Cyclists.

This is coolbert:

Signalers in the sense of strictly couriers/runner? But could be and were much more?

Bicycle troops the Russian Revolution.

"Who did the Russian bicycle troops fight?"

 From https://www.rbth.com/ | SEPT 20 2022 | article by BORIS EGOROV.

"Several military cyclists are buried just by the Moscow Kremlin Wall. Even a street in the capital is named in their honor."

This image purportedly showing bicycle troops of the Red Latvian Riflemen. Most loyal contingent of the communist Soviet Red Army. Personally responsible for guarding Lenin. Extreme communist adherents.

"They could approach the enemy’s positions quickly, quietly and unexpectedly, strike hard and no less swiftly escape. In the early 20th century, when cavalry was already a thing of the past, but the era of motorized infantry hadn’t yet arrived, mobile bicycle troops were hugely popular in the armed forces of different countries around the world."

[....]

"On the battlefields of the 'Great War', the bicycle troops were deployed as scouts or signal personnel [couriers/runners]; also, they were supposed to cover [screen] the cavalry and infantry. Thanks to their noiselessness, they launched effective night attacks against the enemy. The command also used them as a highly mobile reserve force to compensate for defense breaches or, alternatively, to strengthen the army’s position in enemy territory more quickly during offensives. Due to their specific nature, bicycle units didn’t typically take hostages [prisoners]."

Reconnaissance, screening, scouting, patrolling, guard duty, messengers. All valid duty for bicycle troops. But as with all unconventional methods, must be used judiciously in modern warfare.

And NO NEED as with horse cavalry to spend a goodly part of the day grooming the horses. Feed, water, check for injury, get shod when necessary. 

Take no prisoners also!

coolbert.

Flogger-B.

This is coolbert:

Think not that a wandering pilotless warplane on auto-pilot so totally unusual.

Here with an instance from the era of the Cold War.

“'Soesterberg we have a problem': the story of a pilotless Soviet MiG-23 over Belgium"

From https://theaviationist.com October 3, 2012 DARIO LEONE.

"That time a Soviet MiG-23 crossed Europe before crashing in Belgium."

BANDIT INTRUDER PILOTLESS SOVIET BLOC WARPLANE PIRATE OF THE SKY!

"Jul. 4 1989 was a hell of an Independence Day for the American 32nd TFS (Tactical Fighter Squadron) . . . based at Soesterberg Air Base, in the Netherlands."

"In fact when Captains J.D. 'JD' Martin and Bill 'Turf' Murphy were scrambled with their F-15C Eagle fighter jets, they could not imagine that their mission was to intercept a very strange MiG."

"On the very same day a Soviet MiG-23M 'Flogger B' and its pilot, Colonel Nikolai Skurigin, had taken off for a routine training mission from Kolobzreg, in Poland. During the mission, the MiG suffered what seemed to be an engine failure that forced Skurigin to eject from his jet."

PLANE HAD ENGINE FAILURE, PILOT EJECTED, PLANE CONTINUED TO FLY ON AUTO-PILOT INTO NATO AIRSPACE A CONSIDERABLE DISTANCE.

The story as also reported by the wiki:

"On 4 July 1989, a pair of 32nd TFS F-15Cs scrambled to intercept what turned out to be an unoccupied Soviet Air Forces MiG-23M 'Flogger' which had flown on autopilot from its base in Bagicz, Poland, to West Germany after the pilot had ejected. The pilots were instructed to shoot it down over the North Sea however the MiG-23 ran out of fuel and crashed into a house in Kortrijk, Belgium, killing an occupant."

Read here also and as is germane the saga of the Libyan MiG-23 found crashed on an Italian mountainside, dead pilot inside. Having flown on auto-pilot a consider distance prior to coming-to-earth.

coolbert.

Baron II.

This is coolbert:

Baron Roman von Ungern-Sternberg the MAD BARON. Conclusion.

