It is so accepted nowadays that anyone who writes can be labeled "paid." Another, of course, question: by whom. In general, everyone who expresses their opinion in some media has such a collection. And it's good when everything is clear and understandable. It is worse when it is not entirely clear what the person wanted to convey to the readers.
In our case, in the "Free Press", which was not considered previously focused on certain places like the State Department and others like it, we came across an article by Sergei Ishchenko "Divisions will rise from the ashes." And they thought hard about what they had read.
It cannot be said that Ishchenko is "not our man." It seems to be ours. But some of the nuances make you doubt this. And, remembering that we have as many as 4 military educational institutions for two and activating those convolutions that, according to the proverb "corn from a cap," we subjected his words to some analysis from a military point of view.
It all started with a statement by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. In it, he announced one of the main tasks of his department for the coming months, the formation of three new divisions in the western direction.
"It is necessary not only to form these divisions, but, of course, to equip them in places of permanent deployment with the construction and creation of appropriate training grounds, storage areas for equipment and, of course, residence of personnel."
This is clear and understandable, it did not require any evidence, because it was shown more than once on TV. But then something strange began. In some incomprehensible way, the three divisions turned into a tank army. The links went to the beginning of June last year, when some "high-ranking sources in the Russian General Staff" began to give some media and (!) Bloggers information that by December 1, 2015, it is planned to recreate 1 tank army. And it seems like how to form "from scratch" another combined-arms army, instead of (or in addition to) the already existing 20th army.
In fact, both bloggers and the "Vzglyad" business newspaper raise doubts about the accuracy of the information they have. But what is the demand from a blogger?
Further in the text of Ishchenko's article, much was said about where and how divisions would be created, from which the strength and power of the tank army would be composed.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation announced that by December 1, 2015, it plans to recreate the 1st Guards Tank Army as part of the Western Military District, as well as to reorganize and replenish the 20th Guards Combined Arms. It was for them that new divisions were needed.
December 1 is long gone, but so far our only tank army in the Armed Forces looks skinny. Today it includes only one tank division - the 4th Kantemirovskaya (Naro-Fominsk, Moscow region). There is also the 6th separate tank brigade (Mulino, Nizhny Novgorod region), the 2nd Taman motorized rifle division (the village of Alabino, Moscow region) and the 27th Sevastopol separate motorized rifle brigade (Moscow)
It is clear that these troops are completely insufficient for a strike formation with such large-scale tasks. Indeed, until 1991, when the 1st Guards Tank Army, which became famous in the Great Patriotic War, was disbanded, it consisted of two tank and motorized rifle divisions, two missile brigades, anti-aircraft missile, artillery and engineer-engineer brigades, two separate helicopter regiments. And many other smaller units and divisions."
Stop. And what, in fact, are the tasks in question? Let us quote Ishchenko a little more, so that everything more or less falls into place.
"However, why all these incredible efforts and unreasonable costs? Why a tank army, why three new full-blooded formations in the western direction, which the Ministry of Defense will have to deploy in just a year? It is impossible to consider the horror stories of some modern Ukrainian political scientists as serious that" Putin is preparing a throw to the Dnieper "?
To the Dnieper, if it were seriously needed, we would, I have no doubt, and so we would have got there. How to do it - see stories from Syria. But if the goal is Ukraine, which has not gone off the rails, then who or what?
To answer this question, we need to look at our western borders of Russia a little wider - from the Black Sea to the Baltic. What is happening there is eerily reminiscent of 1941. A month ago, all the same Shoigu openly cited the following figures: in the NATO countries bordering on the Russian Federation, "this year alone, the contingent has increased by aircraft by eight times, and by the number of military personnel by 13 times." Up to 300 tanks and infantry fighting vehicles have been additionally deployed to the borders of the Russian Federation, and Aegis Ashore anti-missile defense systems are being deployed. 310 carrier aircraft capable of carrying about 200 American nuclear bombs are in various stages of readiness."
300 tanks and infantry fighting vehicles is a full-fledged divisional kit. Throw personnel from across the ocean on passenger Boeings, put them by the levers and - forward.
From the places where the same nuclear bombs are stored - a matter of minutes fly to our main industrial and administrative centers.
Losing sleep about this may not be necessary. But it is imperative to draw conclusions. Place new divisions. To form a tank army with the last money. Maybe more than one.
Could all this have been done without the usual Russian carelessness? Of course. But, apparently, we cannot do otherwise. Not today, not when they retreated to the Volga, but then they took Berlin anyway."
Now a lot is becoming clear.
We at least understand that rumors about a tank army in the Western Military District are nonsense. Yes, 300 tanks and infantry fighting vehicles are almost a division. Plus what our "partners" from NATO had before.
But a tank army is not a defense weapon. It is an offensive weapon.
Let's take a thoughtful look at what a tank army is for.
1. A full-strength tank army is a real armored fist capable of piercing anything. The question is: what should be broken through if something happens? Ukraine? Sorry, but the entire army of Ukraine can be rolled out by the forces of two brigades. This is not a hat, this is the real thing. The Ukrainian Armed Forces in their current state, at best, will be able to simulate hostilities.
Europe? Yes, a thousand tanks will be capable of destroying all roads from Lviv to Berlin. And arrange parking in Unter den Linden. But excuse me, where then is our defensive doctrine? And what is the direct meaning of such actions?
