More than 80 days after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, attention was drawn to the number of Russian generals killed in the fighting. This surprised military analysts, as high-ranking officers strategically have the role of leading the war. In other words, they make the broader decisions, such as starting an attack or even a war. It is not common for them to be on the front lines of war.
It seems that this is not what happened in the Russian army. According to Ukrainian officials, 12 Russian generals would be killed on the front lines, according to an estimate obtained by The New York Times.
Who takes the place of the general?
When a general is killed during a war, he is immediately replaced by another.
This happens to all officers, not just high-ranking officers. There is a military discipline that makes the army highly organized.
João Pedro de Sá Teles, an internationalist who specializes in defense, explains that substitution follows a hierarchy that does not have to be constant. “As soon as an officer’s disappearance is reported to the command, another officer can be assigned to the post, and then you start changing people,” he says.
In an army unit consisting of more than one general, when a general dies, another of the same rank takes his place. In a smaller unit with only one general, a colonel rises in the hierarchy and takes the place of the dead general.
Theoretically, this should happen automatically, but depending on the level of confusion and the level of proficiency of power, this can be compromised, the expert emphasizes.
How does it affect the military?
The death of a general may cause temporary disorganization in the army as well as leave the office vacant.
“It greatly influences the morale of a troop, even reflecting the soldiers’ willingness to be there and their respect for hierarchy and leadership,” explains Teles.
There is also the matter of experience.
“Imagine, we have a two-month war, and now a general dies. He is replaced by a reserve general who is not in combat. That is, he goes into combat without the other’s experience for months. Who is dead, and you’ll have to learn a few things,” he adds.
Russian strategy failed
According to Gunther Rudzit, a Political Science major in International Security and professor of International Relations at the School of Propaganda and Marketing (ESPM), the deaths of various generals show that the Russians had to monitor events much more closely, “because it was clear that the original strategy had failed”.
They should also try to control and improve the morale of all Russian officers. “Of course they expected this to be a tour and it wasn’t,” argues the expert.
All this indicates that the Russians are not good at “camouflage” where these command centers are located, because the Ukrainians discovered these places.
You can eliminate the thinking head by finding where the command center is. “If you eliminate this, you can disperse the opponent’s armed forces, because then each of them acts separately and does not act in a coordinated way,” explains the professor.
Telles believes Ukraine deliberately targeted these intelligence units. It worked, in part because there was so much support from US officials, although the White House denies it, The New York Times reported.
source: Noticias
