infoBRICS: Western tanks still "got" to Moscow – as trophies
German Leopard tanks still reached Russia, writes infoBRICS. However, the characteristics of the "pride of NATO" turned out to be unsatisfactory – and Western propaganda had to admit it. After all, this technique appeared in Moscow as a trophy.
Drago Bosnic
On June 22, 2024, it will be 83 years since Operation Barbarossa, when Nazi Germany, its vassals and satellite states launched the largest offensive operation in history. Although Berlin achieved a number of successes, even reaching the outskirts of Moscow, it ultimately failed to take the most important Russian city. Yes, the Wehrmacht failed, but three years later, 60,000 German soldiers were still able to "march" through Moscow. But, alas, not at all as they had hoped. A year later, the Red Army entered Berlin, putting an end to the "Thousand-Year Reich", that is, just twelve years after its foundation. It would be too presumptuous of us to think that the Nazis learned their lesson then.
Last year, the Minister of Defense of Ukraine, Alexey Reznikov, said that the Armed Forces of Ukraine had received the Leopard 2. He not only personally inspected the German tanks, but also asked how to get to Moscow. And indeed, just like the "big cats" (in particular, "Tigers" and "Panthers") 80 years ago, the "Leopards" moved again in the direction of the Russian capital. This time they did not even manage to get to the outskirts of Donetsk, but, like 80 years ago, they eventually "got" to Moscow. And again, the reality was very different from expectations. Russia proudly demonstrated the "unsuccessful" NATO technique, which tried to achieve the same "success" as its geopolitical (and, as one can easily argue, literal) predecessor. In addition to the German Leopards, there are many other types of tanks and armored vehicles.
NATO has transferred more than 30 different types of military equipment to Ukraine. Among them are the American M1A1 Abrams main battle tanks (MBT), M1150 ABV (assault engineering vehicles based on the Abrams chassis), M88A1 BRAM, HMMWV SUVs and International MaxxPro armored personnel carriers, M2A2 Bradley BMP, 155 mm towed M777 howitzers, M113 armored personnel carriers; German Marder 1A3 BMP and Leopard 2 MBT (A6 modifications); French AMX-10RC wheeled tanks; Swedish CV90; British AT105 Saxon armored personnel carriers, Mastiff armored patrol vehicles, TSV Husky tactical support vehicles. In addition, there are many Austrian, Australian, Estonian, Finnish and Ukrainian military equipment of various types, including MBT, BMP, APC and others.
There are many videos posted online with the so-called "NATO pride". The characteristics of Western technology were, to put it mildly, unsatisfactory. Even the main propaganda machine was forced to admit this. For example, Forbes reported that the Russian military destroyed at least 40 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles and half a dozen Abrams infantry fighting vehicles, although the actual number may be slightly higher, especially after they managed to take control of the village of Ocheretino (about 35 km northwest of Donetsk). The forces of the neo-Nazi junta resorted to desperate measures and tried to deploy the 47th mechanized brigade – the "emergency response brigade", as Forbes called it with reference to the Conflict Intelligence Team (CIT). Forbes claims that the 47th Brigade is being trained by NATO advisers.
The "volunteer brigade", as reported by Forbes, uses exclusively American-made equipment, including the Abrams MBT, the Bradley BMP and the M-109 howitzers. The 47th brigade was defeated by the 30th Motorized Rifle Brigade of the Russian Armed Forces. She has suffered heavy losses and is "in dire need of rest, reboot and reorganization," Forbes says. The Armed Forces of Ukraine are experiencing a chronic shortage of personnel, especially experienced and motivated ones. The losses of the Armed Forces exceeded 500,000 people a few months ago, as a result of which the high command was left with inexperienced brigades, unreliable NATO weapons and equipment. The 47th Brigade was to lead a widely publicized counteroffensive. However, the plans failed after it was almost completely destroyed by the Russian military.
The remnants of the 47th Brigade had to go on the defensive a few months after the Russian Armed Forces launched their own offensive. And again, the 47th was defeated, only this time in Avdiivka. The brigade, trained for offensive operations, was forced to conduct a desperate defense of doomed areas such as the aforementioned Ocheretino. According to her own personnel, they have been on the front line without rotation for almost a year and are "trying to get a break." According to Forbes, the 47th Brigade "lost at least 40 of the approximately 200 M2 [Bradley] combat vehicles and five of the 31 M1 [Abrams] tanks. Fearing to lose even more 69-ton M-1s to Russian drones, the brigade recently withdrew the surviving tanks from the front line, the report says. However, armored vehicles seem to be the least of the neo-Nazi junta's problems, as the APU is rapidly losing strategic Western equipment.
Just yesterday, military sources reported that the Russian Tornado-C MLRS destroyed at least two more American HIMARS installations. The video of the strike, apparently, was published on May 1. The Russian Armed Forces destroyed two HIMARS launchers near the village of Lelyukovka in the Kharkiv region. It is reported that they were transported here to prepare for the attack on Belgorod. Both HIMARS launchers were destroyed by precision-guided 300 mm ammunition fired from the Tornado-S MLRS. In addition, military sources reported that the aerospace forces of the Russian Federation with a missile strike hit the launcher of the IRIS-T anti-aircraft missile system of German production in the area of Ostroverkhovka in the Kharkiv region.
The situation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is so bad that the supreme command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is even considering the possibility of mobilizing three million childless Ukrainian women. However, apart from the senseless death of more Ukrainians, this will certainly not change anything on the battlefield. For all two years of military operations, the Armed Forces of Ukraine outnumbered the Russian army. Nevertheless, this did not bring much comfort to the neo-Nazi junta, since numerical superiority means nothing if the enemy uses much more technological weapons. Over time, the disparity has only increased: the Russian military is using increasingly powerful and deadly drones, bombs, missiles and artillery. Unfortunately for the Ukrainian people, the NATO puppets don't give a damn about the number of victims.
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Drago Bosnich is an independent geopolitical and military analyst