Ukraine Always Get What You Want

Did some quick googling. It's been a long, long time since the U.S. army has tried to force a river crossing under fire. Maybe since World War II? Surely there's a Korean War example?

Russia's attempt to get across that river under enemy observation and fire were almost certainly the first time its been tried by a relatively modern army.

 

That's also why during the Revolution, the Continental and British armies were often times what we'd consider laughably close but didn't engage.

 

You mean you don’t want the guys with the beer gut and “A country boy can survive” T-shirts ahead of the guys who have spent over 80 years booby-trapping their nation and wishing a motherfucker would?

 

I agree Grant was brilliant.

But in the campaign of 1864 he fought his way to Richmond, crossed the river to get to St. Petersburg, and then laid siege for a year. So Grant had to capture Richmond to capture the Army of the Northern Virginia anyway. That could have been done more easily by taking boats up the James.

 

Modern artillery and shoulder fired missiles with access to real time drone camera recon from 2,000 feet above the battlefield makes the targeted area extremely unhealthy. It is also a great help to be on the defensive, with prepared positions and pre-targeted areas that the enemy will attack through or assemble.

Very damn unhealthy indeed.

 

1. At the outset of the Overland Campaign Butler took the boat up the James and failed to take the city.

2. Without the damage done to the AoNVa in 1864, does it collapse in the Spring of 1865? If Grant makes a lightning conquest of Richmond while Lee is still capable of escaping to the West and South, is the war protracted by a campaign to root the AoNVa out of the mountains of Southwest Virginia/Western North Carolina? If Lee can just settle into the defenses of Richmond in early June, 1864, is he then able to dispatch Longstreet to stop Sherman?

 

I'm certain that drones as a forward observer to adjust artillery fire is an absolute game-changer.

 

Particularly true if the artillery battery has access to the video feed of the targeted area in real time. This cuts out communication delays and miscalled coordinates and allows the direct call of adjustments to fire.

 

"A little to the left. .... Perfect!"

 

Yeah. If that sort of fire control is coming direct from the battery commander or a designated fire control officer who is talking into the headphones of the cannon cockers, god help whoever is about to receive it.