From ELEVENFORTYSEVEN | AUG 11, 2023.  

"Baron Ungern's interrogation"

"Interrogation: Lieutenant General Baron Roman Fedorovich von Ungern-Sternberg in Irkutsk . . . at the headquarters of the 5th Soviet Army. September 1–2, 1921"

"Notes on the text: Roman von Ungern-Sternberg, legendary Russian war-lord and mythical idol in Mongolia, was captured on August 20 1921 and interrogated a week later. Three weeks later he was found guilty by the Marxist agents that subverted and took root in historic Russia, and he was then executed. The document below is a collection of 49 notes taken during his interrogation. Unfortunately, no verbatim responses were documented (barring the few indicated below); however, this document still paints a very interesting picture of his final year of activity. Please keep in mind that this document was written and published by the communists that interrogated Ungern, and hence a certain level of distortion and slander can at times be felt in the tone of the writing."

Again, notes strictly and not verbatim.

Devoted readers to the blog are strongly encouraged without reservation or qualification to read the article in entirety, with footnotes at the end provided.

See also the wiki entry the Baron Roman!

The Baron we can safely say not mad or insane. I think we can say just a wild and crazy dude his eccentricities come to the fore due to the chaotic situation of the era.

coolbert.

Baron I.

This is coolbert:

Madman?

Herewith a slightly edited version of a previous blog entry as seen in 2016.

"Did Japan Read the Baron's Playbook?"

"Baron Roman von Ungern-Sternberg . . . may have been a bit on the 'unusual' side but he had a grand vision and was nothing if not ambitious. We have talked in the past about his aspirations and his, albeit short-lived, efforts to bring his vision to reality. It says something that, despite being only very briefly on the scene in Outer Mongolia, the 'Mad Baron' became something of a legendary figure . . . A legend though, is of course a fanciful tale, not reality. However, one could be forgiven for thinking that there may have been something to the basic premise considering the extent to which the 'cause' of the bizarre baron was taken up by the forces of the Empire of Japan during and prior to the Second World War."

Those ASPIRATIONS, VISION AND INTENTION of the Baron which was to create a multi-ethnic Eurasian steppe-land nation, a re-creation of the ancient Empire of Genghis Khan and as accomplished by "[a] multi-national counter-revolutionary army of White Russians, Mongols, Tibetans, Manchus, Japanese and other peoples of the region".

Read the entire Mad Monarchist archive concerning Baron Roman. 

I highly recommend the Mad Monarchist Internet web site. Communists not welcome!

coolbert.

Acoustics.

This is coolbert:

Before there was radar there was the blind? Acousticians at war.

"How the blind defended Leningrad in World War II"

From https://www.rbth.com/ | HISTORY | FEB 21 2023 | BORIS EGOROV.

"Blind 'eavesdroppers' detected German bombers approaching the city long before they came into sight. They could identify the type and model of aircraft - and sometimes their approximate number - just from the sound of their engines."

[....]

"Along with radars, so-called sound detectors were the main method for detecting enemy aircraft. These cumbersome devices consisted of a system of tubes of various sizes that made it possible to hear the hum of approaching enemy aircraft at a great distance."

THE BLIND THEIR HEARING ESPECIALLY ACUTE MAKING EXCELLENT OPERATORS OF THE ACOUSTIC DETECTION SYSTEMS OF THE PERIOD PRE-RADAR. ABLE TO TELL DIRECTION, NUMBERS AND TYPES OF APPROACHING ENEMY WARPLANES!

See from an Internet web site images of the acoustic detectors as deployed in that era between WW1 and WW2. Apparatus in the modern context seemingly comical but at the time all they had to go with!

coolbert.

Yeremenko.

This is coolbert:

Here another iconic war photograph. Soviet army officer World War Two leading Red Army troops into battle.

 A photo not staged and not a fake as been attributed to the "Falling Soldier" image of the Spanish Civil War.

