War in Ukraine

Saw a documentary on the Battle of Britain and the London Blitz last night. I suspect that Putin will be as successful at breaking the will of the Ukrainians as Hitler and Göring were at breaking the will of the Brits through the massive bombing of London in World War II.
As a point of information.

Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe, ordered the new policy on 6 September 1940. From 7 September 1940, London was systematically bombed by the Luftwaffe for 56 of the following 57 days and nights.[7][8] Most notable was a large daylight attack against London on 15 September.

The Luftwaffe gradually decreased daylight operations in favour of night attacks to evade attacks by the RAF, and the Blitz became a night bombing campaign after October 1940. The Luftwaffe attacked the main Atlantic seaport of Liverpool in the Liverpool Blitz. The North Sea port of Hull, a convenient and easily found target or secondary target for bombers unable to locate their primary targets, suffered the Hull Blitz. The port cities of Bristol, Cardiff, Portsmouth, Plymouth, Southampton, Swansea, Belfast, and Glasgow were also bombed, as were the industrial centres of Birmingham, Coventry, Manchester, and Sheffield. More than 40,000 civilians were killed by Luftwaffe bombing during the war, almost half of them in the capital, where more than a million houses were destroyed or damaged.[1]​

The Blitz - Wikipedia

Waiting for a rating for "off-topic" although I think it's a perfectly valid analogy.

 

The bombings of London paled in comparison to the bombings of German cities. Yet, even that did not directly cause the German surrender.

That said, there appears to be significant unrest, in Ukraine, owing to the severe degradation of the energy grid.

 

I have ruled your post as “on topic.”

It also did not cow the people of Germany, despite an exponentially bigger effort than that of the Battle of Britain. Same with the bombing campaigns against North Korea, North Vietnam, Iraq (1991), or Serbia. Minus a ground invasion, or bonafide threat of one, populations have always proven too resilient. Air Forces (especially ours) often refuse to admit it, but the biggest, not only, value of airpower is in close coordination with maneuvering ground forces. Strategic bombing has always underwhelmed.

 

Sorely overlooked is the reason why Russia is bombing the energy grid: degrade Kyiv’s ability to sustain its troops.

That said, I wouldn’t discount the possibility of Ukraine folding due to massive unrest in the public.

 

I don’t know about you, but I wake each day with a sick pit in my stomach. There are no adults leading the Western governments who have labored under the delusion that they have Russia cornered and reduce it to a pauper. I believe we are witnessing the end of Pax Americana. Americans are pretty parochial and certainly do not see themselves as an imperial power intent on ruling the world. But the political class that infests Washington, DC certainly believes it has the sole right to impose its will on the world. The wake up call that will come with the collapse of Pax Americana will shake the United States to its core and a new world order will emerge. I hope it does not come from a massive bed of smoldering embers.

On The Precipice of World War III? - A Son of the New American Revolution

 

I didn't know that Ukraine's troops ran on electricity. "We can't attack the northern flank, sir, our electricity is out. Could you send us some batteries?"

As soon as Ukrainians decide that Russian torture chambers are a better alternative to fighting/resisting, then we'll start seeing surrender flags across Ukraine. So far, even the elderly are doing their part to support their country, spying on the Russian invaders and smuggling weapons.

 

Just to be clear, this is a December 27 story - I am not knowingly recycling old news.

 

I posted it yesterday morning here and there’s a thread on it too from flgator2
But like I said in my post, it’s happening so frequently now that it’s hard to keep track of them all.

 

So sorry. I deliberately did not see if this particular one had been posted because of the date on it. I should’ve checked for specific names. But when I saw the date and time I figured it was yet another incident. Sorry about that

 

No worries, like is said they are dropping fast and furious!

 

Well, at least the Russian sausage king didn't fall into the meat grinder of Bakhmut. That would be ironic.

 

Funny in a macabre and inappropriate way. My heart hurts for the suffering occurring, and my anger at Putin is soul threatening

 

Another funny that shouldn't be

 

Maybe the CIA is fighting back against the Oligarks with our own version of that Cuban Embassy "buzz in the ear" machine...........apparantly ie causes one to lose balance at the most precarious of times.

 

Just search battle of britain on your podcast menu, you will find plenty. One of my personal WW2 favorites is "The World at War"
a 70's production with Lawrence Olivier narrating.

 

Really cool blurb about logistics here - and their openness about bias at the top is why I’ve liked daily kos for Ukraine updates.

Ukraine update: Revisiting my first strategic analysis of Russia's mistakes

the cool part providing an example of how logistics are important:

To support nine MLRS launchers, we needed four HQ vehicles (M577, my home for three years), 12 HEMTT ammo trucks, to shuttle ammo from weapons depots to the launchers. Two fuel tankers. Eight 2.5 ton trucks—for ferrying food, small-arms ammo, and mechanical spare parts. Two 5 ton trucks, for the same purpose. One recovery vehicle, to tow broken vehicles away (which happened like every five miles of movement). And 26 Humvees—to carry leadership (both officers and and non-commissioned officers), mechanics, the guy who ran the armory, the guy who ran our supply room, a decontamination specialist, guys who fixed broken radios, medics, and a bunch of other people I’ve forgotten. Here’s the detailsif you’re really interested.

In total, the battery had 64 vehicles. Or 55 vehicles to support the nine vehicles actually shooting anything. In terms of troops, the battery had around 300 soldiers. just 27 of them sat in those nine MLRS launchers. That’s what “logistics” means. If you see an army has, say, 1 million people. Just assume that the part of that army that shoots stuff is a fraction of that number, maybe 75,000-150,000. You need a massive operation to support the people shooting stuff—fuel, food, ammo, spare parts, and other equipment.

 

The old "tooth to tail" if I am recalling the phrase correctly

 

Russians face freezing to death as they run out of fuel to heat homes

Russians in the country's Altai Krai region face freezing to death amid plunging temperatures and a shortage of fuel, according to local media reports.
"While Russian propagandists jeer about 'freezing Europe,' Russians actually are at the brink of freezing—the town Kamen-na-Obi, Altai region, has only several days worth of coal left in stock. It is currently about -11 degrees Celsius [12.2 degrees Farenheit] there," he wrote.

According to the news clip, which was broadcast on December 21 on state-owned television channel Russia-1, a "high alert mode" was declared in the town because of a shortage of coal.

 

Odd. You’d think they would have all kinds of discount heating fuel these days.