Western Artillery in Ukraine

Editors note, Removed the maps showing the rail lines within Ukraine. They can be sensitive in times of war.

Until now, the Russian Federation had an obvious advantage in long tube artillery. This is part of Russian doctrine, going back to the Soviet period. Overwhelm the front line with artillery, then send the infantry in. It’s old, it’s plodding, it’s somewhat efficient, and it’s highly dependent on logistics and trains.

American HIMARS are proving very effective at hitting high-priority targets in the Russian rear. These range from command and control to ammo depots. In the meantime, partisans are starting to take out bridges.

Realize, that Russia does not have a modern logistics system. Next time you go to the store, watch the palletized cargo that is delivered to the supermarket. I am using this is an easy example to understand. Your pallet of stuff, whether it’s cereals, or canned goods take the same space, by design.

Pallets share some things. The first is that they are easy to move and pack, these days track. An individual can transport a full pallet from a truck to storage, using light industrial equipment.

This transfers to the military.

According to experts Russia still does a lot of loading and unloading using people, and wooden boxes. They depend on trains to transport near the front line, and on manual labor to load and unload.