"The TRUE story behind the iconic WW2 photo of a battalion commander"

JUNE 23 2023 RUSSIA BEYOND

Image thanks to Max Alpert/Sputnik | public domain.

"Max Alpert’s ‘Battalion Commander’ is one of the most famous photographs of the Great Patriotic War. However, for the longest time, that fame didn’t spread to the person depicted in it."

"War correspondent Max Alpert’s photo 'Kombat’ ('Battalion Commander') shows a commander calling his troops into battle."

"Alpert captured the figure of the man on July 12, 1942, on the Southern Front, during the battle under Voroshylovgrad (modern-day Lugansk) and decided that he must have been a battalion commander, giving the photograph its name. The man’s actual story became known only in the 1970s."

Killed-in-action [KIA] the Red Army commissar Aleksey Yeremenko his identify firmly established but only twenty-three years after the fact.

Consider too what I believe will be an iconic image of the Ukraine Conflict. The teen girl fleeing with pets, one under each arm, attempting to reach safety.

EVERY single war produces at least a few iconic images. The Ukraine Conflict will not be an exception.

coolbert.

Bastion.

This is coolbert:

Crude but effective, cheap and dirty, new wine in an old bottle?

Any devoted and knowledgeable reader to the blog have a handle on this? I personally am unable to determine yea or nay!

The Soviet era KS-19 anti-aircraft artillery weapons system capable of chambering and firing an anti-tank guided-missile of the Bastion family ATGM?

"The Bastion was developed firstly as a relatively cheap missile [ATGM] fired from towed MT-12 100 mm smoothbore anti-tank guns. The 9M117 missile was part of the 3UBK10 round and the whole weapon system was designated 9K116 Kastet. A laser guidance device was seated on a tripod next to the gun."

[....]

"The 100 mm [Bastion] round resembles a normal 100 mm anti-tank round, and is loaded and fired in the same fashion. The round uses a reduced explosive charge to launch the projectile out of the barrel of the gun at around 400 to 500 m/s. After leaving the gun barrel, a small cover falls away from the window on the rear of the missile. The rocket motor ignites 1.5 seconds after firing the missile, and it burns for 6 seconds."

Bastion type ATGM can be fired from the main gun of the T-55 tank and the BMP-3 armored fighting vehicle. A KS-19 too?

Bastion type ATGM the range of the laser-guided missile beyond that of the main gun of Russian main-battle tanks. Ukrainian KS-19 using Bastion when massed in a stop-line defensive posture handily able to prevent a Russian breakthrough offensive in the World War Two classical style. 

coolbert.

ALSIB.

This is coolbert:

Lend-Lease Soviet Union the Second World War. American warplanes the aerial ferry route!

YESTERDAY and TODAY, the airfields!

"ALSIB: What the Lend-Lease airports look like today (PHOTOS)"

From https://www.rbth.com/history | HISTORY | SEPT 21 2022 | ANNA SOROKINA.

"The main air route for ferrying aircraft from the U.S. to the USSR under the Lend-Lease Act was opened in 1942. What remains today of these airports built in the Siberian permafrost?"

"The Alaska-Siberia (‘ALSIB’) air route was created for ferrying military aircraft and cargoes from the United States to the Soviet Union under the Lend-Lease agreement. The route was 6,500 km [about 3,900 miles] long, of which 5,000 km [about 3,000 miles] passed over Soviet territory. These kilometers posed quite a challenge: the uninhabited tundra of Chukotka and the impenetrable taiga of Siberia, very strong side winds, freezing temperatures and permafrost. Sixteen airports were built or rebuilt in such conditions, through which almost 8,000 airplanes were flown to the frontline. Afterwards, the airports were also used for civilian purposes."

I believe that the warplanes when arriving Krasnoyarsk disassembled, placed on trains and shipped further west by the Trans-Siberian railway to the theater of action, Eastern Front, WW2.

