Why Do Russian Marines Keep Riding Their Armored Vehicles Straight Into Ukrainian Defenses?
It seems their commanders are lying to them.
On Oct. 15, Russian marines from the 810th Naval Infantry Brigade counterattacked the right flank of the 250-square-mile salient that Ukrainian troops carved out of western Russia’s Kursk Oblast starting in early August.
Barreling headlong into the Ukrainian army—the 61st Mechanized Brigade and 17th Heavy Mechanized Brigade, apparently—the Russian marines met a wall of steel. One Russian BTR-82 wheeled armored personnel carrier rolled right up to a Ukrainian T-64 tank. The tank opened fire with its cannon from tens of feet away, striking the BTR.
Two days later, Ukrainian troops discovered one of the BTR’s passengers lying nearby, half-dead. “We were sent as meat,” the 19-year-old Russian soldier said from his hospital bed, presumably somewhere in Ukraine.
At the time, it was a mystery why the BTR crew would roll up on Ukrainian tanks. A month later, we’re beginning to understand. It seems the staff of the 810th Naval Infantry Brigade, currently attacking the Kursk salient’s left flank, is lying to its superiors and to its own marines about conditions on the battlefield.
A second close battle in Kursk on Nov. 7 was an eerie repeat of the fight on Oct. 15. Racing toward Ukrainian positions in factory-fresh BTR-82 wheeled armored personnel carriers, the 810th Naval Infantry Brigade met elements of three Ukrainian formations: the 17th Heavy Mechanized Brigade, the 95th Air Assault Brigade and the 47th Mechanized Brigade.
It was a bloodbath. Analysts have identified at least three BTR graveyards in and around the village of Pogrebki. Graphic footage depicts BTRs getting blown up at short range.
Russian blogger Romanov explained what happened. “What you see in the footage is the result of yet another lie from the local command to the general staff,” Romanov wrote.
False information had previously been reported that the road (where equipment was later blown up) had come under our control. Logically, after receiving this information, the general staff issued an order to storm the settlement. Before the attack, no one even thought to clear the road of mines ... In general, deliberate disinformation [to] the general staff by the command of the 810th Brigade has become a routine practice.
That the 810th Naval Infantry Brigade has been lying up and down the chain of command to project a false sense of easy victory explains why the brigade’s marines might confidently approach to within tens of feet of intact Ukrainian defenses, including fully operational tanks.
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