The Night Mail

[polybear]

50 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

I wonder if the Russians 'sanitised' anything provided to client nations as the Americans do.

 

Shock Horror!  Are you suggesting that Overseas Customers may not be getting the super-duper just-like-Uncle-Sam-uses equipment they've paid for after all?  🤣

Edited November 1, 2022 by polybear

[AndyID]

47 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

Shock Horror!  Are you suggesting that Overseas Customers may not be getting the super-duper just-like-Uncle-Sam-uses equipment they've paid for after all?  🤣

 

Damn right you're not 😄

[Happy Hippo]

1 hour ago, PhilJ W said:

 

 

I wonder if the Russians 'sanitised' anything provided to client nations as the Americans do.

Russian stuff is so basic that if they sanitised it any more it wouldn't work at all.

 

From what is happening in the Ukraine, it would appear they've sanitised their own equipment too!

 

Overall they would appear to still be fighting as they would have done during WWII, with scant regard for local commanders being given autonomy with  tactical decision making. Their troops are ill equipped and even more poorly trained so are suffering from very low morale.  Is it any wonder that their withdrawals are rapidly turning into full blown retreats and then routs?

 

Ironically it was Russian partisan fighters who were so effective at cutting German logistic resupply during WWII.  Yet these same tactics have been used very effectively against them, and Russian commanders have been unable or unwilling to bolster their support troops with a defensive shield.

 

Back in the 1970s and 80s, the doctrine of fighting what were then soviet armies was FOFA: Follow On Force Attack.  Cut the head off the bear by removing it's neck and it all comes tumbling down.

 

Of course technology has moved ahead in great strides with much improved AT and AAA systems, rendering heavy armour  even more vulnerable without a solid infantry screen; whilst flying low and slow near any troop concentrations is very risky.  Couple that to cheap drones for real time battlefield intelligence and the UAV with it's ability to loiter for long periods of time in a battle support role.

 

The same criteria also applies to naval operations.

 

The Russians have all this same type of equipment, but their military have not deployed it as effectively as the Ukranian forces.

 

It would not surprise me to find Putin gone by Christmas: The official line will be his failing health. How it fails, possibly rather abruptly, is another matter.

[polybear]

6 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

 Cut the head off the bear by removing it's neck and it all comes tumbling down.

 

 

😮😮😱😱

[Tony_S]

21 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

😮😮😱😱

I found out today that Keir Starmer’s hamster is called “Bear”. 

[simontaylor484]

One "newspaper " was claiming that Mad Vlad has 3 body doubles that they have spotted so far. 

Can't remember which paper it was just noticed them on rack in shop

[Northmoor]

9 hours ago, polybear said:

 

They can even offer a choice of one careful sorry, careless owner examples; they have a special offer on at the moment - a large drum of T-Cut with every one purchased...

https://www.oryxspioenkop.com/2022/03/list-of-aircraft-losses-during-2022.html

 

(Bear would bet a VERY large slice of LDC that various examples of Aircraft black boxes have found their way Westwards and are currently being closely examined by "interested parties")

 

 

It is amazing what intelligence extended to during the Cold War (and probably still does).  My wife and I worked for the MoD's Fuels & Lubricants Centre and she knew of samples that arrived labelled "unknown source", but clear instructions of where the results were to be sent.  The sample might be a rag soaked in fuel which had, ermm, leaked out of a visiting Russian aircraft at an airshow.....

Mrs Northmoor also recalled hearing of the guy whose job it was to recover and clean up Warsaw Pact training manuals or other paperwork which had been acquired.  It had sometimes been used as a substitute for (non-available) toilet paper.

[simontaylor484]

26 minutes ago, Northmoor said:

It is amazing what intelligence extended to during the Cold War (and probably still does).  My wife and I worked for the MoD's Fuels & Lubricants Centre and she knew of samples that arrived labelled "unknown source", but clear instructions of where the results were to be sent.  The sample might be a rag soaked in fuel which had, ermm, leaked out of a visiting Russian aircraft at an airshow.....

Mrs Northmoor also recalled hearing of the guy whose job it was to recover and clean up Warsaw Pact training manuals or other paperwork which had been acquired.  It had sometimes been used as a substitute for (non-available) toilet paper.

The last part sounds a sh1t job

[Happy Hippo]

40 minutes ago, simontaylor484 said:

The last part sounds a sh1t job

Even worse when it had been shredded, so you had to piece it back together as well.

[br2975]

21 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

Even worse when it had been shredded, so you had to piece it back together as well.

.

Not as bad then for the Iranians, fitting all the shredded documents back together after they took the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.

[Happy Hippo]

8 hours ago, br2975 said:

.

Not as bad then for the Iranians, fitting all the shredded documents back together after they took the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.

