{"id":1654761,"date":"2022-09-23T08:30:56","date_gmt":"2022-09-23T12:30:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1654761"},"modified":"2022-09-23T08:31:06","modified_gmt":"2022-09-23T12:31:06","slug":"holding-ground-losing-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/holding-ground-losing-war\/","title":{"rendered":"Holding Ground, Losing War"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">8<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fholding-ground-losing-war%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1654761&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><\/div>\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">At the end of 1942, when the Wehrmacht could advance no further east, Hitler switched German ground forces from an \u201cenemy force-oriented\u201d strategy to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/book\/show\/1701286.Hitler_Military_Commander\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">\u201cground-holding\u201d strategy<\/a>. Hitler demanded that his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/book\/show\/395000.The_Road_to_Berlin\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">armies defend vast<\/a>, largely empty and irrelevant stretches of Soviet territory.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHolding ground\u201d not only robbed the German military of its ability to exercise operational discretion, and, above all, to outmaneuver the slow, methodical Soviet opponent; holding ground also pushed German logistics to the breaking point. When holding ground was combined with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/book\/show\/733869.Colossus_Reborn\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">endless counterattacks<\/a> to retake useless territory, the Wehrmacht was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/j.ctvj7wphc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">sentenced to slow, grinding destruction<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"o-ad o-ad--center  js-ad\">\n<div class=\"o-ad__border\">\n        <span class=\"o-ad__border-label\">Advertisement<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, (presumably with the advice of his U.S. and British military advisors), has also adopted a strategy of holding ground in Eastern Ukraine. Ukrainian forces immobilized themselves inside urban areas, and prepared defenses. As a result, Ukrainian forces <a href=\"https:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/news\/2022-04-12\/ukraines-strategic-options-as-russian-war-moves-east\/100981886\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">turned urban centers<\/a> into fortifications for what became \u201clast stands.\u201d Sensible withdrawals from cities like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-europe-61089043\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Mariupol<\/a> that might have saved many of Ukraine\u2019s best troops were forbidden. Russian forces responded by methodically isolating and crushing the defenders left with no possibility of either escape or rescue by other Ukrainian forces.<\/p>\n<p>Moscow\u2019s determination to destroy Ukrainian forces at the least cost to Russian lives prevailed. Ukrainian casualties were always heavier than reported from the moment Russian troops crossed into Eastern Ukraine, but now, thanks to the recent failure of Ukrainian counterattacks in the Kherson region, they\u2019ve reached horrific levels that are impossible to conceal. Casualty rates have reached <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2022\/jun\/10\/ukraine-casualty-rate-russia-war-tipping-point\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">20,000 killed or wounded a month<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Despite the addition of 126 howitzers, 800,000 rounds of artillery rounds, and HIMARS (U.S. rocket artillery), months of hard fighting are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2022\/jun\/10\/ukraine-casualty-rate-russia-war-tipping-point\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">eroding the foundations of Ukraine\u2019s ground strength<\/a>. In the face of this disaster, Zelensky continues to order counterattacks to re-take territory as a means of demonstrating that Ukraine\u2019s strategic position vis-\u00e0-vis Russia is not as hopeless as it seems.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The recent Ukrainian advance to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.euronews.com\/2022\/09\/19\/ukraine-war-kyiv-claims-control-of-oskil-river-and-russia-denies-izium-accusations\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">town of Izium<\/a>, the link between Donbas and Kharkiv, seemed like a gift to Kiev. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thedailybeast.com\/ukraine-eliminates-russian-forces-from-izium-a-key-turning-point-in-war\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">U.S. satellite arrays undoubtedly provided<\/a> Ukrainians with a real-time picture of the area showing that Russian forces west of Izium numbered less than 2,000 light troops (the equivalent of paramilitary police, e.g., SWAT and airborne infantry).\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Russian command opted to withdraw its small force from the area that is roughly 1 percent of formerly Ukrainian territory currently under Russian control. However, the price for Kiev\u2019s propaganda victory was high\u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-europe-61987945\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">depending on the source<\/a>, an estimated 5,000 to 10,000 Ukrainian troops were killed or wounded in a flat, open area that Russian artillery, rockets, and air strikes turned into a killing field.\u00a0<\/p>\n<div class=\"o-ad o-ad--center  js-ad\">\n<div class=\"o-ad__border\">\n        <span class=\"o-ad__border-label\">Advertisement<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Given <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rferl.org\/a\/ukraine-zelenskiy-russia-mass-burial-site-sanctions-war-crimes\/32038428.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Washington\u2019s inability to end<\/a> the war in Ukraine with the defeat of Russian arms, it seems certain that the Beltway will try instead to turn the ruins of the Ukrainian state into an open wound in Russia\u2019s side that will never heal. From the beginning, the problem with this approach was that Russia always had the resources to dramatically escalate the fighting and end the\u00a0fighting in Ukraine on very harsh terms. Escalation is now in progress.