Sunday, August 17, 2008

Russians In Georgia Demobilize

It seems Russian forces in Georgia have gone static.

IGOETI, Georgia -- Russian forces built ramparts of earth around tanks and posted sentries on a hill in central Georgia on Saturday, seemingly digging in amid Western pressure for Moscow to withdraw its forces under a cease-fire deal signed by Russia's president.
The #1 advantage of mobile forces is that they are mobile. Digging in is not a sign of strength. It is a sign of weakness. My guess is that fuel deliveries are not enough to keep the Russian forces moving. Demobilizing makes forces brittle. Just ask the Germans who used that tactic in WW2. Or Saddam in 1991.
Near Igoeti, a Georgian journalist photographed a Russian armored personnel carrier that had broken down and was set afire by its occupants, who preferred to destroy it rather than let it fall into the hands of the Georgians.
That is interesting. American mobile forces have repair facilities they carry with them they also have carriers they can load vehicles on to carry them back to repair units that have more capability than mobile repair units.

In addition there are rumors the Russians have withdrawn their jets from the battle space. That is something you don't do in mobile warfare. It means death. Just ask Rommel.

George Patton had a few things to say about mobile warfare:
"I don't want to get any messages saying, "I am holding my position." We are not holding a Goddamned thing. Let the Germans do that. We are advancing constantly and we are not interested in holding onto anything, except the enemy's balls. We are going to twist his balls and kick the living shit out of him all of the time. Our basic plan of operation is to advance and to keep on advancing regardless of whether we have to go over, under, or through the enemy.
An American hospital ship is due into the area in about three weeks. I would think the counter attack would begin around then.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

3 comments:

Doug said...

IGOETI, Georgia
--
" Russian forces built ramparts of earth around tanks and posted sentries on a hill in central Georgia on Saturday, seemingly digging"
---
We could alway stage a re-enactment of the
Desert Storm Bury the Tanks Show.

Cannoneer No. 4 said...

Demobilize does not mean what you think it means.

If they really do intend to leave, consolidating in assembly areas to prepare for the road march out would be expected.

M. Simon said...

Cannoneer No. 4,

I was being ironic.

Consolidating is one thing. Digging in is something else.