In addition to the heavy losses among the leaders of the battalions and brigades
Russia loses a large number of generals in the Ukraine war
The loss of a large number of high-ranking officers shocked the observers.
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“The war is almost over,” General Yakov Rezantsev assures his troops, on the fourth day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
That was over a month ago.
On March 25, the general and commander of the 49th Army was killed in a raid near Kherson.
Ukrainian officials say he was the seventh Russian general to die fighting in Ukraine.
This has not been confirmed by Russia and this toll has not been independently verified.
But it is clear that Russia's senior officers are experiencing extraordinary exhaustion.
Why?
High officers, who are of a higher rank than a colonel or brigadier, usually command in most armies;
Large formations, such as teams and legions.
These formations must be commanded from specific headquarters, which tend to stay out of artillery and missile range, and thus more distant from the front lines.
This usually puts the generals in a safer position.
America lost nine generals fighting in Vietnam, although that war lasted more than 20 years rather than a few weeks, and most died when their helicopters were shot down.
In the past two decades of war in Afghanistan and Iraq, only one American general was killed by an Afghan soldier's gunfire.
Even during its bloody occupation of Afghanistan in 1979-1989, the Soviet Union is believed to have lost no more than six generals in the first six months of the war.
Going back 80 years, we find a similar situation.
During World War II, about 235 Soviet generals were killed in action, according to The Fallen Soviet Generals, a book by Alexander Maslov.
Even then, during the worst period - from June 1941, when Germany invaded the Soviet Union, to November 1942, when the Red Army besieged the Wehrmacht at Stalingrad - an average of fewer than six generals were killed per month, about the same as the current toll.
One reason for the high death rate among generals today is that Russia erred greatly in its advance, especially in northern Ukraine.
Many Russian units showed themselves incapable of modern combined arms warfare, as the tanks sped forward without artillery support.
Morale was low, logistics poor, and casualties high.
This seems to have forced the generals to the battlefields.
In most professional militaries, a cadre of long-serving enlisted personnel known as service officers oversees the forces, often commanding smaller units in wartime.
These officers are the “backbone of NATO,” says one coalition officer.
The Russian military lacks a similar leadership class.
This may have forced more senior officers to go see the situation for themselves and communicate directly with their subordinate commanders.
The biggest problem
This is not inherently bad, as a good leader needs to get used to the front.
Perhaps the biggest problem is that these adventurous generals have poor security.
Russian forces have modern, encrypted Azart radios, but it appears that there are very few of them - possibly due to corruption - according to a report issued by the Royal United Services Institute, a British think tank, so Russian soldiers resorted to unencrypted radio and mobile phones. normal.
Not only can these communications be intercepted, but their source can also be determined by electronic warfare or electronic means.
Russia used this technique to achieve good effect against the Ukrainian forces, in the Donbass, after 2014;
And now Ukraine is turning it against the Russians, using snipers to hunt senior officers or artillery to bomb their positions.
Training Fruits
Some insiders say Western intelligence agencies and forces may be helping Ukraine locate Russian forces (although Western officials refuse to get involved).
Former US intelligence officials said the CIA has spent years training Ukrainian paramilitaries, including snipers. “I think we're seeing a lot of influence from snipers," he said.
The training really paid off.”
Losing so many generals in this way is embarrassing for the Russian army, and sums up its tactical failures in the first month of the war, while many commanders were fired.
However, the death of these senior officers is not the worst of it.
On March 29, Ukraine said it had killed Colonel Denis Kurillo, who commands the 200th Mechanized Brigade, outside the eastern city of Kharkiv.
Such officers are among the most important elements of the Russian military machine, because they know the details of their combat units.
"I think the heavy losses among the leaders of the Russian battalions, regiments and brigades, may be a bigger problem than the losses of the generals," says Rob Lee, from King's College London. "It is really difficult to compensate for these losses."
• Former US intelligence officials said that the CIA had spent years training Ukrainian paramilitaries, including snipers.
• 235 Soviet generals were killed during World War II
• Many Russian units showed that they are incapable of modern combined arms warfare, as the tanks moved forward without artillery support. Morale was low, logistics poor, and casualties high.
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