Thursday, January 12, 2023

Russia's Top Military General Now Commander Of The War In Ukraine

Chief of the Russian General Staff Valery Gerasimov © Sputnik / Sergey Fadeichev  

RT: Russia announces new head of Ukraine mission  

The move is linked to the increased scale and complexity of coordinating troops, the defense ministry says 

The head of the Russian General Staff, Army General Valery Gerasimov, has been appointed to lead Moscow’s joint forces group in Ukraine, the defense ministry said in a statement on Wednesday. 

The former commander of the military operation, Army General Sergey Surovikin, has been made his deputy. The need to “raise the operation command level” was linked to an “increased scale of the combat missions,” and the need for closer coordination between various services and branches of the armed forces, the ministry said. 

The move will also improve logistics support and command effectiveness for the Russian forces in Ukraine, it added.  

Read more .... 

WNU editor: This appointment of Gerasimov to head the Ukraine mission caught my attention today.  This is a signal to me that the war in Ukraine is about to escalate significantly, and that Russia is expecting NATO to intervene even more in Ukraine. 

To put it bluntly. The bigger the war gets, the higher up the chain of command gets involved. And we are now seeing it in real time on the Russia side.

Russia's Top Military General Now Commander Of The War In Ukraine  

Gerasimov appointed commander of Russian group of forces in Ukraine operation -- TASS  

Valery Gerasimov Appointed Commander of Russian Forces in Ukraine -- Moscow Times  

Chief of General Staff Gerasimov Named Commander of Russian Forces in Special Military Operation -- Sputnik 

Russia changes commanders again in Ukraine -- Reuters  

Russia replaces military commander in Ukraine again — after just 3 months -- CBS/AFP  

Russia names Valery Gerasimov new commander of Ukraine invasion -- Axios  

Russia appoints top soldier Valery Gerasimov to oversee Ukraine campaign -- ABC News Australia  

Who is Valery Gerasimov, the new leader of Russia’s war in Ukraine? -- The Hill

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Not going to say I hope "we" know what we're doing, because something tells me this is not headed in a good direction. Not that the "forever war" globalists give a shit what anybody else thinks. They will do what they think needs doing. Poppy and Baby Bush made that much clear.

Anonymous said...

Never a good sign when top commander replaced after 3 months… tell him not to go near any windows

MR Nobody said...

There is multiple view points on the one.

One viewpoint is that Gen Surovikin was demoted/relieved. Probably Anti Russian propaganda...never miss an opportunity to make the Russians look bad.....you have got to understand that is the western motive in not just this case but ALL Cases.

Second viewpoint is like the WNU states. They are ensuring that all services are in on this. That Service commanders are not just looking at their own rice bowls to the detriment of the mission.

IRDK. In this situation it is probably a good move for the Russians. Their military has a tradition of being hide bound and protective of their own little worlds. Modern combat is truly the realm of joint operations working in conjunction and not holding back.

Ron said...

I personally think that Ukraine has tied a knot and is just hanging on. That being said, if the much-anticipated attack that Russia has been preparing for is not described by words such as "fury" or "devastating" or "overwhelming" then it will be bad for Russia in many ways. Not the end of Russia or Putin but it will change perceptions the world and Russians have about their government. Ron

Anonymous said...

Routine force structure housekeeping. Multiple new fronts the same size as the Donbass front are about to open, which will require more commanders of Surovikin's stature to spearhead, all them under Gerasimov's supervision. Surovikin isn't being sidelined, he's about to be replicated.

Anonymous said...

Russia is preparing to have war declared on it.

It is going t attack from Belarus again and finally the West will dust off the international laws of war and tell Russia you attacked through a neutral country like Germany did in both world Wars.

Then general war will be declared.

Russia only way of avoiding it is to keep a force in being staying in Belarus to tie down Ukrainian forces.

Russia's shit might still be called out. Belarus might be told that it has to eject Russia forces or general war will be called anyway.

Belarus is allowed to treat Russian wounded and nit much else. Belarus is committing War crimes and has for the past year.

Anonymous said...

This doesn't seem normal to me, and unless there is additional information I am not seeing, I completely disagree with the notion that "The bigger the war gets, the higher up the chain of command gets involved."

US Army Chief of Staff George Marshall was not the commander of the Allied invasion of Europe. He was doing his job as Army Chief of Staff. That was why Eisenhower had the role. Neither did his British counterpart Alanbrooke lead the British forces in Overlord, that was Montgomery. Likewise the US Chief of Naval Operations Ernest King didn't lead the war against Japan. His subordinate Nimitz did, and Nimitz likewise did not command the actual naval theatre commands - those went to Spruance and Halsey.

Zhukov was initially the Red Army's Chief of Staff when Hitler invaded the Soviet Union. But he did not take over any theatre command until Stalin removed him from that position and someone else took that place.

That none of these Army Chiefs of Staff assumed a simultaneous theatre command did not mean they were not involved on the war, or that their country's governments were ignoring it. It was because the Chief of Staff has other responsibilities. He can't do those responsibilities if he also has to be a theatre commander. Yes, the Chief of Staff has to focus in wartime on the actual warfighting instead of other issues he is responsible for, but that is no the same thing as actually being a theatre commander.

So this appears to me as overly centralized decision making. No matter how smart and dedicated he is, Gerasimov cannot be making decisions in the field if he has to be Chief of Staff in Moscow. Those decisions are best made by a commander closer to the front. One of the problems of the US military in the past fifty years is people in Washington making tactical decisions best left for commanders in the field. What you want is a theatre commander closely aligned with what the Chief of Staff wants done and good coordination between the two.

Most other commentators I read are stating that this announcement is probably for domestic political positioning in relation to the "feud" between Prigozhin and the Russian Ministry of Defense. We'll have to see what happens. But for now, this does not make sense to me from a military perspective.

Chris

Mr. Nobody said...

It makes perfect sense Considering the parochial culture of Russian the Russian Military. as stated these folks have a tendency to protect their own and money play nice with others. They did not have a Grenada and Goldwater Nicholes Act to force the to go joint.

The idea of Marshal directing was is far different and as was that of King to this situation and the comparison is way off. Gerasimov is now been put in an active roll. The idea is that the other services can no longer impede operations on the Ukrainian front. Gerasimov mission will be to force the other high-ranking generals of the Airforce and Army to tow the line. This is a power that a mear Operational theater General did not have...Why? because the Russians are now learning that Joint operations are extremely difficult when every body is not on board.