Putin’s meatgrinder tactics lead to devastating tank losses | Hamish de Bretton-Gordon

Putin’s meatgrinder tactics lead to devastating tank losses | Hamish de Bretton-Gordon

one of the challenges that Ukraine military has is that it doesn’t have you know certainly hasn’t been trained in this sort of complex type of warfare and they’re facing the Russians and the Russians approach to Warfare is is mass in other words numbers we know that they’ve suffered over half a million casualties the Russians have thus far they’ve lost over 4,000 tanks but they keep on piling people through now NATO even uh you know all the NATO countries don’t have that quite that level of manpow we have technical sophistication our our tanks and aircraft are are are more modern and more capable but actually only when they all work together in all these elements so that is exactly what they’re doing at the moment now let’s talk about that big NATO exercise taking place in Lithuania this comes as the Baltic countries look with obvious concern to the war in Ukraine and the everpresent threat that Russia presents on NATO’s Eastern flanks Colonel heish to Breton Gordon is a former commander of the first roal tank regiment and former commanding officer of the UK’s joint chemical biological radiological and nuclear regiment good afternoon to you hi good afternoon uh let’s talk about uh the significance of this NATO exercise um it is it’s a big one this isn’t it and how common is it for exercises on this scale to be held well it’s not common at all and I think that is probably one of the problems NATO’s conventional defense to deterrent um this is what this exercise is all about and a string of other exercises over the last few months in the Baltic states as you say the Baltic states are much closer to the war in Europe than we are and quite rightly they’re incredibly concerned that if Ukraine doesn’t Prevail they will be next in line and this is very much a show of force um that hopefully Putin and the kremin will look at and if they do progress and has got to make sure that absolutely they don’t but if they do then uh then NATO is up to it and the only way to practice um the only way to make sure that you Prevail in war is to practice and this is what NATO is doing perhaps you know a lot of people and people like me are probably saying you know had they done this two and a half three years ago then Putin might not have rolled in to Ukraine with quite so much confidence so it’s it’s a bit late but it’s a good start for those of us then who spent our entire lives in civilian life what are they practicing and which of of the NATO countries are there or are they all there well I don’t think they’re all there Britain had a very considerable uh contribution to some of the exercises a few months ago but what they will be uh practicing is what we call combined arms maneuver this is where tanks and artillery and infantry and air power fighter jets all work together so that they can uh have a coordinated defense and when we look at what’s happening in Ukraine at the moment one of the challenges that the Ukraine military has is that it doesn’t have you know certainly hasn’t been trained in this sort of complex type of warfare and they’re facing the Russians and the Russians approach to Warfare is is mass in other words numbers we know that they’ve suffered over half a million casualties the Russians have thus far they’ve lost over 4,000 tanks but they keep on piling people through now NATO even uh you know all the NATO countries don’t have that quite that level of Manpower we have technical sophistication our our tanks and aircraft are are are more modern and more capable but actually only when they all work together in all these elements so that is exactly what they’re doing at the moment and just how how sorry to interrupt but just how good are the NATO countries at at working together how how good are we at it when we don’t perhaps we have different computer systems do we or different techniques perhaps different sorts of equipment at different levels how does all that come together well that that is a really good point and and NATO has tried to standardize all its sort of communication systems it’s ammunition so that but but you know with countries like ourselves the French and others we we tend to want to do things slightly differently so it is an absolutely huge challenge um but the only way that you can get there is is to work together and the peace dividend after the end of the Cold War unfortunately left us with a NATO that didn’t do much training um and we look at our own defense you know which has you know been really Whitt down to the bare minimum it’s the same in a lot of other NATO countries but the Baltic states you know and the fins and the swedes whove just joined NATO realize that actually the Russian threat is is the most uh the biggest issue that they have at the moment and by showing a strong hand hopefully it will deter Russia and it’s something you know that we need to also understand in this country because if the Russians go beyond Ukraine we’ll be in What’s called the NATO an article 5 situation whether where NATO would be at War and where we would be at War as well and our military force you know is is of no size or or level of training to do that at the moment it’s interesting you mention that because I think uh today the figures have come out the size of the British army is now about 72,000 um which is I think the smallest it’s been for many many years how concerned are you about that very concerned um it’s not surprising as a military person I I think the defense of this country should be absolutely the top of the agenda in the election now I understand also for a lot of good reasons that it’s not but having said that a country our size under our threats with only 70,000 soldiers you know is is absolutely the bare minimum we know from Ukraine that a group of 70,000 soldiers would be exhausted and you know not in a position to fight after about four to six weeks which is why there’s a lot of talk about this second Echelon of how we would do that and you in the summer the chief of the general staff talked about a citizen Army there’s a lot of talk going on at the moment about um about national service etc etc but I think it’s key the the other thing that’s absolutely key at the moment is uh Britain and France have agreed to allow our weapons to be used against the Russians in Russia the US hopefully are about to do the same now might well be the trigger that tips the balance in Ukraine’s favor which would mean that that actually we wouldn’t need an army much bigger than 70,000 but at the moment you know it’s all in the balance and I think people in this country really need to realize with I know that everybody is desperately vexed by you know the state of the National Health Service the cost of living crisis but Putin doesn’t care Putin at the moment is marching westwards and we need to be aware of that yeah I mean we have got what five weeks to go in the election campaign but you’re right to highlight the fact that the only time defense has been talked about was when Rishi sunak announced his his national service idea and let’s be honest U there was a fair amount of mockery and it’s it’s been dismissed I know there were plenty of people who thought it was a good idea too do you actually believe that defense will at some point in the election campaign feature front and center and they’ll be a proper conversation about for example the threat from Russia well I hope there is and it it should be um unfortunately you know people in in 1913 and people in the summer of 1939 were really approaching you know life in the same way we are today now if you had said to the majority of people in this country in the summer of 1939 that they would be fighting in Europe against a fascist Tyrant for the next six years they would say you were Bonkers now that is a possibility now likely as it is at the moment it is a possibility and we need to discuss it and we need to be prepared for it because unfortunately people like Hitler and Putin these tyrants they only recognize strength and they exploit weakness and at the moment uh we’re showing weakness and even discussing it in the election and showing how important it is will send a message to Putin that we’re serious about it and we’re not going to let him roll over Ukraine and roll into the Baltic states thank you very much for your time I appreciate it that is heish De Breton Gord who is a former commander of the first Royal tank regiment

“We know that they’ve suffered over half a million casualties. The Russians have thus far lost over 4000 tanks but they keep piling people through.”

Nato’s military exercise in Lithuania is a “conventional defence deterrent” against Putin’s advances, says Hamish de Bretton-Gordon

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