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Old 14th May 2022, 13:51
  #5494 (permalink)  
ORAC
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
 
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Russia started the war with a total of around 180 BTG, of which 120 have been committed to the war so far.

Of the above they have to date lost around 53 BTG worth of men, IFV and tanks and continue to lose about 2/3s of a BTG a day. So in just over another week they will have lost over 30% of their total army and 50% of those committed to the war.

Worse, those remaining have been reconstituted with conscripts and forced recruits* and social media is rife with stories of Luhansk conscripts retreating to the Russian border and being threatened with execution to turn them back - and Russian reservists refusing to sign-up to go to Ukraine as they’ve heard the news and, without martial law or mobilisation, they can’t be made to go.

*Being issued with 1914 vintage Mosin–Nagants rifles and limited rounds per man - presumably so they they present a low risk of turning them on the Russian officers…

As the quality of the troops go down and the number of component officers being lost goes up (no NCOs), their loss rate vs the UKR army goes up - its now estimated at between 5:1 and 7:1.

Their is a military calculation as to the point at which an army will collapse into full scale retreat or surrender, a Lanchester Square collapse, and the current online forecasts for this to occur within the current invading force vary between an optimistic end of June and pessimistic mid-August.

e.g.

Moisin Nagant Rifle.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosin–Nagant

Last edited by ORAC; 14th May 2022 at 14:11.
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