From The Volga To The Vistula

(From The Volga To The Vistula)

Napoleon had a saying that an army marches on its stomach. When General Eisenhower was asked about what had won the Second World War, he included the two-ton truck. The reality is one can have the best tank, the best operational doctrine and the ability to maneuver across the battlefield but unless that force is supplied, all the brilliant tactics in the world fail to compare. The true genius in warfare is the one who understands logistics the best.


In January, 1945, the Soviets were on what is called the Vistula-Oder offensive that aimed to clear the Germans from Poland. This campaign had been preceded by the massed Soviet effort to clear the Wehrmacht from Belorussia and before that, the Ukraine, Donets Basin, the Kursk battle, and finally Soviet victories at Stalingrad, on the Volga.


From the Battle of Stalingrad in November, 1942-1943 to the Vistula-Oder operations just in under three years required the Red Army to be able to conduct deep operations with massed formations, army groups called "fronts" that penetrated German positions by the ability to conduct deep attacks with hundreds to thousand of tanks, field guns, and aircraft. These deep operations were possible because each front had a developed logistics train. Central piece of that train was the two-ton truck. The Soviet Union acquired tens of thousands under the terms of Lend Lease. Without the offensive mobility provided by these trucks, Soviet forces would have had difficulty making their spectacular gains. The Western Allies could have gotten to Berlin first.


On a naturally smaller scale, the Russo-Ukraine War persists and once again, the issue is being decided by logistics. January is good campaigning season as the ground in theater is frozen solid this time of year, ideal for armor. That being said, while some re-occupation of the Crimea has been managed by Ukraine as both sides are dug in trenches. That is the best indication that the War has become a stalemate.



In order to break that situation on the ground, Ukraine requires continued support from the West, mainly from the U.S. There is no real negotiations for a cease-fire because, like for Hamas in Gaza, it would only help the Russians. Or so is claimed. Senate Republican Leader McConnell is party to a bi-partisan "effort" to secure support for Ukraine but is appears less willing to secure the U.S. Border the way House Republicans have arranged things. 


It might be true that the biggest armies win. There is a corollary to that statement, however. It is the biggest "supplied" armies. At the moment, that correlation of forces favors the Russians. Could the situation change ? That depends on the likes of Senator McConnell.

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