2. Rembase of a full-fledged TA allows you to repair virtually everything without a manufacturer. We emphasize that it is complete. This is a big plus in the event that she, a rembaza, exists. Moreover, repairs in combat conditions are easier, because many tanks - many spare parts. Accordingly, the manufacturer will only be left with what cannot be restored on site. And it's easier to dispose of.
3. Possibility of proper training of crews. The TA simply must have training regiments / centers that will train crews specifically for a specific unit, taking into account the specifics of a particular formation or unit.
4. For TA it is easier to solve the problems of transporting tanks. Because for this, units must be created that will do just that. transfer of equipment and its support.
Naturally, there are also disadvantages.
1. The most important. If we start from the fact that TA is an offensive weapon (I repeat that we do not understand well how TA can passively defend itself), then the theater where it can be effectively used is clearly not Ukraine. And the Europeans, who have lived for several decades under the fear that Russian tanks will be washed, drawing water from the English Channel, have created very effective means against our tanks. And it's hard to argue with that. European VETs are not only effective but also numerous.
2. Equipment. TA is a rather big connection. And for normal use, a tank army must be equipped not only with tanks and means of repairing and transporting them. And also motorized rifles, artillery, aviation, engineers and much more. And all, we will note, at the regimental level.
3. Accommodation. TA near Moscow, consisting of the 4th Kantemirovsk division (Naro-Fominsk, Moscow region), 6th separate tank brigade (Mulino, Nizhny Novgorod region), 2nd Taman MRD (Alabino, Moscow region) and something else in terms of the parts looks logical.
Like an armored fist covering the capital. The question of whom and how the "court" divisions and brigades are covered, we will leave out of the brackets. But the fact that these parts will be involved in the very last place, in which case, is understandable.
But being under the cover of the capital's air defense is very justified and logical. It will not "arrive" in these parts immediately, and it is not a fact that it will arrive at all. The air defense of Moscow is not a joke.
And in the western direction with air defense, everything is not so luxurious. And it turns out that it is necessary either to scatter the parts at a certain distance from each other, so that they do not arrive with the help of the same 310 carrier aircraft indicated in Ishchenko's article and others capable of doing this.
It's not a sin to spend even a hundred carriers on Naro-Fominsk. The Kantemirovsk division is definitely worth it. But as a result, we're not sure. And in the West, for sure, too. But in the same Boguchar, Ostrogozhsk, Voronezh - why not? Although about Voronezh - we got excited. There is someone to organize a metal fall from the sky.
However, defending a TA from any air attack is no less difficult than creating one.
In general, the idea of creating a tank army in the western direction seems to be a kind of scarecrow. And a scarecrow petty, because it is not clear who they want to scare more: the West or the Russian inhabitants. The deployment (and even more so, the creation) of a tank army in our time is a very costly business.
"It may not be necessary to lose sleep about this. But it is imperative to draw conclusions. Place new divisions. For the last money, form a tank army. Or maybe more than one."
So why does Ishchenko want to scare someone with outright stupidity, which clearly borders on meanness? This call is strange. Indeed, 300 tanks and infantry fighting vehicles - they'll reach the Urals, right? Especially if the crews from the States are airlifted with passenger Boeings. We have no one in the western direction at all, only trenches from the times of the Great Patriotic War. And only the urgent creation of a tank army of 1,000 tanks will be able to curb the aggressive plans and frighten the enemy. Nothing that we will sentence the budget, right? The main thing is that the enemy will be scared to death, and tanks and APMs will remain in their places!
It is strange to read this from a captain of the 1st rank. Very strange. Even if the capraz spent almost his entire life in the newspapers. This is not the point.
The bottom line is that, no matter how we scoured the Internet for a week, we could not find sensible argumentation and reliable information about the creation of a tank army. Well, they couldn't, and that's it.
The MO is especially cool on this topic. And rightly he is silent. For to create the planned three divisions is one thing, and the army is another. And three divisions are still not an army. These are three divisions.
It is very good that we have knowledgeable and intelligent people who understand the situation perfectly. And they will not go to the creation of such an absolutely useless monster in peacetime as a tank army. Because if you fight, then there is nowhere to fight the TA, and there is no one with anyone. Moreover, there is nothing to maintain such a structure in peacetime.
If we turn to the narratives of our time, we can see that over the past 20-30 years (and possibly more), compounds like TA have not been used anywhere else. The last war, where the sides operated with tank armies - rightly, the Great Patriotic War. Not even World War II. There, the sides lacked either targets or tanks. The only ones who operated with tank armies were the USSR and Germany. And only on the Eastern Front.
As for the present day, as the practice of the Iranian-Iraqi, Indo-Pakistani and Iraqi wars has shown, it is easier to create on the basis of a tank division what? That's right, the body! More mobile connection without huge costs. And with the possibility of disbanding it after completing a combat mission.
So, in fact, it is the divisions that they plan to create in our Ministry of Defense. On the basis of existing tank regiments and brigades. Not from scratch, we emphasize this. In the same Boguchar, where the 10th Guards Tank Ural-Lvov Volunteer Division named after Marshal of the Soviet Union Malinovsky was withdrawn. Yes, today there is only a separate tank brigade, but the entire infrastructure created after the withdrawal of the division from the GSVG has been preserved. And the question of recreating the division is not a question of years.
To be honest, we do not understand why it was necessary to present information in this way. But the fact that in Russia there are less and less fools (including in the Moscow region) is quite obvious.
Maybe it just doesn't suit someone?
