Panzer, Marsch

the saga of the Western Panzerkampfwagen in Donbass and Ukraine

Part I

Part II

• June 8, 2023

On social networks, some members of Azov regiment are bragging

tonight is the night of the nights

At 1:30 am, a new attack begins south of Orekhov, Zaporojie region, about 100 km southwest of the failure on June 6

The assault on the front line is synchronized with shelling in Tokmak, 40 km further south, 60 km north of Melitopol, which could be a new goal, in order to isolate Crimea from mainland Russia. The ammunition are US made GMLRS rockets, that HIMARS are launching

In the evening, the Russian defense ministry releases a splendid video from Orekhov vicinity. An Atlanticist mechanized column is entangled in minefields and shelled, a platoon of Leopards 2 in front, US made M113 behind. At least one Leopard is burning, more seem disabled.

• June 9, 2023

Volodymyr Zelenskyy publishes on Telegram the photo of a military meeting. Commander of the Ukrainian ground forces, colonel general Oleksandr Syrskyi stands at his right. Valery Zaluzhny, the chief of staff, is missing

At midnight, the Atlanticist attack resumes south of Orekhov. One mechanized battalion is committed, according to journalist Alexander Sladkov. The assailants do not succeed and for the first time, Russian sources are reporting the destruction of several US made Bradley infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs)

The outcome appears in the afternoon, through a video which has surfaced on social networks. One German made Leopard 2 and several Bradleys are burnt along a trail. The analysis of the whole document shows, in that sole section of the battlefield, the wrecks of 5 Leopards, 6 Bradleys, 3 MaxxPro mine-resistant ambush protected vehicles (MRAP), one French VAB [véhicule de l’avant blindé] armored personnel carrier (APC) and several others

• June 10, 2023

A third time in a row, the Atlanticist forces attack the same positions, south of Orekhov, of the 42nd -Evpatoriyskaya Red Banner- guards motorized division. Minefield, artillery, kamikaze drones and anti tank guided missiles (ATGM) repel the mechanized columns. The offensive is losing steam and that time, the Russian defenders do not even need air support

On June 7, Olaf Scholz has stated

we are at war for so many weeks and now, it is important that we take decisive steps forward

Seid ihr ? But the situation has worsened for the German Panzerkampfwagen, since the battle around Kursk, in July 1943. Nowadays, the Nazis are unable to break the first Russian defense line

New Bradleys have agglomerated at the site spotted the day before. Such a traffic jam of wrecked armored fighting vehicles is rare in history

• June 11, 2023

On another site of the battlefield, south of Orekhov, members of the 22nd -Joukov- guards special brigade have recorded a video. Here are new wrecks of Leopard 2A6 tank, Leopard 2R heavy mine breaching vehicle (HMBV), Bergepanzer 3 armoured recovery vehicle (ARV), Bradley and MaxxPro

In Strasbourg on September 14, 2022, Ursula von der Leyen, the German president of the European Commission, stated

Russian military is taking chips from dishwashers and refrigerators to fix their military hardware, because there are no semiconductors anymore. Russia’s industry is in tatters

Let us have fun

• June 15, 2023

An alleged plan of the Ukrainian offensive surfaces on social networks. The operation would have begun on June 4, with a feint south of Velyka Novosyolka, Donetsk People’s Republic. A limited attack indeed occurred there. The breakthrough should have been achieved toward Tokmak on June 6. Kakhovka dam was blown up that day and the attack in Zaporojie region, on June 8, was actually a bloody failure for the spearhead of the Ukrainian armed forces, their Western Panzerkampfwagen. The main goal would have been Berdyansk, in order to isolate Crimea from mainland Russia.

• June 16, 2023

The Atlanticist forces are attacking in vain Pyatikhatki, a village 15 km northeast of Vasilyevka, on the left bank of Dnieper river, in Zaporojie region

The 19th -Red Banner of Labor- motorized division is defending the area, has been reinforced with T-62 tanks, which are used as assault guns

Along the front line, Russian special forces (SSO) are hunting the Western Panzerhampfwagen with ATGMs, sometimes onboard customized civilian vehicles

• June 18, 2023

After the breakage of dozens Leopard Panzerkampfwagen and Bradley IFVs, a British Challenger tank appears close to the front in a video that Ukrainian channels are sharing on social networks

According to the Russian defense ministry in the evening, the Atlanticist forces have lost 33 tanks and 65 other armored vehicles in Zaporojie region in just one day, the equivalent of two NATO armored/mechanized battalions.

• June 23, 2023

CNN has interviewed two western officials and a senior US military official, who have conceded that the Atlanticist offensive is not meeting expectations on any front. The US and its allies are likely to wait until at least July for a fuller assessment of the results. After the Western Panzerkampfwagen have been bogged down, the assailants are carrying out more dismounted operations, which means waves of cannon fodder. The Blitzkrieg is over. And in this screenshot, south of Velyka Novosyolka, Donetsk People’s Republic, the Russian servicemen are holding the line

• June 25, 2023

An impressive drone video surfaces from Makarovka, south of Velyka Novosyolka, where the Atlanticist forces started attacking three weeks before, in Donetsk People’s Republic. A Russian T-80 tank erupts through a main street, a few hundred meters from a pair of US made MRAPs, fires a first shell, turns back, fires a second shell and leaves

• July 2, 2023

Here is a french wheeled tank [the sole expression makes me laugh] that the Atlanticist forces have abandoned during the bloody failure of their offensive in Zaporojie region and Donetsk People’s Republic. The picture surfaces when the Ukrainian defense ministry states that the vehicle is unfit for attack

I could have told them for a long time, was a kid when the French army was testing it before commission, maybe 45 years ago. The AMX-10 is not a tank but an armored recce vehicle, compliant with an outdated French doctrine. Its 105 mm gun is not bad, but its armor, inadequate. The Russian soldier says

The Russian land is too tough for French wheels

• Music