Lend-Lease to the Soviet Union during WW2 rather considerable. Military hardware and supplies sent via the northern Arctic route to Murmansk and Archangel alone enough to equip an army of 2 million men. That amount representing only 1/4 of the total sent from USA to the Soviet Union during the war!

coolbert.

Annihilated.

This is coolbert:

"THOSE with the loudest voices are usually found furthest from the scene of the action!!"

Back to the good old days of "Stalinist methods"?

"‘Not a single step back!’ In a booklet issued to soldiers, the Russian authorities denounce the army’s ‘shameful’ retreat from Kherson and urge a return to ‘Stalinist methods’"

From Meduza ^ | April 5, 2023 | Lilia Yapparova, Sam Breazeale (translation) | 4/6/2023 the tip from Freeper.

"Meduza has obtained a copy of a pamphlet that was written by Russia’s military leadership shortly after the army’s retreat from Kherson in fall 2022. The document, which the military has begun issuing to Russian soldiers upon deployment to Ukraine, reiterates Moscow’s ideological justification for the war, condemns the Kherson retreat as a 'shameful surrender,' and draws extensively from Joseph Stalin’s infamous Order No. 227, where the Soviet dictator called for 'alarmists and cowards' to be 'annihilated' on the spot"

Military movement to the rear [a retrograde operation] if done in an orderly and planned manner well executed not SHAMEFUL!

Again - those with the LOUDEST voices are usually found FURTHEST from the scene of the action!!"

coolbert.

Exposed.

This is coolbert:

“'They’re trying to basically consolidate their gains and keep the parts that they’ve held on to thus far,' . . . 'I think it’s definitely both a message to soldiers in Ukraine, and to everyone who might be watching, that they’re going to at least try and stay.'” -  Brady Africk.

Offensive and counter-offensive both!

"Putin’s Pre-Emptive Strike Plan Exposed in Satellite Photos"

From www.yahoo.com by Shannon Vavra  original story "The Daily Beast" January 27, 2023.

"Russia is building up a network of fortifications and trenches along the front in Ukraineation, in apparent anticipation of a new round of heavy fighting, according to satellite imagery analysis shared exclusively with The Daily Beast."

"The analysis from Brady Africk, an open-source intelligence analyst, shows that Russia is building up fortifications all along the front in Luhansk, from the Russian border down to Donetsk, and throughout Zaporizhzhia and Kherson."

"The satellite imagery indicates that Moscow may be on edge about a Ukrainian counteroffensive in the coming weeks—or may even be preparing its own offensive to try to seize more Ukrainian land, nearly one year into the war."

Correct! During the Second World War on the Eastern Front from at least 1944 till the end of the war [and maybe well before that] the Soviet Red Army even while on the OFFENSIVE famous for their massive construction of anti-tank fortifications and "stop lines". Barricades and bastions consisting of anti-tank obstacles, anti-tank mines, anti-tank ditches and specially sited anti-tank gun firing positions. 

FORTIFICATIONS/BARRICADES/BARRIERS/BASTIONS THE SPECIFIC PURPOSE TO CONSOLIDATE CAPTURE TERRITORY. DONE TO A DEPTH OF FIFTY MILES [EIGHTY KILOMETERS].

As in the Great Patriotic War as now in Ukraine!

coolbert.

No. 270.

This is coolbert:

"'Russian Aerospace Forces’ aircraft will transport the released servicemen to Moscow for treatment and rehabilitation at medical institutions of the Russian Defense Ministry,'"

From www.rt.com 31 Dec, 2022.

The kindler gentler Russia? A contrast from World War Two.

"Russian soldiers released from Ukrainian captivity – Defense Ministry"

"Freed servicemen will now be airlifted to Moscow for treatment and rehabilitation, the military said"

"Some 82 Russian servicemen were released from Kiev-controlled territories on New Year’s Eve as a result of negotiations, the country’s Defense Ministry announced in a statement on Saturday."

"The POWs were facing 'mortal danger in captivity,' the ministry added, in a post on Telegram."

