5/2/2023 0 Comments The hundred days offensive“The Russian offensive tactics are always the same,” he says. The ensuing battle has turned into the largest tank engagement since the war started. In the past three weeks, Dymtro’s unit has repelled more than half a dozen offensives as the Kremlin seeks to gain the initiative after months of wintery stalemate. The Russians lob artillery over every 40 seconds, and the Ukrainians try to send something back. The closest section of the front line is just 70 metres away from enemy positions the constant thud of artillery duels echoes across the plains and ruined hamlets. Armed with Browning 50-calibre machine guns, handheld drones and old Soviet anti-tank guns, they have spent the past month guarding cratered farms and bleak woodlands against the Russian advances. One of the key units charged with preventing this is the 68th Jaegers, an anti-tank brigade formed at the start of the war. Seizing it would effectively cut Ukraine’s southern flank wide open. If it can take control of the town and surrounding area, it will gain access to key tarmac roads and railways that lead both north to Bakhmut and east towards Crimea. For Russia’s army, it is equally important. For Ukrainian forces, the area around the town is a strategic gem, allowing its drone and artillery teams to target Russian supply lines. The reason for Russia’s relentless stream of attacks in Vuhledar is straightforward. Six weeks after Russia launched its largest assault on Vuhledar, this once relatively prosperous coal-mining town of 15,000 people - the name translates roughly as “the gift of coal” - is now a wasteland. As the world’s attention has been focused on the “meat grinder” fortress city of Bakhmut 100 miles to the northeast, another giant offensive is playing out here. But around the town of Vuhledar, in southern Donetsk, there is a more urgent threat: the never-ending waves of failed tank and infantry assaults. No one knew at the time when or how it would all end, but Augproved a crucial turning point in the Great War.Such near misses are a feature of daily life for the Ukrainian men and women holding the line against the better-equipped and more numerous Russian forces. Every day had its own individual tragedies, multiplied thousands fold. Men on all sides would be pushed to the limit, and the ambulance drivers, nurses and doctors who tried to put them back together faced extraordinary challenges. The Hundred Days Offensive was an extraordinary human drama. It was hard, full on fighting from here to the end. Historians eventually called the period from August 8 to November 11 the Hundred Days Offensive. We are getting into the stage of the Great War centennial where events are going to move extremely quickly between now and the anniversary of the Armistice. The Allies suffered about 60,000 casualties and the Germans about 27,000 in addition to having almost 30,000 taken prisoner. I saw on the news today that Prince William and others were on hand to mark the occasion. The Americans played a supporting role as well. This was hardly just a French military campaign the British, Canadians, and Australians were also integral to the fighting against the Germans. In a vey real sense the beginning of the end of the First World War began one hundred years ago today it was on Augthat Supreme Allied Commander Ferdinand Foch began the counteroffensive that was itself a response to Ludendorff’s own Spring Offensive. Battle of Amiens: German prisoners about to carry British wounded off on stretchers.
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