Any classified stuff we shredded went straight from the shredder into an incinerator.

 

Stuff that we shred at home gets bagged and used as kindling to start any fires we have in our incinerator.  Shredded paper that is not too compacted has a very good fuel/air mix.

[Happy Hippo]

My next door neighbour has just called around again.

 

The Cat Casket Construction Company is back in business.

[Compound2632]

15 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

Ironically it was Russian partisan fighters who were so effective at cutting German logistic resupply during WWII.

 

Would those partisans have been Ukranian, by any chance?

[SM42]

1 hour ago, Happy Hippo said:

My next door neighbour has just called around again.

 

The Cat Casket Construction Company is back in business.

 

So you did spray up a cat then

 

Andy

[br2975]

3 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

Any classified stuff we shredded went straight from the shredder into an incinerator.

 

Stuff that we shred at home gets bagged and used as kindling to start any fires we have in our incinerator.  Shredded paper that is not too compacted has a very good fuel/air mix.

.

.

Snap !

[polybear]

2 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

My next door neighbour has just called around again.

 

The Cat Casket Construction Company is back in business.

 

Lost two kitties in close succession?  VSBT's 😭

[TheQ]

One company I worked for, you had to shred everything, cross cut shredders, so a cloud of dots of paper, not strips, and then sent to be burnt.. Of course UK regulations being what it is they then had to buy in scrap paper to meet recycling targets....

[Happy Hippo]

1 hour ago, polybear said:

 

Lost two kitties in close succession?  VSBT's 😭

Sadly yes, the first one was 17 yo and the one that went this morning was 22 yo, so they had both had very long and comfortable lives.

 

I have already told them that I am not making a box for their dog Dexter, a Victorian Bulldog who stands at nearly 24" at the shoulder.  

[petethemole]

2 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

 

Would those partisans have been Ukranian, by any chance?

Many of the partisan units were formed from Red Army soldiers who were left behind in the retreats of 1941 and evaded capture.  They were under Red Army and CP command and were joined by pro-Communist civilians.  Some were no doubt Ukrainians. 

Many Ukrainians were anti-Soviet as a result of the disastrous collectivisation campaign in the '30s and the resulting famine. Many welcomed the invading Germans, thinking they were going to be liberated from Soviet rule, until it became clear that the Nazis regarded them as the same as the Russians, "untermensch".  Anti Soviet Ukrainians formed partisan units to fight the Red Army as well as the Germans and also came into conflict with the Red partisan units.  After the Red Army drove the Germans out, some of these partisan units chose  to fight against Soviet rule, continuing until 1949. I have simplified what was a very complex picture (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian_Insurgent_Army).

It should not be forgotten that other Ukrainians joined German auxiliary and police units to fight partisans and take part in ethnic cleansing.

[DenysW]

I worked in the 1970s with a Ukrainian who'd joined the Wehrmacht as less bad than joining the Red Army.

[Happy Hippo]

Having delivered the casket next door, I've spent the rest of the day playing catch up with various tasks.

 

Most were of a rebuild/restore job, and ironically none of them were for Nyda or myself. 

 

Tomorrow is the new Trayne Klubb (sounds like a Bond Villain's henchman) morning.  Fortunately the garage is remarkably clear and Pantmawr North's scenic boards are centre stage and ready to receive some attention.

 

I have been informed that a trip to IKEA is required tomorrow afternoon.

 

I knew my lucky streak couldn't last forever.

[Dave Hunt]

On 01/11/2022 at 10:26, Happy Hippo said:

I wouldn't buy any Russian aircraft.

 

To paraphrase the old joke about Luftwaffe F-104s:

 

Q. What's the quickest way to get a MiG 29?

A. Buy a plot of land in Ukraine and wait for a while.

 

Dave

[Dave Hunt]

1 hour ago, Happy Hippo said:

Tomorrow is the new Trayne Klubb morning. .......

 

I have been informed that a trip to IKEA is required tomorrow afternoon.

 

AKA Crime and Punishment

 

Dave

[newbryford]

On 01/11/2022 at 19:26, Happy Hippo said:

 

 

It would not surprise me to find Putin gone by Christmas: The official line will be his failing health. How it fails, possibly rather abruptly, is another matter.

 

Is that via a trip to see Salisbury Cathedral?

[SM42]

Decorating is about on time. 

 

Maybe around an hour down on plan. 

This was caused by a last minute errand added by Mrs SM42. 

 

For some reason today I have developed a rash of small white spots and all areas of exposed skin.

 

It is now rest time whilst paint dries. 

 

In other news I have managed to negotiate the on line delivery booking system for Warley. 

 

That's  45 minutes I won't get back. 

Trust me to pick a day when the site is warning of performance issues. 

 

Onwards and upwards tomorrow as the ceiling needs another coat.

 

 

Andy