Consider and contrast the treatment of red army, prisoners of war repatriated in 1945 to the Soviet union. POW is having to be going through a filtration center interrogated by NKVD personnel determine if red Army troops as being returning to the Soviet union in violation of Order Number 270.

Red Army personnel having surrendered of their own free will and not fighting to the death against the German invader suffering severe consequences. Failing to pass successfully through a filtration center meaning harsh retribution.

"Order No. 270, issued on 16 August 1941, by Joseph Stalin during the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union, ordered Red Army personnel to 'fight to the last,' virtually banned commanders from surrendering, and set out severe penalties for senior officers and deserters regarded as [dereliction of] their duties."

"15% of the POWs (226,127 out of 1,539,475 total) were transferred to the NKVD, i.e. the Gulag."

SENT TO THE GULAG MEANING THE SAME AS A SENTENCE OF DEATH!

Read further Order # 270 and other atrocious treatment of Red Army personnel 1945:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_No._270

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_repressions_against_former_prisoners_of_war

coolbert.

Replenish III.

This is coolbert:

Continuing and concluding an extract from a pdf document dated 1990 an interview of a very senior Soviet career military officer [Gen.-Col. (Ret.) Andrian A. Danilevich.

Portions as extracted an assessment [rather somber] of the Soviet economy to mobilize for war during a time of protracted conventional war. A "protracted conventional war" such as the continuing Ukraine Conflict.

Consider remarks at the time [over thirty years later] within context of the decision of the Russian to withdrawal from mothballed stockpile rather ancient T-62 tanks, refurbish and upgrade same for the Ukraine Conflict.

"The mobilization capacity of the U.S. military industries was estimated to be very high, according to our intelligence sources. Of course you have a very different structure: you have private firms and government firms that produce military technology. Furthermore you [USA] have tested mobilization and shifting to war production many times. Because we have always bad economic difficulties, we could never conduct a test of the mobilization readiness of our whole industry. There was one such attempt in which four small plants were tested, and even that experiment was stopped quickly because it hurt production. Therefore the real mobilization readiness of military industry, not to mention the civilian industry, was never tested We could only estimate this capacity on paper. You [USA], on the other hand, had exercises, and detailed tests, so there were some big differences in this respect."

THREE YEARS TO REFURBISH AND UPGRADE EIGHT-HUNDRED T-62 TANKS? RUSSIAN ECONOMY MOBILIZED FOR WAR THE RESPONSE HARDLY TO SEEN AS BETTER THAN WHAT THE SOVIET WOULD HAVE BEEN?

coolbert.

Replenish II.

This is coolbert:

As extracted from a pdf document dated 1990 an interview of a very senior Soviet career military officer [Gen.-Col. (Ret.) Andrian A. Danilevich.

Portions as extracted an assessment [rather somber] of the Soviet economy to mobilize for war during a time of protracted conventional war.

Consider within context of the decision of the Russian to withdrawal from mothballed stockpile rather ancient T-62 tanks, refurbish and upgrade same for the Ukraine Conflict.

"How did we assess the economic situation in analyzing a prolonged conventional war? Take the rates of attrition. Today, with the highly accurate weapons and specific anti-tank weapons, the rate of attrition would be five to six times higher than in the last war. In other words, the rate of attrition per operation was estimated at 120 %. This means that if we had 1,000 tanks at the beginning of an operation, we would lose 12,000. This seems absurd. But the fact is that in the course of an operation there is 25% rate of attrition due to repairable mechanical failure. In the course of an operation these tanks would be repaired and put back into action. They would fail a second time, and again be repaired, and the total would be 120%. But now this rate would rise to 200 - 300%. So you needed a tremendous repair capacity within the formations themselves. But even a tremendous repair capacity could not replenish these losses, so you need a huge industrial capacity. But the tanks are much more complex now. To produce a T-34 you needed four plants: one for engines, one for the main body, one for the control systems . . . . Now you need 340 plants to build a medium tank, say a T-64A . You need all of the above, plus night vision systems, laser sights, stabilization systems for fire-on-the-run, fire control systems, anti-radiation systems, various kinds of armor, etc. 340 plants ! Try doing all of this during a war. And you cannot use low tech. Well, you can, but if the other side has high-tech, it will be a rout. So you need high-tech tanks."

