fill gaps in lines of the 3rd Panzer Army on the bridgehead formed around Szczecin. By mid-march half the division was destroyed in combat and the remains pulled back across the Oder river to regroup. In April they were then fighting basically north of Berlin against the Soviets being slowly pressured back towards the coast, to the northwest. The division dissolved after its commander had surrendered to the British on the western side of its front.

"Naval Infantry Brigade North", which became 1st Naval Infantry Division, was formed from three (out of four) infantry regiments that the Navy had raised from training units in October '44 as territorial defense units for the German coasts. These were pretty much standard-trained and -equipped infantry troops (although, since planned for territorial defense, with less combat support units). The fourth of these original regiments was sent to the eastern front in January '45 and fought alongside (Army) 7th Infantry Division in East Prussia.

The division that was sent southwest against the British was the 2nd Naval Infantry Division from the above post.

Both divisions were transformed along the "Volksgrenadier Division" ToE in March '45, in the case of the 1st Naval Infantry Division while it was already on the front. Other than Doenitz, who went with Hitler on that topic, most of the navy command was rather opposed to this transformation. In the case of the 1st Naval Infantry Division (due to that opposition) it included replacing all battalion and regiment commanders in it (all Navy originally) with Army officers as well as replacing the Navy Rear Admiral in command of the division with a Army Major General with Eastern Front experience.

[jlvfr]

Ukraine is using indian-made ammo?

Wonder if the indian government knew? Can't be good for russian-indian relations...

[Monash]

Ukraine is using indian-made ammo?

Wonder if the indian government knew? Can't be good for russian-indian relations...

At law there's concept called 'willful blindness' which in some offenses for some jurisdictions renders the person accused of it culpable for whatever offense they were allegedly blind to. In this case? If the Indian Government (or one of it's Ministries) authorized the sale of munitions to countries it knew (or should have known) were also transferring ammunition to Ukraine on a regular basis. And its a matter of public record that both Italy and the Czech Republic were doing so?

Then it's on it's own head for letting it happen. No doubt New Delhi will bluster and point fingers at both governments for appearances sake if Russia complains but in reality? It had to have known these transfers were going to happen or at the least very likely to happen. And it sanctioned the sales anyway. Russia will also know this but since it still needs India as an important trading partner? Take a guess at what will happen.

[rj1]

Shared by the Twitter account of a Tymofiy Mylovanov:

Retreat, loss, and survival in Ukraine

Our former student writes about the retreat of his brigade from Vuhledar this week. It is a heavy but honest reading

“The 72nd Brigade left Vuhledar battered, with heavy losses. 1/

Before that, the Russians had already reached the areas through which the brigade would retreat and set up firing positions in garages behind the cemetery. 2/

The 72nd’s withdrawal was brutal. Vehicles, armored carriers were hit and burned. After days of agony in the besieged city before that, the soldiers were drained. By the dawn of retreat, not all had the strength to move to try break through 3/

Some stayed behind, committing themselves to death to cover the retreat 4/

By a cruel twist, while my brigade was clawing its way out of Vuhledar, people across the country were sipping coffee, going to cinemas, and strolling to street music 5/

Well-wishes, both genuine and routine, were offered to the soldiers – even as they were dying, abandoned to their fate 6/

I have no way to bridge these two worlds - the peaceful Ukraine and the military, each marching relentlessly on its path 7/

We were reborn there in the war in the East. Born in Kyiv, we were forged again in the fields and basements of Vuhledar. Now those empty, iron-pierced spaces are our homeland, and we are strangers on the Kyiv’s streets 8/

In these three years of the war, unfamiliar faces have filled the sidewalks and metro, with new expressions I don’t recognize or can comprehend 9/

They seem light, translucent; we are grim and dirty, stained by a darkness that no bath or barbershop [a reference to the hipster culture of Kyiv] can wash away 10/

Now, the 72nd, driven from its den, risks annihilation in the open fields under artillery and FPV drones. The Russians’ control from Vuhledar’s heights stretches 15 kilometers, nearly to Kurakhove 11/

Pray, to anyone you can, that the 72nd – my first and forever brigade (though I left long ago) – isn’t ground into dust beyond Vuhledar 12/

Pray the remnants of this once-mighty force aren’t destroyed, that it has a chance to rise again, to carry its hard-won experience and pain into future victories (Igor Lutsenko) 13X