(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Why Is Russia Attacking in FRONT of Their Defensive Lines – Does Vietnam Have the Answer ? [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-08-03 Why is Russia fighting Ukraine’s forces in front of Russia’s well prepared defensive lines ? One is supposed to fight behind their protection. The answer to this perpetual question may be found in the Vietnam War. There has been a lot of discussion about why Russia is fighting in front of their defensive lines in the South. It doesn’t make sense when they have such well prepared fighting positions. Instead, the Russian troops are leaving this protection and fighting where they are largely in the open. The Russian overall commander, General Gerasimov, has recently visited his forces in the South, and strongly urged them to fight hard in front of their defensive lines. Why did he do this ? General Gerasimov, as well as the rest of the Russian military, isn’t saying why. So, we are left to try to make sense of this. The simplest answer is that Russia is fighting a war of attrition. Russia knows that they can’t defeat Ukraine by attacking them. They’ve tried multiple times and failed. Thus, they need a new strategy to win the war. Russia has decided to try to win by killing so many Ukraine soldiers that Ukraine cries “Uncle.” (This strategy is only one of the methods Russia is trying to win the war. The other ways are beyond this diary.) If Russia waits in their defensive lines, then they can’t kill anyone unless Ukraine attacks them. And then, they can only kill the Ukrainians that actually attack their lines. (Long range air and artillery attacks don’t depend upon the position of the Russian soldiers. As such, they are not relevant to this diary.) By moving in front of their lines, Russia can engage and kill many more Ukraine soldiers. This approach is similar to the US search and destroy missions in the Vietnam War. And, the Russias are most likely using the infamous body counts that characterized these missions. (The US sent platoon size units into the jungle to try and find North Vietnamese and Vietcong forces, and then destroy them. These were dangerous missions that often resulted in US casualties. The success of the missions was based upon how many of the enemy, i.e. bodies, were killed or captured.) Russia isn’t concerned about the number of their own soldiers that are lost by following this strategy. Russia believes that they have an inexhaustible supply of soldiers, so losing a few thousand soldiers here and a few thousand soldiers there, isn’t important, especially when these soldiers are convicts. This approach sounds similar to one of the main strategies the US used in Vietnam. The US was trying to kill so many North Vietnamese, that it would force North Vietnam to cry “Uncle,” and start negotiating an end to the war. The US tried to do this by slowly building up their forces, so that they could overwhelm the North Vietnamese. (The US also tried destroying the North Vietnamese civilian infrastructure, similar to what Russia is doing in Ukraine.) The US was also sending the least valued members of society to do the fighting, as Russia is doing. Hopefully, the Russian invasion of Ukraine will end in failure, as it did for the US involvement in Vietnam. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/8/3/2184739/-Why-Is-Russia-Attacking-in-FRONT-of-Their-Defensive-Lines-Does-Vietnam-Have-the-Answer Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/