quote:
Originally posted by Chris Lawrence:
We have it, but have not had anyone translate it yet. Is there a clear count of number of vehicles lost in the city as opposed to outside the city?
I don't believe so, at least not for the whole assault. It does give the number and type of AFVs the 131st Brigade had when it entered the city, and how many of them were lost in the initial fighting (something on the order of 90%). That brigade alone probably accounted for more than half of the 225 AFVs lost cited in other sources.
I think one would be justified in assuming that nearly all of the 225 AFVs lost were lost in the city itself. The Russian Army met very little opposition during the march toward the city, and that may have contributed to the underestimation of Chechen defenses within it, although it seems that the Russian command did not expect they would encounter resistance anywhere in Chechnya. They probably expected things in Chechnya to work out the same way they did in Abkhaziya where, after supporting one side against another, they stepped in as "peacekeepers." Chechnya was different in that the Russian entry effectively united most of the warring factions under Dudayev. According to Novichkov, at the outset the Russian rules of engagement were strict, units had to ask for permission to open fire.
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posted 08-13-2001 03:36 PM