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/markets\/putin-announces-partial-mobilization-major-ukraine-war-escalation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">In a public statement<\/a> that should not surprise anyone, President Putin announced the partial mobilization of 300,000 reservists. Many of these men will replace regular Russian Army forces in other parts of Russia and release them for operations in Ukraine. Other reservists will augment the Russian units already committed in Eastern Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">Washington always mistook Putin\u2019s readiness to negotiate and limit the scope and destructiveness of the campaign in Ukraine as evidence of weakness, when it was clear that Putin\u2019s aims were always restricted to the elimination of the NATO threat to Russia in Eastern Ukraine. Washington\u2019s strategy of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.org.au\/whos-winning-the-war-in-ukraine\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">exploiting the conflict<\/a> to sell F-35 fighter jets to Germany\u2014along with large numbers of missiles, rockets, and radars to Central and East European allied governments\u2014is now backfiring.<\/p>\n<p>The defense establishment has a long record of success in tranquilizing American voters with meaningless clich\u00e9s. As conditions favorable to Moscow develop in Eastern Ukraine and the Russian position in <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/russia-ukraine-putin-china-beijing-moscow-e081ca5e5abcbaa0db7b5db77d3bbe80\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the world grows stronger<\/a>, Washington confronts a stark choice: Talk about having successfully \u201cdegraded Russian power\u201d in Ukraine and scale back its actions. Or risk a regional war with Russia that will engulf Europe.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In Europe, however, Washington\u2019s war with Moscow is more than just an unpleasant subject. Germany\u2019s economy is on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.investmentwatchblog.com\/a-major-country-is-imploding\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">brink of collapse<\/a>. German industries and households are starved for energy that grows more expensive with each passing week. American investors are concerned because the historical record indicates that Germany\u2019s economic performance is often the harbinger of hard economic times in the U.S.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>More important, social cohesion in European States, especially in France, and Germany, is fragile. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/europe\/2022\/09\/17\/europes-winter-of-discontent-berlin-police-drawing-up-emergency-plans-for-possible-energy-grid-collapse\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Berlin\u2019s police force<\/a> is reportedly drawing up contingency plans to cope with rioting and looting during the winter months if the \u201cmulti-cultural\u201d city\u2019s energy grid collapses. Discontent is growing making it quite plausible that governments in Germany, France, and Great Britain will likely follow the path of their colleagues in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2022\/09\/15\/right-wing-parties-win-swedish-election-pm-magdalena-andersson-resigns.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Stockholm<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sott.net\/article\/471955-Right-wing-coalition-on-course-to-win-election-in-Italy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Rome<\/a>, who lost or will lose power to right-of-center coalitions.\u00a0<\/p>\n<section class=\"c-subscribe-email\">\n<div class=\"l-container\">\n<div class=\"c-subscribe-email__wrap\">\n<h4 class=\"c-subscribe-email__heading\">Subscribe Today<\/h4>\n<h5 class=\"c-subscribe-email__subheading\">Get weekly emails in your inbox<\/h5>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p>As of this date, Kiev continues to oblige Moscow by impaling Ukraine\u2019s last reserves of manpower on Russian defenses. Washington, insists President Biden, will support Ukraine \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theglobeandmail.com\/world\/article-russian-shelling-near-ukrainian-nuclear-power-plant-causes-alarm\/\">as lon<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theglobeandmail.com\/world\/article-russian-shelling-near-ukrainian-nuclear-power-plant-causes-alarm\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">g<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theglobeandmail.com\/world\/article-russian-shelling-near-ukrainian-nuclear-power-plant-causes-alarm\/\"> as it takes<\/a>.\u201d But if Washington continues to <a href=\"https:\/\/legalinsurrection.com\/2022\/09\/biden-draining-strategic-petroleum-reserves-intended-for-national-emergency-trying-to-salvage-midterms\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">drain America\u2019s strategic oil reserve<\/a>, and ship American war stocks to Ukraine, the ability to protect and provision the United States will compete with supporting Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p>Russia already controls the territory that <a href=\"https:\/\/carnegieendowment.org\/2012\/03\/09\/underachiever-ukraine-s-economy-since-1991-pub-47451\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">produces 95 percent of Ukrainian GDP<\/a>. It has no need to press further west. At this writing, it seems certain that Moscow will finish its work in Donbas, then, turn its attention to the capture of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/the-odessa-file-what-happened-on-may-2-2014\/a-18425200\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Odessa, a Russian city<\/a> that saw terrible atrocities committed by Ukrainian forces against Russian citizens in 2014.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Moscow is in no hurry. The Russians are nothing if not methodical and deliberate. Ukrainian forces are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/world\/2022\/09\/07\/ukraine-kherson-offensive-casualties-ammunition\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">bleeding to death<\/a> in counterattack after counterattack. Why rush? Moscow can be patient. China, Saudi Arabia, and India are buying Russian oil in rubles. Sanctions are hurting America\u2019s European allies, not Russia. The coming winter will likely do more to alter Europe\u2019s political landscape than any action Moscow might undertake. In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tripadvisor.com\/Tourism-g274793-Zakopane_Lesser_Poland_Province_Southern_Poland-Vacations.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Zakopane<\/a>, a town of 27,000 souls in the extreme South of Poland, the snow is already falling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At the end of 1942, when the Wehrmacht could advance no further east, Hitler switched German ground forces from an \u201cenemy force-oriented\u201d strategy to a \u201cground-holding\u201d strategy. Hitler demanded that<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1654764,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1654761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1654761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1654761"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1654761\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1654764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1654761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1654761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1654761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}