Picture of the Day: ROK Army Live Fire Training
Soldiers of the Army’s 30th Mechanized Infantry Division conduct an artillery live-fire drill with K-55A1 self-propelled howitzers at an Army training range in Paju, north of Seoul, on Jan. 22, 2025, as part of the unit’s tactical drill tailored for the winter’s severe cold period. (Yonhap)
What would have happened if Task Force Smith had more cannons with armor-piercing ammunition?
What if instead of one understrength battalion (i.e., only 540 men) they had sent the whole 21st Infantry?
Frankly, the air transport didn’t save a lot of time and they could have brought them all up together. With all their equipment.
We need to stop creating opportunities for commies to kill innocent people.
If the goal looks easy, dictators can’t resist (Czechoslovakia in 1938, South Korea in 1950, Kuwait in 1990, etc.).
Democrat countries must stop electing people who think we can appease the wolf by feeding it.
Kim Fatty the whatever, Winnie XI, and Tsar Putin are just symptoms of the weakness in Free Countries.
To have had much of a chance, TF Smith needed the 3.5 bazooka, a couple companies of M4E8’s, not just M24’s, to take on the T34/85’s and enough supporting infantry on both wings to prevent the flanks from being turned. I don’t think 8th Army had very much beyond M24’s available in Japan and the 3.5 bazooka was rare. They had good Tac Air in theater but approaching monsoon season weather limited it. US Forces did not take the NKPA seriously, TF Smith was sent out to slow the NKPA’s pace. I think I read somewhere that they slowed them down a whole 3 hours. Sorry for the long post, the battle of Osan and Gloucester hill where always two of my favorite battlefields to view at 200-400 ft and 80 knots.
TF Smith had no tanks, only the small bazookas and most of their radios didn’t work. They did have a few 105mm artillery pieces with a few AP rounds.
Correct, 8th Army had M-24’s back in Japan which were not available for TF Smith and would have likely been crushed had they been at Osan. They were later fielded shortly afterward with the rest of 24th ID. The M24 was not a sufficient a platform to take on the T34/85. My point was TF Smith would have required two companies of Easy 8 Sherman’s plus additional infantry on both flanks to even begin to perform its mission, M4A3E8’s were not available, nor was additional supporting infantry. TF Smith was easily flanked by NkPA infantry while T-34/85s bull dozed their way through TF Smith and onward to attack and capture the US artillery who only had a limited amount of AP shells.
All of which points out the need for Korea to have defenses against real threats.
Task Force Smith was a ridiculous effort that killed GIs for no real ROI. It was half-assed from start to finish.
Korea should plan and prepare to defeat enemies based on reason, not imagination.
Logistics wins wars. Russia failed to capture Kiev because they had too few trucks for supplies, medevac, and so on. They killed their one “quick” chance; and Tsar Putin’s pride wouldn’t let him stop.
The self-propelled gun mentioned above is a good start; but don’t skimp on ammo or training.
And make sure all units have organic resupply and transport assets.
Western popaganda loves to yell, “Putin failed to take Kiev.” They also say Russia will be out of ammo next week.
Russia had no intention of capturing Kiev.
There were two purposes with moving on Kiev.
1. There was some hope Ukraine would simply give up with the threat of Kiev being attacked. Kiev did not give up. They should have. But Zelensky is doing the bidding of his globalist masters rather than considering what is best for Ukraine and Ukranians. The war is going to end pretty much the same, except they will be forced to make more concessions, they will have fewer men, and the multinationals are going to eat whatever is left… which is one of the real purposes of this war.
2. Capturing culturally-Russian eastern Ukraine is one of the objectives of this war. An established tactic is to take undefended enemy land as quickly as possible, dig in, and force the enemy to emotionally try to recapture their one land against good judgement. Achievement Unlocked. Russia moved a small mobike force on Kiev, Ukraine moved their eastern forces to counter, Russia moved into eastern Ukraine and dug in. Ukraine sent wave-after-wave of men across minefields against Russia and their superior artillary and air support.
The western media has lied about every aspect of this war… from Russians are sending human waves armed with only shovels to the Ghost of Kiev.
Perhaps that is necessary… perhaps better than the truth? Should they say, “Ukraine has again lost a disproportionate number of men as NATO has run out of useful things to give in a piecemeal strategy designed to prolong the war rather than achieve victory through deliberate combined warfare. Russia’s transformation into a wartime economy where they produce more artillary in a month than all of NATO in a year, Ukrainian recrutement statistics, and the shrinking global military equipment supply that can be offered to Ukraine, has led observers with calculators to determine when this war will be over. Soon.”
Who knows.
Everybody is playing their game with their goals and there is not much we can do to change it.
But what we can do is…
…not lie to ourselves.
Then we can make good personl decisions as we navigate the global shítshow beyond our control.
Come on now, CH, you can’t expect us to believe Tsar Putin threw thousands of Chechnyans into a meat grinder just to avenge the 2004 terrorist attack on the elementary school in Beslan?
Well, okay, he might have done that; but he never really seemed the type to play the long game. (Maybe he really did want to throw away all those Cold War surplus AFVs, trucks, and etc.) It sure did seem like he wanted to take Kiev.
I concede that Ukraine is much more crooked than Joetato’s dog’s hind leg—and needs a serious course correction—but that doesn’t make Moscow look shiny at all. Many people looking honestly at the war just want both sides to lose, to paraphrase Kissenger in the Iran-Iraq war.
Trump appears to be aiming for the high road and stop the bloodshed
I would be embarassed to suggest that Putin can’t play the long game. There are many examples of him successfully doing so… for decades.
Trump is not talking of ending the war for Russia or Ukraine’s benefit. He wants to extract himself/America from any blame or obligation over how it ends¹. Then he will get the most advantage from it that he can.
There is no high road. There is only America First.
The short version is, no matter what happens, Trump will:
– cut American aid to Ukraine and Zelensky will get the blame… this is not an American taxpayer problem.
– no matter how the war ends, Trump will take credit… he will likely deserve it, as with no more American aid, other nations will also stop, and Ukraine will quickly fall.
– position American companies to take advantage of whatever is left of Ukraine. He will need to make some deals, so everyone gets some pie, but America will come out well and, hopefully, there is some return on the past expendatures.
– further aid (redevelopment) to Ukraine will be secured with assets… mines, farmland, infrastructure, etc.
– keep Russian energy out of Ukraine so Europe must purchase American energy while it deindustrializes itself. Denmark will get special consideration because they graciously walked away from Greenland… so they are the economic star of Europe in typical Trump win-win.
Putin would quit the war tomorrow if his (quite reasonable) goals were met.
Zalenzky/Ukraine has no choice. They do what they are told… fight with the equipment they are given… or give up whrn they cannot fight.
¹Trump has to reorient the silliness that dumb Americans have been buying into… Stand with Ukraine, Ukraine is Winning, etc. He has to get credit for ending the war instead of blame for Ukraine’s coming undignified defeat. “Trump Lost Ukraine” must be avoided… even though it was always lost.