Those T-62 tanks removed from "mothballed stockpile" going to take three years for goodly numbers of them to appear on the battlefield of the Ukraine Conflict and make a difference? Exactly how long is the Russian expecting the Conflict to continue it is reasonable to ask?

coolbert.

Deniers.

This is coolbert:

What the Russian hates to have done to them they do unto others.

"Monument to Holodomor Victims of Stalin's Famine Removed by Russian occupiers in Mariupol {occupied Ukraine}"

From the Moscow times ^ | 21 October 2022.

"The Moscow-installed authorities of the port city of Mariupol, which fell to Russian forces after a devastating siege earlier in the year, took down a monument to Ukrainian victims of Stalin's famine on Wednesday. Kyiv has been calling the 1930s man-made hunger under Josef Stalin a 'genocide,' while Moscow has been downplaying it as an episode of famine all over the Soviet Union. The state-run RIA Novosti news agency published a video of a truck uprooting the monument in Mariupol."

Read of the Holodomor. Manufactured famine resulting in the deaths millions of Ukrainian during the rule of Joseph Stalin. 

Memorials to the Red Army all over eastern Europe targets for removal. Memorials to the Red Army troop also often defaced or vandalized. See previous applicable prior blog entries the topic:

https://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2018/11/prank.html

https://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2017/11/plovdiv.html

https://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2017/10/good-bye.html

https://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2016/12/memorials-i.html

The Russian in Mariupol attempting to obliterate all instances of a distinct Ukrainian nationality and ethnicity as separate from the Russian. See destruction of the library Mariupol. The burning of books as earliest expression of a distinguishable Ukrainian literary tradition as should be condemned by all  righteous thinking persons.

coolbert.

Bungling.

This is coolbert:

As it was between the Soviets and the Finn in 1939 as it is now between the Russian and Ukrainian in 2022? Parallels are striking?

"BUNGLING THE PREWAR AND FIRST MOVES IN FINLAND 1939 AND UKRAINE 2022: A COMEDY OF ERRORS FOR STALIN’S SOVIET UNION AND PUTIN’S RUSSIA, RESPECTIVELY"

The article By Brian E. Frydenborg  05/23/2022 - courtesy "Small Wars Journal".

"The staggeringly ridiculous parallels between the First Soviet-Finnish Winter War and the current war in Ukraine are both profoundly illuminating and especially instructive"

As extracted:

 "Stalin was unrealistically influenced by the headline-grabbing antics of the Lapuans, the grotesque fantasies of the Karelian irredentists, and the exaggerated reports of agents who were eager to tell the Kremlin what they thought the Kremlin wanted to hear. From remarks made during his later negotiations with the Finns, it seems clear that Stalin really did believe that the interior of Finland seethed with class antagonism and fascist plotters and that all of Finnish society was undercut by smouldering grudges left over from the civil war days. Ill feeling persisted, of course—the conflict had been too bloody for all the scars to have healed in just two decades—but Moscow’s estimate of its extent, importance, and potential for outside exploitation was wildly inaccurate. In fact, the old wounds were healing faster than even the Finns themselves realized; with the onset of a massive contemporary threat from the Soviet Union, those old enmities looked remote and historic."

[....]

"Official Soviet publications and news services referred to the Finnish government and leaders as 'the Fascists' and emphasized the supposedly oppressive conditions of the Finnish working class and their readiness to ally with the Soviet would-be 'liberators.'”

