Waterworks II.

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Here links to various previous blog entries the topic the breaching of dams and dikes as a weapon of war. An ancient and venerable practice and as relevant to most recent events the Ukraine Conflict:

From that period of the Islamic State [ISIL] insurgency:

https://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2017/04/tabqa.html

https://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2015/04/thar-thar.html

https://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2014/08/mosul-dam.html

https://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2014/07/haditha-mosul.html 

From that period of the Saddam insurgency in the aftermath of Gulf War Two:

https://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2007/11/the-latest-about-mosul-dam

Further and in historical context the Yellow River flood, 1938-47:

"In June 1938, Chinese Nationalist armies under the command of Chiang Kai-shek breached the Yellow River’s dikes at Huayuankou in Henan province in a desperate attempt to block a Japanese military advance . . . Perhaps the single most environmentally damaging act of warfare in world history . . . Between 1938 and 1947, this disaster killed more than 800,000 people in Henan, Anhui, and Jiangsu and displaced nearly four million."

And the culprit the Dneiper river flooding is? We might never know with any degree of certainty?

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Minelayers II.

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“What we're seeing is just industrial level… industrial mine-laying,” 

 Russian army anticipates the now long-awaited Ukrainian counter-offensive. Mine layers at work on a monumental and epic scale. As it was at Kursk in 1943 so it will be in the Ukraine eighty years later!

"Russia Lays Mines at 'Industrial Level' Ahead of Ukrainian Counteroffensive"

From https://www.themoscowtimes.com | the article by Brawley Benson | May 31, 2023.

"When Ukrainian forces launch their long-awaited counteroffensive this summer, they will be up against multiple lines of Russian fortifications stretching hundreds of miles from the Black Sea to Ukraine’s northern border."

"The military hazards include trenches and anti-tank obstacles, but Russian soldiers have also been busy laying thousands of landmines."

"Beyond the military challenge posed to advancing Ukrainian troops, Russian minefields will likely cause hundreds of civilian deaths and require billions of dollars to be safely removed in the coming years, experts told The Moscow Times." 

Regarding the prodigious number of mines [anti-personnel and anti-tank both] as used at Kursk by the Soviet Red Army, 1943:

"So for the defense phase of the Battle of Kursk (4-18 July 1943), the Soviet Army laid at least 291,797 antitank mines and 294,378 antipersonnel mines. In the south this produced an impressive 1,666 mines per kilometer and 1,624 antipersonnel mines per kilometer." [per the dupuyinstitute.org]

"Red Army combat engineers laid 503,663 anti-tank mines and 439,348 anti-personnel mines, with the highest concentration in the first main defensive belt. The minefields at Kursk achieved densities of 1,700 anti-personnel and 1,500 anti-tank mines per kilometer, about four times the density used in the defense of Moscow." [per the wiki entry]

Minefields even of epic proportions as a barrier not intended to fully 100 % stop an advancing adversary. Merely [!] cause your opponent to slow down his forward movement, take casualties, thwart plans and timetables. As occurred at Kursk.

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Waterworks.

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Item # 1 and # 2 as seen at Freeper.

Dam breached the Dneiper river. Hot button item the Ukraine Conflict! Major catastrophe underway even as we speak! And the culprit is?

1. "Ukraine blames Russia for destroying critical dam"

From CNN ^ | June 6, 2023 | the article by Tara Subramaniam, Jessie Yeung, Sana Noor Haq, Sebastian Shukla, Schams Elwazer, Caolán Magee.

"VIDEO AT LINK......... Residents of Kherson region are evacuating as water levels rise. Here's what we know about the destroyed dam From CNN staff Kyiv and Moscow exchanged accusations over the destruction of a sprawling dam in Ukraine's Russian-occupied Kherson region, triggering a wave of evacuations as floods of water spilled from the Nova Kakhovka hydro-electric plant."

2. "Ukraine accuses Russia of destroying major dam near Kherson, warns of ecological disaster"

The Associated Press ^ | June 6, 2023 | the article by SUSIE BLANN.

"The wall of a major dam in a part of southern Ukraine that Moscow controls collapsed Tuesday after a reported explosion, sending water gushing downriver and prompting dire warnings of ecological disaster as officials from both sides in the war ordered residents to evacuate. Ukraine accused Russian forces of blowing up the dam and hydroelectric power station, while Russian officials blamed Ukrainian military strikes in the contested area."

3. "An act of Insanity as Zelenskyy orders the destruction of the Kakhovskaya Hydroelectric Dam"

 https://scotlandtoday.online | the article by Iain Muir | 6 June 2023.

"The breach could result in devastating flooding, potentially killing thousands of civilians as well as disrupting the cooling systems for the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant."

