Soviet 2S7 Pion 203mm self-propelled howitzer, one of the largest guns in the world, was in Ukr service, now back in Russian hands.
Ukrainian War Developments
- Thread starter james smith esq
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I was thinking of Taiwan, but after thinking about it, there a lot of factors that would strategies that would come of that war inapplicable, like the fact that Taiwan is not connected by land, so amphibious landing and transportation makes it a whole different scenario.
From all the reports it’s a matter of time until we get an official report. Likely there is remnant resistance in the city. Probably want to stamp them out so there can be a safe tour for the DPR leadership.
It is worth noting that the Ukrainian army is NATO trained, is using specialist NATO weapons and is getting a lot of INTEL and no doubt EW support from NATO.
Effectively, Russia is fighting a NATO army, it is doing so with one are tied behind its back and despite all the problems and issues and clustermuffs, it is still winning.
Effectively, Russia is fighting a NATO army, it is doing so with one are tied behind its back and despite all the problems and issues and clustermuffs, it is still winning.
Here's some historical context about the hostilities between the USA and USSR:
Two US Presidents falsely declared that Americans never have fought Russians or Soviets in battle.
In fact, the USA intervened militarily in the Russian Civil War by sending about 13000 soldiers
(5000 landing in Arkhangelsk and 8000 in Vladivostok) to fight against the Reds.
The USA also attacked Soviet forces during the Second World War.
In 1944 Yugoslavia, American pilots misidentified advancing Soviet troops as retreating German troops.
The Americans immediately proceeded to attack and kept doing so for perhaps about an hour or so, killing
Lieutenant General Grigory Petrovich Kotov. the commander of the 6th Guards Rifle Corps.
In _P-38 Lightning in Action_, an American P-38 Lightning pilot said that he regarded the attack as the most successful
ever for his unit. To his astonishment, the 'enemy' troops did not fire back with flak. Why would the enemy be so helpless?
The reason was the Soviets were advancing without flak because they did not expect to be attacked by the Luftwaffe.
News of the 'dream' target quickly spread. More and more American aircraft joined the 'feeding frenzy' of strafing.
This American fighter pilot (proudly) claimed that his unit inflicted at least 500 fatalities, though that seems to be exaggerated.
Then the Americans noticed aircraft approaching from the East. Although heavily outnumbered, some Yak-3 fighters
were responding to appeals for aid by the Soviet forces on the ground. The American P-38s quickly attacked the Yak-3s.
According to this American, a Yak-3 (bravely) intentionally flew closely in front (making it a perfect target) of a P-38 and
waggled its wings. The P-38 was about to blast the Yak-3 into oblivion when the American pilot noticed the Soviet insignia.
"Red Star! My God, it's a Russian! Maybe there are Russians down there? Attention, all aircraft, we might be fighting Russians.
Disengage as soon as you can and return to base until we can get this sorted out."
When this American pilot returned to base, he reported that 'all hell had broken loose'. The cover-up already had begun.
The American pilots were ordered to be separated from everyone else and never to speak about what had happened.
The Americans were interrogated, their testimonies were compared and adjusted until the USAAF 'got its story straight'.
This American pilot later said that he and his colleagues really had about no regret for killing Soviets because they
already (in 1944) regarded the USSR as a likely future enemy.
This American pilot smugly claimed that the American pilots and aircraft were clearly far superior to Soviet pilots and aircraft.
As a historian, I would say that the average American fighter pilot was better trained than the average Soviet pilot.
But the best Soviet pilots (in the elite Guards units) were as skilled as the best American pilots.
Some veteran German pilots regarded the Soviet Guards units as the best units that they ever fought against.
I would prefer to fly a Yak-3 rather than a P-38 in a low altitude dogfight, though the P-38 was better in other ways.
Flying a Yak-3, Alexander Koldunov (a top ace) was credited with shooting down three P-38s in this encounter.
"Nine Soviet Yak-3 and an unidentified number of US P-38 fighters participated in the battle, which lasted for about another 15 minutes.
According to American author Glenn Bows, four Yaks and two Lightnings were lost, while Russian sources state that three Yaks and
four P-38s had been destroyed. Joko Drecun, a officer who was based at Niš airport at the time, wrote in his diary that the
Americans lost seven planes and the Soviets lost three."
The USA apologized to the USSR. The Soviets were not impressed, suspecting that the apology was insincere.
The Soviets demanded that the local USAAF commander face a court-martial, but that, of course, never happened.
Instead, the USAAF transferred him to another post, and he continued his career without this blemish on his record.
Two US Presidents falsely declared that Americans never have fought Russians or Soviets in battle.
