jimbob wrote: ↑Sat Dec 03, 2022 10:26 pm
I saw somewhere a claim that Russia's prison population has been reduced by 25% due to mobilisation.
They are going to run out of convicts at this rate. The approach really is to treat people as cannon fodder, the commanders sitting at the back with a drone's eye view telling people exactly where to go and so on, but infantry in the open - and that ground is so shelled there is no real cover or concealment possible - have no defence against artillery and mortars.
I don't know if this is related to the above, but some people are pushing the idea that Prigozhin was a "Rooster" during his time in Soviet prisons - someone who offers sexual favours to other inmates and is thus at the absolute bottom of the complex hierachy of the Russian prison system. If that gets around, then organised crime might be a bit more wary of getting involved with his organisation, if they get any choice in the matter.
They've been doing this for months, sending groups of unsupported infantry in to probe for weaknesses, and using artillery to try and level defensive positions, but with limited success, as defensive positions are generally designed to survive that sort of treatment as near intact as possible. Sometimes, it appears as if they are using the infantry to draw Ukrainian fire and thus reveal Ukrainian artillery positions.