See previous blog entry the World War Two destruction of the Dniepropetrovsk dam with additional embedded links.

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Shangri-La.

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Maintaining international rules-based order! Germany? East Asia? Germany?

"Germany to send two warships to Indo-Pacific in 2024 amid South China Sea tensions"

Courtesy Reuters |  June 4, 2023.

"BERLIN, June 4 (Reuters) - Germany will send two warships to the Indo-Pacific in 2024, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said on Sunday, amid rising tensions between China and Taiwan and over the disputed South China Sea."

SHOW THE FLAG TYPE MISSIONS! AN ARMED KNOWN PRESENCE!

"Speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, Asia's most important security conference, Pistorius said countries needed to stand up for the rules-based international order and the protection of major maritime passages.

Hardly the German East Asia Squadron from 1914 and the era of the Great War. An expression in 2023 of solidarity with American and Asian interests focusing predominantly the South China Sea.

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Chef.

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A man for all seasons? Yevgeniyy the owner and commander of the mercenary army Wagner PMC?

Consider this a borderline blog entry but still worthy of being posted.

"Wagner Head Prigozhin’s Past Life as a Children’s Author and Illustrator"

From https://www.themoscowtimes.com | 1 June 22.

"The leader of Russia’s notorious Wagner mercenary group who served nine years in prison for theft, interfered in U.S. elections and has been accused of war crimes in Ukraine is not someone usually associated with children’s literature."

"Yet almost 20 years ago, Yevgeny Prigozhin — commonly known as 'Putin’s chef' because he rose to prominence by providing catering services to the Russian president — penned a playful children’s story."

"With the title 'Indraguzik,' a made-up name, the book tells the tale of a little boy and his sister who live with their family inside a huge theater chandelier."

Devoted readers to the blog are invited to read the entire "Moscow Times" article. I pass no judgment year or nay and cannot even begin to tell anyone what to think of this, if anything.

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Culloden

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See this interesting docu-drama, the Battle of Culloden. Originally from 1964 but receiving high praise even sixty years later!

"The Battle of Culloden was the final confrontation of the 1745 Jacobite Rising. On 16 April 1746, the Jacobite forces of Charles Edward Stuart fought loyalist troops commanded by William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland near Inverness in the Scottish Highlands. The Hanoverian victory at Culloden decisively halted the Jacobite intent to overthrow the House of Hanover and restore the House of Stuart to the British throne; Charles Stuart never mounted any further attempts to challenge Hanoverian power in Great Britain. The conflict was the last pitched battle fought on British soil."

From a comment to the You Tube video:

"Stephen Marshall 3 years ago I only saw this film once, I was an officer cadet at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in 1980. It was shown in part to educate us about that form of warfare but mostly to show us how not to behave to a vanquished enemy and population."

Most particular so the events on the battlefield as begins 44:00 into the video. Scots wounded of the Jacobite army strewn about the zone of combat wounded and non-ambulatory as they say. Rebels of the Jacobite army their throats slit, shot, bashed, bayoneted indiscriminately. No mercy shewn to the defeated rebels. Done in an orderly and methodical manner, not with wild and riotous abandon.

That Duke of Cumberland [British commander] his "yearly salary" increased by £25,000 due to his command of the British army Culloden. That is equal to about £3,500,000 today! A tidy sum even for a Duke.

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Olenya.

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Kola peninsula Russian strategic long-range bomber force.

"Satellite image shows 16 strategic bombers deployed to Kola Peninsula"

"Packed to capacity: All aprons along the runway at Olenya Air Base are now occupied by Russia’s largest and heaviest combat aircraft, a satellite image from this week reveal."

From https://thebarentsobserver.com | the article by Thomas Nilsen | May 13, 2023.

Photo courtesy @MT_Anderson. Tu-95 Bear. Tu-160 Blackjack. Tu-22 Backfire. Il-78 Midas. An-22 Cock. Russian long-range strategic bomber warplanes the airfield Olenya, Kola peninsula. A very significant portion of the Russian manned bomber force moved to a point BEYOND the range of Ukrainian Tu-141 drones configured in the attack mode. 

"Located only 200 km [120 miles] from NATO-members Finland and Norway, Olenya Air Base is closely watched by military analysts. The 3,500 m [about 11,000 feet] runway normally serves a small fleet of elderly Tu-22M supersonic bombers and a few An-12 military transport planes."

YES! Beyond the range of Ukrainian Tu-141 drone in the attack mode BUT all clustered in one spot at one time, wing-tip to wing-tip it seems. Even MORE susceptible to massive damage and destruction  from attack than before? One plane goes up, a whole bunch of them go up as well?

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