I’m not sure it was the US’s idea. Same as with Bakhmut i think they were telling Ukraine to stop throwing away resources on other fronts and just put everything they have into attacking in Zaporozhye to cut the land bridge. (Which is also bad advice since that was the most highly fortified and mined section of the front as we saw, and concentrating assets like that just makes them easier targets for Russian artillery, but that’s a whole other discussion.)
I think the Dnieper crossing gambit was a British idea, they are enamored with these sorts of flashy special forces operations whereas the Americans favor simpler brute force solutions (usually involving just bombing everything from the air, something which cannot be done against Russian AD).
On the next day, the 15 men of Mountain troop, led by Captain Gavin Hamilton, were airlifted onto Fortuna glacier by two Wessex helicopters. They were immediately confronted with extreme conditions including 100 mph winds and freezing temperatures. Deep crevasses slowed the advance, and when the men attempted to set up camp and wait out the storm, their tents were swept away by the wind. Finally, after 15 hours on the glacier, Captain Hamilton requested evacuation, with the message “Unable to move. Environmental casualties imminent.” Three Wessex helicopters were dispatched from the Task Force: two Wessex Mk5s from Tidespring and one Mk3 from Antrim. After one failed attempt, they managed to locate and embark the stranded SAS men, but in whiteout conditions, one pilot became disorientated and his aircraft crashed. The passengers were loaded onto the two remaining helicopters, but soon afterwards one of these hit a ridge and crashed, though once again without any serious casualties. The last Wessex, Antrim′s Mk3, after having offloaded its troops on board the destroyer returned to the glacier and after two failed attempts managed to retrieve the downed SAS and aircrew, though their equipment had to be abandoned. The pilot, Lieutenant Commander Ian Stanley, managed to nurse his overloaded aircraft back to Antrim and make an emergency landing on her flight deck, for which he was later awarded the Distinguished Service Order.[9][10]
They’re so desperate to do special forces stuff, they are so absolutely obsessed with a squad of elite supersoldiers doing what no one else dares, overcoming all odds through grit and determination by being superior heroic individuals. And then, when all that failed, the Royal Navy bombarded the hills opposite the Argentinian position and they surrendered immediately with no further shots fired.
I’m not sure it was the US’s idea. Same as with Bakhmut i think they were telling Ukraine to stop throwing away resources on other fronts and just put everything they have into attacking in Zaporozhye to cut the land bridge. (Which is also bad advice since that was the most highly fortified and mined section of the front as we saw, and concentrating assets like that just makes them easier targets for Russian artillery, but that’s a whole other discussion.)
I think the Dnieper crossing gambit was a British idea, they are enamored with these sorts of flashy special forces operations whereas the Americans favor simpler brute force solutions (usually involving just bombing everything from the air, something which cannot be done against Russian AD).
I was just listening to the trashfuture episode on the Falklands war, and fuck me if it isn’t exactly the same thing.
Like, this shit
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Paraquet
They’re so desperate to do special forces stuff, they are so absolutely obsessed with a squad of elite supersoldiers doing what no one else dares, overcoming all odds through grit and determination by being superior heroic individuals. And then, when all that failed, the Royal Navy bombarded the hills opposite the Argentinian position and they surrendered immediately with no further shots fired.
Gallipoli intensifies