"This was, and to a certain extent still is, the official justification given to the Soviet public for why the war was fought.  It permitted the Kremlin to rationalize the apparent lunacy of a nation of 3.5 million souls attempting to invade a nation of 171 million." 

Devoted readers to the blog and those perusing casually are strong encouraged to read the entire article.

Was and to a certain extent is! 1939 and 2022 both. OH MY!

coolbert.

RKG-3 AT.

This is coolbert:

Old wine in a new bottle but still tasty?

WW2 style Soviet shaped-charge anti-tank hand-thrown grenade still in use the Ukraine Conflict.

Who would have ever thought it? Mr. Ripley needs to be informed.

RKG-3 useful if dropped or thrown and landing on those most vulnerable top portions of a tank. A strike on the engine compartment might not destroy the armored vehicle but would render immobile.

See this You Tube video the RKG-3 still in use and as dropped from a drone. The tip thanks to "Blazing Cat Fur".

That article from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty:

"How Ukraine Uses Obsolete Soviet Grenades To Destroy Russian Tanks From Above"

By RFE/RL May 05, 2022.

"Ukrainian fighters have found a new use for outdated grenades that is proving spectacularly effective at destroying Russian tanks and other armored vehicles."

"This photo released by Aerorozvidka, an organization that develops Ukraine's use of small drones in warfare, shows a Ukrainian-made octocopter drone with two bomblets mounted beneath it."

"Videos recently released by Aerorozvidka show what appears to be the same, tail-finned explosives being dropped by drone before destroying armored vehicles with catastrophic explosions."

"Weapons trackers following the conflict in Ukraine have identified the bomblets as modified Soviet-era RKG-3 anti-tank grenades with 3D-printed tail fins attached to stabilize their fall from drones."

"The RKG-3 (pictured) is an anti-tank grenade designed in the Soviet Union that was first introduced in 1950. The weapon is the size and weight of a slender bottle of wine and made to be thrown by hand at enemy armored vehicles."

[....]

"Although remarkably effective on impact, the RKG-3 required near-suicidal proximity to enemy vehicles, and when rocket-propelled Soviet anti-tank weapons such as the RPG-7 entered service . . The risky, hand-thrown RKG-3 became largely obsolete."

It IS reputed that various insurgent and terrorists in Iraq and Syria have also used the RKG-3 with some success. I guess would also be effective if hitting a soft-skinned vehicle in a vulnerable area, say the engine compartment.

See also American M72 improved light-anti-tank weapon firing downward from a drone commercially available.

coolbert.

Twerking.

This is coolbert:

Part 4 of Art. 354.1 Criminal code applies. 

"Twerking: performers dance to popular music in a sexually provocative manner involving throwing or thrusting their hips back or shaking their buttocks, often in a low squatting stance."

BELIEVE ME, THIS GIRL IN BIG TROUBLE!

"Zambian student arrest in Russia for twerking in front of a Nazi war memorial"

From lusakatimes.com April 21, 2022.

"General News:  Zambian student arrest in Russia for twerking in front of a Nazi..."

The worst possible thing this young lady could have done at this exact moment in time.

"A Zambian female student [student in Russia] has been arrested in Russia for allegedly 'rehabilitating Nazism' by twerking in front of a war memorial.

"The 21-year-old — identified by local media as Zambian national Rebecca Ziba — was detained after she posted a video of herself on Instagram."

"In the footage — posted alongside a joking caption — she can be seen dancing next to a World War II memorial in Khanty-Mansiysk."

DID THE DEED. POSTED HER DANCE ON LINE, AND USED A "JOKING CAPTION". 

"Russian investigators have described her actions as 'obscene' and “insulting' and have charged her under Part 4 of Art. 354.1 of the Criminal Code, which accuses a person of  'rehabilitating nazism'."

COULD BE THREE YEARS IN JAIL!! OH MY!

coolbert.

Treptower.

