July 01, 2025
Russia has deployed 50,000 troops near the town of Sumy, just a few dozen miles from Donetsk.
The Russian strategy of war by attrition has seen a sytematic nibbling away at the Ukrainians position since the beginning of the year, having expelled the Ukrainians who invaded Russian territory.
Tthe Russians outnumber the Ukrainians 3 to 1 in most battles, plus have more weapons on any given field.
One Ukrainian commander said this:
We know what happens when you outnumber the enemy and can absorb casualties; the enemy loses. Stalin used this same tactic during WWII. During the American Civil War the Union used this tactic, with Lincoln demanding long casualty lists. He kept firing generals who weren't willing to see a bloodbath. Eventually he got Grant and Sherman. Grant at least demanded daily casualty lists. He understood attrition. The Japanese lost in WWII to Americans because, while better fighters than the American G.I.'s, there just weren't enough of them.
So the Russian strategy is sound. Russia has the manpower. Russia also has the raw resources - oil, gas, food, etc. Tthe Ukrainians just can't replace what they lose; their only hope is for outside intervention, an intervention that isn't going to come because despite their sabre rattling the Europeans won't dare muss a hair on the heads of their own. They want the U.S. to do it but we have no national interest and if we did we dare not risk nuclear war.
Eventually Ukraine will fall. Eventually her people will become so exhausted they beg for peace. Eventually this bloodbath will end.
It's too bad; it could have been ended diplomatically long ago. Now everyone is hardened and they refuse to negotiate peace. If Biden had been any sort of leader he would have prevented this from happening.
Now it's going to have to grind it's way to a final, unhappy conclusion.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
09:16 AM
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Posted by: Bill H at July 01, 2025 11:21 PM (FRG6e)
I'm not denigrating the bravery of the Americans, or our commitment. I'm just saying the Japenese soldiers had mostly been trained longer and more exhaustively, and came out of a warrior culture, and were much more eager to die than the Americans. And, of course, we accomodated that desire....
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at July 02, 2025 07:45 AM (sfAcC)
Posted by: Bill H at July 02, 2025 08:09 AM (FRG6e)
I heard, from an uncle who was NOT in the war, that while the Americans did their best to kill the Japanese soldiers, the Japanese tactics were to attempt to cripple, rather than kill, the Americans, because seriously wounding them removed more than one soldier from battle, what with the medical staff involved, etc.
I have never seen this verified in any of the war books in my possession and would not want to bet a bottle of Suntory whisky on its veracity. What do you think? Considering that when you are shooting at an enemy soldier, you generally are not taking pains to aim at a specific non-fatal area of the body, I think the theory was probably ginned up by somebody like my uncle, who (for reasons I won't go into) could never have been accepted into the Army.
Posted by: Dana Mathewson at July 02, 2025 11:53 PM (HDwJ2)
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