Com-batt!

This is coolbert:

"If anybody tells you that we fought here 

intoxicated, - spit him in his face"

With a comment to a Military Thoughts blog entry from some time ago now:

"oleg abramov said... Hello, I tried to make a full version of the book of V. Mironov in English, the name is "I was at that war", close to the sense of the name in Russian . . . I appreciate the comments and advisings [sic] to better the text, some mistakes are corrected already, the renewed versions will be posted regularly. Welcome to see the text. Thanks, Oleg"

The novel by the Russian author Vyacheslav Mironov, "I was in that war. Chechnya, the year 1995". A historical account, the events as unfolded in the capital of Chechnya, Grozny, 1994. Russian army units on the offensive, hoping to suppress the secessionists of Chechnya, a battle, a combat action of the most desperate and bitter sort, apocalyptic even! Mironov writing a novel and NOT as I had originally thought an absolutely factual and first-hand anecdotal account, nonetheless a description of urban warfare as did transpire in Grozny.

"I was in that war" is a classic? The translation from Russian to English is somewhat crude and unprofessional but this is a virtue rather than a flaw, adding a degree of authenticity?

English: English version of Artofwar

And as listed in the anthology under non-fiction we have this Q & A entry of a Russian Spetsnaz trooper who fought in Afghan:

"Professionals Of The War" - - Shumskikh Sergey

Q: "Did you use trophies yourselves?"

A:  "We had right to have only what we needed for the war. For example, very comfortable Italian boots, and Chinese breasts [ammo pouches] – it was easier to carry more ammunition in them. We got also 'dukhs' clothes, American mortars."

[dukh = spirit, ghost, apparition, an ephemeral being one moment there, the next moment NOT!]

"Actually I didn’t see anything better then Soviet weapon but those mortars. They were much lighter then ours, the mines [mortar rounds] for them were packed without any grease, we didn’t need to wipe them dry, as we had to do ours"

According to Sergey, NO small arms of foreign types superior to the Russian version OTHER THAN AMERICAN MORTARS.

The Russian assault on downtown Grozny was a debacle almost without precedent. Russian troops unprepared, without the necessary support or planning more than met their match when faced with a determined foe, both in 1994 and 2000 the Chechens more than proving that defense is the stronger form of combat [easier to do and accomplish more with less]!

coolbert.