This is coolbert: 

"Soviet-era memorial in Berlin defaced with Ukraine war graffiti"

EXCESSIVE PATRIOTIC ZEAL DURING A TIME OF WAR RARELY DOES ANYONE ANY GOOD!

From the Internet web site "War is Boring":

"Berlin — The Soviet War memorial in Berlin’s Treptower Park has been defaced for the second time in a month with slogans apparently relating to the war in Ukraine, local police said Monday."

"A spokesperson said vandals had written 'murderer', 'orcs' – a reference from JRR Tolkien’s fantasy books – and also the letter 'Z.' The latter is generally associated with support for Russia’s aggression against its neighbour, but it was unclear if the symbol was used to support or criticize Moscow in this instance."

Translation from the German thanks to Google Translate:

"On the night of 17 to 18 April, the Soviet memorial in Treptow Park was once again desecrated #Berlin and the entrance portal was smeared with insults. The @RusBotschaft has a protest note @AuswaertigesAmt Submitted. It is the 2nd desecration within 11 days."

To those of you that engage in such behavior I both BEG and ADMONISH you to refrain from further such actions. You only lower yourself to the level of a common thug and vandal. Take the high road please regardless of your motivations!

coolbert.

Exceeding.

This is coolbert:

NO! I am wrong and cheerfully and without a single second of hesitation admit so. 

"In the entire history of warfare only the Japanese kamikaze actually did more damage than what was claimed."

From the Internet web site "Weapons and Warfare" an article.

"Barbarossa to ‘Berlog’ – Soviet Air Force" WW2.

As extracted:

"The Luftwaffe claimed to have destroyed 1,489 aircraft on the first day [22 June 1941] of operations. Hermann Göring — Chief of the Luftwaffe — distrusted the reports and ordered the figure checked. Picking through the wreckages of Soviet airfields, the Luftwaffe’s figures proved conservative, as over 2,000 destroyed Soviet aircraft were found. The Luftwaffe lost 35 aircraft on the first day of combat. The Germans claimed to have destroyed only 3,100 Soviet aircraft in the first three days. In fact Soviet losses were far higher: some 3,922 Soviet machines had been lost (according to Russian Historian Viktor Kulikov)."

Barbarossa. The attack by Nazi Germany on the Soviet Union 1941. Soviet warplanes mostly destroyed on the ground and not in the skies during aerial combat! 

SOVIET LOSSES ACTUALLY EXCEEDING GERMAN CLAIMS!

You learn something new everyday and should be glad it is so!

coolbert.

G-K Soviet.

This is coolbert:

"In a simply engrossing article over at Wired about Soviet mapping efforts - this bit just yelled at me about the paradox of how easily the essential can be forgotten...or ignored." - - Commander Salamander.

"Inside the Secret World of Russia’s Cold War Mapmakers"

[article in Wired as of 2015]

"The Soviet Military secretly mapped the entire world, but few outsiders have seen the maps—until now."

"Maps included details of a Royal Navy submarine-building shipyard and the carrying capacity of bridges."

"The program involved tens of thousands of surveyors and topographers, and hundreds of cartographers."

"For San Diego, the Russians included sites of military interest, but also notes on transit, communications, and the height of buildings."

Soviet map left, American map right. Presumably the Soviet map would be used by Soviet Naval special-purpose units when planning an attack on the San Diego naval base. Soviet attention to detail quite obvious. By reputation the G-K Soviet representation of the world highly accurate, more so than the American UTM standard.

This additionally:

"The Soviets mapped a handful of American cities at a scale of 1:10,000. These are detailed street-level maps, but they don’t focus on places of obvious strategic importance." List to include:

* Pontiac, MI.

* Galveston, TX.

* Bristol, PA.

* Scranton, PA.

* Syracuse, NY.

* Tonawanda, and North Tonawanda, NY.

* Watertown, NY.

* Niagara Falls, NY.

As to why these cities chosen for intense detailing on 1:10,000 maps not known. Only the Russkie knows for sure and they ain't saying!

coolbert.