In fact, the USA intervened militarily in the Russian Civil War by sending about 13000 soldiers
(5000 landing in Arkhangelsk and 8000 in Vladivostok) to fight against the Reds.
The USA also attacked Soviet forces during the Second World War.
In 1944 Yugoslavia, American pilots misidentified advancing Soviet troops as retreating German troops.
The Americans immediately proceeded to attack and kept doing so for perhaps about an hour or so, killing
Lieutenant General Grigory Petrovich Kotov. the commander of the 6th Guards Rifle Corps.
In _P-38 Lightning in Action_, an American P-38 Lightning pilot said that he regarded the attack as the most successful
ever for his unit. To his astonishment, the 'enemy' troops did not fire back with flak. Why would the enemy be so helpless?
The reason was the Soviets were advancing without flak because they did not expect to be attacked by the Luftwaffe.
News of the 'dream' target quickly spread. More and more American aircraft joined the 'feeding frenzy' of strafing.
This American fighter pilot (proudly) claimed that his unit inflicted at least 500 fatalities, though that seems to be exaggerated.
Then the Americans noticed aircraft approaching from the East. Although heavily outnumbered, some Yak-3 fighters
were responding to appeals for aid by the Soviet forces on the ground. The American P-38s quickly attacked the Yak-3s.
According to this American, a Yak-3 (bravely) intentionally flew closely in front (making it a perfect target) of a P-38 and
waggled its wings. The P-38 was about to blast the Yak-3 into oblivion when the American pilot noticed the Soviet insignia.
"Red Star! My God, it's a Russian! Maybe there are Russians down there? Attention, all aircraft, we might be fighting Russians.
Disengage as soon as you can and return to base until we can get this sorted out."
When this American pilot returned to base, he reported that 'all hell had broken loose'. The cover-up already had begun.
The American pilots were ordered to be separated from everyone else and never to speak about what had happened.
The Americans were interrogated, their testimonies were compared and adjusted until the USAAF 'got its story straight'.
This American pilot later said that he and his colleagues really had about no regret for killing Soviets because they
already (in 1944) regarded the USSR as a likely future enemy.
This American pilot smugly claimed that the American pilots and aircraft were clearly far superior to Soviet pilots and aircraft.
As a historian, I would say that the average American fighter pilot was better trained than the average Soviet pilot.
But the best Soviet pilots (in the elite Guards units) were as skilled as the best American pilots.
Some veteran German pilots regarded the Soviet Guards units as the best units that they ever fought against.
I would prefer to fly a Yak-3 rather than a P-38 in a low altitude dogfight, though the P-38 was better in other ways.
Flying a Yak-3, Alexander Koldunov (a top ace) was credited with shooting down three P-38s in this encounter.
"Nine Soviet Yak-3 and an unidentified number of US P-38 fighters participated in the battle, which lasted for about another 15 minutes.
According to American author Glenn Bows, four Yaks and two Lightnings were lost, while Russian sources state that three Yaks and
four P-38s had been destroyed. Joko Drecun, a officer who was based at Niš airport at the time, wrote in his diary that the
Americans lost seven planes and the Soviets lost three."
The USA apologized to the USSR. The Soviets were not impressed, suspecting that the apology was insincere.
The Soviets demanded that the local USAAF commander face a court-martial, but that, of course, never happened.
Instead, the USAAF transferred him to another post, and he continued his career without this blemish on his record.
Nevermind. Too off-topic.
For the PLA to succeed in invading Taiwan, the chief issue is landing a major force and keeping it supplied across the Taiwan Strait.
Once a PLA army has been established in Taiwan and Taipei has forsaken any hope of US military intervention, I doubt that
Taiwan's government would like to risk turning Taipei into another Stalingrad.
I expect that Taipei would accept any reasonably generous terms of peace (including a general amnesty) offered by Beijing.
The USA would encourage, however, Taiwan to keep fighting in a lost cause to inflict as much damage as possible on China.
Yeah these are the kinds of rosy expectations that would lead to disaster for the Chinese. Regardless of what will actually happen, the upfront expectation has to be that the Taiwanese will turn every square inch into Stalingrad. China cannot make the same mistake Russia just did with Ukraine. It has to treat its opponent seriously and expect a tough fight. That means preparing for a tough fight in every conceivable way too. It means launching an overwhelming first hit against the Taiwanese military on day one, something Russia did not do against Ukraine under the idiotic pretense that this was all going to be easy. It means concentrating the bulk of the air force for massive, coordinated, large-scale operations, something the Russians did not do. You get the point. Whatever the Russians did in Ukraine, do the opposite of that.
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