There is only really one rule of warfare, and that is to get there first with the most troops. Everything else is detail. And that is exactly what Putin has done in .In the wee small hours of this morning the Russian military, aided by the forces of its client state , started their assault in the Donbas region. In a Russian version of the USA's infamous 'shock and awe' tactics of conflicts past, it began with an attack on Ukrainian air defence and communications systems, designed to incapacitate and disrupt and grant a free hand to the Russian airforce. It's exactly the same way the Gulf War started in 1991. I know, I was there.What are Russian tactics likely to be now that battle has essentially been joined? They have long espoused the doctrine of what they call Deep Battle, which is basically a scaled-up version of the German blitzkrieg. In practice, following on from the establishment of air superiority – or at least air parity – and after crushing artillery bombardment, strong armoured columns crash through the enemy front line and drive deep into the enemy's rear, bypassing points of serious resistance. The aim is to disrupt, disorient, and dislocate, with the zenith of success being the encirclement and annihilation of enemy forces. A quick glance at Soviet operations in eastern Europe in 1944-45 provides the historical template.
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