Malibu2 said:
MouthBQ98 said:
I think Russian control of information and social media in particular is a big problem for them. Once Ukraine punched through a bit of front line, if they can run some light forces into the secondary areas, word seems to spread fast on the Russian side via informal communications and social media that they are threatened with being encircled or cut off and no plan or response seems to arrive to direct them how to react, so they mostly just run or retreat back to a safer area. There appears to be a lack of capable leadership at the tactical level and control and use of communication to react to sudden changes with proper responses. That may be a systemic issue, and if that is not worked out, Ukraine will be able to continuously exploit that.
I don't know how Russia can resolve that in the middle of the war. There is not time to train and implement changes to deal with slow information flow and improper tactical reactions to having flank and rear security threatened. There's no time to develop better leadership in the field.
When it comes to military tactics I am admittedly a rank amateur. How hard would it be right now to consolidate command into one five star general to coordinate all of Russia's war effort? I've heard that their command structure is severely fragmented, and it seems a very obvious step from the outside is to have a consolidated chain of command so that everyone is at least using the same playbook. It might be too little too late, but who knows.
This also might be completely stupid amateur outlook, but with the size of the conscription army about to go to Ukraine, I think it actually helps Russia a lot. Small victories just by sheer volume increase morale, and experience tends to be a much better teacher than the classroom. The Russians that survive will not be the incompetent lottery winners, they'll be the high speed soldiers that will be much more difficult to defeat. But I am willing to be called out for being an idiot if this is a stupid take.
Unfortunately for the Russkies, it's not a game of Risk where one Five Star General can put all his forces in South Africa and take over a continent. In the real world, you need tactics, doctrine and strategy all working together.
in the Russian army, we have known for 80 years they have no NCO corps able to make quick decisions at the squad, platoon and company level.
Because it was a dictatorship for decades, the initiative of private individuals was always destroyed, and only the top leadership could be obeyed. So even on the battlefield, soldiers are given one order and must execute it, without being able to change it due to circumstances. Hence you see the awful tactics over the last 7 months of Russkies literally driving down a road under fire, and still just driving forward or running into a ditch
you can't change the modus operandi of an army in a few weeks, or a few months, or a few years.